Mediaboss Marketing

Saudi Arabia is seeing some progress on dialogue with its longtime adversary Iran, but not enough, the kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud told CNBC on Tuesday. In the meantime, the minister says it is eager to improve the two countries' relationship.

"In Saudi Arabia, and I think it's the same in the other GCC states, we are very much focused you know, Vision 2030 and other elements on delivering a vision of the future that is built on hope, that is built on prosperity, that is built on development, that is built on cooperation," Prince Faisal told CNBC's Hadley Gamble during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"And this is a message that, as I say, we in Saudi Arabia but also the other GCC states who all have their individual visions for the future which are all very much in that same vein, are trying to send to our region, including to our neighbors in Iran."

"Our hands are stretched out. We are trying to send the message that going into a new era of cooperation in the region can deliver benefits for all of us."

Saudi Arabia has long named Iran as the biggest threat to stability in the wider Middle East, citing its nuclear program and support for militant proxy groups from Lebanon and Iraq to Yemen, and the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 2016. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

That more peaceful future "does need a decision," Prince Faisal said. "It needs a decision in Iran to sign onto that vision of a much more prosperous, cooperative future."

The minister said that in terms of dialogue with Iran, GCC states "have made some progress, but not enough."

"We continue to encourage our neighbors in Iran to lean into what can be a very, very important sea-change in our region."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gestures as he speaks at Tehran's Friday prayer on the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in Tehran, Iran, February 11, 2022.

Wana News Agency | via Reuters

Saudi Arabia, along with its close ally the United Arab Emirates, have expressed criticism and skepticism over the Joe Biden administration's pursuit of the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

If a deal is reached, which previously lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program, many regional analysts believe Saudi Arabia and its allies will have little option but to accept Iran's reentry into the international community.

"Now of course the JCPOA, if it, happens will be potentially a good thing if its a good deal," Prince Faisal added. "But for us, it is most important that we address the holistic issues the nuclear nonproliferation, regional activity and that can be done, but it needs a sincere desire to look to the future rather than the past."

Earlier this year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that his country was ready for more talks with Saudi Arabia. "Iran is ready to continue these negotiations until reaching an outcome, provided that the Saudis are willing to continue the negotiations in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect," semi-official Iranian news agency Fars quoted Raisi as saying in a call with Iraq's prime minister in February.

Leaders of Iraq, a country where the Saudi-Iran rivalry often violently plays out, have hosted several rounds of direct talks between Saudi and Iranian diplomats over the last year. Both countries have expressed cautious optimism about the discussions.

Saudi defence ministry spokesman Colonel Turki Al-Malik displays on a screen drones which the Saudi government says attacked an Aramco oil facility, during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia September 18, 2019.

Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters

Gulf states are also increasingly skeptical of the U.S.'s security commitment to the region, and could view reconciliation with Iran as a way to hedge against future threats from the country. In recent years Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been the targets of numerous drone and missile strikes from Yemen, which U.S. officials say were in many cases either aided or directed by Iran. Tehran denies the accusations.

Iran and the kingdom are on opposing sides of the war in Yemen, which became one of the world's worst man-made humanitarian disasters after Saudi Arabia launched a bombing offensive against Yemen's Houthi rebels in 2015.

Follow CNBC International onTwitterandFacebook.

Read this article:
Saudi foreign minister says the kingdom's hands are 'stretched out' to Iran - CNBC

Israel fears that Iran could seek to attack Israelis abroad to avenge a senior Iranian military commander who was assassinated in Tehran, and is set to issue recommendations against travel to some destinations that border the Islamic Republic, Channel 12 News reported Thursday.

The concerns came in the wake of leaks tying Israel to the slaying of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Colonel Sayyad Khodai who was killed on Sunday by a gunman on the back of a motorcycle as he sat in his car outside his home. The New York Times cited sources as saying Israel told the US it had carried out the hit.

Israel fears the developments will increase Irans motivation to strike Israelis abroad.

Senior government and defense establishment figures held a series of consultation meetings in recent days on the matter and will apparently make a decision soon to reiterate travel advisories against traveling to countries neighboring Iran, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, and possibly Turkey.

The government doesnt intend to issue travel warnings, but rather to stress existing instructions to be cautious, the report said.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories

An Israeli official told the station there are currently no specific intelligence warnings of attacks. However, the source said that Israelis would be advised to be particularly cautious when visiting Azerbaijan and to avoid visiting the UAE or Bahrain unless it is essential due to the presence of terror infrastructures in those countries.

Illustrative image: A demonstrator holds an anti-Israeli placard at a pro-Palestinians gathering in Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

According to the report, Israel was surprised at the leak which is believed to have come from a US source.

There were lots of phone calls today between Israel and the US over the leak, the report said, noting that the two sides have now put the incident behind them.

However, the director-general of Israels Foreign Ministry said the US must provide answers regarding the New York Times report.

I leave the explanations for our talks with the Americans, Alon Ushpiz told the Kan public broadcaster.

MK Ram Ben Barak, who heads the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said during an interview Thursday morning on Israels 103FM radio station that the incident mainly harms trust.

We have very many close relationships and a lot of cooperation which is all dependent on trust, and when it is violated in some way then it damages future cooperation, he added. I hope the Americans investigate the leak and figure out where it came from and why it occurred.

The Revolutionary Guards denounced Khodais killing as a terrorist act, blaming it on elements of global arrogance in reference to the US and its allies, including Israel.

The son of Irans Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei mourns over his flag-draped coffin during his funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

The spokesman for the joint chiefs of staff of the Iranian armed forces, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, said on Monday that an investigation had been opened into the circumstances surrounding Khodais murder.

An unnamed intelligence official told The New York Times on Wednesday that Israeli officials had passed along information about the killing of Khodaei, who was shot dead outside his Tehran home on Sunday.

The report did not specify which country the intelligence official represented, but according to Ynet, the Israeli security establishment believes the source was American and is furious about the leak. Israeli officials told the Hebrew news site that they are demanding answers from their American counterparts, as the New York Times report places responsibility for the killing solely on Israel and absolves the US of having played any role.

According to the Times report, Israeli officials claimed Khodaei was deputy head of the so-called Unit 840, a shadowy division within the IRGCs expeditionary Quds Force that carries out kidnappings and assassinations of figures outside of Iran, including against Israelis. Khodaei was specifically in charge of Unit 840s Middle East operations, but he had been involved in attempted terror attacks against Israelis, Europeans, and American civilians and government officials in Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, the UAE and Cyprus, in the last two years alone.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that among the targets Khodaei was planning to kill, was French Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy arrives at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, on May 21, 2019 for a meeting with the French President and other authors and philosophers who signed the tribune Europe at risk. (Ludovic Marin / AFP)

His killing was meant to warn Iran that the group should stop its activities, the intelligence official quoted by the Times said.

Israel has made no official comments on the incident and has reportedly raised the security alert level at its embassies and consulates around the world, fearing a retaliatory Iranian attack.

Khodaeis assassination was the most high-profile killing inside Iran since the November 2020 killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

You're a dedicated reader

Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

Thats why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

Excerpt from:
Israel said to fear Iran will target Israelis abroad in bid to avenge slain officer - The Times of Israel

BAGHDAD -- Militants from the Islamic State group killed 12 civilians and wounded at least six in two separate attacks in Iraq, apparently taking advantage of a sandstorm that sharply reduced visibility across the country, security officials said Tuesday.

The attacks occurred on Monday evening in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces, where farmers came under fire while harvesting their crops.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement that six civilians were killed in the attack in the village of Sami Asi, south of the city of Kirkuk. The Kurdish news network Rudaw said after the killings, an Iraqi federal police force that arrived on the scene was ambushed and three policemen were killed.

Earlier, IS launched an attack in Diyalas town of Gulala, killing six residents, two Iraqi security officials said.

The Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility late Monday for the Kirkuk attack, claiming it killed five Shiites in their agricultural fields in al-Rashad area in Kirkuk and set fire to five vehicles. It said its fighters clashed with a supporting unit from the federal police and destroyed one of their vehicles.

IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared a self-styled Islamic caliphate. The group was territorially defeated in 2017 after a years-long war spearheaded by local forces and a U.S.-led international coalition. But it continues to carry out hit-and-run attacks through sleeper cells across both countries.

Visit link:
Iraqi officials: Attacks by IS militants kill 12 civilians

An Iraqi man who has been living legally in the United States since 2020 was arrested Tuesday and charged with plotting to kill former President George W. Bush to avenge the Iraq War.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab of Columbus, Ohio, was taken into custody by agents with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Ohio said.

He was charged in federal court with attempting to illegally bring an individual into the United States, a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and aiding and abetting the attempted murder of a former U.S. official, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Shihab originally entered the United States in September 2020 on a visitor visa, according to officials, and filed a claim for asylum in March 2021, which is pending review.

According to a March 23 search warrant application unsealed Tuesday and published by Forbes, Shihab told an FBI informant that he wanted to smuggle four Iraqi nationals living in Iraq, Turkey, Egypt and Denmark into the United States through Mexico to help him carry out the assassination.

Bush announces the start of war between the United States and Iraq during a televised address from the Oval Office, March 19, 2003. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Shihab wished to kill former President Bush because [he] felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq, FBI Special Agent John Ypsilantis, a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Cincinnati, said in the filing.

According to the search warrant, Shihab asked the FBI informant for details about security operations at Bushs home in Dallas and ranch in Crawford, Texas, and even traveled there in February to do video surveillance. The informant picked up Shihab at the airport in Dallas and assisted him as he used his phone to record video of Bushs gated home as well as the library and offices at the George W. Bush Institute, according to the filing.

At no time was there a threat to Bush, who as a former president has round-the-clock Secret Service protection.

Story continues

While Shihab was not identified as a member of the Islamic State militant group by the FBI or Justice Department, the FBIs warrant described the smuggling plot as an attempt to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.

The front of Bush's home in Dallas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images/File)

Federal authorities began their investigation as a potential immigration fraud case, when Shihab allegedly intended to help a person he thought was another Iraqi citizen enter the United States for a fee of $40,000 in August 2021.

In reality, the individual was fictitious, and the interaction was coordinated under the direction of the FBI, the U.S. attorneys office in Ohio said.

In November, the suspect revealed to the FBI informant that the plot to assassinate Bush would be in retaliation for Iraqi deaths during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In March of this year, Shihab allegedly met with others in a hotel room in Columbus to look at sample firearms and law enforcement uniforms.

According to the FBI, he told the informant that he wanted to be involved in the actual attack and assassination and that he did not care if he died as he would be proud to have been involved.

Continued here:
Iraqi man living in U.S. charged in alleged plot to assassinate George ...

Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports on Monday as the ninth sandstorm since mid-April descended.

More than 1,000 people were hospitalised with respiratory problems, the health ministry said. Flights were also grounded in neighbouring Kuwait for a second time this month. The second heavy sandstorm in less than a week also descended on Saudi Arabias capital, Riyadh.

The Iraqi capital, Baghdad, was enveloped in dust cloud with usually traffic-choked streets largely deserted and bathed in orange light. South of the capital, near the Shia shrine city of Najaf, shepherds also found themselves shrouded in dust.

The Iraqi prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhemi, ordered all work to cease in state-run institutions except for health and security services, citing poor climatic conditions and the arrival of violent sandstorms.

Air traffic was suspended at the international airports in Baghdad, Arbil and Najaf, before flights resumed in the capital and Arbil.

Later on Monday evening, Arbils airport closed again due to thick dust, according to the state news agency INA.

Iraq is ranked as one of the worlds five most vulnerable nations to climate change and desertification.

The environment ministry has warned that over the next two decades Iraq could endure an average of 272 days of sandstorms a year, rising to above 300 by 2050.

Iraqs previous two sandstorms sent nearly 10,000 people to hospital with respiratory problems and killed one person.

With Agence France-Presse

Read more:
Ninth sandstorm in less than two months shuts down much of Iraq