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Report: US raises Saudi-Israel normalization with MbS

By
Fatemeh Askarieh
-
Mohammad bin Salman

The Saudi crown prince did not reject Sullivan’s normalization proposal outright during their meeting on September 27 in the Red Sea City of Neom. Instead, MbS reportedly said it would take some time and presented Sullivan with a list of measures that have to be met first — including warming of ties with the US.

The steps included an improvement in bilateral US-Saudi relations, which have become strained since the election of US President Joe Biden, who set expectations for Saudi Arabia to improve its record on human rights — a key issue in US-Saudi relations.

Any Saudi agreement to normalize relations with Israel would require significant steps by Israel on the Palestinian issue, the report added.

Riyadh has long stated that it would not normalize with Israel until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is solved and a Palestinian state is established based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Back in 2018, in an interview with the US-based The Atlantic magazine, the 32-year-old heir declared that Israel had the right to its own land alongside the Palestinians.

“I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,” the crown prince stated, adding that “there are a lot of interests” his country shares with Israel.

The Biden administration had pledged to “relicalibrate” the relationship with Saudi Arabia in its meeting with Saudi officials in February, after the US released a declassified intelligence report implicating bin Salman in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden officials also vowed to expand the Abraham Accords at their one-year anniversary, a carryover of the administration of Donald Trump, to actively work to support and expand the growing diplomatic ties between Israel and the Arab nations.

The Abraham Accords created a shift in Arab-Israeli relations — as Arab states including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Sudan — agreed to formally and publicly establish diplomatic relations with Israel amid an upsurge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Saudis were said to have supported the UAE’s decision to sign a peace treaty with Israel — and helped facilitate the agreement by opening its airspace to Israeli aircraft for direct flights from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.

After returning from Neom, Sullivan held a public meeting Thursday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Washington to discuss “US-Saudi strategic cooperation on regional issues along with broader issues.” Neither country, however, mentioned normalization with Israel in their public statements about the meeting.

US Secretary of State Antony John Blinken met with Sullivan recently to discuss expanding the Abraham Accords in their meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. A senior Israeli official allegedly informed reporters after Lapid’s visit that at least one country would “definitely” be joining the other Arab countries in signing the accords.

According to the report, senior White House officials told a conference call of Jewish leaders last Friday that the US was “quietly” engaging several Arab and Muslim countries on the issue of normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Several Trump administration officials allegedly boasted in private that they would have sealed an agreement with Saudi Arabia within a year if Trump had been reelected.

US calls for ‘sustained and substantive’ talks with North Korea

By
IFP Media Wire
-

The United States has offered to meet North Korea without preconditions and made clear that Washington has no hostile intent toward Pyongyang, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Wednesday as the Security Council met over North Korea’s latest missile launch.

North Korea – formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) – has long accused the United States of having a hostile policy toward the Asian state and asserted that it has the right to develop weapons for self-defense.

“The DPRK must abide by the Security Council resolutions and it is time to engage in sustained and substantive dialogue toward the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

North Korea has been subjected to U.N. sanctions since 2006, which have been steadily strengthened in a bid to cut off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The measures include a ban on ballistic missile launches.

“We have offered to meet the DPRK officials, without any preconditions, and we have made clear that we hold no hostile intent toward the DPRK,” Thomas-Greenfield added.

North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump met three times in 2018 and 2019, but failed to make progress on U.S. calls for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and North Korea’s demands for an end to sanctions.

Thomas-Greenfield said President Joe Biden’s administration was “prepared to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy.”

European council members – France, Estonia and Ireland – also urged North Korea to “engage meaningfully” with repeated offers of dialogue by the United States and South Korea.

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, prompting the United States and Britain to raise the issue in the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
“It is the latest in a series of reckless provocations,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

“These are unlawful activities. They are in violation of multiple Security Council resolutions. And they are unacceptable,” Thomas-Greenfield continued.

Poll: Almost 80% of republicans want Trump to run for president

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Trump

Nearly 80 percent of Republicans want to see Trump wage a third White House bid in 2024, according to a new Quinnipiac University survey.

Seventy-eight percent of Republicans polled said they think Trump should run again, while 16 percent said he should sit out the 2024 race. Meanwhile, 94 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independents said Trump should not run.

The poll underscores the stubborn support Trump enjoys among the GOP base, backing that may be growing. Sixty-six percent of Republicans said in the same poll in May that Trump should run for the White House in three years.

“While a majority of Americans say, ‘been there, done that’ about Trump, and half feel he has damaged the underpinnings of democracy, support for the former president within the GOP has grown,” stated Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy.

The survey comes as Trump presents increasingly strong signals that he plans to launch a 2024 campaign.

The former president has begun traveling at a more frequent clip, including to swing states such as Iowa, and has doled out a slew of endorsements, including in key House and Senate races. He also continues to fundraise, raking in millions from his extensive small-dollar donor network.

Republicans have debated the role of the former president in the GOP following the Jan. 6 insurrection, which was in support of his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. However, he appears to have bounced back, with more GOP figures, including in Washington, coalescing around him.

Still, his role in inciting the insurrection could impact him in a general election campaign, with 51 percent of Americans saying he has been undermining democracy since the 2020 presidential election.

Trump’s sway is looming large over would-be GOP presidential contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, who are expected to wait for an official announcement one way or another on the former president’s 2024 aspirations before declaring their own intentions.

The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 1,342 adults and 1,168 registered voters from Oct. 15 to Oct. 18, with margins of error of 2.7 and 2.9 percentage points, respectively.

Trump on Wednesday announced the upcoming launch of his own social media network called “TRUTH Social.”

“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” Trump said in a release.

“I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon. TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all. I’m excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech. Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!” he added.

Trump was largely banned from major social media networks, including Facebook and his favored Twitter, at the beginning of the year after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. After leaving office, he operated a blog similar in style to Twitter before shutting it down about a month after it was started.

Earlier in October, Trump asked a federal judge to force Twitter into reinstating his account.

“Coerced by members of the United States Congress, operating under an unconstitutional immunity granted by a permissive federal statute, and acting directly with federal officials, Defendant is censoring Plaintiff, a former President of the United States,” the motion read.

A beta launch of the site for “invited guests” is expected in November, with a full launch in the first quarter of 2022.

The site’s upcoming launch was coupled with the announcement that Trump Media & Technology Group has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Digital World Acquisition Corp. that will allow it to become a publicly listed company.

According to MarketWatch, Digital World Acquisition Corp. is a blank-check company that was founded on Dec. 11, 2020. As a blank-check company, it has no specific business plan and was started for the purposes of acquiring or merging with other companies.

The Trump Media & Technology Group also announced plans to launch a subscription-based video service called TMTG+ that will feature “non-woke” programming. The new endeavor will be led by reality television producer Scott St. John, who has worked on shows such as “Deal or No Deal” and “America’s Got Talent.”

Syria base housing US forces hit by drone attacks

By
IFP Media Wire
-

Unidentified drones reportedly carry out a set of attacks against a controversial military base belonging to the US-led coalition occupying Syria.

The attacks were reported across various media outlets in late Wednesday.

The reports specified the target as the outpost located in the hugely-strategic al-Tanf area in southeastern Syria.

The United States has been trying to exercise control over the area, which hosts an intersection of the Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian borders.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “the sound of explosion” had rung out of the base during the incident.
Sky News Arabia cited “an American official” as describing the incident as a likely “rocket attack.”
“Preliminary evaluations,” the official claimed, had shown that “Iraqi groups” had conducted the airstrikes.
Reuters also carried a report pointing to an incident involving the base that had not caused any casualties.

The garrison was used as a place to train Syrian opposition forces to patrol for militants, according to The Associated Press.

The United States led scores of its allies in an invasion of Syria in 2014.

The coalition that has allegedly been seeking to fight the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh sustains its illegal presence in the Arab country, although Damascus and its allies defeated the terror outfit in late 2017.

Iranian truck drivers released after months of detention in Azerbaijan

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

Shahroud Norouzi and Jaafar Barzegar were released Thursday after unrelenting pursuit of their case by Iran’s Foreign Ministry and the Iranian embassy in Baku.

The two had been detained while carrying goods to Azerbaijan’s newly liberated areas during last year’s war with Armenia.

Iran’s Roads and Transportation Organization has issued guidelines to transportation companies to strictly observe the laws and sensitivities of other countries in light of new changes in borders of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan following their 44-day war.

The detention of the two truck drivers and some other issues like the presence of the Zionist regime in Azerbaijan’s territory near the Iranian border caused tensions in ties between Tehran and Baku.

Iran recently held a military drill near the border.

The Azerbaijani president criticized the maneuver. However, tensions have abated now after several meetings between the Iranian and Azerbaijani officials.

Afghanistan summit calls for urgent assistance

By
IFP Media Wire
-

“Expressing deep concern over the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the sides expressed confidence in the need for the international community to mobilize consolidated efforts to provide urgent humanitarian and economic assistance to the Afghan people in the post-conflict reconstruction of the country,” the joint statement says.

The sides suggested that a collective initiative should be launched to convene a representative international donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations at the soonest possible time.

“Certainly with the understanding that the core burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan must be shouldered by troop-based actors which were in the country for the past 20 years,” the statement noted.

Participants in the meeting also called for the need of establishing relations with that country’s authorities “irrespective of the official recognition of the new Afghan government by the international community.”

Additionally, the sides reiterated their respect to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan “as a peaceful, indivisible, independent, economically developing State, free of terrorism and drug-related crime and respecting the basic norms in the human rights area.”

“Being concerned about the activities of proscribed terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, the sides reaffirmed their willingness to continue to promote security in Afghanistan to contribute to regional stability,” the statement adds.

The participating countries urged the current Afghan government to adopt additional measures aimed at improving governance and forming a truly inclusive government, which will properly reflect “the interests of all major ethno-political forces in the country.”

“This will be a fundamental prerequisite for the completion of the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” according to the statement.

“The participating countries were pleased to note the reaffirmation by the interim Afghan government of its previous commitments to prevent use of the Afghan territory against its neighbors, other States in the region and the rest of the world,” it reads.

Additionally, the countries participating in the Moscow Format Consultations called on the new Afghan leadership “to practice moderate and sound internal and external policies, adopt friendly policies towards neighbors of Afghanistan, achieve the shared goals of durable peace, security, safety, and long-term prosperity, and respect the rights of ethnic groups, women and children.”

The Taliban and the special representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan to Afghanistan held talks in Moscow, Spokesperson for the Afghan Foreign Ministry Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Wednesday.

“Following participation in Moscow Format talks, a senior Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name the Taliban call themselves) delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi partook in a quadlateral meeting in which comprehensive discussions were held with special representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan,” the spokesperson stated on his Twitter page.

According to the photo attached to the Twitter post, Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sidique Khan, Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong, as well as Russian Ambassador to this country Dmitry Zhirnov, took part at the meeting.

Mother Cheetah, 2 Cubs Sighted in Iran Natl. Park

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-

Experts and rangers had been concerned as they had not seen any animal of the species for quite some time before the latest sighting.

The female cheetah’s cubs had, after reaching maturity, separated from their mother last year.

However, the recent photos taken of the cubs allayed authorities’ concerns.

This species of the cheetah is called Harb, named after its habitat.

Meanwhile, another cheetah and her cubs have also been sighted on the other side of the park and their images recorded.

Spanish court agrees to extradite Venezuela’s ex-spy chief to US

By
IFP Media Wire
-

A Spanish court on Wednesday ordered the extradition of the retired Maj. Gen. to the United States where he is wanted on charges of drug trafficking and belonging to a terror organization.

Carvajal, who for more than a decade advised the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez before breaking with his successor, had been resisting extradition since he was arrested in Spain in April 2019.

Carvajal had avoided extradition to the US when he was picked up in Aruba in 2014 on the same New York indictment that Spanish authorities acted on. He returned to Venezuela after slipping the grasp of authorities and was received as a hero.

But he eventually broke with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, throwing his support behind the opposition to Maduro’s Socialist regime. He then left Venezuela for good.

Prosecutors in New York allege that Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006.

Carvajal also allegedly provided weapons to armed FARC guerrillas in Colombia, according to the US Treasury Department, and helped fund the group’s activities by facilitating shipments of large amounts of US bound cocaine through Venezuela.

Spain’s National Court said police and Spain’s penitentiary services will be in charge of his transfer to the US. No date was given.

Last week the National Court ordered the extradition of Chávez’s former nurse, who is charged in Miami with money laundering.

Biden’s Iran envoy to discusses nuclear deal with E3 diplomats

By
IFP Media Wire
-

The nuclear talks have been stalled since June, and America’s Arab partners are extremely concerned by Iran’s nuclear advances in recent months. Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, are engaging with Tehran to try to de-escalate regional tensions.

Malley and the State Department’s point person for the Gulf, Daniel Benaim, started their regional tour in Abu Dhabi and met Emirati national security adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed and presidential adviser Anwar Gargash. They also met Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

The next stop was Doha where they met Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who had spoken a day earlier to his Iranian counterpart.

Malley then moved on to Saudi Arabia — the most important stop on the trip considering the strained US-Saudi relationship and the ongoing Saudi-Iranian dialogue. He discussed Iran’s nuclear program and regional activity with Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, per the official Saudi news agency.

Malley also spoke by phone with the Foreign Minister of Bahrain.

Meanwhile back in Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Tuesday with the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated on Monday that Tehran has never left the negotiating table and is serious about the nuclear talks. 

“For the other side, a readiness to lift sanctions can be a sign of their seriousness,” he noted.

The US and its European allies have accused the Iranians of wasting time and warned that their patience is not unlimited.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the UN secretary-general in a phone call on Tuesday that Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, would travel to Brussels next week for talks with EU political director Enrique Mora, who is coordinating the nuclear negotiations. 

It’s unclear if and when the sides will return to Vienna.

Iran, Russia Discuss Closer Military Cooperation

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
bagheri

Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, further said Iran-Russia military and defense cooperation has been growing in recent years.

He said relations between Iran and Russia, as two important partners on the international stage, is expanding.

General Baqeri touched upon an Iranian armada having crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time recently and having participated in a Russian naval parade, calling for closer cooperation between the two sides in military and defense areas. 

He made the comment in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg where he arrived as part of his Russia visit to meet officials of the Russian Navy, namely Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vice-Admiral Vladimir Lvovich Kasatonov.

Upon arrival, general Baqeri was officially received by admiral Kasatonov and a number of high-ranking Russian generals.

After the welcoming ceremony, the two top generals inspected the guard of honour before taking part in talks where Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and military top brass from both countries were also present.

In the meeting, general Kasatonov said Iranian and Russian navies had had close cooperation in recent years and held numerous war games.

He said the two sides will continue their cooperation.

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