Iranian official says next move on prisoner exchange depends on US. It’s hard to understate the impact of resumed diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia — and that it was China that made it happen. China has until now had a business- and energy-first approach to the Middle East, preferring to abstain from the diplomatic and…
On his arrival, Xi Jinping was greeted with a handshake by 37-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto ruler of the world’s biggest oil exporter, at Yamamah Palace Riyadh: Chinese President Xi Jinping met Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince on Thursday on an Arab outreach visit that will yield billions of dollars in deals…
The flight of two U.S. B-52 bombers over the Middle East announced on Thursday was a show-of-force message to Iran as American and Saudi officials continued to monitor an imminent threat to Saudi Arabia, according to a senior Defense Department official. Officials believe Tehran is planning an attack on the Kingdom, likely on energy infrastructure,…
Concurrent reports that Iran will launch new attacks against Saudi Arabia and Iraqi Kurdistan while simultaneously preparing missile shipments to Russia for use against Ukraine demonstrate Tehran’s increased willingness to escalate beyond its borders. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report, on Tuesday, that Saudi Arabia has warned the United States of an…
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister on Tuesday blasted the release of emergency oil stocks as an attempt to “manipulate markets”, the latest apparent salvo in a spat with Washington over oil production. “People are depleting their emergency stocks, had depleted it, used it as a mechanism to manipulate markets while its profound purpose was to mitigate…
For the fifth time in four years, Israelis will return to the ballot box to vote for a new government. There is little indication that the next election will have a definitive result. Israelis may have to endure repeated elections beyond 2022 simply to get a slim majority to form a coalition government — and…
When the political skies clear, it could easily be Beijing, and not Washington, that gains ground in the region As the war in Ukraine enters its third month, more convergence has emerged between China and key states in the Middle East. Motivated by a shared frustration with the United States, China and its Middle East…
When the Abraham Accords were unveiled in 2020, Iran denounced the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) decision to normalize relations with Israel as a dangerous step threatening its security as well as the Palestinians’. Just a day after the agreement was signed, on September 15, 2021, the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the pact as “strategic idiocy”…
Talks between Riyadh and Beijing have accelerated as the Saudi unhappiness grows with Washington. Saudi Arabia is in active talks with Beijing to price some of its oil sales to China in yuan, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would dent the U.S. dollar’s dominance of the global petroleum market and mark…
Sasse warned of what could happen if other countries view the U.S. as ‘weak.’ News that Saudi Arabia is considering pricing oil sales to China using the Chinese yuan instead of the U.S. dollar has Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., concerned the U.S. could be losing its footing on the world stage. In an interview with…