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  • Anti-LBTQ backlash grows across Middle East, echoing U.S. culture wars

    Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have always stood out in the region on LGBTQ issues. All have queer scenes, all have hosted Pride parades or similar events. But in all three places, the community exists in a legal gray area — neither criminalized nor protected by the law. As anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment intensifies and is championed by some of the region’s most powerful figures, gay and trans people feel more vulnerable than ever.

  • U.S. Fellowship Program Empowers Thirty-Four Saudi Women Entrepreneurs to Achieve Greater Professional Heights

    The WIn Fellowship is a women’s entrepreneurship and empowerment partnership between U.S. Embassy Riyadh, the Atlantic Council, Georgetown University’s McDonough Business School, and PepsiCo. It delivers a year-long virtual program that includes mentoring and networking opportunities with leading U.S. and Middle East business executives, government officials, and policy professionals. At the end of the program, five WIn program participants will participate in a one-week exchange in the United States in Washington, DC.

  • U.S. sending Marines, more warships to Middle East amid rising tension with Iran

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of a Marine expeditionary unit and an amphibious-ready group to the region, citing Iran’s recent attempts to seize ships in the region. A MEU typically includes about 2,000 Marines transported aboard three amphibious warships that can launch helicopters and watercraft.

  • U.S. Bans 14 Iraqi Banks in Crackdown on Iran Dollar Trade

    The U.S. has barred 14 Iraqi banks from conducting dollar transactions, U.S. officials said, part of a sweeping crackdown on the siphoning of U.S. currency to Iran and other sanctioned Middle East countries. The ban, which was imposed Wednesday by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is likely to provoke new tensions between Baghdad and Washington and could spark more economic turmoil for ordinary Iraqis.

  • U.S. and Israel to launch climate initiative in the Middle East and Africa

    Vice President Kamala Harris and Israeli President Isaac Herzog will announce on Wednesday a joint climate initiative aimed at supporting "climate-smart agriculture" in the Middle East and Africa, according to White House officials.

  • Inside Biden’s call with Bibi: Saudi Arabia, a U.S. meeting, judicial overhaul concerns

    When President Biden urged Benjamin Netanyahu in their call Monday to try and get broad consensus for his judicial overhaul legislation, the Israeli prime minister claimed the opposition was unwilling to negotiate, three U.S. and Israeli officials briefed on the call told Axios.

  • Interpreter for U.S. in Afghanistan killed while working as a rideshare driver in D.C.

    A father of four who worked as an interpreter for U.S. special forces in Afghanistan before fleeing the country for safety in America was fatally shot while working as a rideshare driver in Washington, D.C. this week, relatives and authorities said. The Metropolitan Police Department said it was looking for suspects in the fatal shooting Monday of a man identified as 31-year-old Nasrat Ahmad Yar, of Alexandria, Virginia.

  • Opinion: Why the U.S. Should Give Saudi Arabia Nuclear Technology

    A U.S.-negotiated Saudi-Israel agreement would repair the anti-Iran alliance shaken up by the China deal. It would signal to Iran that overt measures are being taken to form a regional security architecture meant to counter Iranian meddling and adventurism—a concern shared by both Israel and Saudi Arabia. Formal integration of Israel into the region would strengthen U.S. deterrence and its hand in any new negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. It would also send a message to China and to Middle East states now looking eastward that the U.S. retains primacy as the main global power operating in the region.

  • U.S. Hosts Two Major Multilateral Maritime Engagement Forums in Middle East

    U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) hosted a two-day multilateral maritime security meeting for 90 senior military officers and diplomats from 22 nations as well as senior representatives from the Gulf Cooperation Council at the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain. Officials discussed the current maritime security environment and ways to further enhance maritime security in the region, according to a joint statement released June 26.

  • Perspective: Is Middle Eastern Stability on the Horizon Thanks to U.S.-China Competition?

    One theme of the present moment is that countries in the Middle East are making deals based on their own national interests rather than dancing to the tune of outsiders. This independence is paradoxically because of great power rivalry in the region, not despite it. With heightened rivalry between great powers, regional powers have more options and are acting more as free agents than committed allies of global powers.