Americas

US intelligence officials claim Moscow is building a drone-manufacturing facility in the country with Tehran's help that could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine once it is completed. Moscow and Tehran have previously denied similar claims.

Confidential documents provided new details about one of the most celebrated US military operations in recent history — and revealed flaws in the Pentagon's claim that deadly airstrikes on the Daesh leader in Syria did not hit civilians.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has introduced new bill aimed at strengthening normalisation with Israel through proposals with nearly $120m in funding, naming Saudi Arabia as a "key regional partner" that would be eligible for many of those programmes.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog may not be an ally to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or an official part of the Israeli government, but as a representative of Israel, he is complicit in the occupation of and discrimination against Palestinians. This is the message from several progressive Jewish American groups to US politicians as Herzog visits Washington.

The US has banned 14 Iraqi banks from conducting dollar transactions as part of its crackdown on corruption and “dollar smuggling to Iran.”

Dozens of progressive policy groups and human rights organisations came together on Tuesday to call on the US Congress to pass a bill that would require the administration of President Joe Biden to investigate the killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid says Tel Aviv’s relations with the US have deteriorated so much under the leadership of his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that Washington is “no longer our closest ally".

The US military will send a Navy destroyer along with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to the Persian Gulf region after “a number of recent alarming events in the Strait of Hormuz” caused by Iran, said a Pentagon spokesperson. Tehran says Iranian naval forces have so far seized 35 ships for violating maritime laws in the waters off the Persian Gulf.

US President Joe Biden on Monday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington for an official visit at a date to be determined, the Israeli prime minister's office announced

The US is weighing a military response to Russia’s presence in the skies over Syria, a Pentagon official has confirmed. Damascus says the US presence in Syria is a violation of its sovereignty.

Three more US lawmakers have announced their intentions to boycott Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address to a joint session of Congress next week. It comes after Congresswoman Ilhan Omar announced there would be "no way in hell" she would be in attendance.

A senior US defence official has confirmed that Washington is deploying additional fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz "to protect ships from Iranian seizures". The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iranian naval forces have so far seized 35 ships for violating maritime laws in the waters off the Persian Gulf.

US President Joe Biden congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the agreement reached with the Swedish prime minister over Sweden's NATO membership, according to the White House. They discussed defence priorities and regional stability and security at the NATO Summit.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has warned that Moscow would be forced to use "similar" weapons if the United States supplied cluster bombs to Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.

A US intelligence assessment has refuted claims by the US government and some of its allies that Iran is pursing atomic bombs in its nuclear program, reaffirming its peaceful nature.

A hardline Israeli minister has hit out at US President Joe Biden for his recent remarks calling Israel's current government the "most extreme" he's seen in its history, stressing that Israel is "no longer a star" on the American flag.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has discussed support for Turkey's military modernization during a call with his Turkish counterpart, according to a US read-out released late Monday. It comes after Ankara announced it would back Sweden's NATO accession.

US President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government has some “of the most extreme” cabinet members he’s ever seen in Israel, saying ministers who back settling “anywhere they want” in the West Bank are “part of the problem” in the conflict.

The United States and Iran are in indirect negotiations to secure a possible prisoner exchange, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley has been placed on leave as his security clearance is being reviewed allegedly over his handling of classified materials.

Islamabad has conveyed its strong reservations to Washington for its deepening defence ties with New Delhi, viewing the development as a direct threat to the country’s security interests.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that establishing diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv is difficult but possible, reasserting that Washington is pushing to normalise ties between the two sides.

Media outlets have released an audio recording in which former US President Donald Trump purportedly boasts about having a classified document during a 2021 meeting. The ex-president was seemingly talking about holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran, citing then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

As the picture became more clear to US intelligence analysts that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was about to mobilize his troops inside Russia, the expectation was that his march toward Moscow would encounter much more resistance and be “a great deal more violent and bloody.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has backed President Joe Biden’s remarks calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator, saying the American leader “speaks for all of us.”