Category: Politics

Washington (AFP) – Britain’s spy chief voiced doubt Thursday on reviving a landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, saying Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remained opposed despite marathon diplomacy with the United States. “If we can get a deal it’s probably the best means still available to constrain the Iranian nuclear program. I’m not convinced we’re going to get there,” MI6 chief Richard Moore told the Aspen Security Forum. “I don’t think the supreme leader of Iran wants to cut a deal. The Iranians won’t want to end the talks either so they could run on for a bit,” he said in a live i…

Read More “UK spy chief doubts Iran supreme leader will back nuclear deal” »

President Joe Biden took a defensive tone in the run-up to his visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday. “I have never been quiet about talking about human rights,” he said at a news conference in Israel on Thursday. But his reason for going to Saudi Arabia, he said, was much broader: to promote U.S. interests and reassert our influence in the Middle East. And anyway, Biden added, he was “going to be meeting with nine other heads of state. It’s not just — it happens to be in Saudi Arabia.” That’s a shorter version of the argument the president has made for weeks since his first official Middle East vis…

Read More “Commentary: Here’s the real problem with Joe Biden’s reversal on Saudi Arabia” »

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan headed to Tehran on Tuesday for talks with their Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi. The official purpose of the summit in the Iranian capital is to discuss the situation in Syria, although Russia’s war in Ukraine was also a topic. Raisi called for a diplomatic solution to the civil war in Syria. The most important thing is to guarantee territorial integrity and allow the Syrian people to decide their own political fate, he said on Tuesday. Another jointly declared goal is to fight terrorism. Putin, meanwhile, called f…

Read More “Russian and Turkish presidents in Tehran for talks on Syria” »

The United States wants to remain engaged in the Middle East and push back against the influence of China, Russia and, crucially, Iran, US President Joe Biden declared on Saturday as his Middle East tour drew to a close. Iran was the main target of his criticism as he offered support to the region on its dealing with Tehran. “Let me say clearly, that the United States is going to remain an active engaged partner in the Middle East,” Biden said at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran,”…

Read More “US president vows pushback against Iran at meeting of Arab leaders” »

All who care about press freedom and other liberties Americans hold dear should have felt pangs of profound discomfort upon seeing President Biden fist bump Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince responsible for ordering the brutal murder of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi. Biden, who hours earlier had called for a “full and transparent accounting” of the killing, likely by Israel, of Palestinian American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, left little doubt that when certain U.S.-allied governments do bad things, serious consequences are apt to fall by the wayside. Still, Biden’s refusal t…

Read More “Editorial: Biden and the Saudis: Of fist bumps and principles” »

The United States will help Saudi Arabia defend itself in the face of a growing threat from Iran, a joint statement said after US President Joe Biden met Saudi leaders on Friday. Biden, on a Middle East tour, held talks with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah after geopolitical developments necessitated a reaffirming of the two countries’ long ties despite the president’s previous criticism of the regime. The kingdom should be supported in defending “its people and territory against external threats,” a statement from the White House and Saudi Foreign Ministry said. US …

Read More “US commits to help Saudis against Iran, food security next on agenda” »