Americas

20 U.S. Senate Democrats have laid out their conditions to support President Joe Biden’s push to establish a peaceful relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, raising concerns about human rights and Riyadh demands of Washington.

The US will transfer "Yemen-bound" seized Iranian weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from Washington and its allies, American officials say. Tehran has repeatedly rejected as lies accusations that the Islamic Republic is sending arms to Yemen.

Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Matthew Miller responded to Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani's recent remarks who said Tehran will set up a permanent station in Antarctica. Miller stressed that Washington unequivocally opposes any efforts to militarize Antarctica.

The United States Foreign Relations Committee chairman has said he will block some US military aid to Egypt until it takes "concrete, meaningful and sustainable steps" to improve human rights.

A leading Arab American rights group sued the US government and called on a federal court to halt any further actions admitting Israel into the visa waiver programme (VWP). It stressed that Tel Aviv is not eligible for entry because it is discriminating against Palestinian Americans.

The US announced sanctions against an Iranian company as well as companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for allegedly supporting Tehran’s drone program by supplying critical components.

The Kremlin has hit back at former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had needled Russian President Vladimir Putin over NATO expansion.

More than half of American voters oppose a defence pact with Saudi Arabia that would commit Washington to send forces to defend the kingdom in the event it is attacked, a survey shows.

Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has reportedly said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "hates" the US. She has claimed that Moscow will interfere in the 2024 election, repeating never-proven allegations from 2016 and 2020.

Senior US officials have arrived in Armenia after neighboring Azerbaijan launched a full-scale military operation last week in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region and forced the evacuation of thousands of ethnic Armenians.

Two decades on, Washington has failed to provide redress or compensation to Iraqi victims of its military’s torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib and other prisons, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported.

The expansion of BRICS is very important especially for energy sector, as after the inclusion of new members the bloc will account for over 80% of global oil reserves and production, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil told Sputnik on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week in New York.

Iraq’s central bank will restrict all internal commercial transactions to the Iraqi dinar starting next year, the bank has announced in a statement, citing governor Ali Al-Allaq.

A US congressional delegation was meeting Armenia's leaders on Saturday to show support for the Yerevan government in the wake of protests rocking the Caucasus nation after Azerbaijan reclaimed control over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

US Senator Robert Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, were indicted on charges of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars, gold bars, a luxury car, and other bribes in exchange for corrupt acts that benefited the government of Egypt.

Moscow believes that the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the United States will not radically change anything in the relations between Tehran and Washington, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Thursday.

Lawyers for one of Guantanamo's "forever prisoners" filed a lawsuit against the two psychologists who helped conceive the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques, which have been widely seen and condemned as torture.

Shots were fired near the US diplomatic mission in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, late on Wednesday but no injuries were reported, embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson has confirmed.

US soldiers will complete a joint military exercise with Armenian forces in the Caucasus state on Wednesday as planned, and the drill was not affected by the launch of a major military operation by neighbouring Azerbaijan, according to a US military spokesperson.

The US and Saudi Arabian officials are reportedly discussing the terms of a security pact resembling those with Washington’s East Asian allies, in what is viewed as an incentive for the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel.

An airplane carrying five US dual nationals freed from prison in Iran, landed in the Qatari capital Doha on Monday. Earlier, a US official confirmed that five prisoners sought by Washington had left the Iranian capital as part of the prisoner swap agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he plans to discuss the issue of Iran during his meeting with US President Joe Biden in the upcoming days. He made the remarks before departing for the United States, according to the government press office.

More than a dozen rights organizations have signed a statement rebuking the US administration's decision to approve more than $200m in military aid to Egypt, arguing that the money will only embolden President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi amid an intensifying crackdown on civil society.

Russia declared two employees of the embassy of the United States in Moscow personae non gratae on Thursday, adding they have to leave the country within seven days, the Foreign Ministry has announced in a statement.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley revealed that he never recommended a US military attack on Iran during the previous administration, pushing back on claims made by former President Donald Trump and his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.