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  • Another U.S. Ballistic Missile Submarine’s Movements Peculiarly Publicized

    American officials have repeatedly stressed that these movements are part of routine operations. At the same time, it is difficult not to see these announcements as signals to potential adversaries or just general shows of force in the face of spikes in geopolitical friction in various parts of the world, such as Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, China's actions toward Taiwan, and North Korea's increasingly provocative ballistic missile tests.

  • U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Lenderking’s Travel to Oman and Saudi Arabia

    U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking started travel on November 27 to Oman and Saudi Arabia to support ongoing peace efforts. The environment created by the UN-mediated truce presents the best opportunity Yemen has had for peace in several years. At this critical moment, we remind the Houthis that Yemenis are calling for peace, not a return to war. To that end, we call on the Houthis to immediately cease their attacks on Yemeni ports, which are disrupting the flow of much-needed resources and exacerbating suffering across Yemen. Such attacks only risk plunging Yemenis into another pointless cycle of violence and suffering. We urge the Houthis to instead seize this opportunity for peace, cooperate with the UN, and accept that the only path forward to ending eight years of destructive war is through a negotiated, inclusive Yemeni-led political settlement.

  • Chart: U.S. Nuclear Reactors Among The Oldest In The World

    The United States' 92 nuclear reactors currently in operation have a mean age of 41.6 years, the third oldest in the world. The only nuclear fleets that are older are those of Switzerland (46.3 years) and Belgium (42.3 years). Also older are the singular reactors in use in Armenia and the Netherlands.

  • U.S. 5th Fleet Reveals New Details on Iranian Drone Attack on Tanker

    On Nov. 15, a Shahed 136 explosive-tipped drone flew into the aft section of the merchant oil tanker M/T Pacific Zircon punching a hole through the hull, “while subsequently penetrating and damaging internal compartments. The UAV’s explosive impact also damaged a shipboard boiler, potable water tank and life raft,” reads the statement.

  • U.S.-Saudi ties under review despite Khashoggi immunity ruling, Blinken says

    "The opinion that we provided does not in any way speak to the merits of the case or the status of the bilateral relationship," Blinken said. "Our review of that relationship is ongoing," he told reporters at a news conference in Qatar after an annual U.S.-Qatar strategic dialogue. Blinken also said there were no plans for the prince to visit the United States.

  • U.S. Watchdog Sifts Through the Wreckage in Afghanistan

    SIGAR’s latest report found that the stunning collapse of Ashraf Ghani’s U.S.-backed government was influenced by a failure to recognize that U.S. President Joe Biden was serious about withdrawing American troops, his exclusion from diplomatic talks with the Taliban and the unwillingness of the militant group to compromise, and the stacking of loyalists around the presidential palace that made corruption an endemic problem in Kabul.

  • U.S. Navy intercepts ‘massive’ shipment of explosive material in Gulf of Oman

    The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said on Tuesday it had intercepted a fishing vessel smuggling "massive" amounts of explosive material while transiting from Iran along a route in the Gulf of Oman that has been used to traffic weapons to Yemen's Houthi group. U.S. forces found over 70 tonnes of ammonium perchlorate which is commonly used to make rocket and missile fuel as well as explosives, the Fifth Fleet said in a statement. A Saudi-led military coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since 2015 has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying the group with weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

  • Why U.S.-Saudi relations are in need of a healthy reset

    Richard's One Big Thing is why U.S.-Saudi relations are in need of a healthy reset and how some recent commentary on U.S.-Saudi relations seems to recognize the need for the U.S. perspective to be updated on Saudi Arabia.

  • UAE meddled in U.S. political system, intelligence report says

    The document was compiled by the National Intelligence Council and briefed to top U.S. policymakers in recent weeks to guide their decision-making related to the Middle East and the UAE, which enjoys outsize influence in Washington. The report is remarkable in that it focuses on the influence operations of a friendly nation rather than an adversarial power such as Russia, China or Iran. It is also uncommon for a U.S. intelligence product to closely examine interactions involving U.S. officials given its mandate to focus on foreign threats.

  • Saudi yard hands out deal for new jack-up rigs to U.S. player

    International Maritime Industries (IMI), the largest integrated, full-service shipyard in the MENA region, has awarded a detailed design engineering contract for the construction of jack-up rigs to Zentech, a Houston-based marine engineering firm.