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Cyprus Holds Rig Security Drills amid Hydrocarbon Tensions

People take photos of the “Tungsten Explored” drilling ship, in the southern coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP)
People take photos of the “Tungsten Explored” drilling ship, in the southern coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP)
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Cyprus Holds Rig Security Drills amid Hydrocarbon Tensions

People take photos of the “Tungsten Explored” drilling ship, in the southern coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP)
People take photos of the “Tungsten Explored” drilling ship, in the southern coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. (AP)

Ships and aircraft from eight nations took part on Wednesday in annual drills to boost safety and security procedures on vessels and oil rigs off Cyprus’ southern coastline amid ongoing tensions with neighboring Turkey over competing claims to hydrocarbon reserves.

The “Nemesis” exercise involves search and rescue, medical evacuation and anti-pollution operations with one fictional scenario tasking Cypriot forces with liberating an oil rig and support ship that fell into the hands of terrorists.

The exercise, in which the US, France, Italy, Britain, Israel and Egypt are taking part, was carried out in waters where the Cyprus government has licensed a consortium made up of energy companies Total of France and Eni of Italy to drill for oil and gas. The consortium plans to resume drilling in the first half of next year. ExxonMobil and Chevron also hold licenses to drill off the east Mediterranean island nation.

“We recognize that the utilization of our exclusive economic zone comes not only with benefits, but also with responsibilities and I would like to assure you that the Republic of Cyprus is committed to adhere to them,” Cypriot Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides said before the start of the exercise.

The drills were as much an affirmation of Cyprus’ sovereign rights with foreign support as much as they were intended to hone its forces’ skills as tensions with Turkey and the breakaway Turkish Cypriots over discovered and potential gas deposits continue to simmer.

Turkey says that those areas where the exercise took place lie inside waters that Turkish Cypriots claim as their own and have licensed the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) to conduct its own hydrocarbon search.

Cyprus was ethnically split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aiming at union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and regards the internationally-recognized government in the island’s Greek Cypriot south as illegitimate.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu repeated last week that no one would be permitted to “usurp our rights” and those of Turkish Cypriots to offshore gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cavusoglu said Turkish warships would defend the country’s continental shelf that Ankara says extends inside waters where Cyprus claims exclusive economic rights. He added that no foreign drill ship has so far sailed into Turkish Cypriot-claimed waters.

In February 2018, Turkish naval vessels prevented an Eni-leased drill ship from carrying out exploratory drilling in an area that Cyprus licensed out to the Italian firm, but is also claimed by Turkish Cypriots.

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World

France Blames Iran for a Cyberattack that Heated Supermarket Refrigerators

TOPSHOT - A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
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France Blames Iran for a Cyberattack that Heated Supermarket Refrigerators

TOPSHOT - A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. (Photo by Fred TANNEAU / AFP)

France on Monday blamed Iran for last month's cyberattack on supermarket refrigerators, summoned the Iranian ambassador and said it would seek European sanctions against those responsible for the attack.

The Oct. 12 attack sent refrigerator temperatures soaring, affecting about 700 of the country’s 10,000 supermarkets. In a statement Monday, prosecutors in Paris said they found that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was behind the large-scale cyberattack, The Associated Press said.

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking on the sidelines of G7 talks in Paris, said the Iranian ambassador was being summoned to “strongly protest against this extremely serious act.”

“This is an attack of unprecedented scale and aggressiveness,” Barrot said. “It is the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on French soil, and it represents a major threat to our national interests and the security of the French people. That is why it will not go unanswered.”

“We will impose sanctions at the European level against all those responsible for this attack,” he added, vowing to take “any other measures needed” to respond to it and deter future attacks.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement that a formal judicial investigation was opened Monday into suspected organized cybercrime with the aggravating circumstance of “having been committed to serve the interests of a foreign power — in this case, Iran."

France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, attributed the attack to the Shahid Kaveh group, described as a “cyber unit” affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The investigation targets the leader of the group as well as his two deputies and any other individuals who might be identified in connection with the case, Beccuau said.

Investigators found that the attackers had used Farsi and IP addresses linked to devices located in Iran, Beccuau said. The Paris prosecutor’s office is seeking international arrest warrants, she said.

In the early hours of Oct. 12, attackers remotely took control of refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets and independent stores across France. Temperatures reached 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) for about six hours, forcing stores to discard fresh and frozen goods. The Intermarché supermarket chain reported losses of “tens of millions of euros” in a single day.

Last week, another cyberattack in France on several blood banks tried to raise temperatures to extremely high levels but was thwarted before it could do any damage to blood products or samples. France’s national cybersecurity agency and Paris prosecutors are investigating the incident.

Also last week, supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia were hit by problems with freezers and fridges that apparently were caused by cyberattacks, forcing some to dispose of ruined food.

The ANSSI cybersecurity agency said it was able to attribute some other cyber attacks carried out against France since 2020 to another group named Shahid Shoostari, also affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. They include attacks targeting satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2023 and the organization of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

World

US Aircraft Evacuated from Second UK Base Due to Iran Threat

A B-1 bomber takes off from RAF Fairford airbase, as the US removes its B-1 bombers one week after several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain on Oct 4, 2026. — X/CraigYoungMedia via Reuters
A B-1 bomber takes off from RAF Fairford airbase, as the US removes its B-1 bombers one week after several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain on Oct 4, 2026. — X/CraigYoungMedia via Reuters
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US Aircraft Evacuated from Second UK Base Due to Iran Threat

A B-1 bomber takes off from RAF Fairford airbase, as the US removes its B-1 bombers one week after several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain on Oct 4, 2026. — X/CraigYoungMedia via Reuters
A B-1 bomber takes off from RAF Fairford airbase, as the US removes its B-1 bombers one week after several men were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain on Oct 4, 2026. — X/CraigYoungMedia via Reuters

The US military evacuated aircraft from a second airbase in Britain on Monday after a threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, weeks after the US withdrew its bombers from RAF Fairford airbase over a suspected Iran-linked security incident.

Two US refueling tankers that were using the RAF Mildenhall military base diverted to Germany earlier on Monday, while several other ‌tankers at ‌the base were moved to ‌Germany ⁠and other locations later ⁠in the day, the WSJ report said.

According to the Journal, the precise nature of the threat to RAF Mildenhall remains under discussion among US officials.

“We do not routinely comment on the activity of other nations. Aircraft and other assets move ⁠regularly according to operational requirements,” a British ‌ministry of defense spokesperson said.

The ‌Pentagon and the US European Command did not ‌immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment sent ‌outside regular business hours.

Five men were arrested outside RAF Fairford airbase in southwest England in September over a security incident with two others arrested later on suspicion of ‌assisting Iranian intelligence.

The circumstances of the incident, which remain largely unexplained, attracted huge international ⁠attention, ⁠coming at a time of heightened concern about the security implications for Western states of the war between the United States and Iran, and prompted the US to remove its B-1 bombers from the Fairford airbase on security grounds.

RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last month that the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran, which Tehran's ambassador to Britain has denied.

World

US-mediated Talks with Russia and Ukraine to Start in Abu Dhabi

US-led talks on ending the war in Ukraine will resume in Abu Dhabi. IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate/AFP
US-led talks on ending the war in Ukraine will resume in Abu Dhabi. IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate/AFP
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US-mediated Talks with Russia and Ukraine to Start in Abu Dhabi

US-led talks on ending the war in Ukraine will resume in Abu Dhabi. IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate/AFP
US-led talks on ending the war in Ukraine will resume in Abu Dhabi. IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate/AFP

Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States will hold talks in Abu Dhabi Tuesday on ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II, in the first such meeting in more than nine months.

Europe -- alarmed by US President Donald Trump floating a deal with Moscow on European security ahead of the talks -- will also send representatives to Abu Dhabi, as another winter of war approaches.

Trump has pushed for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war since returning to power, but previous talks produced no breakthroughs and the process became sidelined by the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Europe and Ukraine fear the United States will force a deal on Kyiv that would amount to a de-facto capitulation, with Trump appearing to pivot towards Moscow this year, said AFP.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and has dragged on for 56 months, with the Kremlin showing no sign of backing down.

Trump hinted ahead of the talks that Ukraine may have to give up land, saying: "They're going to end up with a little bit different shape, Ukraine."

Russia occupies large swathes of Ukraine but, while its troops have grinded westwards, they have not been able to seize the whole of the Donetsk region.

Moscow demands Kyiv surrender the parts of the region it still controls, vowing it will otherwise press on with its offensive.

Ukraine -- which for more than four and a half years has resisted a far larger invading army at a huge human cost -- has ruled out such a withdrawal.

Russia pummeled Ukraine in the run-up to the talks and carried out one of its deadliest strikes yet -- with Kyiv saying 55 people were killed in a frontline village as they queued for humanitarian aid.

- No 'particular expectations' -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the intensified strikes were part of Moscow's strategy of "putting pressure on Ukraine's position" at the negotiations.

The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that Russia had fired 162 drones and one ballistic missile overnight.

Russia's Vladimir Putin, who launched the war in February 2022, has repeatedly refused broader ceasefire offers and face-to-face talks with Zelensky.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff will gather the enemy sides in Abu Dhabi for the first time since February, when negotiations took place in Geneva.

The meetings would begin at 11:50 am in Abu Dhabi (0750 GMT), Russia's state-owned TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies reported.

Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of failed talks during almost five years of war and hopes for peace are low.

"We don't have any particular expectations," a senior Ukrainian official in Kyiv told AFP.

Trump last week floated a "very big agreement" on the war that will "involve all of Europe", stoking fears Washington would collaborate with Moscow on creating a new European security architecture.

- 'We don't want Yalta 2.0' -

Shortly before launching its 2022 invasion, Moscow had issued an ultimatum to the West for NATO to roll back troops from Eastern Europe.

The diplomat who issued the demand, Sergei Ryabkov, will for the first time be part of Moscow's delegation, which is headed by Putin's nationalistic aide Vladimir Medinsky.

US envoy Kushner said Monday that a peace settlement will require direct Russia-Europe talks "on the broader security arrangements that affect them" and said Washington "recognizes difficult decisions ahead".

These announcements have stoked fears in European capitals.

"For Europe, it is clear: we do not need to establish a new security architecture for Europe," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday.

He urged Moscow to "give up maximalist demands" and warned against any "negotiation show" in the UAE capital.

Zelensky has warned of a "Yalta 2.0" referring to Western leaders dividing Europe with the USSR in 1945.

According to Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, representatives from Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as NATO and EU officials, will hold separate talks with Kyiv's representatives in Abu Dhabi.

The Kremlin -- which has sought to keep Europe out of the talks -- said negotiations will remain "trilateral".

A recent ceasefire in the Kherson region was "a very positive precedent", Ukrainian political expert Volodymyr Fesenko told AFP, predicting Kyiv will look for "de-escalation of the war through such local truces".

Kushner and Witkoff have been accused by critics of being soft on Russia and US media have reported that the Americans are pushing large back-door business deals with Moscow.