Rubio said that he could not preview which parts of the Brotherhood might face sanctions. “I’m not going to comment on which segments of the Muslim Brotherhood—as you know, there are different chapters, for lack of a better term, and individuals spread throughout the world,” the secretary said (Read more at JNS).
Rejecting forever wars has been a core Trump principle since his first administration, but only in this second one has it been fully incorporated into the country’s national security strategy. As for the move towards resolution of regional conflicts, this seems overly optimistic, to say the least (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Asked about Republicans’ stance on Qatar, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a proponent of designating the Muslim Brotherhood, told JNS: “You have to really ask them about that, but I can just tell you have to sleep with your eyes open when you’re dealing with our friends over there.” (Read more at JNS)
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Programme on Extremism at The George Washington University. What happens when an ideological movement is neither a terrorist organisation nor an ordinary religious group — but something in between? One of the world’s leading experts on the Muslim Brotherhood explains (Listen here).
CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the U.S., has already filed a lawsuit against Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last month designated the two groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Neither group features on the U.S. government's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations (Read more at Axios).
Speaking at a panel on Syria during the Doha Forum on Sunday, Barrack praised the Syrian administration of President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s "epic" and "heroic" achievements following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The US envoy warned against western efforts to impose democratic models on the Middle East, arguing that such initiatives "have not been successful". (Read more at Middle East Eye)
'The days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy in both long-term planning and day-to-day execution are thankfully over,' says the document (Read more at Anadolu Ajansi).
The bill passed the committee with bipartisan support, with Democrats Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Greg Stanton, Jared Moskowitz, Jim Costa, George Latimer, and Brad Schneider joining all the Republicans. To become law, the bill needs to pass the full House of Representatives and the Senate (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Widespread anger at the Gaza genocide poses serious problems for any Arab or Muslim-majority leader thinking of signing an Abraham Accord. Whether this shifts in the coming months will depend on what happens in the devastated enclave (Read more at Middle East Eye).
As a result, both groups would be barred "from purchasing or acquiring land" in the state of Texas. The proclamation gives the state's attorney general leeway to sue the groups accordingly (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Zimnako Salah, 46, whom a jury convicted in March of placing a backpack around a toilet in a church in Roseville, Calif., to “convey a hoax bomb threat and to obstruct the free exercise of religion of the congregants who worshipped there,” was sentenced to six years in prison. The Justice Department added that Salah “had consumed extremist propaganda online,” including searching “for videos of ‘infidels dying,’” and watching “videos depicting ISIS terrorists murdering people.” “In a cellphone video taken days before the crimes of conviction, defendant Salah declared, ‘America. We are going to destroy it,’” it said (Read more at JNS).
Joel Rayburn’s nomination to lead the State Department’s Middle East bureau was withdrawn after he lacked enough support from lawmakers. Rayburn, a former US Army officer, served as US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Syria from 2018 to 2021 and concurrently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs until November 2020 (Read more at Anadolu Ajansi).
Zohran Mamdani is closing in on the mayor's office. His final pitch: Guilt-tripping America for not loving Muslims enough after 9/11. Alex Marlow joins Blake and Andrew to react to this gross attack on the American people and looks at the bigger picture of Islamic migration into America, and they debunk the Left's meltdown over Trump's East Wing construction (Listen here).
In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj speak with MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis about US policy in the Middle East under Donald Trump’s second administration. Nine months into Trump 2.0, how much has really changed? Katulis breaks down the administration’s approach to major issues, including the cease-fire in Gaza and broader prospects for peace, the aftermath of the 12-Day War with Iran, and how Washington is managing ties with regional partners. He also previews his upcoming quarterly report card, which grades the administration on key policy areas (Listen here).
“Today at Masjid At-Taqwa, I had the pleasure of meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century,” Mamdani wrote on X. During trials, Wahhaj testified in support of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman — the infamous “blind sheikh” and leader of a terrorist sect out of Egypt — calling the man a “respected scholar.” (Read more at New York Post)
What's the US planning for the Middle East? President Donald Trump came to the region on Monday to cement his plan for peace in Gaza. He says the end of the war ushers in a historic new dawn. But can he succeed where his predecessors have failed? (Listen here)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has embarked on a global fundraising initiative spanning East Asia and the Middle East, seeking financing and manufacturing partners to meet the company’s demand for its computing capacity. Altman has planned to visit investors in the United Arab Emirates to raise money to help fund OpenAI’s infrastructure expansion and research (Read more at Hindu Business Line)
The countries had proposed a full Israeli withdrawal from the besieged Palestinian territory during a September 22 meeting with Trump. However, Trump’s plan calls for a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces to pave the way for Palestinian militant group Hamas to release the remaining hostages it holds (Read more at Scroll).
Much of the US president's proposal is open to interpretation. Some analysts believe that ambiguity is “by design”. Parts of the document lack detail on timelines, as well as consequences - particularly for Israel - if terms of the deal are not adhered to (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Islam Doci, 47, of Orlando, Fla., was sentenced to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for making false statements to the FBI relating to his activities in support of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday (Read more at JNS).
Adam Scott Hastings, 25, resigned from the National Guard as the federal government probes him for allegedly trying to sell weapons to Al-Qaeda, a terrorist group, according to a complaint that the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed on Wednesday. Hastings, who had national security clearance, worked as an aircraft powertrain repairer and failed to report travel outside the United States, as required by law, while employed at the National Guard, according to the Justice Department (Read more at JNS).
The US National Counterterrorism Center said on Friday (Sept 19) that recent calls by al Qaeda for attacks against the United States showed the group's enduring threat to the country. Al Qaeda and its Yemen-based affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) "are likely seeking to leverage their media publications and global conflicts, particularly where there is US support or military involvement, to inspire potential attackers," it said in a memo to law enforcement (Read more at Asia One).
Jewish and Christian worshippers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday and held prayers in honour of Charlie Kirk, a far-right activist murdered in the United States. The event, organised by Israeli settler organisation Beyadenu, saw dozens attending to hear a eulogy led by Yehuda Glick, a religious nationalist rabbi and former MP who has campaigned for years for Jews to worship on the mosque's grounds (Read more at Middle East Eye).
In the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Qatar targeting the leadership of Hamas, American political scientist John Mearsheimer argues, “The Israelis are interested in making sure there are no negotiations that settle the conflict in Gaza.” Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the United States and Israel “basically act as a tag team”, and despite a mild rebuke by President Donald Trump, “the US supports Israel unconditionally”. He adds that Israel has three main strategic goals: expand territory, move the Palestinians out of all conquered territory, and ensure that all countries in the region are weak (Listen here).
The US has long cloaked its engagements with the Arab world in the rhetoric of mutual interest and strategic partnership, yet Israel’s Sept. 9 airstrike on Doha — carried out by 15 jets targeting a residential building, and killing six, including a Qatari security officer and the son of a Hamas negotiator — has torn away that veil entirely (Read more at Arabnews).
"The Muslim Brotherhood and its branches should be designated as terrorist organisations because of that overwhelming and ongoing history of violence, extremism and destabilisation," he told a crowd at the far-right Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, DC. (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Microsoft said on Saturday that its Microsoft Azure users may experience increased latency due to multiple undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea. Traffic traversing through the Middle East originating and or terminating in Asia or Europe regions may experience increased disruptions (Read more at CNBC).
The Trump administration is set to reassess a non-binding agreement that regarded US Reaper drones as long-range missiles, as part of a broader overhaul of US foreign military sales. The decision could speed up the timeline for deliveries of MQ-9 Reaper drones to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, all of which are eyeing the weapons system. It would reduce bureaucracy for arms manufacturers that have to wait for government approval before selling drones (Read more at Middle East Eye).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
In a diplomatic note sent out Thursday afternoon, the State Department confirmed that the Israeli attack was set to take place late on Thursday. Qatar was among the countries which received the heads up. "We don't comment on private diplomatic conversations," a State Department spokesperson said when asked about the notifications sent to allies (Read more AOL).
The US operates in at least 19 locations in the region. Of these, eight are permanent bases, located across Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (Read more at Aljazeera).
The White House has appointed Wayne Wall as the new senior director for Middle East at the National Security Council. Wall is one of the first senior hires at the NSC since the big purge ordered by President Trump and acting national security adviser Marco Rubio more than two weeks ago (Read more at Axios).
He urges action against the group due to its ties to extremism and antiquated influence under the Biden administration. Lawmakers have identified multiple strategies to financially target the Muslim Brotherhood, already labeled as a terrorist group by several Middle Eastern countries (Read more at Straightt Arrow News).
The officials being dismissed are all those with previous track records opposing what are shaping up to be Trump’s most significant Middle East endeavours: swiftly lifting sanctions on Syria and negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. The reshuffle comes after Trump’s landmark visit to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar last month. In a speech in Riyadh, Trump tore into "interventionists" and American "nation builders". Eric Trager was notified late last month that he would be removed from his position. Trager is an Iran hawk. He also wrote a book criticising the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. Unlike previous Middle East directors at the NSC, his influence in the White House was limited. Another notable firing was Merav Ceren, the NSC director for Israel and Iran, in late May (Read more at Middle East Eye).
SolarWinds is eyeing double-digit revenue growth in the Gulf as the Texas-based IT software company rebuilds following a cyberattack in 2020. More than 80% of government entities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar already use its software, and the now privately held company aims to accelerate the rollout of new tools for the artificial intelligence age, SolarWinds’ chief technology officer said (Read more at Semafor).
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump visited three countries in the Middle East—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar—on the first scheduled foreign trip of his second term. While many of the headlines from the trip focused on the 747 jetliner Qatar donated for use as Air Force One, it’s probably more notable that Trump rejected decades of Western intervention in the region and declared that there would be “no more lectures” from America. Is the Trump administration re-aligning American priorities in the region? F. Gregory Gause, visiting scholar at the Middle East Institute, joins FP Live to discuss why the Gulf monarchies are rising in importance (Listen here).
Hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj speak with MEI Senior Fellow Mohammed Soliman about President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, which yielded a wave of major US-Gulf tech and AI deals. Soliman explains how these partnerships mark a shift in the relationship—from oil and arms to compute power and data infrastructure—and what it means for the Gulf’s strategic role in the global AI ecosystem. The discussion explores the energy bottlenecks behind AI development, evolving US export control policy, and the social and geopolitical implications of the Gulf’s ambitions to become a digital hub for emerging markets (Listen here).
Set in a post-9/11 America, this animated series is full of nostalgic references to the early 2000s and a native’s familiarity with Egyptian-American family dynamics. In 2025, actor and comedian Ramy Youssef could very well be the most famous Egyptian celebrity in the US (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Nothing captured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s isolation more starkly this week than the image of US President Donald Trump shaking hands with Syria’s leader Ahmed al‑Sharaa — a man Israel has branded “an al‑Qaeda terrorist in a suit” (Read more at SelangorJournal).
U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East tour on Friday with a visit to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, an interfaith complex housing a mosque, church and synagogue (Read more at JNS).
Trillions of dollars were pledged during the US president’s three-nation tour of the Gulf this week. So, are the Gulf nations now in sync with Washington on some of the biggest challenges in the region? And is Donald Trump re-shaping the Middle East, or will the Gulf states dictate future US foreign policy? (Listen here)
President Trump announced multibillion-dollar AI deals between U.S. companies and Gulf countries this week even as many in Washington continue to fear that China could gain backdoor access to advanced AI chips and worry that critical AI infrastructure could end up based outside the U.S (Read more at Axios).
US President Donald Trump has signed record-breaking agreements during his state visit to Qatar. It's part of a three-nation tour of the region. A trip that's expected to fetch America billions in new investments. But what do the Gulf states gain from this trip? (Listen here)
It was clear during U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf states that his foreign policy is in a very "different place" than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's, Washington-based veteran diplomatic journalist Laura Rozen said on the Haaretz Podcast, pointing to the growing divergence in interests between the White House and Israel's ruling coalition, both on Gaza and Iran (Listen here).
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said an Iranian nuclear deal would increase regional investment, while Trump credits Qatar for pushing talks. Trump also said that Iran should say a “big thank you” to Qatar for lobbying him to strike a deal. Qatar and Iran share the world’s largest natural gas field. “Iran is very lucky to have the emir [of Qatar] because he is actually fighting for them,” Trump said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Biden administration veterans who spoke with Axios raised questions about Trump's motivations but grudgingly saluted his boldness. "Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly," one admitted. "He does all this, and it's kind of silence, it's met with a shrug," says Ned Price, a former senior State Department official under President Biden. "He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus." (Read more at Axios)
A new "Trump trade" is driving the stock market during US President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf. Chipmakers' shares are soaring as investors bet that Gulf sovereign wealth funds are set to spend billions on their products, which Trump just freed from export controls (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Here is an overview of major deals and announcements made on the sidelines of Trump's Gulf visit: (Read more at AOL)
On everything from international diplomacy to personal business, hostage negotiations to investment deals, Gulf countries are President Trump's partners of first resort (Read more at Axios).
Trump's speech excoriating Western 'nation builders' revived memories of Obama's famous Cairo speech. Time will tell if it ages as poorly. Trump stole the show using his time to lay out a vision for a new world order that discredits an entire class of “interventionists” on the left and right in his own country. “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called ‘nation builders,’ neocons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Baghdad, so many other cities,” Trump added (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Trump announced last week that a deal had been reached to stop bombing Yemen's Houthi group. The B-2 bombers had been used to carry out strikes against the Iran-backed group (Read more at Reuters).
In a shaky global economy, countries are scrambling for investments and fighting for every penny they can get. The US’s chokehold on advanced technology, from weapons to AI, is not what it used to be (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Major investments, Israel-Gaza war, Abraham Accords and tariffs are expected to dominate the agenda. Saudi Arabia's King Salman has invited leaders of the Gulf Co-operation Council to attend a Gulf-US summit in Riyadh during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region next week (Read more at The National).
President Donald Trump is heading to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE on his first foreign trip of his second term, with major investment deals, defense cooperation, and tech diplomacy on the agenda. What are the Gulf states hoping to gain, and what does the trip signal about US policy in the region? Alistair Taylor speaks with Dr. Ibrahim al-Assil, Senior Fellow at MEI, about the goals of the visit, the geopolitical and economic dynamics at play, and how regional powers are navigating a complex landscape shaped by Iran, China, AI ambitions, and the crisis in Gaza (Listen here).
"Like as big as it gets, and I won't tell you why. And it's very positive," he declared to journalists from the Oval Office on Tuesday, adding, "It is really, really, positive. That announcement will be made either Thursday, or Friday, or the Monday before we leave." (Read more at The Mirror)
Rising costs, operational stress, and mounting risks raise questions about long-term strategic effectiveness. The United States has maintained a near-constant presence in the Middle East since Hamas launched its deadly terrorist attack into southern Israel in October 2023. That has included rotating multiple carriers to the region, some of which have been in the Middle East with overlapping deployments (Read more at National Interest).
In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks back at Mr Trump’s first 100 days in office to understand where his priorities lie in the Middle East and how his policies will shape the region. She speaks to Steven A Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and to Mohamad Bazzi, director of the Hagop Kevorkian Centre for Near Eastern Studies at New York University (Listen Here).
Continued weakness in the US dollar, to which most Gulf currencies are pegged, will make inbound travel to the UAE from countries such as Western Europe, Russia and India cheaper. The US may become more attractive for UAE visitors as they get more value for their dirham compared to Europe (Read more at The National).
An alleged ISIS terrorist has been arrested in connection with the Jan. 1 Bourbon Street car attack that killed 14 people in Louisiana, according to Iraqi officials. The suspect is accused of inciting Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, to carry out the attack, which also left dozens injured on the famed New Orleans street at the height of New Year’s Eve celebrations (Read more at New York Post).
Asked about the impact that the tariffs imposed or planned by President Donald Trump’s administration have had on the global economy and the Gulf region in particular, the president’s son said that the UAE was less exposed to tariffs because of its service-oriented, capital-intensive economy. “They can largely avoid that and I think that’s good for so much of the Gulf.” (Read more at Middle East Monitor)
These restrictions were imposed during the Biden administration to limit the export of American AI chips to the Middle East. They were enacted due to concerns that these semiconductors could be diverted to China and enhance its military capabilities (Readm more at Tech in Asia).
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).
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 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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
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).
If the war in Ukraine ends and Trump lifts sanctions on Russia, he could dent some of the Gulf states' economic activity. The United Arab Emirates and Russia were deepening ties before the Biden administration slapped sanctions on Russia. But after that, the UAE became a hub for re-exporting sanctioned goods (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index dropped 0.4%. Also, Dubai's main share index fell 0.4%. Elsewhere, blue-chip developer Emaar Properties was down 0.4% and Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp retreated 1.2% (Read more at Market Screener).
Any Arab citizen with a shred of personal dignity left must have felt deeply embarrassed upon watching the interaction unfold in the Oval Office on Tuesday, when Trump received King Abdullah of Jordan. To influence the US decision-making process on the Middle East, Arab monarchies must coordinate their strategies and speak with one voice. There is a golden rule to follow when Trump speaks: never take his words at face value. For him, everything and its opposite can be true; we are in a post-truth era. There is thus a thin ray of hope that he does not really mean what he says (Read more at Middle East Eye).
A Muslim imam from Dearborn, Michigan, who was scheduled to deliver a prayer at President Donald Trump’s inauguration has been pulled out of the event without explanation, following criticism from at least one American Jewish group (Read more at Tempo).
President-elect eyes Joe Kent, a right-wing former congressional candidate, to head the country's top counterterror agency. Kent has been publicly vocal about his views on foreign policy regarding the Middle East and has called on the US to withdraw its forces from the region. "We've gotta get serious, and we've gotta just get our troops out of there," Kent said in a podcast in response to a question about an attack on US forces at a base in Jordan (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Biden's Middle East record is likely to be remembered not so much for how conflicts ended on his watch but mainly for how they unfolded, seemingly beyond his ability to contain them. "The upside is Biden came to Israel's defense as a reliable ally," said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Democratic and Republican administrations. "The downside is he had little success constraining (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu in Gaza, and that's done serious reputational damage to the U.S." (Read more at USNews).
The university has agreed to review its anti-harassment policies and to provide training to staff and students on addressing discrimination and harassment based on ancestry and ethnicity. The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights said Johns Hopkins University received 99 complaints of harassment based on shared ancestry from October 2023 through May 2024 (Read more at USNews).
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration slashed the prisoner population at Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba by nearly half on Monday, sending 11 detainees to Oman (Read more at AOL).
Carter’s presidency brought the groundbreaking Camp David Accords but faced challenges from Iran’s revolution and the Cold War (Read more at Media Line).
Emblematic of institutionalised Islamophobia, the detention centre has placed Muslims outside of the law and continues to be used by US authorities to threaten their lives and rights (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Elbridge Colby has said the US should stop focusing on the Middle East, and turn its military's attention to China. Colby did, however, emphasise that the US priorities in the region include ensuring Israel's security, preventing the Gulf states from becoming hostile and lastly preventing transnational terrorism. But he argued that all three could be pursued without the expansive physical footprint that the US employs in the Middle East (Read more at Middle East Eye).
If he is urging Israel to “finish the job” meaning the continued killing of Palestinians and raze what is left of Gaza to the ground, then Israel is definitely complying. Could "finish the job" also mean crossing borders into Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah, Iran's key paramilitary ally in the region? Well, a fragile ceasefire is in place in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and Iran is considerably weakened. In comments made to Israeli media in November, Trump advisor and evangelical leader Mike Evans said the directive to "finish the job" included instructions for Israel to attack Iran's oil facilities and strategic interests (Read more at TRTWorld).
U.S. intelligence agencies assessed in recent weeks that Hezbollah, even amid Israel's military campaign, had begun to recruit new fighters and was trying to find ways to rearm through domestic production and by smuggling materials through Syria, said a senior U.S. official, an Israeli official and two U.S. lawmakers briefed on the intelligence (Read more at AOL).
In recent months, Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, campaigned for Trump to drum up Lebanese and Arab American support, even as the U.S.-backed Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Boulos has powerful roots in both countries. His father and grandfather were both figures in Lebanese politics and his father-in-law was a key funder of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah (Read more at USNews).
When President-elect Donald Trump named a Middle East team for his second term, it struck some as a bit of déjà vu. The team includes a real estate mogul with no diplomatic experience, a conservative religious leader who views Israel in messianic terms, and an Israel hawk relishing the prospect of taking on the international community. It suggests he liked what he got out of the first team and wants the same, only more and bigger, from this one.” (Read more at CSMonitor)
Trump is already shaping the calculations of combatants in the Middle East and in Europe, as they seek to guess what he’ll want once back in the White House, jockeying to find favor beforehand. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards de-escalation in the Middle East,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security adviser said (Read more at Politico).
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says it’s possible the new U.S. administration may enter into interconnected talks with Putin about Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East (Read more at Politico).
Biden’s administration has been steadily arming Ukraine and Israel with its most sophisticated air defenses. The US Navy has been directly defending shipping in the Red Sea in the face of missile and drone attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The United States last month deployed to Israel a THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, and about 100 US troops to operate it. The THAAD is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems. The admission by Admiral Sam Paparo could draw the attention of members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, who are more skeptical of the war in Ukraine and who argue that President Joe Biden has failed to prepare for a potential conflict with China (Read more at Arab News).
The Fed's decisions have a significant impact on monetary policy in the Gulf as most of the region's currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar. Most Gulf stock markets fell on Sunday after U.S economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials pointed to a slower pace of interest-rate cuts. Investors increased bets on the Fed leaving interest rates unchanged at its December meeting and dialled back expectations for easing in 2025 (Read more at ZAWYA).
Trump's Middle East envoy epitomises the president-elect's disdain for policy wonks and international relations experts. Witkoff doesn’t speak much in public, but when he does, he is measured and deliberate. Appearing on Fox News in January, he said Trump’s “strong stance, his certitude in asserting that ‘all hell would break loose’ is moving people”, when asked about the ceasefire talks. With Trump saying he will use the hostage deal to expand the 2020 Abraham Accord agreements, Witkoff is likely set to delve deeper into the world of Gulf politics and the Israel-Palestine conflict (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The choices for key foreign policy and national security roles so far suggest a preference for an activist US policy in the region rather than an isolationist approach. However, it should not be ruled out that future US policy may still retain notable isolationist elements, driven in part by Trump’s own reluctance toward troop deployments and foreign interventions. All things considered, Trump’s victory appears to shift regional power dynamics in favor of Israel and Gulf countries and put Iran in a disadvantageous position (Read more at Foreign Policy Research Institute).
Donald Trump's re-election could boost emerging markets equities in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region because of a potentially stronger dollar, higher U.S. bond yields and global trade policy shifts, J.P.Morgan said on Tuesday (Read more at Reuters).
"Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE," said President-elect Donald Trump. It is unclear what the role of Middle East special envoy will entail under Trump, as special envoys are not standard diplomats. President Joe Biden appointed two Middle East special envoys, Lise Grande and David Satterfield, who specifically focus on humanitarian issues in the region emerging from the war in the Gaza Strip. And Trump appointed longtime adviser and lawyer Jason Greenblatt as a special envoy to the Middle East to help with the negotiations of the Abraham Accords, which saw Israel and four Arab countries normalize diplomatic relations (Read more at Politico).
While Muslims are familiar with Trump’s harsh rhetoric, they also recognize one unpredictable factor: perhaps, in a sudden move, Trump might end the war. This partial belief in Trump’s potential actions has led some Muslims to lean more toward his side. A think tank study in the U.S. found that 75%-80% of Muslims voted for Trump, while 75%-80% of Jewish voters supported the Democrats. In a sense, the Democratic Party, AIPAC and Jews lost (Read more at Daily Sabah).
US officials have said they will make a final push to reach deals on the conflicts, although it is unclear how much leverage they have over Israel and other actors in the region now focused on the incoming administration of former President Donald Trump. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke to counterparts in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to end Israel’s conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
In the hours since former President Donald Trump won reelection, my phone has been ringing off the hook. Many calls came from counterparts across the Middle East whom I worked with as a Middle East envoy in the first Trump White House. Some were colleagues in Israel and the Gulf Arab states who helped negotiate the Abraham Accords peace deal. Others I have worked with since Trump left office. They all, without exception, are looking forward to Trump’s inauguration (Read more at USNews).
Trump's proposed import tariffs might strengthen the U.S. dollar through reduced spending on foreign goods, benefiting Gulf Cooperation Countries' (GCC) currencies. A stronger dollar from Trump's protectionist policies would also increase foreign investment in the GCC region. In addition, according to Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer, Century Financial, Trump is more likely to resolve regional conflict faster as compared to his counterpart, which is expected to promote further stability in the region (Read more at Investing.com).
The Gulf's oil and gas exporters generally follow the Fed's lead on rate moves as most regional currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar; only the Kuwaiti dinar is pegged to a basket of currencies, which includes the dollar (REad more at USNews).
Most stock markets in the Gulf rose on Tuesday as markets waited for early indications of the outcome of a knife-edge U.S. election. Dubai's main share index <.TASI> rose 0.2%. The Qatari index <.QSI> finished 0.2% higher. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index <.TASI> edged 0.2% lower (Read more at ZAWYA).
Since leaving office in 2021, former President Donald Trump and several of his close allies have maintained a prominent presence in the oil-rich Gulf states. One of the most significant developments in Trump’s ongoing relationship with Gulf leaders came in September, when he hosted Qatar’s ruling emir and the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key advisor during his time in office, has remained heavily involved in U.S.-Saudi relations. The Trump Organization has continued to explore new business opportunities in the Gulf region. Several other prominent figures from the Trump administration have maintained close business ties with Gulf nations (Read more at NewsX).
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is sending bomber aircraft, fighter jets and more Navy warships to the Middle East to bolster the U.S. presence in the region. Austin's latest order, said Ryder, shows the “U.S. capability to deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.” He said Austin “continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people.” (Read more at Military Times)
F-16s from 480th Fighter Squadron based in Germany arrive in Central Command area of responsibility. CENTCOM did not specify the intended operational role of the F-16s but emphasised their mission to reinforce US presence in the region (Read more at TRTWorld).
Americans should reflect on how the United States got ensnared in an earlier Israeli war there, and a tragic result of that involvement that occurred 41 years ago this week. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, which was the beginning of an occupation that would not end completely until 2000. One of the most horrifying low points was the massacre in September 1982 at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The Israel Defense Forces, fired illuminating flares so that the killing could continue through the night. A couple of weeks earlier, the United States under the Reagan administration had agreed to deploy US Marines. At least on the face of it, this deployment had a noble peacekeeping mission (Read more at New Arab).
"The market continues to wait for Israel's response to Iran's missile attack," ING analysts said on Wednesday, adding the price strength on Tuesday was possibly due to the lack of outcome from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's latest visit to Israel (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Trump said: “If I were president, that war would have never started. You wouldn’t have all those dead people... (and) demolished cities and areas. (We) wouldn’t have had Oct. 7.” He criticized Joe Biden and his administration’s foreign policy failures for the wars on multiple fronts (Read more at Arabnews).
Ten years to the day after the formal launch of the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State, the United States and its NATO allies gathered in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the future of a mission facing increasing headwinds. Niger kicked out the U.S. military from its counter-terrorism base in West Africa this summer. Afghanistan has been largely off-limits since the Taliban's 2021 takeover. And Iraq wants the Pentagon to start reducing its personnel and end coalition operations there (Read more at MSN).
According to the WSJ poll, Trump leads Harris in the seven swing states 50% to 39% on who is best able to handle Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump also has a 48% to 33% lead over Harris on who is better suited to handle the Israel-Hamas war (Read more at USNews).
The conflict in the Middle East was a central issue during Friday’s East Asia Summit in Laos, where Blinken said Washington was dedicated to using diplomacy to try to control the situation in the face of what he called an Iranian-led axis of resistance. “The intense focus of the United States, which has been the case going back a year... (is) preventing these conflicts from spreading. And we’re working on that every day,” Blinken told a press conference. Friday’s discussions included the war in Ukraine, Myanmar’s civil war, climate change, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and concern about confrontations in the South China Sea, a key conduit for at least $3 trillion in annual ship-borne trade (Read more at Arab News).
Washington's occasional condemnation of Israel over the war's civilian death toll has mostly been verbal with no substantive change in policy (Read more at Business Standard).
Oil fell by more than $1/bbl on Oct. 9 on rising U.S. crude inventories, while the risk of supply disruption from the Middle East conflict and Hurricane Milton in the U.S. curbed price declines (Read more at Hart Energy).
But he said more needed to be done to avoid a Middle East war. Asked by reporters in Washington on Thursday how confident he was that such a war could be averted, Biden said, “How confident are you it’s not going to rain? Look, I don’t believe there is going to be an all-out war. I think we can avoid it (Read more at Arabnews).
Iran's missile attack on Israel, and Washington's full backing of its ally on a response against Tehran, sent markets into a risk-off mode. Safe-haven currencies like Japan's yen and Swiss franc saw strong bids, along with oil and defense stocks. U.S. energy majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron rose 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively. Major oil and gas producers ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and Devon Energy gained between 1.5% and 1.9% while oilfield services firm SLB and Halliburton both rose about 2% each. Analysts expect the market to remain "jittery" as investors await Israel's retaliation and the resultant impact on supply (Read more at Zawya).
Oil prices rise on fears over Middle East supply disruptions. Israel vows retaliation against Iran over Tuesday's missile attack. US crude, gasoline inventories rose while distillate stocks fell last week. Israel's retaliation could include targeting Iranian oil production facilities among other strategic sites. An attack on Iran's oil infrastructure could provoke Tehran to respond with a strike on Saudi oil facilities, similar to one conducted in 2019 on crude processing facilities there, said Tamas Varga of oil brokerage PVM (Read more at Reuters).
The Army has sent at least one "robot dog" armed with an artificial intelligence-enabled gun turret to the Middle East for testing as a fresh counter-drone capability for U.S. service member. A U.S. Army Central spokesman told that the armed robot dog was one of several “non-counter-sUAS” systems tested alongside 15 counter-drone platforms at Red Sands during the September test and that the gun engaged several static ground targets (Read more at Military.com).
The new rule allows data centers from around the world to apply for a VEU status through which they can receive AI chips or other designated items under general authorization, rather than requiring their US suppliers to obtain multiple individual export licenses to ship to them. The move comes despite growing concerns among US policymakers that the Middle East could become a conduit for China to obtain American products (Read more at Forbes Middle East).
The additional forces would raise the total number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000. The increased presence will involve multiple fighter jet and attack aircraft squadrons. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E, F-16, and F-22 fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft, and the personnel needed to support them (Read more at Associated Press).
"The United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement (Read more at CNBC).
President Biden has spent nearly a year plotting and praying he could help prevent the war in Gaza from spreading. The rapidly expanding conflict between Israel and Hezbollah signals his power has reached its limit (Read more at Axios).
Experts question whether Iran would stay on the sidelines if Lebanon's Hezbollah's existence were threatened and say US troops could also find themselves targeted throughout the Middle East, if a regional war breaks out. The United States is sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East given escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Pentagon said on Monday, declining to specify the precise number or mission of the deployed forces (Read more at Daily Star).
The Gulf region’s oil and gas exporters tend to follow the US Fed’s lead on rate moves as most regional currencies are pegged to the US dollar; only the Kuwaiti dinar is pegged to a basket of currencies, which includes the dollar (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, “I am not tracking any force posture changes in the Eastern Med or in the Central Command area of responsibility ... In pretty much every call the secretary always reiterates the need (that) we want to see regional tensions quell.” The spokesperson added that the US felt as of now the conflict was contained to Gaza (Read more at Arabnews).
Theodore Roosevelt has departed and begun its transit to Indo-Pacific command area of operations, says spokesman. One of two US aircraft carriers deployed to the Middle East to deter Iran from attacking Israel departed the region. US forces in the region include, but aren’t limited to, an amphibious ready group and marine expeditionary unit, multiple destroyers, fighter aircraft and carrier strike group presence (Read more at Anadolu Agency).
Muslims targeted in the war on terror have found no mechanism to address crimes perpetrated against them, much less any frame that acknowledges their victimisation. If someone is killed by the US in a combat zone - US laws effectively preclude noncitizens from the eligibility to make a claim or receive any compensation for wrongful deaths that occur outside of the country. In rare cases where the US military kills civilians, a commander can opt to pay what are called solatia or condolence payments. These payments are not only minuscule - ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars - but they are also expressly made without the military acknowledging any wrongdoing (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Trump accused Harris of being weak on foreign policy and of hating Israel and Arabs. He offered no specific solutions for the Israel-Hamas conflict, however, instead claiming the war in Gaza would not have happened under his leadership. Trump added, Harris hates Arabs, claiming that “the whole place (the Middle East) is going to get blown up.” Harris affirmed her support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and its proxies, while acknowledging the heavy civilian toll on Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza, however, may not be a deciding issue in the election, even among Arab Americans (Read more at Arabnews).
The Lincoln is to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt at a time of heightened fears of regional conflict. “The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3, is accompanied by Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9,” it added (Read more at Arab Weekly).
In a joint statement released by the White House on Monday, the leaders of all five countries said they endorsed a call from the United States, Qatar and Egypt for a renewal of talks for a Gaza ceasefire to conclude a deal as soon as possible (Read more at Business Standard).
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carrier Strike Group, equipped with F-35C fighters, to accelerate its transit to the Central Command area of responsibility, adding to the capabilities already provided by the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT Carrier Strike Group. Additionally, Austin ordered the USS Georgia (SSGN 729) guided missile submarine to the Central Command region (Read more at TRTWorld).
The deployment is part of force posture changes in the region to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or its proxies (Read more at Defense Post).
In his opening speech at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping restated China’s backing of a two-state solution and pledged 500 million yuan ($69 million) in humanitarian aid for Gazans. The longer the war, the easier for China to pursue this objective (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The counter-drone system works by overwhelming a hostile drone’s control frequency, forcing it to abandon its mission and return to its operator. The weapons can perform up to three hours of jamming and more than 10 hours of drone detection (Read more at Defense News).
Though the exact location was not disclosed, sharp eyes online revealed that the photos were taken from the Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Interestingly, the base serves as the home for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing and previously housed the US Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk drones. It is believed to be connected to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (Read more at Defense Post).
It came days before Iran launched a volley of drones and missiles on Israel. Delivery is expected in 30 days. The system is available in mobile and palletized versions to protect critical infrastructure, such as power, water, information systems/data centers, and moving targets (Read more Defense Post).
US has a formal vision of a deal between Israel and the leading power in the Arab and Muslim world, Saudi Arabia.The Saudis share Israel’s concerns about the Iranians and their regional proxy armies. Last weekend’s coordinated response to the Iranian attack will also have brought home the potential benefits to Saudi Arabia. A more formal U.S. security guarantee and access to top-of-the-line American warplanes are also major attractions for the Saudis in a deal with Israel (Read more at CSMonitor).
Israel's killing thousands of Gaza citizens became a reminder of how invisible they sometimes feel in America. For example, Schools rarely allow students to choose their racial identity as Arab American on information forms. Biden's early support for Israel's assault on Palestinians in Gaza was simply a tipping point for many Arab Americans who helped him achieve a critical win the state in 2020 (Read more at Axios).
Machine-learning algorithms that can teach themselves to identify objects helped to narrow down targets for more than 85 US air strikes on February 2. AI systems have also helped identify rocket launchers in Yemen and surface vessels in the Red Sea (Read more at theNational).
But an official told ABC News that the White House and the intelligence community remains unconvinced that the response will persist, even as some State Department officials say it may take a generation to rebuild U.S. standing in some countries (Read more at ABCNews).
An American soldier standing guard at Tower 22 in the Jordanian desert cannot simultaneously watch over the NATO border in Estonia, the demilitarized zone on the Korean peninsula or Philippine shoals in the South China Sea (Read more at Bloomberg).
