During President Joe Biden’s administration, the US military carried out waves of air drops of food into Gaza, delivering some 1,220 tons of assistance. But the option hasn’t been seriously considered by Donald Trump’s administration, US officials and other sources say. One source said it is seen as an unrealistic option because airdrops would not come close to meeting the needs of 2.1 million Palestinians (Read more at Dawn).
At the first US State Department briefing since Israel killed a team of journalists in northern Gaza on Sunday - including Al Jazeera's highest profile correspondent in the strip, Anas al-Sharif - the Trump administration appeared to brush off the attack as a mere casualty of being in a war zone before deferring to Israel for any potential investigation. While the US has "concern about the loss of any innocent life", spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday, "many of you know of someone who's been killed, who you've worked with because of a war situation". "I will remind you again that we’re dealing with a complicated, horrible situation," she told a reporter from Aljazeera Arabic who asked if she was comfortable with the Israeli justification for targeting Sharif (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The resolution supports boycott campaigns against Israel and principles outlined by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The resolution, passed with a 56 to 43 percent vote at DSA’s biennial convention, also allocates resources to pro-Palestine organising and emphasises the Palestinian right to return "from the river to the sea" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry made the comment after Mike Huckabee attacked the UK for opposing Israeli war plans. It came after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the Israeli government's decision to "further escalate its offensive in Gaza" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
American envoy tells Security Council Tehran ‘poses a threat to maritime security through its support for the Houthis and … its seizure of vessels transiting international waters’. Council ‘must impose meaningful consequences for sanctions violations and seek additional ways to cut off the international funding’ of Houthi weapons programs, she says (Read more at Arabnews).
Earlier the same day, the Israeli prime minister stated that the new offensive in the Gaza Strip is aimed at destroying the two remaining Hamas strongholds, calling it the only option since the group refuses to lay down arms. Netanyahu said his goal was not to occupy Gaza. "We want a security belt right next to our border, but we don't want to stay in Gaza. That's not our purpose. The timeline that we set for the action is fairly quickly. We want, first of all, to enable safe zones to be established so the civilian population of Gaza City can move out." (Read more at RBC-Ukraine)
Iran threatened on Saturday to block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a regional deal sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump, Iranian media reported, raising a new question mark over a peace plan hailed as a strategically important shift (Read more at LBC).
Lawmakers sympathetic to Israel are warning that the plan could be a logistical nightmare and warning the country to tread carefully and avoid further alienating the international community. It's not just Democrats questioning the plan. "I'd like to know who is actually going to run it," Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee that oversees the Middle East said. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), another member of the panel said: "Occupation for security also comes with the responsibility of providing humanitarian assistance and creating an economic future." (Read more at Axios)
The plan, submitted by US President Donald Trump’s regional envoy Tom Barrack, outlines the most detailed steps yet to neutralise the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which has faced increasing domestic and international pressure to disarm since last year’s war with Israel. Following a Cabinet meeting on Thursday (August 7), Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos confirmed the government had approved the objectives of the US plan but had not discussed its full contents (Read more at CNA).
“The Mission urges US citizens to avoid locations in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of worship,” US Mission to UAE said in a statement. Americans in the UAE are advised to stay informed through the State Department’s travel website, which includes Travel Warnings and Country-Specific Information. The Mission also recommended enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive real-time security updates and facilitate emergency assistance (Read more at First Post).
The UK government acknowledged this year that it conducts such flights over the war-ravaged Palestinian territory but insisted they were “solely in support of hostage rescue.” The Royal Air Force (RAF) had been using its Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft to film over Gaza, aiding the search for the hostages, but turned to a US firm after the planes were reassigned or needed maintenance (Read more at Defense Post).
A team leader for a US contractor providing services to the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Fund has been accused of being a member of an Islamophobic organisation. Anthony Aguilar says the contractor leading security in Gaza is not experienced to lead UG solutions and is part of a group that purports to tackle 'jihadism' (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Senior UN aid officials met Wednesday with the chair of the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, marking their first direct engagement since the foundation began operating in Gaza in late May. It came after months of bitter public exchanges between the UN and the GHF, as Gaza spirals deeper into starvation (Read more at Axios).
The U.S. targets include RUNC Exchange System Company and its leadership, Cyrus Offshore Bank, and Iranian software holding company Pasargad Arian Information and Communication Technology (Read more at AOL).
Draft report on Israel cut to 25 pages from over 100 under Biden, with official saying 2024 version aims to improve 'readability. It eliminates references to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial and his government’s controversial judicial overhaul (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
Efforts to expand the accords are currently complicated by global anger with Israel over the soaring death toll in the Gaza Strip. "Now that the nuclear arsenal being 'created' by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords," Trump wrote in a social media post (Read more at France 24).
Court documents filed in federal court in Washington and unsealed on Wednesday show that defendant Elias Rodriguez has been charged with nine counts, including a hate crime resulting in death. The 30-year-old is accused of shooting dead Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young couple who were about to become engaged, as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in May (Read more at Aljazeera).
In its report, HRW investigated two incidents in 2024 in which it found that GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs supplied by the United States were used. One attack on the Khadija girls’ school in Deir el-Balah on July 27, 2024, killed at least 15 people, and another attack on the Zeitoun C school in Gaza City on September 21, 2024, left at least 34 dead (Read more at Aljazeera).
Trump administration believes Israel had not adequately addressed situation. US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump discussed the increased US role during a White House meeting. The meeting came after Witkoff's visit to Gaza last week, where he spent over five hours assessing conditions on the ground, according to US State Department (Read more at Anadolu Ajansi).
The Medford ordinance makes Massachusetts the third state with a city that has reclaimed public dollars from funding the Israeli military's destruction of Gaza. “We are in a new era where taxpayers are not just concerned with the services they receive as part of a city and town, but also how city and town resources are impacting global issues,” Council President Zac Bears, the ordinance’s sponsor, said (Read more at Huff Post).
He said his administration’s focus was on increasing food access to the Palestinian enclave under assault from Washington’s ally. “I know that we are there now trying to get people fed,” Mr Trump told reporters on Aug 5. “As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel.” Mr Trump had proposed a US takeover of Gaza earlier in 2025 (Read more at Straits Times).
This marks a shift in the Trump administration’s policy which has tried to penalise local governments, institutions, federal agencies and private companies for not aligning with its views on Israel or antisemitism. The decision to quietly remove the clause from the terms and conditions comes after various US media outlets slammed the department for tying access to federal emergency funds to political agendas and ideologies. It also comes as global pressure and criticism mount on Israel over its Gaza offensive (Read more at Euronews).
Syria's future as a unified state hangs in the balance as both countries pursue long-standing plans to cement hegemonic control through violence and divide-and-conquer tactics. While the US prioritises geostrategic control and the protection of its energy and security interests, Israel seeks to break Syria into ethnic and sectarian enclaves as part of a decades-old strategy to fragment the Arab world and cement its own regional hegemony (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The "last thing" Rabbi Rachel Timoner says she wanted to do was block the street in front of New York's Israeli consulate as part of a protest calling on Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza – let alone get arrested for doing so. The Brooklyn rabbi said on the Haaretz Podcast that when she was asked to take part in the demonstration, she found it impossible to say no. "As a leader of the Jewish community here, as a rabbi, I feel that when Israel is acting in a way that they are claiming is representing Judaism, it's part of my job to show my understanding of what Judaism stands for. We feed the hungry, and we care for the sick, and we free the captives, and we care for the human dignity of every life, of every human life." (Listen Here)
Johnson becomes the highest-ranking US official to visit an illegal settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the trip by the speaker of the US House of Representatives on Monday a “blatant violation of international law” (Read more at Aljazeera).
In a letter to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Democratic lawmakers have urged the government to follow in the footsteps of 147 countries that have already recognised a Palestinian state, saying the US should not “be isolated from the rest of the free world”. US Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna's effort to gather support for recognising a Palestinian state is now being supported by 13 House Democrats, as of Monday (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Natural disaster funds will be withheld from states facing fires, flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes if they boycott Israeli companies. But the ruling is seen as largely symbolic. More than 30 US states already have laws that require “public entities to certify they do not and will not boycott Israel.” (Read more at Middle East Eye)
A group of around 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza. "It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel," said the officials (Read more at Business Standard).
Despite some pushback from his party to deal with the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza - especially Israel’s starvation policy - the US governing Republican Party remains unmoved. Republicans overwhelmingly support Israel’s tactics against the Palestinians, as support for Israel plummets among Independent and Democratic voters. Trump says he wants more food to reach Gaza via the militarised distribution mechanism, the GHF. But he criticised Western countries that spoke of diplomatic moves, such as recognising Palestinian statehood. Host Steve Clemons speaks with Republican analyst Mark Pfeifle and Democratic analyst David Bolger on Trump’s political calculations on Middle East policy (Listen here).
Trump has so far paid no price for ignoring a ceasefire. Trump said this week that “real starvation” was occurring in Gaza, in an apparent jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has denied the charge. Trump said anyone who viewed the images of emaciated children in Gaza would say it was terrible “unless they’re pretty cold-hearted or, worse than that, nuts”. He wants to bring the hostages home and create a better humanitarian situation, but is not interested in spending the time on the underlying issues to end the war (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Witkoff is heard saying: "We have a very, very good plan that we're working on collectively with the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ... for the reconstruction of Gaza. That effectively means the end of the war." Witkoff also said that Hamas was prepared to disarm in order to end the war, though the group has repeatedly said it will not lay down its weapons (Read more at Reuters).
Such an expansion would reflect Trump’s desire to conclude pacts with non-Arab nations as his administration is unable to convince regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to restore ties with Israel while war rages in Gaza. While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centred on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Every weekend for the past three weeks, demonstrators have banged pots and pans outside Capital One’s Cafe in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is part of a consortium of six banks that have loaned $545m to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defence contractor. The picketers are led by Boycott, Divestment Sanctions Boston (BDS Boston), a local pro-Palestine group that has been campaigning against Elbit Systems for years. According to S, a member of BDS Boston who asked only to be identified by their first initial, the pickets “have a very strong emphasis on disruption” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS (Trump) a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said. He visited Gaza a day after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is under mounting international pressure over the devastation of Gaza since the start of the war and growing starvation among its 2.2 milion inhabitants. Hours after Witkoff’s visit, Palestinian medics reported Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians near one of the group’s sites in the city on Gaza’s southern edge (Read more at Gulf Times).
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, they said. However, a soaring death toll in Gaza and starvation in the enclave due to the blockade of aid and military operations by Israel have buoyed Arab fury, complicating Trump's efforts to add more Muslim-majority countries to the Abraham Accords (Read more at Express Tribune).
In San Francisco, Boston, Dallas and other cities around the country, protesters have marched and chanted outside the offices of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The demonstrators were demanding accountability for BCG’s role in creating a deadly new aid distribution system backed by the US and Israel that a United Nations official described as using starvation as a bargaining chip (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The US announces sanctions against the Palestinian leadership, saying it has undermined peace efforts. It comes as the war in Gaza still rages and the push for Palestinian statehood is gaining momentum. So, what are the implications of the US decision? (Listen here)
The protest, known as the “Siege of the US Embassy”, began last Saturday. Protesters gathered in the square in front of the embassy, raising slogans condemning US support for what they described as a war of extermination. Speaking on Thursday evening, protest spokesperson Salah Eddine Al-Masri said: “This protest aims to pressure the US to stop supporting Israel and push for an end to the war on Gaza and the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid.” He added that a new protest is planned for next Monday at the embassy’s entrance, where demonstrators will display pictures of Palestinian children killed in the war and will attempt to disrupt the embassy’s access (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The U.S. is imposing a new wave of tariffs on African exports, with South Africa, Algeria, and Libya facing the continent’s highest rate of 30 percent. These tariffs are set to take effect on August 7 and follow a missed deadline of August 1 for trade negotiations between the U.S. and African nations. However, no trade deals were finalized with African countries before this deadline (Read more at CGNT Africa).
During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, several US senators spoke of the deep and strategic partnership between the United States and Morocco. The hearing was held to confirm Duke Buchan III as the new US Ambassador to Morocco. Senators from both major parties noted Morocco’s importance as one of America’s oldest allies and a key partner in Africa and beyond (Read more at Morocco World News).
The US president's sentiments on Palestinian statehood have shifted significantly over the past week. More and more, his Mideast policy is being driven by hawkish staff and donors who have his ear, which could explain the shift in messaging. Washington adopted the policy of two states, Israel and Palestine, at the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. It became official at the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords in the White House Rose Garden. No administration has officially, on paper, overturned that policy since, but now more than ever, no government action even remotely suggests that it remains in effect (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Following the meeting, a senior Israeli official said an understanding between Israel and the US was emerging that there was a need to move from a plan to release some of the hostages to a plan to release all the hostages, disarm Hamas militants and demilitarise the Gaza Strip. The official did not provide details on what that plan would be, but it was seen as a shift from seeking a limited truce to a more comprehensive deal. The official added that Israel and the United States would work to increase humanitarian aid, while continuing the fighting in Gaza (Read more at The Age).
"We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty," the countries said in a joint statement. The governments of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US called on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop such illegal activities (Read more at CNA).
In this week’s episode of One Decision, Congressman Bill Foster — the only Ph.D. physicist in Congress — joins hosts Christina Ruffini and Sir Richard Dearlove to examine the widening gap between science and policy in Washington. Foster warns that as the U.S. defunds research and sidelines experts, it risks falling behind in the global race for technological dominance, particularly against China. From the dangers of deregulated artificial intelligence to the unclear status of Iran’s nuclear program, Foster outlines the stakes of ignoring science at the highest levels of government (Listen here).
“As the president stated, he would be rewarding Hamas if he recognizes a Palestinian state, and he doesn’t think they should be rewarded," a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "So he is not going to do that. President Trump’s focus is on getting people fed (in Gaza).” (Read more at Reuters)
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has repeatedly tried to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel over the last year. The resolutions before the Senate on Tuesday would have stopped the sale of $675 million in bombs as well as shipments of 20,000 automatic assault rifles to Israel. They again failed to gain passage, but 27 Democrats — more than half the caucus — voted for the resolution that applied to assault rifles, and 24 voted for the resolution that applied to bomb sales. It was more than any of Sanders’ previous efforts, which at a high mark in November last year gained 18 votes from Democrats (Read more at AP).
In a Truth Social Post late on Wednesday, Trump expressed surprise over Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announcing that Canada plans to recognize the State of Palestine at the U.N. in September, and said (quote) "That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.” (Read more at Yahoo News).
Trump has made clear in recent days that he thinks there is starvation in Gaza and has committed to increasing U.S. aid. At the same time, he said he expects other Western countries and Israel to do their share. Amid calls for an immediate ceasefire, Trump has also said Israel might need to escalate the war to force Hamas to sign a hostage deal (Read more at Axios).
President Trump said on Thursday that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will end if Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders. The comment from the president marks a change in tone from others he made in recent days that put the onus on Israel to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza (Read more at Axios).
The reliably pro-Israel Republican Party is scrambling to contain a generational revolt over foreign aid, antisemitism and the true meaning of "America First." A growing number of Gen Z conservatives — removed from the historical context that shaped older Republican views — see Israel as just another ally taking advantage of America's generosity. "What we are seeing on Israel is a generational split around the age of 40," MAGA podcaster Jack Posobiec told Axios earlier this month. "Over 40 support, under 40 range from skeptical to wanting to cut all ties." (Read more at Axios).
They announced sanctions against members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), accusing them of supporting “terrorism” and seeking to destabilise peace efforts. The State Department said it reported to Congress that the groups had violated international agreements, including the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002. The State Department denounced the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization for seeking to “internationalize its conflict with Israel” by seeking relief at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice (Read more at Aljazeera).
Aryeh Lightstone and Charles Leith, aides to Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, briefed U.S. Senate and House of Representatives committees on July 8 and 9 about the GHF operation. They told the congressional committees that it is enough to fund the organization through the end of July (Read more at AOL).
Without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers, the US will no longer dispatch US envoy Thomas Barrack to Beirut for negotiations with Lebanese officials, or pressure Israel either to stop airstrikes or pull its troops from south Lebanon (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The American child separated from their family from a sprawling camp in northeastern Syrian that houses tens of thousands of people with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group, the State Department said Wednesday (Read more at ABC News).
Today, in its largest Iran-related action since 2018, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating more than 50 individuals and entities and identifying more than 50 vessels that are part of the vast shipping empire (Read more at Treasury Department).
Not since 7 October 2023 has support for Israel among Americans been this low. In a dramatic 10 percentage point drop since a poll from September 2024, only 32 percent of Americans said they support Israel's war in Gaza. The decline in support for the war and for Netanyahu is mainly driven by those who identify as Democrats and Independents (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), in a Tuesday night post on X, became the first Republican in Congress to refer to the war in Gaza as a "genocide." For years, "America first" nationalists have been skeptical of U.S. foreign aid, but Trump and others carved out an exception for Israel. That consensus has eroded at a stunning rate over the last week. "The reality of the images from Gaza are impossible to ignore," said former Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who fought to restrict U.S. arms shipments to Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. "And public opinion is reflecting that fact. That's the most significant change." (Read more at Axios).
Formerly known as the Nusra Front, HTS was al Qaeda's official wing in Syria until breaking ties in 2016. Since May 2014, the group has been on the United Nations Security Council's al Qaeda and Islamic State sanctions list and subjected to a global asset freeze and arms embargo. A number of HTS members are also under U.N. sanctions - a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo - including its leader, Ahmed Sharaa, who is now Syria's interim president. The United States is working with Security Council members to review Syria-related sanctions, acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea said on Monday (Read more at AOL).
Trump issued the threat as he held talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort on the western coast of Scotland. Iran, which denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, has insisted it will not give up domestic uranium enrichment despite the bombings of three nuclear sites (Read more at Reuters).
“Based on television, … those children look very hungry,” Trump said. “But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.” Even as Trump again dismissed the idea of recognizing Palestine as a state, he seemed unbothered by European allies doing so (Read more at Politico).
Even if armed resistance groups such as Hezbollah or Hamas are temporarily subdued, the region's capacity to generate new forms of resistance endures. With no plan for Gaza and growing regional defiance, the Trump administration's vision to reshape the Middle East through force is already beginning to fracture (Read more at Middle East Eye).
US said French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state 'undercuts' American diplomacy. The US State Department labelled the three-day event "unproductive and ill-timed", as well as a "publicity stunt" that would make finding peace harder. The diplomatic push is a "reward for terrorism", the statement said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“When you get it down to a certain number, you’re going to be able to make a deal with Hamas because once they give them up, then they feel that that’s going to be the end of them,” Trump said, referring to hostage negotiations. “They [Hamas] don’t want to give [the hostages] back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision.” (Read more at New York Post)
An internal US government analysis released Friday (July 25) found no evidence that the Palestinian militant group Hamas systematically stole US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, challenging claims from both Israel and the United States that have been used to justify a controversial new private armed aid effort (Read more at CNA).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian militants did not want a deal. Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job." (Read more at SBS)
A former US Army Special Forces officer revealed that he resigned from his role at the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) after witnessing the shelling of aid-seeking civilians in the besieged enclave. Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Aguilar said he had never seen such "brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israel was running low on Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptors as Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into Israeli cities in June. But Saudi Arabia was well placed to help Israel, and US officials have been keen to emphasise that Iran is a threat to them as well as Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The US is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiators home from Qatar after Hamas' latest response showed a "lack of desire" for a truce, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday. Hamas said in a statement that it was surprised by Witkoff’s “negative remarks” and that it has shown responsibility and flexibility in negotiations (Read more at France 24).
The United States on Thursday announced the approval of a $4.67 billion sale of the NASAMS air defense system and related support to Egypt. “The proposed sale will improve Egypt’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to detect various air threats,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement. The State Department approved the possible sale of the system to Egypt (Read more at Defense Post).
U.S. citizen Hosam Saraya died last week in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida. "What I can say is we have had direct discussions with the Syrian government on this issue, and have called for an immediate investigation into the matter," Pigott told reporters during a press briefing (Read more at AOL).
The U.S. Treasury Department in March revoked key licenses that allowed some companies to export Venezuelan oil and fuel to the U.S. after President Donald Trump criticized the OPEC nation's record on migration and democracy. Gulf Coast imports of oil from the Middle East, mainly Iraqi Qaiyarah, Kuwait's Eocene and Saudi Arabia's medium sour Arab Light, also ramped up sharply this month to 212,000 bpd, the highest since January (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Syria, the United States, and France issued a joint statement on Friday, stating that they had agreed to expedite efforts to ensure the success of Syria's transition, unity, and territorial integrity. They also agreed to support efforts to hold those responsible for violence accountable. They committed to cooperating on the “shared fight against terrorism in all forms” and to strengthening the capacity of the Syrian government to address security challenges (Read more at Yahoo).
Early this morning in al-Bab, Aleppo Governate, Syria, CENTCOM Forces conducted a raid resulting in the death of senior ISIS Leader, Dhiya’ Zawba Muslih al-Hardani, and his two adult ISIS-affiliated sons, Abdallah Dhiya al-Hardani and Abd al-Rahman Dhiya Zawba al-Hardani (Read more at Centcom).
He called the move reckless and damaging to peace efforts, echoing earlier criticism from Washington. Macron is okay, Trump said, but added "here's the good news, what he says doesn't matter." The French president's statement "doesn't carry any weight," he said (Read more at MSN).
"U.S. destroyer 'Fitzgerald' attempted to approach waters under Iran's monitoring, in a provocative move", Iranian state TV said, adding that the destroyer moved out of the area upon continued warning. Asked about the incident, a U.S. defense official told Reuters: "This interaction had no impact to USS Fitzgerald's mission and any reports claiming otherwise are falsehoods and attempts by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to spread misinformation." (Read more at Straits Times)
US Special Envoy Tom Barrack has proposed a plan to Lebanon’s top officials that would see the full disarmament of Hezbollah within four months. In return, Israel would halt its strikes and withdraw its forces from positions it still occupies in southern Lebanon. In his address, Qassem reiterated Hezbollah’s readiness to discuss all matters, including its weapons, but only within the context of a Lebanese national dialogue, and not under American pressure or threats (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Last month, a Quinnipiac poll found that 64 percent of Republicans sympathised more with Israel than with the Palestinians. That sounds like a lot - until you consider that just one year earlier, that number was 78 percent in the same poll. Sympathy for Palestinians did not increase: only 7 percent said they sympathised with Palestinians. So the drop was solely due to a declining view of Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The same day Witkoff pulled out of talks, the State Department was grilled by reporters over what aid experts say is an impending famine. A Financial Times reporter asked Pigott: "We all acknowledge obviously that Israel controls Gaza's borders completely and it is limiting food to the population because Hamas has not agreed to its terms... to be clear, is the US government okay with Israel allowing children and adult civilians to starve so long as Hamas and the UN refuse to play by Israel's rules?" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Iranian diplomat said talks could resume as long as Tehran's rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are recognized, Washington builds trust with Tehran, and guarantees that negotiations will not lead to renewed military action against Iran (Read more at Yahoo News).
“There’s nothing further beyond to say other than we will not be in attendance at that conference,” deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said at a news conference when asked about US participation. The conference is being co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York. It is seeking to chart a roadmap for the recognition of a Palestinian state (Source: Anadolu Ajansı).
It comes as the university negotiates with the Trump administration over frozen research funds (Read more at NPR).
A U.S. envoy has urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to recalibrate his policies and embrace a more inclusive approach after a new round of sectarian bloodshed last week, or risk losing international support and fragmenting the country. U.S. envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said he had advised Sharaa in private discussions to revisit elements of the pre-war army structure, scale back Islamist indoctrination and seek regional security assistance (Read more at Global Banking and Finance Review).
Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen (Read more at Arabnews).
If it weren’t for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the multiple investigations into payments made by Qatar to his closest aides, the Gaza war could have been over, Bar Peleg, who has been covering Netanyahu’s legal woes, said on the Haaretz Podcast. In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Peleg laid out the details of the multiple investigations, including BibiLeaks and Qatargate, against the Israeli premier in light of the calls by President Donald Trump that his trial be “cancelled.” Trump has also suggested that Netanyahu should be given a pardon, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s appearance at his trial in a show of support (Listen here).
The vehicles will be used by the Israeli military’s Ground Forces to replenish equipment after nearly two years of war with Gaza and to prepare for future conflicts (Read more at Defense Post).
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement in March with Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, outlining the full merger of the SDF and its agencies into the Damascus government. However, progress has stalled as the SDF and other Kurdish groups have demanded autonomy and resisted merging under the Syrian defence ministry, insisting on retaining a separate military command and organisational structure within the Syrian army (Read more at Middle East Eye).
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for defending her decision to support a bill which will see more military aid go to Israel's Iron Dome air defence system. Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Green's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza". (Read more at Middle East Eye)
He said it n response to a reporter’s question about Lebanese demands that the U.S. guarantees a halt to Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory. The U.S. last month proposed a roadmap to Lebanon’s top officials to fully disarm Hezbollah within four months, in exchange for a halt to Israeli strikes and a withdrawal of Israeli troops still occupying positions in southern Lebanon (Read more at Middle East Online).
"Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time," one White House official said. "This could undermine what Trump is trying to do. Another U.S. official said there's growing skepticism inside the Trump administration about Netanyahu — a sense that his trigger finger is too itchy and he's too disruptive. "Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave." (Read more at Axios)
Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi met on Saturday with US ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack and his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani to discuss recent developments in Syria. The talks also addressed the importance of enforcing the ceasefire to safeguard Syria’s unity, protect civilians and uphold the rule of law, amid concerns over instability and violence in the region (Read more at Arabnews).
The UAE’s bid to buy hundreds of thousands of advanced AI chips from Nvidia is being held up by US officials concerned that China could gain access to advanced American technology. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have been approved to receive the chips by the Commerce Department (Read more at Middle East Eye).
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the occupied West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an "act of terror". Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8 (Read more at Reuters).
US Sen. Chris Van Hollen slammed Israel on Friday for reportedly seeking American assistance in facilitating third-country resettlement deals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. "A truly outrageous and sickening request from the Netanyahu government," Van Hollen wrote on X (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The move marks a swift turnaround as U.S. companies enter a country previously under one of the world's tightest sanctions regimes that U.S. President Donald Trump lifted at the end of June. The companies plan to help explore and extract oil and gas and produce power to help get the economy running as the government seeks to put Syria back on the map. The plan comes after a dash by other companies, many from Gulf Arab states, to sign deals to bolster Syria's power generation and ports infrastructure (Read more at Japan Times).
Another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, US President Donald Trump said. Trump made the comment during a dinner with lawmakers at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff (Read more at Dawn).
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on private diplomatic discussions but said the United States supported the territorial unity of Syria. "The Syrian state has an obligation to protect all Syrians, including minority groups," the spokesperson said, urging the Syrian government to hold perpetrators of violence accountable. Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state (Read more at Yahoo News).
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that the kingdom supported Syria’s military asserting control in the southern Syrian province of Sweida (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza. The House of Representatives, however, rejected in a 422-6 vote on Thursday, to cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program - an agreement through which the US provides Israel with $500m to boost its missile programmes (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bowed to pressure from US President Donald Trump and issued an official English-language statement on Friday expressing “deep regret” over the Israeli bombing of the Holy Family Church in Gaza a day earlier. The statement followed a phone call between Trump and Netanyahu on Thursday evening, during which Trump conveyed his “dissatisfaction” with the attack and urged Netanyahu to clarify that it was an Israeli error (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The U.S. strikes targeted three enrichment sites in Iran: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. U.S. officials believe the attack on Fordo, which has long been viewed as a critical component of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, was successful in setting back Iranian enrichment capabilities at that site by as much as two years. U.S. officials knew before the airstrikes that Iran had structures and enriched uranium at Natanz and Isfahan that were likely to be beyond the reach of even America’s 30,000-pound GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs (Read more at NBC News).
The Trump administration has been working with Turkey and Gulf allies for an integrated Syria, but Israel prefers zones of influence. The Trump administration wants to reduce its military footprint in Syria. The US has supported back-channel talks between Israel and Sharaa's government, which have reportedly been held in Baku, Azerbaijan. In Netanyahu’s mind, undermining the Syrian state is way more important than any normalisation (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israel told the Americans that it would cease the attacks on Tuesday evening. While Sharaa has been buoyed by rapidly improving ties with US President Donald Trump’s administration, the violence has highlighted lingering sectarian tensions and distrust among minority groups towards his government — distrust that was deepened by mass killings of Alawites in March (Read more at Dawn).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK agreed in a phone call Monday to set the end of August as the de facto deadline for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. If no deal is reached by that deadline, the three European powers plan to trigger the "snapback" mechanism that automatically reimposes all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran accord (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The deals span sectors such as aviation, technology, industry, and investment. Among the agreements, Cisco Systems will provide digital solutions for Bahrain's government information and telecommunications infrastructure. Separately, plans were announced to establish an 800-kilometre (497-mile) multi-fiber submarine cable linking Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq to global networks, according to BNA (Read more at Business Standard).
The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one was fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” GHF said in a statement (Read more at StraitsTimes).
"When the U.S. use negotiations as a tool to deceive Iran and cover up a sudden military attack by the Zionist regime (Israel), talks cannot be conducted as before. Preconditions must be set and no new negotiations can take place until they are fully met," the statement said. The statement did not define the preconditions, but Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has previously said there should be guarantees there will be no further attacks against Tehran (Read more at Investing).
Huckabee told reporters in Tel Aviv that his unusual decision to be present for the trial was "a matter of representing what the president [Trump] has said repeatedly". "The president has made his position very clear. He has not intervened in the proceedings or in the outcome," Huckabee said. "He recognises that has to go its own way. But it’s a personal thing for him. He considers the prime minister a friend." (Read more at Euronews)
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said on Tuesday that he asked Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing of the Florida-born Musallet, who was visiting family when he was attacked in the Palestinian town of Sinjil. “There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” Huckabee wrote in a social media post. “Saif was just 20 yrs old.” (Read more at Aljazeera)
Saudi Arabia’s index dropped 0.4%, extending the previous session’s losses, with the Saudi Arabian Mining Company retreating 1.1%. ACWA Power Co gained 0.6% after signing $8.3 billion in clean energy deals, helping limit the decline (Read more at Business Recorder).
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no specific date” for a meeting with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear program, following a war with Israel that had derailed negotiations. “We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” said Baqaei (Read more at Arabnews).
Kamel Musallet, the father of a 20-year-old American citizen slain by Israeli settlers on Friday, told Arab News that US officials should treat his son’s killing “the same way they’d treat the murder of any American in any country.” He added: “My whole family is American. Who is speaking up in America for our rights, our lives? Where is the outcry from America for an American? We need justice now.” (Read more at Arabnews)
The indirect negotiations in the Qatari capital, Doha, appeared deadlocked at the weekend after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. Hamas rejected Israeli proposals to keep troops in over 40 percent of Gaza and plans to move Palestinians into an enclave on the border with Egypt. In response, a senior Israeli political official accused Hamas of inflexibility and trying to deliberately scupper the talks by “clinging to positions that prevent the mediators from advancing an agreement.” Trump, who met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last week, is keen to secure a truce in the 21-month war (Read more at Arabnews).
Frustration among Palestinians grew toward the United States on Sunday as mourners packed the roads to a cemetery in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the burial of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by settlers. Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said Sayfollah Musallet, 21, was beaten to death, and Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night (Read more at Arabnews).
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.” (Read more at Arabnews)
Dozens of workers at every level of the arts and entertainment world, from actors and dancers to carpenters, set dressers, animators, composers and screenwriters have told Middle East Eye that they have been punished for speaking out on Israel's war on Gaza (Read more at Middle East Eye).
An international press analysed satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC showing the dome intact on the morning of June 23, the day of the strike, and then missing in images taken two days later. Scorch marks and minor damage are visible nearby, but the rest of the base appears largely untouched (Read more at Express Tribune).
It might have been naive to believe that the meeting was going to lead to an announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu arrived in the US in a very different state of mind compared with his previous visits since the war started. He was much more confident. He is now convinced that Israel’s show of force in Iran, with Tehran’s proxies considerably weakened, and his success in pulling in the US to participate in an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, have considerably elevated his status in Washington. Trump, who previously pledged he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu about ending the war in Gaza, on this occasion, and for no apparent reason, completely refrained from putting any pressure at all on the Israeli leader (Read more at Arabnews).
“I observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic opportunity presented by @POTUS’ lifting of sanctions: Investment from Turkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to neighboring countries and a clear vision for the future. I can assure that Syria’s leaders only want coexistence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the US is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,” he added. The clarification comes after reports in Lebanese media, including from MTV Lebanon, cited Barrack as warning that Lebanon risked “going back to Bilad Al-Sham” if it failed to act quickly on regional realignment (Read more at Arabnews).
The top UN expert on Palestinian rights said on July 11 that the US decision to place her under sanctions could have a "chilling effect" on people who engage with her and restrict her movements, but that she planned to continue her work (Read more at Straits Times).
While Trump's attacks may have taken out the centrifuges, some enriched uranium casks may still be accessible to Iranian engineers. Any attempt, however, to access the site in that manner will be detected by Israel and Iran will be attacked again, the official warned (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) in June wrote a 14-page confidential internal assessment criticising a request for funding submitted by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF). GHF was seeking $30m of its $100m operating costs from the State Department. According to the assessment, which was obtained by CNN, at least nine elements normally required to obtain government funding were not included in the application, such as insufficient planning information ensuring Palestinians would actually receive aid (Read more at Middle East Eye).
He was accused of harassing and intimidating pro-Palestinian students and staff members and left before any determination was made public. He has left the institution following a "mutual agreement" and will not return to teaching at the Ivy League school (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Settlers attacked and killed Sayfollah Musallet in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday. Musallet, also known as Saif al-Din Musalat, had travelled from his home in Florida to visit family in Palestine. “We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank,” Reuters reported a State Department spokesperson as saying. The official declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim (Read more at Aljazeera).
In a rare federal trial Wednesday in which university groups are challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activists, the Department of Homeland Security shared how it got the names of some of the students who were targeted for deportation. During day three of the proceedings in Boston, Peter Hatch, a senior DHS investigations official, said most of the names of student protesters who were flagged to the agency for analysis came from Canary Mission. The anonymous group has published a detailed database of students, professors and others who it says have shared anti-Israel and antisemitic viewpoints (Read more at NBC News).
A senior legal adviser to the US State Department has issued a dramatic threat to the International Criminal Court's oversight body, warning that "all options are on the table" if the court does not drop investigations and arrest warrants against the US and Israel. Reed Rubinstein made the threat on Tuesday during a meeting of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP), the ICC's oversight body, in New York (Read more at Middle East Eye).
As the Trump administration marks six months in office, it is pursuing a flurry of diplomatic initiatives across the Middle East — some publicly coordinated, others shaped behind closed doors. MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Mara Rudman joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to assess the administration’s broader regional strategy and its handling of key issues including Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations, the future of Gaza, US-Iran nuclear diplomacy, Israeli-Arab normalization, Lebanon’s political stalemate, and prospects for Israeli-Syrian talks. Rudman, a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, offers a candid assessment of Trump’s transactional style, the role of regional partners, and the risks and opportunities of a diplomacy rooted more in personality than in policy consistency (Listen here).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat for an interview on Tuesday with the Nelk Boys, a team of pro-Trump YouTubers and podcasters known for their pranks and popularity among young men. It's a sign Netanyahu recognizes the influence of the MAGA media universe and wants to build support for Israel and the prime minister's own policies within a key segment of Trump's base (Read more at MSN).
The unscheduled talks on Tuesday evening lasted just over an hour, with no media access. Ahead of the talks on Tuesday, Trump said he would be speaking with Netanyahu “almost exclusively” about Gaza. “We gotta get that solved. Gaza is – it’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to,” he said (Read more at Aljazeera).
The United States imposed sanctions on 22 companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey on Wednesday for their roles in helping sell Iranian oil, the Treasury Department said. “The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent (Read more at Boereport).
A top U.S. State Department official waived nine mandatory counterterrorism and anti-fraud safeguards to rush a $30 million award last month to a Gaza aid group backed by the Trump administration and Israel (Source: Allsides).
The massive infrastructure programme includes the construction of airbase runways, helicopter hangars, ammunition storage, command centres, and a new headquarters for Israel’s elite naval commando unit, Shayetet 13. The project is being financed through military assistance provided under the terms of the $3.8 billion annual aid package agreed in 2016 by former US President Barack Obama (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
This week on One Decision In Brief, Sir Richard Dearlove and Kate McCann unpack the high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu as the world watches for a potential ceasefire. Plus, Chinese President Xi Jingping's puzzling withdrawal from the global stage and what UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron could reveal about Europe's new power dynamic (Listen here).
With intelligence assessments suggesting that Iran retains a hidden stockpile of enriched uranium and the technical capacity to rebuild, both Trump and Netanyahu know that their victory is more short-term than strategic. Trump says his priority is to lean on diplomacy, pursuing a limited objective of ensuring Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. In contrast, Netanyahu wants to use more force, compelling Tehran -- to the point of government collapse if necessary -- into fundamental concessions on quitting a nuclear enrichment programme seen by Israel as an existential threat.
Trump, eager to cast himself as a global peacemaker, is pushing for a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, but the contours of any post-war deal remain undefined and the endgame uncertain. Netanyahu, while publicly endorsing ceasefire talks, says he is committed to the total dismantling of Hamas, a strategic ally of Iran. The Israeli prime minister wants the remaining Hamas leadership deported, possibly to Algeria -- a demand Hamas flatly rejects. The gap between a temporary pause and a lasting resolution remains wide (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
The current projects total more than $250m, with future ones expected to exceed $1bn. The US Army Corps of Engineers is using contractors to build ammunition depots and facilities for refuelling aircraft and helicopters, along with concrete structures for Israeli military bases. One project for hangers, maintenance rooms and storage facilities for new Boeing KC-46 tankers that Israel is expected to receive in the coming years is projected to cost over $100m. Another project to house CH-53K helicopters is projected to cost up to $250m (Read more at Middle East Eye).
But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will 'always' keep security control over the Gaza Strip (Read more at France 24).
Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump that he would nominate him for the Nobel peace prize on Monday, as the two leaders met for the first time since the US launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear program as part of a short-lived war between Israel and Iran. Netanyahu presented Trump with a letter that he said he had sent to a committee for the Nobel peace prize commending Trump’s efforts to end conflicts in the Middle East (Read more at Guardian).
Israel is preparing for the possibility of further military action if Iran tries to revive its nuclear program, and Israeli officials think President Trump could green light renewed Israeli attacks. Netanyahu's top adviser, Ron Dermer, told officials in closed briefings that he came away from a recent visit to Washington with the impression that the Trump administration would back new Israeli strikes on Iran under certain circumstances, the sources say (Read more at Axios).
The United States will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year. The decision, which takes effect on Tuesday, comes as part of US President Donald Trump’s broader strategy to re-engage with Syria and support its reconstruction after more than a decade of devastating conflict (Read more at Aljazeera).
During a visit to the Gulf in May, US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement that he would revoke sanctions on Syria. This week, he kept that promise. He signed an executive order on Monday to waive or review penalties, some of which have been in place for decades. The move comes as a relief for struggling Syrians after almost 14 years of a brutal civil war that has devastated their economy. For their transitional leader Ahmad Al Shara, it’s a milestone that could give him the legitimacy that he and his Hayat Tahrir Al Sham-led government so desperately seek. But it also brings him new and complicated challenges. “President Trump wants Syria to succeed – but not at the expense of US interests,” the White House said, while establishing ties with Israel would be a priority. The question is, what pressures could this impose on the new Damascus government? In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, guest host Ban Barkawi looks at US interests in Syria and the fine line Mr Al Shara will have to walk to keep his people and the West happy. She speaks to Jihan Abdalla, The National’s senior correspondent in Washington, and Omar Dahi, director at Security in Context (Listen here).
A pro-Palestinian Georgetown University student from India, detained by President Donald Trump’s administration but then released on a judge’s order, can remain free while fighting deportation efforts, a US appeals court ruled on Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the administration’s request that Badar Khan Suri be returned to immigration detention. The 4th Circuit said it found no grounds to overturn the decision by US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles to order Suri’s release (Read more at Arabnews).
Trump says Qatari and Egyptian mediators will deliver the final ceasefire proposal to Hamas soon and says a deal is likely to go into effect as early as next week. “My representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-day ceasefire, during which time we will work with all parties to end the war,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social (Read more at Euronews).
In his statement made Tuesday at the Senate hearing, Buchan said the U.S. supports Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic Autonomy Proposal as the ONLY basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute. “If confirmed, I will facilitate progress toward this goal”, said the U.S. nominee ambassador, citing U.S. call urging the parties to engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal as the only framework, to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution (Read more at North Africa Post).
“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the NGOs said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The signatories include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders and Action Aid (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Barrack said full disarmament should be completed by November or by the end of the year at the latest. The proposal also refers to establishing a mechanism overseen by the United Nations to secure the release of Hezbollah-linked prisoners by Israel (Read more at Arabnews).
An Iran-linked cyberattack group that hacked President Trump's 2024 campaign is threatening to release another trove of emails it has stolen from his associates, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Roger Stone (Read more at Axios).
The trip will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump returned to office in January, and it comes after the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war against Iran by attacking Iranian nuclear sites. After brokering a ceasefire between the two countries, Trump has signaled that he’s turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas (Read more at AP).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to “promote and support the country’s path to stability and peace.” The executive order is meant to “end the country’s isolation from the international financial system, setting the stage for global commerce and galvanizing investments from its neighbors in the region, as well as from the United States,” Treasury’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brad Smith said (Read more at AP).
Iran criticized on Monday U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting stance on whether to lift economic sanctions against Tehran as "games" that were not aimed at solving the problems between the two countries. "These [statements by Trump] should be viewed more in the context of psychological and media games than as a serious expression in favor of dialogue or problem-solving," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference (Read more at Iran Oil and Gas).
“Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social platform. A senior security official, however, warned that expanding the fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the 20 remaining living hostages (Read more at New York Post).
“It is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, adding that the judicial process was going to interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to conduct talks with Hamas, and Iran. “The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,” Trump said (Read more at Dawn).
Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked Mr Trump on Sunday if he thought the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities made it more likely that other countries would join the Abraham Accords. “Yes,” he replied. “We have some really great countries in there right now, and I think we're going to start loading them up, because Iran was the primary problem.” (Read more at The National)
There were serious questions about whether the Iranian officials were being truthful, and described the intercepts as unreliable indicators. "The notion that unnamed Iranian officials know what happened under hundreds of feet of rubble is nonsense. Their nuclear weapons program is over," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted as saying by the Post (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
Bombing may have provided the perfect cover for Iran to make its uranium stockpiles disappear and any IAEA investigation would likely be lengthy and arduous. Olli Heinonen, previously the IAEA's top inspector from 2005 to 2010, said the search will probably involve complicated recovery of materials from damaged buildings as well as forensics and environmental sampling, which take a long time (Read more at AOL).
The president also suggested that reporters should be subpoenaed for their sources, saying, "they could find out if they wanted. They could find out easily." "You have to do that. I suspect we'll be doing things like that," he added (Read more at Axios).
A MAGA movement facing a historic rift over President Trump's Iran strikes is quickly stitching itself back together by turning its rage toward familiar enemies at home. Trump's decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities last week — paired with fleeting talk of "regime change" — ignited some of the fiercest infighting within the "America First" base since the movement's inception a decade ago (Read more at Axios).
“Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that ‘President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.’ Never heard of this ridiculous idea,” the president wrote late Friday on Truth Social (Read more at The Hill).
Democratic effort fails in mostly partisan vote, hours after US president says he would consider more bombing. The resolution, “to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”, was voted down 53-47 (Read more at Guardian).
"The complexity and tenacity of Iranians is famously known in our magnificent carpets, woven through countless hours of hard work and patience. But as a people, our basic premise is very simple and straightforward: we know our worth, value our independence, and never allow anyone else to decide our destiny," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X (Read more at Mehrnews).
“We think within the next week we’re going to get a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday. Ending the war has been one of Trump’s top priorities. “I think it’s close,” he said (Read more at NewsNation).
Aqua 1 Foundation said in a statement on Thursday its purchase of the tokens, known as $WLFI, sought to speed up the creation of a "blockchain-powered financial ecosystem" with stablecoins and tokenised traditional assets at its heart. The fund's investment and compliance teams would help World Liberty expand in South America, Europe and Asia (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
From the White House to the Pentagon to the Netherlands, the administration's messaging campaign on the Iranian operation has carried with it an all-out offensive against the media, singling out reporters by name online and in briefings (Read more at Axios).
US President Donald Trump said last week that Pakistan knew Iran better than most other countries. Pakistan condemned Israeli and US strikes on Iran even as it said earlier this month it was nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing a four-day India-Pakistan conflict to an end last month (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“In the recent negotiations, they tried to lure us into giving up the rights of our nation. When some certain events occurred, they imposed war and unleashed the criminal Zionist (Israeli) regime to carry out attacks,” he said. Araghchi added that the US betrayed diplomacy during talks, an experience that will shape Iran’s future decisions on negotiations. “Nevertheless, diplomacy continues, and I am in contact with several foreign ministers,” he said (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
“We call on other countries to also support the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and its critical work,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. At least 549 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for food aid distributed at GHF sites, the Gaza Government Media Office said on Thursday. The GHF, which is officially a private group, has denied that deadly incidents have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. The GHF’s interim executive director, John Acree, welcomed the US contribution and said it was “time for unity and collaboration” (Read more at Aljazeera)
The White House said US intelligence had been monitoring Iran’s nuclear sites for weeks before launching secret airstrikes last weekend, and insisted there was no sign Iran moved enriched uranium beforehand, calling the mission a historic success (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The briefing appears to have done little to alleviate the growing tension around the Trump administration largely keeping Congress in the dark about its actions and not seeking congressional authorization. "Most of what I heard [in the briefing] is in the public domain already," former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Axios. "I didn't find it to be that constructive." (Read more at Axios)
Meanwhile, most viewed the U.S. attacks as a success — and are likely to back similar military action as a result. Republicans overwhelmingly approved of bombing Iran; sizable majorities of Democrats and independents did not. But once they were told the bombings only targeted Iran's uranium enrichment for its nuclear program, support increased in each group (Read more at Axios).
Trump reacted sternly to Khamanei’s first remarks after a 12-day conflict with Israel that ended when the United States launched bombing raids last weekend against Iranian nuclear sites. Khamanei said Iran “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack against a major US base in Qatar following the US bombing raids. Khamanei also said Iran would never surrender. Trump said he had spared Khamanei’s life. US officials said on June 15 that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader (Read more at Arabnews).
Oxycodone is an opioid meant to treat severe and long-term pain, often prescribed to cancer patients. The drug is highly addictive and can have life-threatening effects, including breathing complications and hallucinations. The Gaza government media office on Friday condemned the discovery of oxycodone pills reportedly discovered in flour bags distributed by “American-Israeli” aid centres. “We have so far documented four testimonies from citizens who found these pills inside the flour bags,” it said in a statement, warning of the “possibility that some of these narcotic substances were deliberately ground or dissolved in the flour itself” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Ankara’s response to the US strikes on Iran was interesting for Turkiye observers. The attack came while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was visiting Turkiye. Araghchi held a rare press conference in Istanbul. Notably, he was not joined by a Turkish official, likely a deliberate move by Ankara to position itself as a neutral facilitator. Second, Erdogan hopes to position Turkiye as a venue for peace talks between Trump and Putin. Trump has reportedly expressed a willingness to attend such talks if Putin agrees. Third, Ankara is eager to maintain dialogue with Washington on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Fourth, Syria remains a critical sticking point in Turkish-American relations (Read more at Arabnews).
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to hold on Tuesday, with Israel’s military lifting emergency measures and Iran’s president declaring “the end of a 12‑day war that was imposed on the Iranian people” in a televised address. “Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally!” Mr. Trump posted on social media as he flew to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. “It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!” (Read more at Amu TV).
Israel’s military achievements in its war with Iran will mean little if they are not “anchored to a diplomatic agreement that will ensure that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons,” Shira Efron, research director of the Israel Policy Forum, said on the Haaretz Podcast. Without such a guarantee, she fears, the “fragile cease-fire” in place will not hold and there will be a regression into the “tit-for-tat war of attrition” that the Trump-imposed cease-fire managed to halt. Bringing the Iranians back to the negotiating table in good faith, however, she said, will be challenging. From their perspective, after they showed willingness to negotiate, Israel and the United States struck militarily (Listen here).
Over the weekend, the president decided to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear sites, which included deploying B-2s loaded with bunker busters, in an operation called Midnight Hammer. Shortly after the operation, Trump began calling for a ceasefire to allow the president and his team to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran. The sabre-scribblers could not be satisfied with anything short of a regime change war. Of course, they have no intention of going to the battlefield themselves—let alone sending their sons. More often than not, they are Never Trumpers who don’t even trust the commander in chief to lead the wars they call for (Listen here).
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun spoke by phone to discuss making elements of Musk’s sprawling business empire available in Lebanon, a statement from Aoun’s office said on Thursday. The statement said Musk called Aoun and “expressed his interest in Lebanon and its telecommunications and Internet sectors.” Aoun invited Musk to visit Lebanon and said he was open to having Musk’s companies present in the country, which ranks among the countries with the lowest Internet speeds (Read more at Arabnews).
Khamenei said in his video message that the U.S. entered the war because it felt it had to save Israel from being destroyed. "It entered the war to save it, but it did not achieve anything from this war. They attacked our nuclear facilities, but they were unable to do anything important," he said. Khamenei claimed President Trump "exaggerated" the results of the U.S. strikes on Iran. "They could not do anything, they could not achieve their goal, and they are exaggerating to cover up the truth," he said (Read more at Axios).
The 12-day war on Iran was unprecedented, unique in scope and seismic in implications. For the first time, Israel launched a war - not merely a limited operation - against a country it shares no border with, separated by at least 1,500 kilometres. More crucially, it marked the first time in history that the United States openly fought alongside Israel in a direct military assault (Read more at Middle East Eye).
"We have not given up on the F-35s. We are discussing our intention to return to the programme with our counterparts," he was cited as saying by his office on Thursday. "We discussed the issue in our meeting with Mr. Trump, talks at a technical level have started. God willing, we will make progress." (Read more at AOL)
The U.S. airstrike on Iran, however, may represent Trump's largest gamble yet. While the potential for political reward is high and largely dependent on whether Trump can maintain the fragile peace he is trying to forge between Iran and Israel, experts say, there is a downside risk of events spiraling out of Trump’s control while a skeptical American public watches (Read more at Reuters).
Eleven Iranian nationals with either criminal records or suspected terrorist ties who had been living in the United States illegally were arrested over the weekend while American war planes were bombing nuclear facilities in their homeland, federal officials announced. In addition, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a U.S. citizen who is alleged to have harbored one of the Iranian nationals and threatened to “shoot ICE officers in the head,” the Department of Homeland Security said (Read more at NBC News).
Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich of the U.S. Air Force, who currently serves as the Director for Operations of the Joint Staff, stated that the Houthis are likely to remain a “persistent problem” and the United States will probably face issues with them again in the future (Read more at Marine Insight).
Senior White House official said Trump's comments do not reflect a new policy. Trump's comments signal bearish outlook for oil prices. No near-term impact on China's Iranian, US oil purchases expected. Saudi Arabia may be upset by China's Iranian oil purchases (Read more at Reuters).
Don Holstead, the assistant director for counter terrorism, issued guidance over the weekend reassigning agents who work on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber issues but had been sidetracked by immigration duties. The FBI said it does not confirm or deny operational changes (Read more at NBC News).
President Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that U.S. bomb strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear program. He criticized reporting on an initial U.S. intelligence report that suggested the bombings likely set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months, not years (Read more at CNBC).
The Pentagon has launched a criminal investigation into the leak of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report assessing that damage to Iranian nuclear facilities from U.S. airstrikes didn’t significantly set back Tehran’s nuclear program. Rubio also said that Iran is now "much further away from a nuclear weapon" after the U.S. dropped 14 bombs weighing 30,000 pounds each on three of Iran's main nuclear sites (Read more at Politico).
Trump said his decision to join Israel's attacks by targeting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it "a victory for everybody". "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary," Trump said (Read more at Reuters).
"We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran," Witkoff said (Read more at Reuters).
"At the tactical level, I think they've been degraded," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "I think the degree to which that degradation has taken place, particularly in the last 12 days, is best discussed in a classified forum," he added. But he said that Iran possesses "considerable tactical capability," one element of which was visible in the missile attack on the US military base of Al Udeid on Monday (Read more at Business Insider).
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday threw her weight behind a rapidly accelerating effort by Democratic lawmakers to limit Trump's power to unilaterally strike Iran. Democrats are infuriated that the Trump administration postponed briefings on the Middle East that were planned for Tuesday, and that rage is helping to fuel what was initially a fringe effort. "Yesterday, the Administration decided to withhold intelligence ... in a slap in the face to the Congress," Pelosi said in a statement. "That is why I am supporting War Powers Resolutions which reassert the Article One powers of the Congress and ensure the Administration does not keep the American people and their Representatives in the dark." (Read more at Axios)
Trump wrote that he was "shocked to hear" that even after the war with Iran, the State of Israel "is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt" against Netanyahu. It isn't clear what prompted Trump's post. The president has rarely spoken publicly about Netanyahu's trial in the past and only yesterday he was visibly frustrated with the Israeli prime minister over the ceasefire with Iran (Read more at Axios).
"I don't wanna use an example of Hiroshima or Nagasaki but that was essentially the same thing," Trump said. "That ended that war. If we didn't take that out they would be fighting right now." "Two Iranians went down to see it and they said this place is gone," he said, presumably referring to one of Iran's nuclear research sites (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Israel’s conflict with Iran has wiped out dozens of top military leaders and scientists and inflicted major damage on critical facilities, yet the regime has survived. The Iranian people have not risen up; to the contrary, they have rallied around the flag amid a surge in anti-Western sentiment. However, the regime will need to embark on serious reforms to keep the people on its side, says Iranian American academic Vali Nasr (Listen here).
Israelis responded calmly on Tuesday to U.S. President Donald Trump's criticisms and accusations their country had violated a truce he brokered with Iran, expressing gratitude for his mediation and relief at the conclusion of the 12-day war (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
The State Department is sharing information with over 27,000 people about leaving the region and safety and security. The US started some limited assisted-departure flights for US citizens, lawful permanent residents and their immediate family members (Read more at Arabnews).
“These strikes – in accordance with the inherent right to collective self-defence, consistent with the UN Charter – aimed to mitigate the threat posed by Iran to Israel, the region and to, more broadly, international peace and security,” acting US envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea told the United Nations Security Council (Read more at Straits Times).
Findings by Defense Intelligence Agency suggest Trump’s declaration that sites were ‘obliterated’ may be overstated. It concluded key components of the nuclear program, including centrifuges, were capable of being restarted within months. The report also found that much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be put to use for a possible nuclear weapon was moved before the strikes and may have been moved to other secret nuclear sites maintained by Iran (Read more at Guardian).
"The Israelis have accomplished much of their objectives ... and Iran was looking for an off-ramp,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer for the Middle East. "The U.S. hopes this is the beginning of the end. The challenge is whether there is a strategy for what comes next." Questions also remain about what has actually been agreed to, even as Trump’s declaration raised hopes for the end of a conflict that has prompted fears of a broader regional war. Signaling a difficult path ahead, it took hours for Israel and Iran to even acknowledge that they had accepted the ceasefire that Trump said he had brokered. What is the future of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs? What happens to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium? There will be a need for negotiations - and these won’t be easy to resolve (Read more at Street Insider).
“I think the ceasefire is unlimited. It’s going to go forever," Trump said. Asked whether the war was completely over, Trump said: “Yes. I don’t believe they will ever be shooting at each other again.” (Read more at NBC News)
The phone call came after US President Donald Trump told Qatar's emir that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire and asked for Doha's help persuading Tehran to also agree to the ceasefire deal, the official said (Read more at Daily Star).
Johnson has already rejected calls to stage a vote on a bipartisan war powers resolution in the wake of Trump’s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, arguing that Congress’s input is unnecessary. On Tuesday, he took that opposition a long step forward, saying the War Powers Act — a 1973 law designed to limit a president’s authority to wage unilateral war — defies the Founder’s designs for the commander in chief (Read more at The Hill).
The poll also finds that Americans oppose U.S. military involvement in the Middle East unless the U.S. is directly threatened and that most Americans do not feel that U.S. airstrikes against Iran make America safer. Attitudes toward President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran are divided along partisanship, but overall, half of Americans do not approve of Trump’s handling of Iran (Read more at Ipsos).
