Türkiye Says EU is 'Unjust and Biased' on Membership Bid
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman
The European Commission's annual report on Türkiye's long-stalled EU membership bid is "unjust and biased", the Turkish foreign ministry said.
The report by the European Union's executive arm on Wednesday criticized Türkiye's "serious backsliding" on democratic standards, the rule of law, human rights and judicial independence.
"We categorically reject unfounded claims and unjust criticisms, particularly on the political criteria and the Chapter on Judiciary and Fundamental Rights," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
According to Reuters, the Commission also said Türkiye did not comply with the principles of the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms in its fight against terrorism.
The Turkish ministry said the allegations were unfair and highlighted "the insincerity of EU's approach and a clear double-standard", adding that fundamental rights issues were contentious even among EU member states.
The Commission's report is meant to update Türkiye's progress towards meeting standards for EU membership, and could strain ties that are already troubled over immigration and, more recently, the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Türkiye's bid to join the EU has been frozen for years after having launched membership talks in 2005.
Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL
Nearly 1,500 Migrants Arrive in Canary Islands in One Day
Rescued migrants disembark from a Spanish Maritime Rescue Service vessel with assistance from emergency workers and Civil Guard officers at the port of La Restinga in El Pinar on the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, 14 November 2026. EPA/GELMERT FINOL
Almost 1,500 migrants arrived in Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday, the highest number in a single day since 2020, the EFE news agency reported on Sunday, citing the maritime rescue service.
A total of 1,488 people in 14 boats were rescued by the Spanish coastguard, EFE reported, continuing a surge of arrivals from West African countries to the Spanish archipelago since October.
The previous one-day record was the 1,461 people rescued in waters off the Canary Islands on November 7, 2020, maritime rescue services said on Sunday, according to Reuters.
While migrant arrivals have declined so far this year compared with the same period last year, the sharp increase last month placed additional pressure on reception and emergency services on some of the Canary Islands, particularly the smaller and less densely populated ones.
One boat on Saturday was carrying 240 people, including 12 women and 36 children, authorities said. The rescued migrants were taken to El Hierro, one of the smallest Canary Islands. Most of the people were from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Conakry.
Twelve boats arrived in El Hierro, plus one in Gran Canaria and another in Tenerife.
Spain's Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres will visit El Hierro on Sunday to discuss the surge in migrant arrivals.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the world's deadliest migration crossings. Thousands of migrants attempt the journey each year in overcrowded boats, seeking to reach Spanish territory despite rough seas, strong currents and long distances.
Arrivals tend to pick up in the autumn months, when sea conditions along the route are generally calmer and more favorable for crossings.
Migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands between January and October 31 were down 5.5% from the same period last year, government data show.
Iranian Lawmaker: A Nuclear Bomb is a ‘Public Demand’https://english.aawsat.com/world/5341357-iranian-lawmaker-nuclear-bomb-%E2%80%98public-demand%E2%80%99
Iranian Lawmaker: A Nuclear Bomb is a ‘Public Demand’
Satellite imagery from Jun 9th, 2025 via Airbus/Bulletin, shows a truck at Iran’s Isfahan underground complex carrying 18 sealed containers (AP)
Iranian lawmaker Hosseinali Haji Deligani said on Saturday that building a nuclear bomb has become a public demand, just days before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to discuss Iran.
“Today, one of the people's demands is that Iran, in addition to its faith and missiles, must build and possess a nuclear bomb,” said Haji Deligani, the deputy head of the Article 90 Commission in the Iranian Parliament, according to Fars news agency.
He argued that Tehran should possess nuclear weapons regardless of whether it intends to use them.
“We must have this capability. Whether it is used or not is a separate matter,” the lawmaker noted.
He said, “based on current assessments, the enemy would not launch a nuclear attack on Iran because of the country’s vast size and the significant repercussions of such an attack.”
The Article 90 Commission of Iran's parliament is mandated to receive, investigate, and respond to written complaints regarding the performance of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
Iran has made no official decision to change its nuclear doctrine despite growing calls from lawmakers and members of the public to reconsider its position if war resumes.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran had not suspended its obligations under its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Speaking to reporters, Baghaei said Iran remained a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and continued to uphold both the treaty and its safeguards agreement. He said the country had demonstrated its adherence to those commitments.
Grossi’s Report
Haji Deligani’s statements came one day after the UN’s nuclear watchdog said it cannot confirm that Tehran hasn’t diverted nuclear material away from peaceful purposes.
In a confidential report on Iran seen by media outlets on Friday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said because of a lack of cooperation from Iran, it “is not able to conclude that there has been no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful nuclear activities in Iran.”
IAEA said it is “increasingly concerned” about a uranium-enrichment plant at Isfahan that Iran declared to it last year but has still not let the watchdog inspect.”
“It is more than a year since the Agency lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the previously declared inventories of LEU (low-enriched uranium) and HEU (highly enriched uranium) enriched up to 60% U-235 at the declared nuclear facilities affected by the attacks of June 2025,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi wrote in his last report on Iran.
He added that Iran needs to allow inspectors back in “with the utmost urgency.”
Inspectors have yet to return to nuclear sites the United States and Israel bombed in June 2025.
Until those attacks, the IAEA estimates Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons-grade uranium. That is enough material, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick, and Iran also had material enriched to lower levels.
“The director general encourages Iran to consider technical and gradual measures by which conditions are achieved that allow for the return of agency inspectors to Iran,” the report said.
But Iran told the IAEA that discussions on restarting inspections in the country cannot resume amid “a series of persistent, explicit, and public threats by the President of the United States of America.”
Criticizing legal and technical basis of IAEA’s reports, Iran Mission to UN Office in Vienna said normal execution of safeguards cannot resume under the abnormal condition created by attacks on Iran’s safeguarded nuclear sites.
In a message posted on its X account on Saturday, the Iranian mission also criticized Grossi’s reporting, arguing that the Board’s decisions have been adopted through an abuse of process and that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran have disrupted inspections and forced the withdrawal of the IAEA’s inspectors.
“The United States removed aggression from bias resolutions, but its consequences cannot be erased from reality,” the statement added.
An Unavoidable Necessity
Last Thursday, Iran’s Assembly of Experts called for considering the country’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), alongside a review of Iran’s defense doctrine and the establishment of what it described as necessary deterrence.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, the Assembly said that reviewing withdrawal from the NPT, revising the country’s defense doctrine and establishing the necessary deterrence had become an “unavoidable necessity” and a “public and national demand.”
Two weeks ago, Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Discernment Council, said Iran should reconsider its membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He also noted that the country had suffered setbacks without gaining comparable benefits.
“The Islamic Republic has suffered considerable harm and setbacks over the years because of its membership in and continued adherence to this treaty, while gaining no commensurate benefit from that membership,” said Araki.
IRGC Media: Technical Modifications to Allow Iran Develop Missiles that Reach UShttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5341338-irgc-media-technical-modifications-allow-iran-develop-missiles-reach-us
People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
IRGC Media: Technical Modifications to Allow Iran Develop Missiles that Reach US
People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran on Saturday said it could introduce technical modifications to its long-range missiles, enabling them to reach US territory.
Tasnim News agency, the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated media outlet, said modifications to the Khorramshahr-4’s warhead could increase its range to 3,000 or 4,000 kilometers by reducing the weight of its warhead to 1,500-kilogram instead of 2,000.
It said a modified version of the missile would reach US bases and those of its allies in eastern and southeastern Europe, as well as central Europe.
Also, the news agency said Iran would develop an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of approximately 10,000 kilometers to reach the US East Coast, including areas near Washington and New York, and more than 13,000 kilometers to cover the entire US territory.
Tasnim noted that such modification “is possible at present” using the IRGC’s satellite launch vehicles, including the Qased, Zuljanah and Qaem systems, constructing underground “missile cities,” and developing a warhead capable of withstanding re-entry into the Earth's orbit.
Opened Lock
Last week, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued an order to respond to threats of any scale or type with an “immediate and effective response without geographical restrictions.”
Khamenei issued the directives during his first publicly announced meeting with senior military commanders since taking office.
Tasnim on Saturday admitted that former Leader Ali Khamenei had restricted the range of ballistic missiles manufactured in the country to 2,000 kilometers.
It said by “abusing our patience,” Iran’s “enemies unlocked a key aspect of its offensive capabilities.”
Last week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman General Hossein Mohebbi confirmed the removal of the 2,000-kilometer range restriction.
“That restriction has been lifted for us,” he declared, without specifying a new range or whether Iran possessed missiles exceeding the previous limit. He promised to demonstrate those capabilities “in practice.”
In August 2025, Iranian lawmaker Amir Hayat-Moqaddam told local media that Tehran has been developing long-range strike capabilities for two decades. He warned that “perhaps our next missile will hit Washington directly. We can target America from the sea.”
Also, Iranian lawmaker Kamran Ghazanfari claimed in early November that Iran developed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting Europe and the United States.
People visit the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Stealth Cruise Missile
Meanwhile, Iranian state television displayed an inspection of a strategic missile facility belonging to the IRGC.
It aired footage on Tuesday describing the underground complex as a new “missile city.”
A military analyst said on his page that the Guards’ missile unit had “quietly” unveiled two new missiles, but that “their unveiling is significant” to those who “monitor and analyze.”
He described the first one as Iran’s “first stealth cruise missile,” noting that its jet engine—which had been mounted externally on previous cruise missiles, making them easier to detect—is now housed inside the body.
The second, he said, is a ballistic missile that combines the warhead of the “Fattah” hypersonic missile with the “Khyber Shikan 2” missile, explaining that the range of the “Fattah” has increased from about 1,400 kilometers to nearly 2,000 kilometers.
Iranian state television aired footage on Tuesday of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi during his inspection of a strategic missile facility belonging to the IRGC.
It reported the unveiling of new weapons, including a “surprise” missile, without disclosing its name, range or specifications. Iranian media revealed neither the facility’s location nor the date of the visit.
Treats Expand to Europe
Meanwhile, Iran’s hardline newspaper Kayhan said on Wednesday that Tehran would expand threats against US bases beyond the region, including facilities in Europe and neighboring countries if a new war resumes.
“By removing the geographical limits on threats, the enemy should hear the roar of new missiles at US bases thousands of kilometers away in Germany, Britain, Albania, Greece, Cyprus and some neighboring countries,” said the newspaper, which is published under the supervision of the supreme leader’s representative.
Despite claiming it restricts its missile range, Iran in March reportedly tried and failed to hit the joint US-UK base at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, some 4,000 kilometers away from Iran.
No War No Peace State
US President Donald Trump has told senior advisers in recent days that he may hold off on attacking Iran if the US faces no new provocations, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Trump has alternated between threats of escalating the war with new strikes and winding down hostilities, and current and former officials say he does not appear to have made up his mind about how to resolve the unpopular conflict, which he launched in February with Israel.
But in meetings with his national security advisers and after a series of intelligence briefings, Trump said he was considering holding off on strikes, said the people, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity.
He has also indicated sympathy for allies in the region who have asked him not to return to a full-fledged war.
At the same time, the US military is ready to escalate if needed, three more people familiar with US planning said.
A third aircraft carrier is moving into the Middle East in the coming days to replace one of the two currently operating in the region, but all three carriers could stay if needed, the people said.
Trump could opt to bomb Iran's underground nuclear facilities, one of the people familiar with Trump's calls with several leaders said. But the US has already struck those facilities, and it is unclear whether further strikes would be successful.
US intelligence agencies have assessed that renewed strikes would not significantly shift Iran’s demands in negotiations, two US officials said.
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