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According to the mission, the cancellation came as a result of the organizer’s decision to shift the format from a solo speech to a debate. The Iranian delegation expressed regret over the change and confirmed that the full text of Araghchi’s prepared remarks would be published at an appropriate time (Read more at Profile News).
Tehran has confirmed that the discussions have led so far to an understanding on the broad framework of the negotiations. Iran has praised the continuing talks with the US as the two sides prepare for further meetings, saying it hopes they could lead to investment and help revive its ailing economy (Read more at The National).
He did so after an aide had warned him not to do so. Sean Parnell, the chief Defense Department spokesman, denied that Hegseth had shared classified information. “There was no classified information in any Signal chat,” he said on X (Read more on CNBC).
He said discussions would include firms exploring supply chain shifts to Turkey in light of recent geopolitical and economic developments, including US President Donald Trump’s newly imposed tariffs. Şimşek said he would attend as many as 15 meetings a day with international investors and financial institutions while in the US (Read more at Turkish Minute).
Guterres “is gravely concerned about the air strikes conducted by the United States over the course of 17 and 18 April in and around Yemen’s port of Ras Issa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement (Read more at Defense Post).
Oman’s Foreign Ministry said the talks resulted in an agreement to move towards the next phase of negotiations aimed at sealing “a fair, enduring and binding deal”. The next step would ensure “Iran is completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintains its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy”, it added. “This time we managed to reach a better understanding on a series of principles and goals,” Mr Al Busaidi told Iranian state TV (Read more at The National).
A Christian businessman said he raised the issue of US sanctions and the need for them to be removed. “Like all Syrians, Christians also want the prosperity of Syria,” he said. He added that the Christians of Sednaya have been stigmatised because they did not join the anti-Al Assad revolt, unlike the surrounding Sunni cities and towns (Read more at The National).
The armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday it did not know the fate of Alexander, after noting that the guard holding him was killed. Adi Alexander, whose son Edan was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured on October 7, 2023, called on the United States to engage in direct talks to free the remaining hostages – dead and alive – abducted during the deadly attack launched by Hamas two years ago in southern Israel (Read more at Arabnews).
"Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company... is directly supporting Iran-backed Huthi terrorist attacks on U.S. interests," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told journalists (Read more at The Hindu).
"Given the contradictory positions we have heard from various U.S. officials over the past few days, we expect the U.S. side to first provide an explanation in this regard and to remove the serious ambiguities that have arisen regarding its intentions and seriousness," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said (Read more at Japan Times).
Former US President Joe Biden, whose administration unsuccessfully tried to reinstate the 2015 pact, was not able to meet Tehran's demand for guarantees that no future US administration would renege on it. While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades (Read more at Business Standard).
It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement. The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to "review the experts' work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement (Read more at MSN)
When asked to comment on the possibility of a military action against Iran, Trump said: "I wouldn't say [I] waved off [this option]. I'm not in a rush to do it, because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death. And I'd like to see that. That's my first option. If there's a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran. And I think Iran is wanting to talk. I hope they're wanting to talk. It's going to be very good for them if they do." (Read more at Tass)
In a statement released on Friday, US Central Command defended the attack, saying American forces had struck to "eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorise the entire region for over 10 years." (Read more at Euronews)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the State Department to review the social media accounts of foreign applicants for United States visas who have visited the Gaza Strip in the past 18 years. The cable covers all immigrant and non-immigrant US visas – including students and tourists – of people who have spent “any length of time in an official or diplomatic capacity” in Gaza on or after January 1, 2007 (Read more at Aljazeera).
The two are U.S. Representatives Cory Mills of Florida, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, and Marlin Stutzman of Indiana. Both are members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party. Mills met new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday night. They discussed U.S. sanctions and Iran during a 90-minute meeting. Asked about meeting a leader still sanctioned by Washington, Stutzman cited examples of Trump’s administration engaging with Iranian and North Korean leaders (Read more at Yahoo News).
Both sides will try to establish what the baseline for the talks is and, hopefully, set up a framework from which they can probably reach an initial deal. They can then set out the guidelines for negotiating a longer-term agreement which would, on the one hand, restrict Iran's nuclear programme and, on the other, provide a large measure of sanctions relief (Read more at The National).
Ron Dermer and David Barnea, Israel's strategic affairs minister and the director of the Mossad intelligence agency, slipped into Paris for the low-profile meeting with Witkoff to try to influence the U.S. position ahead of the second round of talks with Iran in Rome (Read more at Axios).
Nejwa Ali, who was in charge of vetting asylum seekers, was placed on administrative leave pending an “investigation” by then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Oct. 19, 2023. She was not officially fired until the Trump administration did so on Feb. 10 (Read more at JNS)
Rasheedul Mowla, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to trying to support the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, which he sought to join in 2017. The U.S. citizen faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Read more at JNS).
In recent weeks, Turkiye has increasingly made moves to persuade the US and its administration under President Donald Trump to allow it access back into the F-35 fighter jet programme, after Ankara was kicked out of the joint production venture back in 2019 due to its acquisition of Russia’s S-400 missile defence system. The revived efforts to get back into the programme and to purchase numerous F-35 jets for its own military have led to the Turkish government last week offering to buy $20 billion in ammunition electronics, and parts from the US – as well as to shift away from its direct use of the S-400 system – in exchange for the readmission process (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
A U.S. official stated that Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the importance of de-escalation and coordination during his April 3 meeting in Washington with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Turkish officials have downplayed Washington’s involvement, noting that Türkiye already maintains deconfliction channels with Russia, Iran, and the U.S. in Syria. A Turkish official stated, “It’s not a big deal,” suggesting that adding Israel to these existing frameworks is routine (Read more at Turkiye Today).
Trump administration officials revealed to the New York Times that Israel had sought Washington’s assistance to carry out an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in May. According to the Times, the plan and its possible maneuvers were under consideration for months. But during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last week, Trump told the Israelis he would not support an attack. The president instead publicly announced the direct talks with Tehran (Read more at Defense Post).
The $180-million deal covers the 8V199TE21-D power pack engines developed by Rolls-Royce and associated equipment for the fleet. It also incorporates technical assistance, engineering services, and logistics tasks to support the program (Read more at Defense post).
Many have lashed out at the veteran senator for looking on as the banner was removed and protesters were ejected from the venue. During the rally, Sanders is reported to have said: "Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism, but it does not have the right to wage all out war against the Palestinian people" and "not one more nickel to Netanyahu" (Read more at Middle East Eye)
The U.S. on Wednesday issued new sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, including against a China-based "teapot refinery", as President Donald Trump seeks to ramp up pressure on Tehran and drive Iranian oil exports down to zero (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi was responding to a comment made on Tuesday by the US top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, who said Tehran must “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to reach a deal with Washington. “We have heard contradictory statements from Witkoff, but real positions will be made clear at the negotiating table,” Araqchi said. “We are ready to build trust regarding possible concerns over Iran’s enrichment (of uranium), but the principle of enrichment is not negotiable.” (Read more at Middle East Monitor)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Europe this week for talks about ending Russia's war in Ukraine and laying the groundwork for a nuclear deal with Iran (Read more at AOL).
The U.S. military has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that consolidation could reduce the number of troops in Syria to about 1,000. Another U.S. official confirmed the plan for a reduction, but said there was no certainty on numbers and was skeptical of a decrease of that scale at a time when President Donald Trump's administration has been negotiating with Iran and building up forces in the region (Read more at AOL).
Boehler will coordinate across agencies on hostage issues and report to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Boehler faced a political firestorm in March after Axios revealed he had met directly with Hamas officials — making him the first U.S. official ever to do so. Although those talks were approved by Trump, they sparked anger among some Senate Republicans, some of whom took the issue up privately with the White House. The new appointment is temporary and does not require Senate approval (Read more at Axios).
Officials are divided over which route is more likely to be successful. But they agree that without a deal, there will likely be war. "The Iran policy is not very clear, mainly because it is still being figured out. It is tricky because it's a highly politically charged issue. One camp, unofficially led by Vice President Vance, believes a diplomatic solution is both preferable and possible and that the U.S. should be ready to make compromises in order to make it happen. This camp also includes Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It also gets outside support from MAGA influencer and Trump whisperer Tucker Carlson. The other camp, which includes national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is highly suspicious of Iran and extremely sceptical of the chances of a deal that significantly rolls back Iran's nuclear program (Read more at Axios)
The Iranian spokesperson said that Araqchi will visit Moscow before the next round of talks is scheduled to be held on April 19 in Oman. Russia has previously expressed interest in mediating the relationship between the U.S. and Iran. "Russia is ready to make every effort, to do everything possible to contribute to this problem's resolution by political and diplomatic means," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 7 (Read more at Kyiv Independent).
Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities, Trump said: "Of course it does." Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because "they're fairly close" to developing a nuclear weapon. He believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States (Read more at Business Standard).
US immigration authorities on Monday arrested another Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests, detaining him as he attended an interview to become an American citizen. Mohsen Mahdawi's lawyers, in a court filing seeking his release and a halt to any imminent deportation, also claimed President Donald Trump's mounting crackdown on immigrant student protesters violates the US Constitution -- the latest judicial challenge to the Republican administration (Read more at France 24).
They discussed ways to support these negotiations to achieve the desired outcomes (Read more at MSN).
CENTCOM published a post in Hebrew on its X account, referencing a previous joint drill with Israel. The image attached to it showed Israeli and American fighter jets, with the phrase “All units ready”—a clear reference to the popular song titled “Harbu Darbu“—Arabic slang for “War and Pain”—by Israeli hip hop musicians Ness and Stilla (Read more at JNS).
The renewed nuclear negotiations with Iran will concentrate on capping uranium enrichment and enforcing stringent verification measures to block Tehran’s path to nuclear weapons, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said. However, Witkoff later wrote in a statement on X that Iran “must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote on X that he “completely agree[s]” with Witkoff’s tweet about eliminating Iranian uranium enrichment “because that is how you make a nuclear weapon.” (Read more at JNS)
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA director John Ratcliffe and other top officials participated in the situation room meeting on Tuesday (Read more at Axios).
When asked at a daily briefing if Russia would accept Iran's uranium reserves and if Tehran had discussed this with Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "I will leave that question without comment."(Read more at Mehr News)
Even the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, does not know where Iran keeps some vital equipment, like parts for centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. Israel could take out most of those sites by itself, military experts say, but it would be a risky operation involving repeated attacks and would have to deal with Russian-supplied anti-aircraft systems - although it managed to do so in far more limited strikes on Iran last year. A strike by the United States could probably cause more damage than an Israeli strike, but in either case you're talking about buying time and there's a real risk that it drives Iran toward rather than away from a bomb (Read more at AOL).
The US defense secretary reiterated Sunday that the United States hopes for a diplomatic solution to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, but if that failed the military was ready “to go deep and to go big.” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that while President Donald Trump hoped to never have to resort to a military option, “We’ve shown a capability to go far, to go deep and to go big.” “Again, we don’t want to do that, but if we have to, we will to prevent the nuclear bomb in Iran’s hands.” (Read more at Defense Post)
Halting Houthi aggression is crucial not only for ensuring the flow of commercial shipping through the Red Sea but also for reinforcing US credibility and regional trust. A failure to follow through on these efforts could raise doubts about US resolve, and could embolden other actors to challenge American interests in other parts of the world. The US campaign should focus on targeting key areas of Houthi operations, including command and control, communication networks, logistics, and leadership. American leaders should also be clear that the campaign is not time-bound and will persist as long as necessary, avoiding complacency even if the Houthis temporarily halt their attacks (Read more at Defense Post).
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that France, the UK and Germany will be vigilant regarding nuclear talks between the United States and Iran to ensure they conform to European interests (Read more at Brussels Morning).
KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that it is expanding its presence in the Middle East including the appointment of General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) as Chairman of KKR Middle East and the establishment of a dedicated investment team in the region led by Julian Barratt-Due, a Managing Director at KKR. These appointments build on KKR’s ongoing strategic commitment to the region, including having local offices since 2009 and deploying capital directly since 2019 (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he had met with his advisers regarding the negotiations and anticipated action soon. “We’ll be making a decision on Iran very quickly,” he stated, offering no further details (Read more at Media Line).
A so-called 123 agreement with Riyadh refers to Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and is required to permit the U.S. government and American companies to work with entities in the kingdom to develop a civil nuclear industry. Saudi authorities have not agreed to the requirements under the act, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. It specifies nine non-proliferation criteria a state must meet to keep it from using the technology to develop nuclear arms or transfer sensitive materials to others (Read more at AOL).
Saturday's exchanges were indirect and mediated by Oman, as Iran had wanted, rather than face-to-face, as Trump had demanded. "I think we are very close to a basis for negotiations and if we can conclude this basis next week, we'll have gone a long way and will be able to start real discussions based on that," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television. Trump said, "Nothing matters until you get it done, so I don't like talking about it, but it's going OK. The Iran situation is going pretty good, I think" (Read more at Business Standard).
President Donald Trump wants Iran to know that there will be “all hell to pay” if it does not abandon its nuclear program, his press secretary told reporters on Friday ahead of talks on Saturday between U.S. and Iranian delegations (Read more at Ariana News).
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army. In the video, he says he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays (Read more at Arabnews).
Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University who was involved in negotiating the original nuclear deal, said the odds of an agreement are “much lower” this time around. “I was the only member of the team who was convinced that we were going to get a deal – basically the entire time, I never went below 50 per cent,” Mr Nephew said, explaining that the previous negotiations had the benefit of starting with a clean slate. “We didn't have years of bad blood having built up, but we do now, and particularly with this president, and in particular with an Iranian system that didn't fully believe that we would commit to a deal in the first place.” (Read more at The National)
Chinese officials have been canvassing other trading partners about how to deal with the US tariffs, most recently talking to counterparts in Spain, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao spoke to Saudi Arabia’s Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi about enhancing cooperation with countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (Read more at Arab Weekly).
A Louisiana immigration judge ruled Friday that activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported. During a hearing at the remote Louisiana detention center where Khalil is being held, Judge Jamee Comans said Friday that she had no authority to question Rubio's determination. Khalil will not immediately be deported. His attorneys have said that if he were ordered deported, they would appeal the judge's ruling. Comans gave Khalil until April 23 to request a stay of his deportation if his attorneys believe he qualifies for one. And the judge said if they don't meet that deadline, she will order him deported either to Syria, where he was born, or to Algeria, where he is a citizen (Read more at NPR).
Although there is little optimism in Tehran that the talks will go far, the political establishment appears confident in Araqchi's ability to play Iran's hand with deftness and guile. Western diplomats involved in the talks between Iran and six world powers described him as "serious, technically knowledgeable and a straightforward diplomat" (Read more at MSN)
The USS Carl Vinson — which is armed with F-35C stealth warplanes — is now working alongside the USS Harry S. Truman in the region (Read more at Defense Post).
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced it has charged 12 people, ranging in age from 19-32, with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The office said the demonstrators did hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage after they broke windows and furniture, splashed fake blood and disabled security cameras during their takeover of the facility (Read more at The Hill).
Trump's aid freeze means Yemen has lost its biggest donor, as the US ramps up military strikes on the country. Some 19.5 million people in the country rely on humanitarian assistance and protection services. That's half of the population. The Trump administration imposed a 90-day ban on all US foreign aid in January. The State Department said on Wednesday that it had reversed food aid cuts in Somalia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Ecuador, but that the ban would remain in place for now on Afghanistan and Yemen (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Iranian oil exports recovered under Joe Biden, who became president after Trump's first term, and so far in 2025 have yet to show a decline, according to industry data. China, which opposes unilateral sanctions, buys the bulk of Iran's shipments. "That's actually very doable. President Trump actually did it in the first term," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said when asked how the United States can enforce its maximum pressure policy on Tehran. "We can follow the ships leaving Iran. We know where they go. We can stop Iran's export of oil." (Read more at AOL)
Abu Dhabi state oil company ADNOC is in the early stages of considering a bid for investment firm Aethon Energy Management's U.S. natural gas assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The upstream assets of Aethon, which primarily focus on the Haynesville shale formation in Louisiana and East Texas, constitute one of the largest privately held U.S. gas producers (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
The U.S. military shifted a Patriot battalion from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, requiring at least 73 flights. The number of C-17 flights conducted underscores just how stressful materiel moves can be. The Boeing-made aircraft can transport hefty equipment, like tanks (Read more at Axios).
The sources said the Iranians think reaching a complex and highly technical nuclear deal in two months is unrealistic and they want to get more time on the clock to avoid an escalation. The Iranians seem to believe that a sustainable deal is unlikely to be achieved in the timeframe that President Trump has in mind. It might therefore be necessary to consider an interim agreement as a way station toward a final deal (Read more at Axios).
“If necessary, absolutely ... If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said. "Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us, but we do what we want to do." (Read more at France 24)
As many as six B-2 bombers relocated in March to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. There are only 20 B-2 bombers in the Air Force's inventory so they are usually used sparingly. Experts say that puts the B-2s, which have stealth technology and are equipped to carry the heaviest US bombs and nuclear weapons, in an ideal position to operate in the Middle East (Read more at Business Standard).
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said progress was being made regarding the return of the hostages being held in Gaza and that he was dealing with both Israel and Hamas, but he gave no other details about the talks (Source: Reuters).
Dubai-based Mashreq opens new tab has entered a partnership with Goldman Sachs Asset Management to offer discretionary investment services and tap growing demand for professionally managed portfolios in the Gulf. As the number of high-net-worth individuals, keen for sophisticated investment strategies, increases in the region, a joint statement said services resulting from the collaboration would be available from this month (Read more at Rueters).
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Guangsha Zhoushan Energy Group Co, LTD that it said operates a crude oil and petroleum products terminal on Huangzeshan Island in Zhoushan, China. The terminal knowingly engaged with oil from Iran and is directly connected through the Huangzeshan–Yushan Under Sea Oil Pipeline to an independent refinery known as a "teapot" plant, the U.S. State Department said (Read more at Marine Link).
“We hope that’ll lead to peace. We’ve been very clear what Iran is never going to have a nuclear weapon, and I think that’s what led to this meeting,” Rubio said during a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Donald Trump (Read more at Daily Maverick).
Israel has been a major advocate of preventing the sale of F-35 planes to Turkey. The statement highlights Turkey’s push to restore defence trade with Washington, which has been strained since it was barred from the F-35 programme in 2019 over the deal with Moscow (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Trump’s tariffs could give the kingdom the jolt it needs by crashing energy prices and making Chinese exports less competitive. Saudi Arabia and other energy-rich Gulf states could benefit as they become the new safe havens for manufacturers looking to reduce tariff risks. Saudi Arabia should be sending their trade representatives to the Trump administration right now, asking, ‘What was China providing you. Tell us what it is and we will make it in Saudi Arabia and provide a great trade deal (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia has huge plans for EVs that Tesla has not been able to tap, partly because of an earlier feud between its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk and the kingdom's powerful Public Investment Fund (PIF) sovereign wealth fund that dates back to 2018. Relations between Riyadh and Musk have improved since he took a high-profile role in U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign and then a top position in his administration (Read more at Daily Sabah).
The Department of Homeland Security shared a two-page memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that accuses the Columbia University graduate student of participating in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities." The memo does not accuse Khalil of any crime. But Rubio writes that Khalil's continued presence in the U.S. would have "potentially serious adverse foreign consequences, and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest." (Read more at NPR)
Wright will also discuss previously announced investment plans by the Gulf country into the United States, the agency quoted him as saying. Wright would carry out a nearly two-week tour of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to lay the ground for a later visit by U.S. President Donald Trump (Read more at Reuters).
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on five Iran-based entities and one person based in Iran for their support of Iran's nuclear program with the aim of denying Tehran a nuclear weapon. The action comes after Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that the United States and Iran were poised to begin direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but Iran's foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect (Read more at AOL).
The former Arkansas governor and two-time presidential candidate was tapped by President Donald Trump for the post just after the November election. He has never previously worked in a diplomatic or national security role for any U.S. administration (Read more at Politico).
Democrats are still more likely than Republicans to express a negative opinion of Israel by 69 percent to 37 percent, respectively. But the number of Republicans who hold negative opinions on Israel has increased 10 percentage points since 2022 (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was aware of the “quite harsh rhetoric” and that Tehran was taking preventative measures. He suggested that the focus should be on contacts rather than confrontation. “Indeed, the world is growing tired of the endless threats against Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said (Read more at Middle East Monitor)
“We are certainly aware of that dynamic,” the State Department spokesperson said. “There is an investigation that is going on. We are aware of the reports from the IDF that this was a counterterrorism act, we need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground.” (Read more at Arabnews)
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will also discuss Gaza and the status of Yemen's Houthis during meetings with U.S. government officials, the source said. The trip was scheduled before last week's U.S. tariffs announcement (Read more at Ammonnews).
The diplomats "agreed that the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces must return to peace talks, protect civilians, open humanitarian corridors, and return to civilian governance." The call came after the Sudanese army said last week it had retaken full control of the capital Khartoum after weeks of attacks by the paramilitaries (Read more at France 24).
Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Tuesday said US strikes on the western province of Hodeida killed four people and wounded 13 others, a day after the group said it targeted Israel and US warships. It added that civil defense teams had rushed to the site and were working on putting out the fires and rescuing any survivors (Read more at Defense Post).
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright launched a nearly two-week tour of three Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, marking his first visit as a U.S. official to the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. "So absolutely, I would expect very tight sanctions on Iran, and hopefully drive them to abandon their nuclear program," Wright said in an interview with CNBC (Read more at AOL).
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia backs both direct and indirect talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme, as they could lead to a de-escalation of tensions between the two sides. The Kremlin has previously offered to help facilitate talks between Tehran and Washington (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
“The continuation of external threats and Iran being in a state of military attack may lead to deterrent measures, including expulsion of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and cessation of cooperation,” Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said on the social media platform X. “Transfer of enriched materials to secure locations may also be considered,” he added, referring to the country’s uranium enrichment (Read more at Aljazeera).
While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demonstrated Tehran’s willingness to engage on Tuesday, insisting amid the threats that the talks would nevertheless be “indirect”, he issued a note of warning, saying “Iran prefers diplomacy, but it knows how to defend itself”. “Trump wants a new deal: end Iran’s regional influence, dismantle its nuclear programme, and halt its missile work. These are unacceptable to Tehran. Our nuclear programme cannot be dismantled,” a senior Iranian official said (Read more at Aljazeera).
“Whether it's underground facilities, weapons manufacturing, bunkers, troops in the open, air defence assets, we are not going to relent and it's only to get more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships,” Mr Hegseth told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Read more at The National).
President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation for nuclear talks with Iran on Saturday in Oman, two sources familiar with the plan tell Axios (Read more at Axios).
A combination of newly imposed tariffs by the US and plummeting oil prices has caused a major decline in stock markets in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock exchange fell by nearly 7 percent on Sunday, while Qatar’s QE exchange dropped 4.2 percent, and Kuwait’s primary index fell 5.7 percent. There were also drops in stock markets in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Egypt (Read more at Middle East Eye).
1. Trump said the U.S. would hold direct talks starting Saturday with Iran over its nuclear weapons programs. 2. Trump said the U.S. is working to get hostages released by Hamas and put in place a new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 3. Trump appeared to raise U.S. military assistance to Israel as potential leverage amid trade negotiations. 4. Trump said to Netanyahu, “Any problem that you have with Turkey, I think I can solve. I mean, as long as you’re reasonable, you have to be reasonable. We have to be reasonable.” (Read more at The Hill)
According to the lawsuit, Bashar Masri, a wealthy developer, operated hotels and an industrial site in Gaza to “construct and conceal” a labyrinthine network of tunnels that allowed Hamas to “store and launch its rockets at Israel.” (Read more at New York Times)
the three leaders called on the international community "to push for a cessation of Israel's war on Gaza, to reinstate the cease-fire and implement all its phases, and to resume the flow of sufficient humanitarian aid to stop the deepening crisis faced by Gazans." (Read more at Daily Sabah)
The mayor of Turmus Ayya, Adeeb Lafi, told Reuters earlier in the day that Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler at the entrance to Turmus Ayya and that the Israeli army pronounced him dead after detaining him. The incident is the latest in a surge of violence and near-daily confrontations in the volatile West Bank, where settler violence and clashes between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians have kept it on edge (Read more at Reuters).
The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by US officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources who include six local commanders of four major militias (Read more at Business Standard).
Ortagus spoke to Lebanese broadcaster LBCI at the end of a three-day visit to Beirut, where she met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and other officials and political representatives (Read more at AOL).
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said direct talks made no sense with a country “that constantly threatens to resort to force in violation of the UN Charter and that expresses contradictory positions from its various officials.” On Thursday, the US president said he favored “direct talks,” arguing they were “faster” and offered a better understanding than going through intermediaries (Read more at Defense Post).
A pro-Palestinian protest by Microsoft employees has interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, the latest backlash over the tech industry’s work to supply artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military (Read more at Aljazeera).
Kenize Mourad was born in 1939 to Ottoman and Indian royalty: a recent flurry of articles in the Turkish press claimied that she worked as a CIA agent in the 1970s. Now 85, says she wants to set the record straight. She briefly went along with a CIA attempt to recruit her as a spy, planning to expose the agency in a news story. But she quickly got cold feet (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Egypt was hit with just a 10 percent tariff rate, the lowest baseline introduced by the Trump administration. This is absolutely a boost for Egypt’s garment industry. In Trump's world, all Egypt needs to do is be cheaper than Southeast Asia in low-skilled manufacturing. The prime example is the garment industry, which is fairly mobile and requires relatively little up-front investment.
Jordan’s exports to the US have been growing in recent years. Jordan’s tariff rate is not nearly as bad as other countries. US goods imports from Jordan totalled $3.4bn in 2024, up 15 percent from 2023. Countries like Morocco could also pinch new business thanks to Trump's tariffs (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Two U.S. House committee chairs want to know if American taxpayers helped fund the massive protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reform. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Foreign Relations Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) asked six organizations for all relevant documents and communications regarding any funding from the U.S. State Department or through the U.S. Agency for International Development (Read more at JNS)
Israel is in “serious talks with several countries” to relocate large numbers of people out of the Gaza Strip, a senior diplomatic source told JNS and other media outlets during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary (Read more at JNS).
According to three congressional and allied officials, the Yemeni movement Ansarallah has reinforced many of its hideouts and strategic sites, making it difficult for US forces to significantly disrupt missile attacks. In just three weeks, the Pentagon has used $200 million worth of munitions, in addition to the immense operational and personnel costs to deploy two aircraft carriers, additional B-2 bombers and fighter jets, as well as Patriot and THAAD air defenses to the Middle East (Read more at Palestine Chronicle).
This agreement involves enhancing Kuwait’s stockpile of Patriot PAC-2 Guidance Enhanced Missiles [GEM] and Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles-Tactical [GEM-T], signalling a significant step in maintaining the Gulf nation’s air defence capabilities. Beyond the surface-level transaction, this development hints at deeper shifts in Kuwait’s military strategy and its ongoing partnership with the United States, set against a complex regional backdrop (Read more at Arab Weekly).
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he wanted “direct talks” with Tehran on a nuclear deal, after he threatened to bomb Iran if it develops nuclear weapons. Trump has given Iran’s leaders a two-month deadline to reach an agreement on the country’s nuclear program, which has strained relations with Western nations for decades (Read more at Defense Post).
Trump said he spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Thursday and that after the call, he believes the Israeli leader is "going to be coming to our country sometime in the not so distant future -- maybe next week.” Netanyahu currently faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by his forces in Gaza (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The State Department sent a notification to Congress on March 6 of the $24-million US sale of the Colt Carbine 5.56 mm calibre fully automatic rifles, saying the end user would be the Israeli National Police, according to the document (Read more at CBC).
As part of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, unspecified Israeli goods exports to the United States face a 17% tariff. The U.S. is Israel's closest ally and largest single trading partner. Netanyahu raised the issue in his phone call with Trump on Thursday, the Israeli officials said, while on a visit to Hungary. "Most of it can be solved," one of the senior officials said (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
It may even help Ankara strengthen its economic partnerships with Europe. Many observers believe that Washington refrained from imposing a higher tariff on Ankara due to the good personal rapport between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, trade relations between the two countries are already quite balanced (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Algeria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Syria and Tunisia are hit hard by Washington's sweeping imposition of duties based on trade deficit formula (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Citi economist, Michel Nies, estimated a potential hit to Israel’s economy of as much as $3 billion, or 0.6 per cent of GDP. Ron Tomer, president of Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association, said the tariffs could harm Israel’s economic stability, deter foreign investments, weaken the competitiveness of Israeli companies in the US market and set back trade and investment relations between the countries (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Sanders forced votes on two resolutions on Thursday, the first to block the sale of 35,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, worth $2 billion, and the second on the sale of tens of thousands of other bombs and JDAMs, worth $6.75 billion. Both resolutions failed with overwhelming bipartisan opposition, by a vote of 15 in favor and 82 against the first vote and 83 against for the second. Similar votes on Joint Resolutions of Disapproval brought by Sanders in November, to block $1 billion of tank rounds, mortar rounds, and JDAMs, failed but with smaller margins; several Democrats flipped their votes, despite the sales being pushed by the Trump administration this time around (Read more at Truthout).
the US military has so far declined to confirm the death, and the identity of the Houthi commander in question is unclear (Read more at Arab Weekly).
“Cancelling the tariffs on American goods is another step in the policy led by my governments for over a decade to open the market to competition, introduce diversity into the economy, and reduce the cost of living," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said (Read more at bne intellinews).
US Treasury Secretary imposed the sanctions on those entities and individuals, accusing them of responsibility for procurement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) components on behalf of a leading manufacturer for Iran's drone program (Read more at Global Times).
As many as six B-2 bombers have relocated in the past week or so to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Experts say that puts the B-2s, which have stealth technology and are equipped to carry the heaviest US bombs and nuclear weapons, in an ideal position to operate in the Middle East (Read more at Business Standard).
The letter was addressed to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, who described Trump’s threats as a “violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations" and urged the Council to condemn them (Read more at New Region).
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that the administration maintained confidence in National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who has faced criticism for apparently adding the editor of The Atlantic magazine to a private thread describing an imminent bombing campaign in Yemen. She said steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of the incident, but did not elaborate (Read more at Straits Times).
Relations between Iran and the United States - once strong allies - have often been mistrustful and sometimes openly hostile since Iran's 1979 revolution. Here are some key dates (Read more at MSN)
“Threats are indeed heard; ultimatums are also heard. We consider such methods inappropriate; we condemn them, we consider this a way to impose our own will on the Iranian side,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. “Russia is ready to offer its good services to Washington, Tehran, and everyone who is interested in this,” he added (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said his phone call with El-Sisi “went very well,” noting that they discussed numerous topics, including the developments in Gaza and Yemen. On his Truth Social account, Trump said he discussed with El-Sisi the progress made against the Houthis, as the US continues its airstrikes against the Yemeni group (Read more at Al Ahram).
"The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran," Trump said on his Truth Social platform (Read more at New Arab).
The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens injured in terrorist attacks in Israel, as well as the families of U.S. citizens killed in such attacks. At issue is whether a law enacted by Congress six years ago to allow U.S. victims of terrorist attacks to sue the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization in federal courts in the United States violates the Constitution’s guarantee of due process. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in the latest chapter of the justices’ efforts to lay out rules for personal jurisdiction – whether courts have the power to hear a case against certain defendants. Tuesday’s case is a particularly high-profile dispute, and one that the federal government says has national security and foreign policy implications (Read more at scotusblog).
"We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a press conference. “At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.” (Read more at Arab Weekly)
Trump says he will wait "a couple of weeks" before deciding on tariffs. In Trump's first remarks since Iran rejected direct negotiations with Washington last week, he told NBC News that U.S. and Iranian officials were talking, but did not elaborate (Read more at Reuters).
Trump's decision to go to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip signals how close the relationship between the Trump administration and Gulf countries has become, especially when it comes to economic cooperation and investment (Read more at Axios).
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei stressed that if enemies commit evil against Iran, they will definitely receive a strong and reciprocal blow. "And If they seek to create sedition within the country, the (Iranian) nation itself will (give a proper) answer to them." (Read more at Mehrnews)
He said the tactic would pave the way for Israel to take control of Gaza and implement “the Trump plan" to evict Palestinians from the enclave. Mr Netanyahu's remarks, along with the move to appoint an official to lead a newly created body aimed at advancing the “voluntary” displacement of Gazans, suggest his government is pursuing Mr Trump's proposals for the enclave (Read more at The National).
Oil prices held steady on Monday as investors adopted a cautious, wait-and-see stance after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil and warned Iran of possible military action if it did not agree to a deal over its nuclear program. Some analysts believe that Trump may not act on his threats, a view that is putting a cap on oil prices (Read more at USNews).
Media outlets affiliated with the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) reported that the United States carried out 72 airstrikes on Sana'a, Saada, Amran, Marib, Al-Jawf, and Hodeidah within 24 hours (Read more at Jordan News).
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Houthi government announced that U.S. airstrikes on the northern governorates of Amran and Saada had caused the "complete destruction" of communication stations (Read more at Jordan News).
A Massachusetts federal judge blocked the deportation from the U.S. of a Turkish-born Tufts University doctoral student until further notice, pending a ruling on her habeas corpus petition. Öztürk’s deportation, therefore, has been postponed until the court proposed a deadline of 5 p.m. local time (2200GMT) on April 1 to resolve the dispute (Read more at hurriyetdailynews).
Trump's comments came after Iran responded to the letter the president sent the country's supreme leader three weeks ago, which threatened military action if no deal is reached in two months. "Iran is very high on my list of things to watch. ... We will have to talk it out or very bad things are gonna happen to Iran, and I don't want that to happen," Trump said. "My big preference is that we work it out with Iran, but if we don't work it out, bad, bad things are gonna happen to Iran." (Read more at Axios)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday the United States hopes to do more diplomatically to end the war in Sudan. Rubio said he was “engaged” on Sudan and had discussed the devastating war in recent days with international players including Kenyan President William Ruto and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Read more at Arab Weeekly).
“We are watching. We have expressed concern. We don’t like to see instability like that in the governance of any country that is such a close ally,” Rubio said. President Donald Trump had “a very good working relationship with Erdogan in the first administration. They would like to restart that,” Rubio added. “They are a NATO ally. We would like to cooperate with them in Syria and other places,” he said (Read more at Trukish Minute).
Israel and Beirut agreed the terms of ceasefire in November, but rockets have been fired from Lebanon twice this week, prompting Israeli air raids in return. A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, Tammy Bruce, indicated that Washington supports the Israeli position (Read more at Nahar Net).
Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, launched the investment firm in 2021 after leaving the White House at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, when he was a top adviser on the Middle East. Affinity secured $1.5 billion of extra capital in 2024 from two of its existing investors - Abu Dhabi-based Lunate and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
"The Americans are well aware of how vulnerable they are. If they invade Iran, it would be like adding a spark to a powder keg, and it would ignite the entire region. In such a case, their bases and those of their allies won’t be safe anymore," the senior Iranian lawmaker said in an address on International Quds Day (Read more at Tass).
Most eyes were on former governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. envoy to Israel, during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Tuesday. But Reed Rubinstein, nominee for legal adviser to oversee some 300 U.S. State Department attorneys and staff, also addressed areas of interest and concern to American Jews and those who care about Israel (Read more at JNS).
The seized funds, which were registered to Palestinians living in Turkey and other countries, were used to launder more than $1.5 million for Hamas since October 2024, the U.S. government said. A group chat allegedly associated with Hamas solicited donations via a group chat to a changing set of some dozen and a half cryptocurrency addresses. “These seizures show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas, wherever it is found, and in whatever form of currency,” stated Edward Martin, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia (Read more at JNS).
“Today’s action underscores Treasury’s determination to expose and disrupt the schemes that fund Hezbollah’s terrorist violence against the Lebanese people and their neighbors,” Bradley T. Smith, Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said. “These evasion networks strengthen Iran and its proxy Hezbollah and undermine the courageous efforts of the Lebanese people to build a Lebanon for all its citizens.” (Read more at Kataeb)
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected a pair of anti-Israel amendments to a bill to scrutinize foreign funding at American universities. The Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, which the House passed on Thursday without the two amendments, lowers the threshold at which colleges and universities have to report foreign contracts and gifts from $250,000 to $50,000. It also bars schools from contracts with China, Iran, North Korea and Russia (Read more at JNS).
The US is amassing B-2 bombers capable of carrying 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs. Their basing at Diego Garcia puts the bombers within 4,000 kilometres from Houthi territory and 5,300 kilometres of Iran, well within their refuelling range of approximately 11,000 kilometres. In the late 1990s, the US was conducting sporadic bombing runs against Saddam Hussein’s military, but Saudi Arabia dragged its feet about allowing the US to launch warplanes from their airfields (Read more at Middle East Eye).
They were sued on Monday 24 March in Manhattan federal court for allegedly functioning as Hamas’s “propaganda arm” and “in-house public relations firm” in New York City and on campus. The lawsuit was filed by nine US and Israeli citizens who were victims of Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, including relatives of people murdered or taken hostage, and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there (Read more at University World News)
"It's shocking. It's shocking negligence," a former senior defense official said. "We've got the best secure communication systems in the world — of any country — so why are we using a rickety, commercially available system?" A current senior U.S. official told Axios that while many of the participants in the Signal chat have encrypted government-issued phones on which they can discuss classified information, poor reception and other technical problems can make using a personal device easier. "You can drop from the line in the middle of a call," the official said (Read more at Axios).
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement. The sale “will improve Qatar’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing timely intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, target acquisition, counter-land, and counter-surface sea capabilities for its security and defense,” DSCA said (Read more at Defense Post).
Judge James Boasberg ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump must take measures to keep records of the full conversation between March 11 and March 15, when the journalist had access to the conversation (Read more at Aljazeera).
US Senator Bernie Sanders said he would force votes next week on resolutions that would block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel, citing the human rights crisis faced by Palestinians in Gaza after Israel's bombardment of the enclave and its blocking of aid deliveries. "Netanyahu has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," Sanders said in a statement announcing his plan (Read more at New Arab).
A bipartisan group of 15 members of Congress endorsed the Hostages and Missing Families Forum for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in a letter to the selection committee. “Through unfathomable anguish and heartbreak, these families have become the conscience of the world,” the letter to the Nobel Committee stated (Read more at JNS).
The Iranian response, seen as an attempt to jumpstart talks over Tehran's nuclear program, was appropriately sent through Oman. No details have been released of the Iranian response nor the contents of Trump's letter (Read more at Daily Sabah).
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, stated at the beginning of the committee hearing that he launched the investigation “demanding answers about their activities on college campuses.” “This group’s leaders have ties to Hamas and helped create the group Students for Justice in Palestine,” Cassidy said. “I also requested information from the Justice Department and several universities on these groups.” (Read more at JNS)
It is part of a long-running campaign by the U.S. targeting Triliance Petrochemical Co., a Hong Kong-based broker with branches in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Germany, that the U.S. says is a well-known Iranian front company supporting Iran’s petrochemical industry (Read more at Maritime Executive).
Nobody seriously believes that the U.S. Senate will reject President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Republicans managed to get far more controversial nominees. However, the political arm of Reform Judaism is publicly opposing Huckabee. So too are the left-wing lobby J Street and the Jewish Democratic Council of America. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an umbrella group of Jewish community relations councils around the country, didn’t condemn the nomination outright but made clear its disdain for him with comments deprecating him as a “Christian nationalist.” (Read more at JNS)
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth texted about plans to kill a Houthi militant leader in Yemen two hours before a military operation meant to be shrouded in secrecy. The revelation that highly sensitive attack plans were shared on a commercial messaging app, possibly on personal cellphones, has triggered outrage in Washington and calls from Democrats that members of Trump's national security team be fired over the leaks (Read more at Timeslive).
Hegseth: "Nobody was texting war plans." From the texts: "THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP," Hegseth texted, along with detailed sequencing of the operation.
Gabbard under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee: "I can attest to the fact that there were not classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time." The texts include highly detailed information about the sequencing of an attack that had yet to take place.
Ratcliffe in the Senate hearing said he was not "aware" of any "information on weapons packages, targets or timing" that was discussed in the chat. Gabbard concurred. The texts include a detailed sequencing of the timing of the attacks, to include Hegseth's to-the-minute breakdown of when F-18s and drones would take off and drop their payloads (Read more at Axios).
The U.S. is pounding Houthi drone experts and infrastructure as well as command-and-control nodes across Yemen at a pace previously unseen (Read more at Axios).
United States immigration authorities have arrested and revoked the visa of a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University near Boston who had voiced support for Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza (Read more at Aljazeera).
The brand has had considerable success in neighboring United Arab Emirates, where most ride-hailing apps offer electric vehicles. Trump said this month he would likely make his first trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, after asking the kingdom in January to spend upwards of $1 trillion in the U.S. economy, over four years, including military purchases (Read more at CNBC).
A judge has ruled that Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Korean American student at Columbia University who is being sought for deportation by the administration of President Donald Trump, cannot be detained as she fights attempts to remove her from the United States over her pro-Palestinian views. “As of today, Yunseo Chung no longer has to fear and live in fear of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] coming to her doorstep and abducting her in the night,” Chung’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said after the court ruling on Tuesday (Read more at Aljazeera).
The demands included the removal of foreign fighters from key governing positions, the destruction of remaining chemical weapons and cooperation on counterterrorism efforts. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Levant and Syria engagement in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Natasha Franceschi, delivered the list to Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani on the sidelines of a Syria donor conference in Brussels. This meeting marked the first direct high-level interaction between Damascus and Washington since President Donald Trump’s inauguration (Read more at Daily Sabah).
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan kicked off a two-day visit to Washington, where he was expected to ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials to remove US sanctions on Turkey and allow it back into a crucial fighter jet programme (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior adviser of Vice President Harris who served as director for Jewish outreach during her 2024 presidential campaign, is joining liberal pro-Israel Jewish organization J Street (Read more at Axios).
Mike Waltz 'has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,' says the President. Trump said the Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the Signal messaging group by a staffer in Waltz's office, describing the error during an interview with NBC News as "the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one." (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı)
Vance weighed in to say, "I think we are making a mistake ... I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now," Vance said. Vance's disdain for European political elites isn't just political theater. Here, he argued against strikes that he felt would mainly benefit Europe — and thus should be up to the Europeans to execute (Read more at Axios).
The Oregon-based firm will provide its next-generation Lightweight Vehicle Surveillance System (LVSS) to a “high-profile military entity” in the Kingdom. Teledyne FLIR has secured a $7.8-million contract to deliver long-range thermal surveillance systems and associated support services (Read more at Defense Post).
Peter Hawkins, UNICEF's representative in Yemen, shared his observations from Hudaydah, stating: "I was in Hudaydah over the past three days. I passed through the western plains where people are in the streets and on the roadside, begging and looking for help. They have surrendered. I personally saw a heavily damaged building where three children were injured from yesterday’s bombing." (Read more at Jordan News)
The sanctions on Reza Amiri Moghadam, Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, and Taqi Daneshvar of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security are the latest linked to the disappearance of the former FBI agent, who Washington believes was abducted in Iran and died in captivity. As a result of the sanctions, any property of the men under U.S. jurisdiction must be blocked and Americans are generally barred from dealing with them. Foreign persons also risk blacklisting for dealing with them (Read more at Reuters).
In a frank and wide-ranging interview with Tucker Carlson on Saturday, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that negotiations to end Israeli attacks on Gaza were ongoing and that if Hamas “demilitarised” then “maybe they could stay” in the Palestinian enclave and “be involved politically”. Witkoff said that when Trump asked him how long it would take to reconstruct Gaza, he replied by saying 15 or maybe 20 years. Witkoff also talked about Egypt. He said, “Egypt has a very restive population. The stats in Egypt are huge - unemployment among under-25s is like 45 percent. A country can’t exist like that. They’re largely broke. They need a lot of help. If we have a bad event in Egypt, it could take us back.” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The White House has singled out Saudi Arabia as a possible participant in the accords, although the Saudis have qualms about Israel due to the Gaza war (Read more at MSN).
”This has nothing to do with my scholarship or teaching,” he writes. “It is a political hit job over my support for Palestine and for trying to protect our student protesters last year from physical attack, by nonviolently subjecting my own body to assault by the Northwestern Police instead of our students.” (Read more at Campus Reform)
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court, names Khalil as one of the heads of the anti-Israel protests that engulfed the Morningside Heights campus last year, which the families claimed effectively helped to spread Hamas’ hateful rhetoric (Read more at NYPost).
Morgan Ortagus told Fox News that Biden had made Israel 'fight with one hand tied behind their back' by limiting arms exports. The US is the biggest arms supplier to Israel, accounting for 66 percent of the country's weapons imports between 2020 and 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In January 2025, weeks before Biden was set to leave office, Washington approved the sale of $20bn in military equipment, including air-to-air missiles, Hellfire missiles, artillery shells and bombs, to Israel. In March, the Trump administration bypassed a normal congressional review to approve a nearly $3bn arms sale to Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
A message to the group, from “Michael Waltz,” read as follows: “Team – establishing a principles [sic] group for coordination on Houthis, particularly for over the next 72 hours. My deputy Alex Wong is pulling together a tiger team at deputies/agency Chief of Staff level following up from the meeting in the Sit Room this morning for action items and will be sending that out later this evening.” The message continued, “Pls provide the best staff POC from your team for us to coordinate with over the next couple days and over the weekend. Thx.” (Read more at Atlantic)
A doctor and professor was deported after she returned from a trip to Lebanon despite having a valid U.S. visa, according to a court petition filed on her behalf. Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown Medicine, held an H-1B visa when she traveled to her home country to visit her family. Court documents alleged that upon returning to the United States at the end of last week, she was held at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours before she was sent back to Lebanon this weekend in violation of a federal judge’s order to halt her deportation (Read more at NBC News).
Trump warned Iran against supporting the group, declaring, 'America will hold you fully accountable, and we won’t be nice about it!' The unfolding strikes – which one U.S. official told Reuters might continue for weeks – represent the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. It came as the United States ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program (Read more at The Print).
Egypt proposed an alternative to Trump's colonial plan for the US to cease Gaza and deport its Palestinian population, suggesting a $53 billion plan that would be carried out in three phases over 5 years. Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty said Palestinian factions have consented to Egypt's proposal to form a non-factional technocratic committee to oversee Gaza as part of the newly ratified Arab-Islamic Gaza reconstruction plan (Read more at Al Ahram).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night directed his negotiating team to prepare for renewed hostage-ceasefire talks based on U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal that seeks the immediate release of 11 living captives and half of the bodies still being held by Hamas in Gaza. The decision was made following a ministerial meeting in Jerusalem, and amid an apparent impasse in negotiations in Doha (Read more at JNS).
Candidates include Camille Abousleiman, Firas Abi-Nassif, Philippe Jabre. US aims to curb Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon’s banking. US officials met with some potential candidates in Washington and at the US embassy in Lebanon (Read more at Arabnews).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a telephonic conversation with the US President Donald Trump has discussed efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and to restore stability in Syria. He told Trump that Turkiye supports his decisive and direct initiatives to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and Ankara will continue to strive for a “just and lasting peace. Erdogan also spoke of “the importance of jointly contributing to the lifting of sanctions on Syria to restore stability, make the new administration functional and support normalization (Source: Radio Pakistan).
Oil prices rose slightly last week, snapping a three-week losing streak caused by concerns over a global economic slowdown driven by escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and other nations. The Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have disrupted global commerce and set the U.S. military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones (Read more at CNBC).
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which helped the US defeat Daesh in 2019, has since then been overseeing Ghuwayran prison, Al-Hol camp and Al-Roj camp, which hold about 56,000 Daesh fighters, their wives and their children. Even with US support, the camps and prisons had been starved of sufficient funding and manpower. “In the worst-case scenario, this could lead to security vulnerabilities that Daesh cells may attempt to exploit, particularly as the group remains active in the Syrian desert and continues efforts to infiltrate” northeastern areas controlled by the autonomous administration (Read more at Arabnews).
A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages (Read more at Arabnews).
The US and Israel have contacted officials from Sudan, Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland to discuss using their territory for resettling Palestinians from Gaza, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing US and Israeli officials who confirmed the contacts. Sudan officials said they rejected the proposal by the United States, and officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were unaware of any contacts (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The White House accused Hamas on Friday of making “entirely impractical” demands and stalling on a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage in exchange for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire. Hamas said earlier on Friday it was ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four others, after the Palestinian militants and Israel resumed indirect Gaza ceasefire negotiations (Read more at Defense Post).
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Tager presented the proposal in Qatar. The proposal calls for Hamas to continue releasing hostages in exchange for prisoners based on a previously established formula. It also extends the phase-1 ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza (Read more at Business Standard).
China and Russia stood by Iran on Friday after the United States demanded nuclear talks with Tehran, with senior Chinese and Russian diplomats saying dialogue should only resume based on “mutual respect” and all sanctions ought to be lifted. In a joint statement issued after talks with Iran in Beijing, Beijing and Moscow also said they welcomed Iran’s reiteration that its nuclear programme was exclusively for peaceful purposes, and that Iran’s right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be “fully” respected (Read more at The Print).
So far in March, the UAE exported 68,560.29 metric tons of aluminium to the U.S. before the tariffs kicked in, compared to 16,124.88 metric tons in all of March 2024. The exports in March are already at a nearly two-year high on a monthly basis (Read more at MSN).
The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Iran’s oil minister Mohsen Paknejad and some Hong Kong-flagged vessels that are part of a shadow fleet that helps disguise Iranian oil shipments, the Treasury Department said (Read more at Energy Now).
This move comes after a media blitz in which Boehler referred to Hamas as “nice guys” and said he didn’t “really care about” the concerns of Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister. He also stated that the United States was “not an agent of Israel.” A senior U.S. official said Adam Boehler will still work on other Mideast-related matters with Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East (Read more at JNS).
At the start of the year, the U.S. government tightened restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips, such as those made by Nvidia, while finding ways to block China's access to the advanced technology. Under the regulations, countries such as Japan, Britain, South Korea and the Netherlands would essentially be exempt from the rules while others, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, will face some caps (Read more at Market Screener).
“If we enter negotiations while the other side is imposing maximum pressure, we will be negotiating from a weak position and will achieve nothing,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. “The other side must be convinced that the policy of pressure is ineffective; only then can we sit at the negotiating table on equal terms” he added (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Most major stock markets in the Gulf rose in early trade on Thursday, helped by a cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation print, although uncertainty over tariffs persisted. Monetary policy in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council is usually guided by the Federal Reserve's decisions, as most regional currencies are pegged to the dollar (Read more at Zawya).
During a meeting at the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Trump hammered Democratic Party lawmakers for the response to his March 6 speech to a joint session of Congress. “Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said Wednesday. “He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.” (Read more at The Hill)
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem has welcomed United States President Donald Trump’s apparent retreat from his proposed permanent displacement of more than two million Palestinians from Gaza. The statement by the Hamas official came after Trump said on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza” in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin (Read more at Aljazeera).
Türkiye's national oil company, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), has signed a joint venture agreement with U.S. oil producers Continental Resources and TransAtlantic Petroleum to develop shale fields in the country’s southeastern Diyarbakır province. ürkiye's national oil company, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), has signed a joint venture agreement with U.S. oil producers Continental Resources and TransAtlantic Petroleum to develop shale fields in the country’s southeastern Diyarbakır province (Read more at Daily Sabah).
The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war, paving the way for Kurdish-led forces, which hold a quarter of Syria, to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies. Key details of how this will happen have yet to be spelled out, however (Read more at Japan Times).
According to the New York Police Department, around 150 individuals dressed in civilian attire entered the Trump Tower – US President Donald Trump's New York residence and a property of the Trump Organization – shortly before noon. Once inside, they removed their outer layers to reveal red T-shirts bearing pro-Palestinian slogans and began a sit-in. Footage from the scene captured protesters seated in the lobby, clapping and chanting "Free Palestine." (Read more at Shine)
US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler traveled to Iraq last month to push for the release of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped in Iraq nearly two years ago, three sources familiar with the matter said. Since taking office, Boehler has stepped up efforts to secure the release of Tsurkov, a Princeton University student who went missing in Iraq during a research trip in March 2023, publicly urging the Iraqi government to help her get home (Read more at Arabnews).
The Iraqi prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, Farhad Alaaeldin said most Iraqi power plants run on gas from Iran, with 43% of Iraq's electricity generated by the gas imported from its neighbour to the east. Still, the U.S. was encouraging Iraq to secure gas from other sources, Alaaeldin said (Read more at Reuters).
Consultations and coordination on the plan would continue with US special envoy Steve Witkoff as a “basis for the reconstruction efforts” in Gaza, according to a joint statement following a meeting of the foreign ministers in Doha (Read more at Starits Times).
While Araqchi and Gargash were meeting, Khamenei told a group of university students that Trump's offer for talks was "a deception", state media reported. "When we know they won't honour it, what's the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate ... is a deception of public opinion," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state media. Khamenei said he had not yet seen the letter (Read more at Yahoo News).
Major stock markets in the Gulf fell in early trade on Tuesday, as investors fretted that a wide-ranging trade war could dent U.S. economic growth and lead to a recession. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index declined 1.3%, weighed down by a 1.6% slide in Al Rajhi Bank and a 1.9% drop in Saudi National Bank (Read more at Zawya).
The Council on American Islamic Relations said it recorded the highest number of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints, 8,658, in 2024, since it began publishing data in 1996. Most complaints were in the categories of employment discrimination (15.4 percent), immigration and asylum (14.8 percent), education discrimination (9.8 percent) and hate crimes (7.5 percent). (Read more at New Arab)
