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  • China’s energy trade with Middle East set to surge since Beijing brokered last year’s Iran-Saudi deal, UBS says

    Energy-related trade between China and the Middle East is likely to increase significantly and reshape the sector globally in the wake of the Saudi-Iran peace deal brokered by China last year, according to Swiss bank UBS.
    By 2030 trade between the two will have risen by US$423 billion annually, with renewables and petrochemicals accounting for US$77 billion and US$325 billion, respectively, according to Ken Liu, head of China and Hong Kong renewables, utilities and energy research at UBS Investment Bank.

  • Why we can shoot down Iranian drones over Israel but not Ukraine

    On Monday, reporters asked White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby why the United States and allies had shot down Iranian drones over Israel but not Ukraine. “Two different conflicts, different airspace, different threat picture. And the President has been clear since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine that the United States is not going to be involved in that, that conflict in a combat role,” Kirby said. He noted that the U.S. had provided air-defense systems to Ukraine until Congress halted aid.

  • US push for a ‘Middle East Nato’ failed to emerge during Iran strikes

    The Islamic Republic’s Saturday attack on Israel was a made-for social media moment. It was also the ultimate test of US efforts to cobble together a coalition of Arab states and Israel in a so-called Middle East Nato, to jointly defend an attack from Tehran. Israel, the US, France, the UK, and Jordan managed to intercept around 99 percent of the drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles fired at Israel by Iran in retaliation for an attack on its embassy in Damascus, Syria. Radar and early warning systems that the US maintains at its military bases across the Gulf were instrumental in tracking the slow-moving armada of missiles and drones, current and former US, Israeli and Arab officials told MEE, adding that the US was able to scramble jet fighters from Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the last minute to particpate in the operation.

  • Biden unlikely to cut Iran’s oil lifeline after Israel attack

     Iran's unprecedented missile and drone strike on Israel is unlikely to prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran's oil exports from the Biden administration due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China, said analysts.
    Shortly after Tehran launched its weekend attack - retaliation for Israel's suspected April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus - House Republican leaders accused President Joe Biden of failing to enforce existing measures and said they would take up this week a series of bills to sharpen sanctions on Iran.

  • Israeli forces vow response to Iran’s attack despite calls for restraint

    Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran's first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
    Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran's massive weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said.

  • Precision fire: A strategic assessment of Iran’s conventional missile program

    “Precision Fire: A Strategic Assessment of Iran’s Conventional Missile Program,” authored by Bilal Y. Saab, senior fellow and director of the Middle East Peace and Security Initiative at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, and Michael Elleman, consulting senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, analyzes the political and military challenges posed by Tehran’s potentially more accurate missiles and assesses how Washington and its regional partners could counter Tehran’s likely aims

  • Iran’s “Limited Response” Pleases Hardliners and Used Channels with the US

    Iran’s operation against Israel was not unprovoked. On April 1, Israel attacked the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus with F-35s, killing seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as well as six Syrians and a major Hezbollah official. Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Zahedi, former IRGC Ground Forces Commander and head of the Lebanon-Syria Unit of the external branch of the IRGC, the Quds Force, was the top official killed in the Israeli airstrike.

  • Saudi Arabia warns of military escalation in region as Iran attacks Israel

    Saudi Arabia expressed its deep concern regarding military escalations in the region and the seriousness of their repercussions, a statement from the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said early on Sunday.

    The Kingdom called on all parties to exercise the “utmost levels” of restraint and spare the region and its people the dangers of wars.

    It also highlighted the need for the UN Security Council to assume its responsibility toward maintaining international peace and security and warned that an escalation of the crisis will have “serious consequences” if it expands.

  • Iran declares ‘new equation’ as all eyes on Israel’s next move

    However, the prospect of a regional war is very real, and entirely dependent, informed Iranian sources told Amwaj.media, on Israel’s immediate next steps. More broadly, Iran’s declaration that “the era of strategic patience is over” and that any Israeli assaults will be met with a “direct” response suggests a shift that heightens risks. At the same time, Tehran has also been careful to signal that its newfound assertiveness does not equate to aggression.

  • Iran says it gave warning before attacking Israel. US says that’s not true

    Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said on Sunday that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but U.S. officials said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage.
    Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.
    Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation.