Middle Orient

US President Joe Biden will sign an agreement with Israel this week pledging that both countries will use “all elements of national power” to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, Israeli officials said on Tuesday. The declaration of a joint stance against Iran’s nuclear program and regional aggression …

On the first leg of his trip to the Middle East this week, US President Joe Biden will meet with Israeli leaders and then make a gratuitous stop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before heading off to Saudi Arabia for the second leg …

Nine European countries said Tuesday that they have seen “no substantial evidence” to support Israel’s allegations that six Palestinian civil society groups are terrorist organizations and would not change their policies on supporting the groups. The rare joint statement was a major rebuke of Israel, which backlisted the groups as …

Syria’s Kurdish-led forces alleged Maher al-Aghal was also affiliated with Turkey-backed opposition group Ahrar al-Sharqiya. A US drone strike on Tuesday killed the leader of the Islamic State group in Syria, the US military announced today. Maher al-Agal was killed near the town of Jidayris in Syria’s Afrin region, according …

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Russia highly valued cooperation with Saudi Arabia within the framework of OPEC+ group of world’s leading oil producers. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it hoped President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia would not be used to try to foster anti-Russian relations, …

Iran is trying to showcase that it can work with countries that want to unseat the US as a global hegemonic power. US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia will include some discussions on the Iranian threat. This is clear from the fact that Israel is showcasing …

At the core of a US policy debate over the merits of President Joe Biden’s pilgrimage, this week to the Middle East lies the question of how best to ensure regional stability and protect United States interests. Lost in the debate is whether the cost of maintaining stability by supporting …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed Ukrainian grain exports in separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ukraine and its allies have pushed for the reopening of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which Kyiv says are shut because of a Russian blockade. Western countries …

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, has served to accentuate ongoing differences between the United States and Europe on the one hand and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) on the other. This has, to some extent, benefited Russia’s relations with the MENA region …

Eleven years ago, as popular uprisings erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, Europeans imagined themselves as partners of choice for democratic and economic transitions that would create pathways to sustainable stability. This dream failed catastrophically. The region was overwhelmed by instability and conflict, and Europe, in turn, by …