Gulf States

The Trump administration is weighing a plan to use frozen Iranian assets to help rebuild Gulf allies damaged by Tehran’s missile and drone attacks. The consideration comes even as Iranian officials demand the release of billions of dollars in those same funds as a condition for any broader agreement with Washington.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed two contracts with Turkey’s Baykar corporation on Tuesday to acquire combat drones, the latest in a series of big sales for Baykar as the low cost and outstanding performance of its weapons in Ukraine pique the interest of governments around the world.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday for a visit expected to result in nearly $30 billion in trade agreements with the Arab kingdom.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Qatar on Monday, meeting with the nation’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and congratulating the country on hosting the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tested positive for the coronavirus, his spokesman told the news agency dpa on Monday.

The German government has scrambled to wean Europe’s biggest economy off Russian oil, coal, and gas since coming to office last December.

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The hijackers who captured a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman departed the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, as recorded radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker.

TEL AVIV — In what seems to be another indication of thawing relations between Israel and Gulf states, several prominent figures have come forward and publicly condemned the Hezbollah terror group for attacking Israel and have expressed support for the Jewish state’s right to retaliate. 

TEL AVIV — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s claim that he earns a modest monthly salary of about $1,300 has drawn more than its share of skepticism among Arab commentators on social media.

TEL AVIV — An Egyptian military court has handed down a sentence of six years in prison to an army officer for announcing in a video uploaded to social media that he intended to run for president in elections scheduled for next year, according to reports and the individual’s attorney.

A Qatari charity pumping money into British schools, mosques, and prisoner groups is led by a man who also launched a radical website that ordered Muslims to hate Jews and Christians and to destroy their monuments.

TEL AVIV — Financial support from Qatar to various projects in the Gaza Strip has been significantly reduced since the beginning of the crisis in relations between Qatar and the Gulf states, leaving a vacuum that has begun to be filled in the last several weeks by the United Arab Emirates, Arab media has reported.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the key mediator between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, arrived Monday in Kuwait, for talks aimed at defusing the Gulf’s worst crisis in years.

In light of the political escalation between Qatar and the Gulf states resulting from the severing of ties between several Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Saudi media outlet Al Arabiya has claimed one man serves as “the Qatari engineer of the financing” of terror in Yemen.

Gulf states on Monday cut diplomatic ties with neighbouring Qatar and kicked it out of a military coalition, less than a month after US President Donald Trump visited the region to cement ties with powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

TEL AVIV – The Trump administration is exploring the option of hosting a summit this summer bringing Gulf Arab leaders, the Palestinian Authority president and Israel’s prime minister in an effort to jumpstart the moribund peace process, sources tell The Jerusalem Post.

Iran on Monday criticised what it said was coordination between Israel and regional rival Saudi Arabia, describing attempts to create an “international atmosphere” against Tehran.

At President Donald Trump’s campaign-style rally Saturday, he brought up his plan to create ‘safe zones’ in Syria in lieu of admitting more refugees.

Kuwait hanged seven prisoners on Wednesday, among them Sheikh Faisal Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah, believed to be the first member of a Gulf oil monarchy to face execution.

Kuwait’s appeals court has upheld a 10-year jail sentence against an online activist on charges of insulting the emir and harming national interests, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

In Cairo, capital of the most populous Arab country, the US election is met with self-absorbed indifference or loathing for one, and sometimes both, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Saudi Arabia could reduce valuable security and intelligence cooperation with longstanding ally Washington after a Congressional “stab in the back” allowing 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom, experts warn.

DOHA – Qatar said it would give $30 million to help pay the salaries of thousands of Gaza Strip public sector Hamas workers left without a full wage package since 2013.

Qatar said on Thursday it would give $30 million to help pay the salaries of thousands of Gaza Strip public sector workers left without a full wage package since 2013.

TEL AVIV – The Arab and Muslim world’s exuberance at Sadiq Khan’s mayoral victory is hypocritical and racist since his election would never have happened in their own countries, an editorial in London-based daily Rai Al-Youm claimed.

During a visit to the Middle East, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter called on the Gulf oil states to help Iraq battle the Islamic State and rebuild from the devastation left by ISIS.

President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter are due to visit Saudi Arabia next week, for talks about the Islamic State, Iran, and other threats to regional security.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the world on Monday,  March 14 that his forces will be withdrawing from the front line of Syria’s bloody civil war. Stating that they had accomplished most of their objectives there, Mr Putin added that some

Saudi Arabia declared that anyone linked to Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah will be deported from the kingdom, Al Arabiya News Channel reports.

If President Obama’s master plan is to develop Iran into a regional super-power, settling the Middle East’s sectarian problems through Shiite conquest, then his nuclear deal was a major step forward.

Saudi Arabia has formed a coalition of 34 countries to fight terrorism including powerful Gulf states, Egypt and Turkey but excluding Iran, the SPA state news agency announced Tuesday. The Saudi-led alliance will be based in Riyadh “to coordinate and

The French Prime Minister has called on the Arab Gulf States to take in Syrian refugees, warning that a “humanitarian disaster” could erupt in the Balkans if Europe is not able to gain control of her borders. “I’ll say it

Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul stated that “refugees come here, and immediately are put on welfare” and advocated cutting off arms sales to Gulf nations “until they start accepting refugees” on Wednesday’s “Happening Now” on the Fox

The Associated Press has filed an astounding report on the piles of fake documents appearing as discarded refuse along the migrant route into Europe, as the number of people claiming to be “Syrian” for the purposes of securing asylum status surges exponentially.

Political responses to crises are often tardy and embarrassingly fad-driven, as with the current global outcry over the image of a three-year-old Syrian boy washed up on the Turkish shore. He was hardly the first innocent victim of this century’s most brutal war. Where has the world been for the last 54 months?

Amman (AFP) – As hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees languish in camps or risk their lives to reach Europe, questions are being asked about why wealthy Gulf states have accepted so few.