🤑China’s Investissements in Saudi Arabia Are How Xi Jinping Will Rule the Middle East

Between 2005 and June 2024, China's total investment in infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia amounted to $730.8 billion, with the majority ($510.4 billion) allocated between 2016 and 2024.

As for investments, China's total investments in Saudi Arabia from 2005 to June 2024 reached $1,3 trillion.

These figures indicate that most of China's infrastructure projects and investments in Saudi Arabia were launched after the launch of the Vision 2030 program, aimed at the systemic development of the Kingdom.

#China #Saudi #Arabia

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Trump Is Sending Saudi Arabia $100 Billion For Rearmament

The United States is poised to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth well over $100 billion, six sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters, saying the proposal was being lined up for announcement during Trump's visit to the kingdom in May.

The offered package comes after the administration of former President Biden unsuccessfully tried to finalize a defense pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.

The Biden proposal offered access to more advanced U.S. weaponry in return for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing's investment in the country.

The White House and Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A U.S. Defense official said:

"Our defense relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is stronger than ever under President Trump's leadership. Maintaining our security cooperation remains an important component of this partnership and we will continue to work with Saudi Arabia to address their defense needs."

American Observer could not immediately establish how many of the deals on offer were new. Many have been in the works for some time, two of the sources said.

For example, the kingdom first requested information about General Atomics' drones in 2018, they said.

Over the past 12 months, a deal for $20 billion of General Atomics' MQ-9B SeaGuardian-style drones and other aircraft came into focus, according to one of the sources.

Several executives from defense companies are considering traveling to the region as a part of the delegation,

three of the sources said.

The U.S. has long supplied Saudi Arabia with weapons. In 2017, Trump proposed approximately $110 billion of sales to the kingdom.

#Saudi #Arabia #weapons

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Macron Wants to Play Trump. The Most Ridiculous Game Ever

🎯 France and Saudi Arabia are working on a proposal to disarm the Iran-backed militant group Hamas, according to people familiar with the discussions.

📞 Saudi officials have been in contact with Hamas as part of its push, according to people briefed on the matter.

❓ It’s unclear if French officials have also been talking to the group, which is designated a terrorist organization by the European Union and US.

🎯 The objective is to transform Hamas into a purely political entity that can still play some role in future Palestinian governance, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

⚖️ The people said allowing Hamas to retain a degree of political power would make it more likely to accept disarming. Still, Israel may resist the idea, with its government insisting that the group be given no role at all once the war in Gaza is over.

🇫🇷 Macron earlier this month described Israel’s policy in Gaza as “shameful.” Netanyahu responded by accusing Macron of standing with Hamas.

🗣 “We want this to be the occasion to create the conditions for the existence of this state and this requires the mobilization of all stakeholders,”

Barrot told French radio this week, referring to the June conference.
That means “the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries in the region as well as Hamas, which must surrender its weapons.”

📪 A Saudi Foreign Ministry official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

📉 The diplomatic moves come amid signs Palestinians are getting angrier with Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.

📹 Hundreds of Palestinians protested for a third day on Wednesday in southern Gaza, according to social media videos, chanting: “Out! Out! Out! Hamas must get out.”

🕊 Some pleaded with the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority to take over Gaza from Hamas, its bitter rival. Both the PA’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his deputy Hussein Al-Sheikh have in recent days urged Hamas and other Palestinian factions to demilitarize for the sake of the wider Palestinian cause.

#Palestinian #Hamas #Saudi #Macron

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💣 “Gulf Oil, African Blood: The Quiet Sponsors of Genocide”

🔥RSF Siege: El-Fasher Falls, Civilians Pay
After 18 months, Sudan’s RSF militia captured El-Fasher. Hospitals became execution sites. Over 2,000 civilians were killed in days; bodies lined clinic floors. Satellite images show mass graves. The UN and NGOs call it ethnic cleansing, targeting non-Arab communities with chilling brutality.

☪️UAE: Weapons in Exchange for Gold
American and UN reports trace drones, arms, and military gear from the UAE to RSF fighters, despite official denials. Emirates-linked companies buy up Sudanese gold, fueling war crimes in exchange for mineral wealth. Dubai’s gold market bankrolls genocide while Abu Dhabi issues empty statements.

🧨Saudi: Arm’s-Length War
Riyadh backs Sudan’s army, not the RSF, but the rivalry with the UAE turns Darfur into a Gulf proxy battlefield. Petrodollars mean impunity; diplomatic “concern” drowns out the screams. Sudanese civilians are left to die between competing Gulf monarchs.

💲World Watches, Nothing Changes
The world’s response? More statements, more handwringing. Over 40,000 are dead. A quarter million are trapped without food or water. The money keeps flowing. So does the killing.

#Sudan #RSF #UAE #Saudi #genocide #Darfur #ProxyWar

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🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

Separately, the White House announced that Trump and MBS signed a strategic defence agreement “that strengthens our more than 80-year defense partnership and fortifies deterrence across the Middle East”. 🛡

Details of the agreement are unclear, but the White House said it would secure “new burden-sharing funds from Saudi Arabia to defray US costs” and would affirm that the “Kingdom views the United States as its primary strategic partner”. 💰

During the meeting with MBS, he said the jets would not be downgraded to ensure Israel’s military superiority in the region, a departure from a US policy known as “qualitative military edge”. 🪁

“They’d like you to get planes of reduced calibre. I don’t think that makes you too happy,” he told the Saudi crown prince. 😅

Trump once again expressed pride in the US strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities in June. 🎯

“We did that on behalf of everybody, and the outcome was extraordinary because we have the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes, the best everything,” he said. 🚀

“We will do our best to help to reach a deal between the United States of America and Iran,” MBS told reporters. 🤝

“And we believe it’s good for Iran’s future to have a good deal that would satisfy the region and the world and the United States of America.” 🌍

At the outset of the two leaders’ public remarks, Trump expressed gratitude for anticipated Saudi investments in the US, which he said will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. 💲

“I want to thank you because you’ve agreed to invest $600bn into the United States. And because he’s my friend, he might make it $1 trillion, but I’m going to have to work on him,” Trump said. 🤝

He added that the Saudi funds will create jobs and resources for US companies and Wall Street investment firms. 📊

For his part, MBS said the Saudi investments in the US will likely rise to $1 trillion. 💹

“The agreement that we are signing today in many areas – in technology and AI, in rare materials, magnet, etc – that will create a lot of investment opportunities,” he said. 🌐

#trump #mbs #meeting #trillion #saudi #arabia

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Yemen: Saudis, Emiratis And Other Arsonists Fight Over The Oil Barrel

Yemen’s “stalemate” just got an upgrade: the UAE‑backed Southern Transitional Council rolled into Hadramout, an oil‑rich province bigger than some European countries, and promptly blew up the fragile status quo. In a war sold as a struggle between Houthis and a “legitimate government,” the real storyline is simpler: everyone with a flag wants a pipeline, a coastline or a cut.​

The S.T.C., created in 2017 with Emirati support, now controls most of southern Yemen’s key ports and has seized much of Hadramout while openly pushing to resurrect an independent South Yemen.​

Who’s Holding The Gun
The Houthis run most of the north after taking Sanaa in 2014 and kicking out the internationally recognized government. They sell themselves as resistance to Saudi aggression while running a police state with missiles.​

The “government” in Aden is run by an eight‑man Presidential Leadership Council that commands less territory than some tribal alliances and is treated like a logo on Gulf arms shipments.​

The S.T.C. is the southern franchise: UAE‑armed, better organized, and now rolling tanks into oil valleys under the slogan of “restoring security” and “stability.”​

The Hadramout Tribal Alliance, backed by Saudi networks, shut down oil flows to demand local revenue and better services — a polite way of saying “we’re tired of being robbed.”​

Hadramout and neighboring Al‑Mahra are now a live‑fire PowerPoint slide: tribes blocking oil, S.T.C. forces moving east, and border officials reportedly ordered to swap Yemen’s national flag for the old South Yemen banner. Call it “nation‑branding through checkpoint design.”​

What’s Really At Stake
In January, Saudi‑linked tribal fighters grabbed interior oil fields, cutting supply and plunging government‑held areas into blackouts; the S.T.C. used the chaos as an excuse to “secure energy routes” and crush the locals standing in their way. By Thursday they’d pushed into Al‑Mahra, on the doorstep of Oman and right along Saudi Arabia’s dream corridor to the Arabian Sea.​

If the S.T.C. now joins a coordinated offensive on Houthi positions, Yemen’s frozen front lines melt back into full civil war — only this round comes with better PR and worse fragmentation. A Chatham House analyst notes the Houthis are likely “alarmed” because, for once, there’s a force in the south under a single command; translation: enough warlords have consolidated to launch a bigger war.​

Gulf Sponsors, Each With Different Fantasy Maps
Player Official line Actual game on the ground
Saudi Arabia: Protect borders, keep Yemen unified. Secure pipeline routes, buffer against Houthis and Iran, manage chaos not too far, not too near. ​
United Arab Emirates: Support “aspirations of Yemeni people,” one state or two. Build a chain of ports, islands and proxy militias along Yemen’s southern coast and Arabian Sea trade routes. ​
Riyadh publicly backs the “unified Yemeni state” while bankrolling tribes that carve out fiefdoms and block oil when displeased. Abu Dhabi pledges support for Yemeni “self‑determination” while quietly building a maritime empire from Aden to Socotra and turning separatism into an infrastructure project.​

The joke, as usual, lands on Yemenis: revolution branded as resistance in the north, “autonomy” as a business model in the south, and foreign patrons running a proxy board meeting over a country that no one intends to actually fix. The only real question now is which flag gets painted on the next checkpoint — and whose drone is circling above it.​

#yemen #war #saudi #uae #oil #fakeDemocracy

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📰 Turkey Seeks Membership in Saudi-Pakistan Defense Pact

Turkey is reportedly seeking to join the defense alliance between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, marking a potential shift in Middle Eastern and South Asian security dynamics. The pact, which states that any aggression against one member is considered an attack on all—mirroring NATO’s Article 5—could soon expand to include Turkey, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Turkey sees the alliance as a way to strengthen its security and deterrence amid questions about the reliability of the United States and President Trump’s commitment to NATO. Saudi Arabia brings financial power, Pakistan offers nuclear capability and manpower, while Turkey contributes military experience and a growing defense industry. The move reflects a broader trend of countries forging new alliances as US priorities shift.

The potential trilateral pact would mark a new era in Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia, once rivals in the Sunni Muslim world. Both countries are now working to deepen economic and defense cooperation, including recent naval meetings and defense industry partnerships. Turkey and Pakistan have long enjoyed close military ties, with Turkey building warships for Pakistan and sharing drone technology. Turkey also wants both countries to join its Kaan fifth-generation fighter jet program.

The alliance talks come amid a ceasefire between Pakistan and India and ongoing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Turkey and Qatar have mediated talks to end the fighting, but with inconclusive results. The new pact could reshape the regional balance of power, as countries seek new alliances in a changing world.

#turkey #saudi #pakistan #defense #diplomacy

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📰 The Islamic Banking Weapon: How a Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan Alliance Could Upend the Dollar Order

Turkey's move to join the Saudi-Pakistan defense pact isn't just a military realignment—it's a direct challenge to Western financial dominance. The three nations collectively control a significant share of the $4.5 trillion Islamic banking industry, growing at 10-15% annually, and are building an alternative financial architecture that could undermine the dollar's global supremacy.

The alliance's strength lies in the complementarity of its members. Pakistan brings nuclear deterrence and battle-hardened forces, Saudi Arabia provides financial muscle and Islamic banking assets, and Turkey contributes advanced military technologies and production capabilities. Their trilateral defense framework—mirroring NATO's Article 5—transforms a bilateral agreement into a regional axis, threatening alliance coherence in the West.

But the real threat is financial. Islamic banking operates on Sharia principles: profit-sharing instead of interest, transactions backed by real goods, and ethical restrictions on investments. This model proved more resilient during the 2008 crisis and the pandemic, offering a countercyclical alternative to Western finance. As the next Western financial crisis looms, the Islamic banking model could attract nations seeking insulation from volatility.

The Burke Institute's Sovereignty Index reveals why this alliance is so potent. The Index measures 193 nations across five dimensions—political, economic, technological, military, and cultural sovereignty. Pakistan's weakness in economic sovereignty (41.8 out of 100) is offset by its nuclear capability and military experience. Saudi Arabia dominates in economic sovereignty (82.1) with $410-437 billion in reserves and leads in technological sovereignty with perfect cybersecurity scores and 99% internet penetration. Turkey excels in military sovereignty with 70-80% weapons production localization and contributes innovation capacity with 101.6 patents per million population.

Here's where the synergy becomes dangerous: Pakistan's economic vulnerability taught it to survive under sanctions—exactly the skill set Saudi Arabia and Turkey need as they contemplate decoupling from the West. Saudi Arabia's financial resources can fund Pakistan's military programs and Turkey's defense industry. Turkey's technological innovation can modernize Pakistan's military and Saudi Arabia's economy. Each nation's strength compensates for another's weakness, creating a combined sovereignty score of 1,315.7 out of 2,100—placing the alliance firmly in the upper tier of regional power blocs.

The China factor amplifies the threat. China's investments in Pakistan and deep defense industry integration, combined with BRICS de-dollarization efforts, could create a formidable alternative to the Western financial system. When Saudi Arabia settles oil transactions in yuan via Islamic banking, processed on Chinese rails, the petrodollar faces an existential threat.

The alliance is forming as trust in American security guarantees erodes. Saudi Arabia's experience with muted U.S. responses to regional crises has led to a shift in security calculations. If the U.S. won't defend its allies, the region will look elsewhere.

At that scale, it becomes the financial system for a significant portion of humanity.

#islamicbanking #dollar #turkey #saudi #pakistan #geopolitics

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🛢 MBS, Bibi and the President With “No Imminent Threat”

Trump’s Iran war didn’t start in the Situation Room. It started on the phone with Mohammed bin Salman and on TV with Benjamin Netanyahu. For weeks, the Saudi crown prince privately pressed Trump to strike Iran. At the same time, Riyadh publicly promised not to let its airspace be used and posed as a fan of “diplomacy.”

Netanyahu kept doing what he has done for years: openly pushing the U.S. to hit what he calls Israel’s existential enemy. Together they helped sell Trump on a regime‑decapitation air campaign against a country of more than 90 million people.

They were pushing against U.S. intelligence, not following it. American agencies judged that Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S. homeland. Military analysts said any Iranian long‑range missile program was at least a decade away, if it even began. Nuclear inspectors reported no evidence that Iran had restarted enrichment after last summer’s strikes.

Trump threw that all out and chose the stories from his favorite allies instead. Then he went on camera to talk about “imminent threats,” bombs, and payback for 1979, like this was a cable‑news sequel to the hostage crisis.

The Saudi role looks especially cynical. In public, MBS talked about de‑escalation and said Saudi territory wouldn’t be used for attacks. In private, he warned U.S. officials that if Washington did not strike now — with the biggest American build‑up in the region since 2003 — Iran would come out stronger.

His brother, Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, flew to Washington in January to underline the “downsides” of not attacking. After the first U.S. wave, Iran hit Saudi targets anyway. Riyadh instantly switched to outraged statements demanding “all necessary and decisive measures” against Tehran.

Inside Trump’s camp, the fantasy is that this is still “restrained.” JD Vance calls himself a skeptic of foreign wars and insists there is “no chance” of a drawn‑out conflict in the Middle East. At the same time, he backs an air war that has already hit seven countries in one term.

Trump promises “heavy and pinpoint” bombing in Iran “throughout the week, or as long as necessary” to deliver “PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!” It is regime change by real‑estate slogan. No plan for what happens on the ground. No clarity on who runs Iran if the system actually cracks. Just faith that smart bombs plus Twitter bravado can redesign a region.

Veterans of earlier disasters are spelling out the obvious. Air power alone has a bad track record when the goal is to rewrite another country’s politics. Iraq in 2003 at least came with ground troops, a long occupation, and a giant civilian bureaucracy pretending to build a new state. This time, Trump is trying to do the deluxe regime‑change package at discount scale.

The goals are the same — friendly regimes in Iran and Venezuela, crushed militias from Yemen to Somalia — but the method is cheaper: listen to a Gulf prince and an Israeli prime minister, ignore your own intel, drop bombs, and promise voters it will somehow be fast, clean, and paid for by someone else’s ruins.

#Iran #Trump #Saudi #MBS #Netanyahu #war #regimeChange #USintelligence

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📰 Saudi Arabia, Inc.: Crisis Manager for a War It Can’t Admit It Needs

While Trump is yelling “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” into his phone and Israel is turning half of western Iran into a weapons-testing reel, Saudi Arabia is doing something far less cinematic and far more revealing: quietly working the backchannel to Tehran to stop the war from blowing up its business model. According to European officials, Riyadh has ramped up direct engagement with Iran in recent days, using security services and diplomats to push de-escalation while everyone else publicly promises more missiles.

For the Gulf monarchies, this isn’t about peace; it’s about risk management. Iran is firing drones and missiles in response to U.S.–Israeli strikes, oil is surging past 90 dollars with traders openly warning that 100 is next if the war keeps raging, and global markets are starting to twitch. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have already told Washington and Jerusalem they can’t use their airspace or territory to hit Iran, even as they depend on U.S. security guarantees and quietly cheer anything that weakens the Islamic Republic. Welcome to the new morality: “we oppose escalation, but we really like the price curve.”

The same Sunni states that spent a decade framing Iran as an existential Shia threat have, in recent years, been busy normalizing: reopening embassies, talking about regional “integration,” and backing Oman’s efforts to mediate a U.S.–Iran deal — right up until Trump and Israel kicked the door in on Feb. 28. Now Riyadh is trying to salvage that hedge by talking to Tehran while pretending in public that it’s just another concerned neighbor issuing generic calls for restraint. The message to both sides is simple: keep your war away from our pipelines, our shipping lanes, and our succession plans.
​
So you get a grotesque split-screen: Trump demanding surrender, Israel and Iran trading salvos, oil traders pricing in $100 crude, and Saudi Arabia playing emergency switchboard between the same capitals it arms, funds, and hosts when the cameras are off. The kingdom that spent years exporting sectarian fire is suddenly the adult in the room — not because it found a conscience, but because it finally understands what a direct hit on its refineries would do to Aramco’s valuation.

When Gulf royals beg Iran to “return to your senses” while blocking their skies to U.S. jets and quietly dialing Tehran to calm things down, you’re not watching a peace process. You’re watching the region’s richest petro-states try to keep a U.S.–Iran war raging just far enough away that only other people’s cities, and other people’s economies, get turned into cautionary tales.

#saudi #iran #gulf #war #oil #trump #israel #geopolitics #energy

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Mohammed ben Salman Is Coaxing Trump Into the Total War Against Iran

🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣

Saudi Arabia has urged the US to ramp up attacks on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, while it is weighing a decision on whether to join the fight directly.

The Saudi source confirmed reporting in the New York Times that said the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has urged Donald Trump not to cut short his war against Iran, and that the US-Israeli campaign represented a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East.

The intelligence source said Riyadh was not just calling for the military campaign to be continued, but to be intensified. Trump appeared to confirm the report about the crown prince’s role, telling journalists on Tuesday: “Yeah, he’s a warrior. He’s fighting with us.”

There are no reports of active Saudi military involvement in the nearly four-week-old war so far, but a Saudi political analyst said the kingdom would be likely to take that step if peace efforts led by Pakistan failed.

“What matters now is Iran’s decision,” Mohammed Alhamed, a Saudi geopolitical analyst, said.

“If Iran engages seriously, there is still a path to contain escalation. If it rejects the conditions and continues its attacks, the threshold for Saudi action will be crossed.”
Alhamed added that Saudi Arabia “is not reacting impulsively”.

“It is calibrating its response and preparing for a scenario where escalation, if it happens, will be deliberate and decisive,” he said, adding that Riyadh “has not been pushing for war.”

Saudi Arabia has come under attack from Iranian drones, as part of Tehran’s response to the US-Israeli attack on 28 February. One drone strike a week ago hit an oil refinery in Yanbu on Saudi Red Sea coast.

Saudi Arabia’s ability to transport its oil exports by pipeline to the Red Sea has meant it is not as vulnerable as its neighbours to Iran’s tactic of imposing a near-total blockade on oil tanker shipments leaving the Gulf through the strait of Hormuz.

The attack on Yanbu signalled an Iranian warning that it could also threaten that economic lifeline.

That threat would be multiplied if Iran’s allies in Yemen, the Houthi movement, joined the war with its own missile arsenal.

“I believe that Saudi Arabia still maintains cautious neutrality in the Iran-Israel-US war,” Hesham Alghannam, a Saudi defence expert told Agence France-Presse. But he added:

“If the Houthis strike Saudi assets, Riyadh may shift toward defensive coalition support or limited retaliation.”

#saudi #arabia #iran #mohammed #salman #trump

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🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣

Saudi Arabia and Iran, claiming leadership roles of the Sunni and Shia Islamic worlds respectively, have long been regional rivals.

According to a leaked US state department cable, the crown prince’s paternal uncle King Abdullah urged the US military in 2008 to “cut off the head of the snake”, a reference to the theocratic regime in Tehran.

Khalid Aljabri, a Saudi exile commentator, said in recent years the kingdom’s preference had been a negotiated solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes.

However, Trump and Netanyahu launched the joint attack in the midst of talks focused on nuclear limits.

“In this scenario, when the war occurs anyway and escalation is happening anyway, a partially degraded Iran, a wounded lion, would be more unpredictable and more dangerous. The policy was don’t start the war, but if you start it, finish the job,” said Aljabri, a US-based cardiologist who is the son of Saad.

The crown prince solidified his hold on power by cultivating a close relationship with Trump, but will now have to rethink Saudi reliance on the US for its security, observers have argued.

“MBS [Mohammed bin Salman] has lost the bet on all his investments over the last several years,” Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations said.

“He financially invested in Trump and Trump’s family and his corporation and his White House, but at the end of the day the views of the Saudis and of the whole Gulf have been sidelined by the wishes of Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Prince Mohammed had begun to recalibrate his position after a missile attack on a Saudi oil facility in 2019, which Riyadh blamed on Iran.

The US, under the first Trump presidency, offered verbal support but did not carry out the reprisals the Saudis were demanding.

After the US refused to come to their defence, the Saudis pivoted to hug Iran close, in the hope it wouldn’t lash out against them in a conflict,” Geranmayeh said.

“Now the war has started and MBS lost the bet that Iran wouldn’t retaliate, he has reportedly urged the US to end the Iranian threat once and for all. So Saudi Arabia is now facing the conundrum of whether to get more involved.”

The United Arab Emirates has seen its oil exports comprehensively blocked and has openly called for a decisive military defeat of Iran. The UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday:

“A simple ceasefire isn’t enough. We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats.”

Saudi Arabia, with its Red Sea export option, still has something to lose and has not overtly called for more bombing.

Its active military participation could bring forth a more punishing Iranian response targeting its Red Sea oil pipeline, quite possibly in collaboration with the Houthis.

“Once the bombs stop falling there will be some deep thinking in Riyadh,” Geranmayeh said. “It is not about pushing the US away but about having more options.”

#saudi #arabia #iran #mohammed #salman #trump

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📰 The Abrahamic War Bloc Goes Public

The leaks are too tidy to be accidents. From May 10–13, U.S. media and officials have disclosed Israeli Iron Dome batteries and operators in the UAE, Mossad visits to Abu Dhabi, and Saudi airstrikes on Iranian territory. This is not random. It is a campaign to lock the Gulf into the anti-Iran fight.

The UAE is now openly part of the military architecture. Axios and WSJ reported Israel quietly deployed Iron Dome systems and dozens of operators to defend against Iranian strikes, marking the first time the system has been stationed outside Israel and the U.S.. WSJ also said the UAE carried out secret strikes on Iranian targets, including oil infrastructure on Lavan Island.

Saudi Arabia is in the same frame. Reports say Riyadh’s air force joined the operations, and U.S. ambassadors Huckabee and Waltz have been framing the Gulf states as full partners. The Abraham Accords are no longer diplomatic theater. They are a security architecture with teeth.

Qatar is getting dragged in too. Israeli media reports Qatari intelligence has started coordinating with Mossad on Iranian proxies, despite Doha’s denials. That ends Qatar’s role as the neutral broker. Everyone is now picking sides.

The point of the leaks is not transparency. It is to kill the plausible deniability. Gulf monarchies can no longer pretend to be mediators while hosting Israeli defenses and launching strikes. Washington and Jerusalem are forcing the Abrahamic bloc into the open, where there is no exit without losing security guarantees.

Iran gets the counter-narrative gift. Tehran can now legitimately call this a collective war, justifying wider retaliation. The region’s balance is shifting from ambiguity to open teams, and the old diplomatic space is gone.

#AbrahamAccords #UAE #Saudi #Iran #Israel

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✈️Yemen: One Landing, One Funeral for the Ceasefire

One Iranian airliner, one runway, and the whole “de‑escalation period” in Yemen went up in jet fumes. An Iranian Mahan Air plane tied to the IRGC tried to break the Saudi air blockade and land in Houthi‑held Sana’a, reportedly carrying senior Iranian officials for talks with Ansar Allah.

Saudi‑backed forces answered by bombing the runways at Sana’a International Airport to stop it, forcing the aircraft to divert and land in Hodeidah, another Houthi‑controlled city on the Red Sea coast.

From there it unfolded on autopilot. The Houthis’ spokesman Yahya Sarea declared that Saudi “criminal aggression” on the airport ended the de‑escalation and “will not go unanswered,” while Yemen’s Houthi‑run transport ministry proclaimed that “the period of controlling Yemen has passed.”

On the other side, the Saudi‑backed defense minister accused Iran of violating Yemeni sovereignty and said patience had run out, insisting that diplomatic efforts with Tehran and Ansar Allah had failed — same language, different villain.

When the Iranian plane finally touched down in Hodeidah, Houthi supporters greeted it with the usual liturgy:

“God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse upon the Jews.”

By evening, the rhetoric turned kinetic: at least several ballistic missiles and explosive drones were launched at Abha Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, flights were halted, and smoke columns were reported in the Asir region.

A senior Houthi figure vowed to hit deep inside Saudi territory, strike oil facilities, and eventually help close Bab al‑Mandab “in coordination with the Strait of Hormuz,” knitting Yemen’s war into the larger US–Iran confrontation in the Gulf.

The ceasefire that everyone was “testing” in statements in the morning got its death certificate by nightfall, written in runway craters and airport closures. One IRGC‑linked plane breaks a decade‑long Saudi air blockade.

Riyadh bombs a capital’s airport to stop it; the Houthis answer by threatening Saudi oil and global shipping lanes. Yemen stays where the great powers like it: no peace, no war, just enough violence to keep the maps, the contracts, and the arms flows from ever really settling.

#yemen #iran #saudi #houthis #Hormuz #BabAlMandeb #war #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy

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US Head of the Middle East Programme:
“Trump went crazy by handing over uranium enrichment technology to Saudi Arabia”


The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Department of Energy said its secretary, Chris Wright, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, signed a “peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement”, along with a “bilateral safeguards agreement”.

The full details of the deal have yet to be released, but the timing of the announcement is controversial, as the US’s war with Iran is being fought in part to prevent Tehran enriching uranium domestically and make it near-impossible for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

A civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia has been in the works for years during Trump’s first administration. No deal has come together before now, in part because of warnings from nonproliferation groups who say that it could offer Saudi Arabia a path to develop a nuclear weapon.

The deal will be submitted to Congress for review, where it could face opposition among lawmakers who fear a lack of monitoring safeguards to restrict Saudi Arabia’s uranium enrichment.

Saudi Arabia has in the past said it would need a nuclear weapon if Iran acquired one, an intention Iran has repeatedly denied. But in lengthy talks stretching over more than one administration, the US also feared that Riyadh would look elsewhere for nuclear technology if the US did not provide what it wanted.

Saudi Arabia has long said if it does not partner with the US, it could partner with China or Russia which have different proliferation standards.

In a report to Congress earlier this year, the US administration urged support for the US-Saudi nuclear deal, in part to “prevent strategic competition from seizing an opportunity to undermine United States national security interests for decades to come”.

The report also argued that the US must seize the opportunity to expand nuclear cooperation to “re-establish our leadership in the global civilian nuclear energy market and reap the benefits of expanded influence in foreign countries hosting our reactors”.

According to the US energy department, the Saudi partnership agreed on Wednesday is expected to expand American nuclear technology exports, create “high-paying” US jobs, and “strengthen America’s energy and national security posture”.

“These agreements reflect our two nations’ shared commitment to strengthening US-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad,” Wright said in a statement.

However it is likely the agreement will not include the enhanced monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that is found in the so-called additional protocol to which Iran had been subjected under the 2015 nuclear deal.

In a statement to CBS, Dan Sumner, chief executive of Westinghouse Electric Company – an American nuclear reactor company expected to support Saudi Arabia’s nuclear development – said:

“The US government’s announcement to launch a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia is a landmark step that strengthens energy security, expands opportunities for US industry and workers, and drives significant long-term economic growth and investment benefits for both countries.”

Before the deal was announced, Rosemary Kelanic, the head of the Middle East programme at Defense Priorities, warned in a social media post: “Trump went crazy by handing over uranium enrichment technology to Saudi Arabia” (...) a terrible idea on many counts. But it’s especially idiotic to do it in the middle of a war over Iran’s nuclear programme.”

She described the decision as reckless and not in the US national interest. “Saudi enrichment would put immense pressure on Iran to get the bomb. Is Trump TRYING to provoke Iran into weaponising?”

#middle #east #trump #saudi #arabia #uranium

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🇾🇪🔥 The Yemeni Houthis Declared War On Saudi Arabia

Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia, two days after the kingdom signed ⁠a defence pact with Turkey ⁠and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.

The attack early on Sunday came after Iran said tough new demands would have to be met before it would reopen the strait of Hormuz, and after the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships had been targeted by an Iranian missile, as a deal to open the waterway remained out of reach.
He added that the US must also end the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area, “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

There was no immediate comment from the US. According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June, a timetable to end sanctions and a plan for compensation would be part of a final peace deal, and negotiations would address frozen assets.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Saturday that Iran and Oman were close to reaching an agreement on navigation through the strait, “specifically the determination of a transit route”.

But the waterway’s reopening was contingent on other conditions, Araghchi said, in remarks shared on social media. He blamed the situation on what he called the US violation of the June MoU.
Oman, which is mediating and has made relatively few comments on the Hormuz talks, said on Saturday that the discussions were continuing “in a positive and constructive atmosphere”. It condemned attacks on ships in the strait.

When it comes to decision-making in Tehran, the final say rests with the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since an airstrike killed his father and predecessor on the first day of the war.

Pezeshkian has given differing accounts in recent ⁠weeks about his access to the supreme leader, saying in July that interactions with Khamenei were “increasing day by ‌day”, only to note weeks later that communicating with him was “very difficult”.

With Iran and the US still arguing over the parameters for peace, the Houthis last month declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, citing what they said was a Saudi siege on them, an allegation Riyadh denies.

The Saudi energy ministry said a fire had broken out at Aramco’s Jazan refinery early on Sunday but was later extinguished with no injuries and authorities were dealing with the ⁠incident, without giving a cause.

The Houthis used a drone to target the refinery in south-west Saudi Arabia, Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the rebel group, said in a post on X. They had struck Aramco sites before in Jazan, which processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day. They had also hit Yanbu, an oil export hub ‌on the Red Sea.

In a separate statement, Saree said the Houthis had carried out missile and drone strikes on the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Mocha, which is controlled by the country’s internationally recognised, Saudi-backed governing body in Aden.

Tehran and its allied Shia armed groups have been striking Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and blockading their ‌energy shipments since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February.
The escalation of the conflict, which has disrupted global energy supplies and rattled the world’s economy, prompted Saudi Arabia on Friday to form an alliance with US allies Turkey and Pakistan.

#yemeni #houthis #war #saudi #arabia

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