Will Trump bring peace to the Middle East?
US President Donald Trump and his advisors have begun formulating a new peace plan that is set to surpass in scale prior Israeli-Palestinian peace-making initiatives, the New York Times reported Saturday.
Middle East
Saudi Arabia’s push on Iran ratchets up regional tensions
Saudi Arabia is more aggressively confronting its rival Iran on multiple fronts. It’s a policy that risks sharpening several conflicts in the Middle East, even though so far it has failed to score any successes in stemming Tehran’s influence.
CIA releases 470,000 more files captured from raid on Osama bin Laden
Never-before-seen video of Osama bin Laden’s son and potential successor was released Wednesday by the CIA in a trove of material recovered during the May 2011 raid that killed the al-Qaida leader at his compound in Pakistan.
Hamas Officials Praise Iranian Rejection of ‘Zionist Presence in Palestine,’ Affirm Continuation of ‘Armed Resistance’
Hamas leaders newly returned from an official visit to Iran have hailed their restored ties with the Tehran regime, praising the Islamic Republic’s ‘making no secret’ of the ‘exceptional support’ it provides to the Palestinian terrorist organization.
U.S. ramps up air war against Islamic State in Yemen as fight subsides in Iraq and Syria
As the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria comes to a close, U.S. military and counterterrorism officials are setting their sights on the group’s growing presence in the war-torn country of Yemen.
Kushner paid secret visit to Saudi Arabia for peace push — report
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, paid a secret visit to Saudi Arabia last week in his latest effort to restart Mideast peace talks.
US Navy sends a 3rd aircraft carrier to the Pacific after it completes mission against ISIS
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group of destroyers have left the Middle East, where they had launched airstrikes against ISIS, to back up US forces in the Pacific, the US Navy announced on Wednesday.
Bridge Tying Saudi Arabia to Africa May Need Israeli Signoff
Connecting Egypt to a new $500 billion Saudi city via a bridge across the Red Sea will require cooperation from Israel, analysts say. Could it one day help integrate the Jewish state with its Arab neighbors?
Trump to bypass U.N. and send aid directly to persecuted Christians in Middle East
Vice President Mike Pence announced Wednesday night that President Trump has ordered the State Department to shut off funding for ‘ineffective’ United Nations programs to help persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying the administration will take over those efforts directly.
US ‘Can’t Allow’ Iranian IRGC Supply Lines Through Middle East, Sen. Tom Cotton Declares
A leading member of the Senate Armed Services Committee has warned that the danger posed by Iran towards Israel is only increasing as the Tehran regime extends its political influence and military footprint across the Middle East.
CIA Director: Iran deal ‘failed’ to permanently block Tehran’s path to nukes
The Iran nuclear deal failed to permanently cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, as well as thwart its Middle East terror activities, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said at a conference Thursday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vow to step up fight against Israel
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards on Thursday threatened a ‘relentless fight’ against Israel, a day after the US urged the international community to confront Tehran over its ‘destructive conduct’ across the Middle East.
Haley to UN Security Council: Don’t turn a blind eye to Iran
The UN Security Council must not ignore Iran’s aggressive behavior, its ballistic missile testing and its violation of this body’s resolutions regarding its military activity, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Wednesday.
US demands Hamas renounce violence, disarm before unity deal
The United States called Thursday for the Hamas terror group to disarm and renounce violence before being allowed to implement a highly touted unity deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in a first detailed response to the agreement.
Israel’s Rare Strike in Syria Is an Explosive Message Delivered Personally to Russia
Hours after Israel’s rare strike in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that, ‘If anyone tries to hurt us, we’ll hurt them.’ What was defined by the Israeli army as a Syrian provocation in the morning had become a chance to reinforce Israel’s red lines by the afternoon.
IRGC Chief Suggests Missile Strike If U.S. Bolsters Iran Sanctions
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has suggested that U.S. military forces in the Middle East could be in danger of an Iranian missile attack if Washington imposes new sanctions against Tehran.
Trump says Iran not living up to spirit of nuclear agreement
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran had not lived up to the spirit of the nuclear deal agreed with world powers and suggested he would reveal his decision on whether to certify the agreement soon.
US seeks ‘new Israel’ in region, Khamenei says of Iraq Kurd referendum
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that the United States and Israel were some of the only countries benefiting from the recent referendum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and that Washington and other Western powers were seeking to ‘create a new Israel’ in the Middle East.
Iran, Turkey vow ‘decisive action’ against Iraqi Kurds over referendum vote
Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday vowed to take ‘decisive action’ against leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan over last week’s historic independence referendum vote.
Israel Is Going to War in Syria to Fight Iran
Israeli officials believe that Iran is winning its bid for dominance in the Middle East, and they are mobilizing to counter the regional realignment that threatens to follow. The focus of Israel’s military and diplomatic campaign is Syria. Israeli jets have struck Hezbollah and Syrian regime facilities and convoys dozens of times during Syria’s civil war, with the goal of preventing the transfer of weapons systems from Iran to Hezbollah. In an apparent broadening of the scope of this air campaign, on Sept. 7 Israeli jets struck a Syrian weapons facility near Masyaf responsible for the production of chemical weapons and the storing of surface-to-surface missiles.