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  • Chart: China Still Favored Over U.S. In MENA, But Losing Ground

    According to the survey, the share of people saying they wanted stronger economic relations with China has dropped in many of the countries since the same question was asked in 2018-19. Jordanians and Palestinians are now 20 percentage points less likely to want stronger economic ties with China than before, while Sudan saw a 14 percentage point decrease and Libya and Morocco a 13 percentage point decrease. In terms of the U.S. there has not been as widespread a decline since 2018-19. Only the Palestinian territories (-10 p.p.) and Jordan (-9 p.p.) have seen major declines while Sudan (-2 p.p.) and Morocco (-1 p.p.) saw smaller drops and Iraq (+11 p.p.), Tunisia (+9 p.p.) and Libya (+6 p.p.) saw increases.

  • Top minister says Israel to keep promoting settlements despite U.S. concern

    "This is our country, all of it," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds some West Bank powers, during his party faction meeting. "Does anyone think that Israel will be managed like another U.S. state? I will not accept moral preaching from anybody," Kan broadcaster reported him saying.

  • U.S. Launches Quiet Diplomatic Push With Iran to Cool Tensions

    The Biden administration has quietly restarted talks with Iran in a bid to win the release of American prisoners held by Tehran and curb the country’s growing nuclear program, people close to the discussions said.

  • Netanyahu tells Israeli lawmakers that U.S. and Iran held indirect talks on “mini agreement”

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset foreign relations and security committee that the Biden administration has held indirect talks with Iran on a “mini agreement” or “an understanding” related to Iran's nuclear program, according to five lawmakers who attended the meeting.

  • U.S. Leans on Economic Strategy to Achieve Geopolitical Ends in the Middle East and Asia

    The United States is championing a new regional approach that aims to use economic diplomacy to bring key players in the Middle East and Asia closer and provide an alternative to Chinese initiatives.

  • Senior U.S. official on Iran channel: ‘We want to see whether they are prepared’ to take steps to lower tensions

    American officials said they have held recent indirect talks with Iran both to convey “unambiguous” warnings that Iran should not conduct weapons-grade enrichment; and to urge Iran to take steps to demonstrate that it is willing to de-escalate tensions. Such steps, such as providing greater access to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and releasing American citizens jailed by Iran, would advance prospects for a potential diplomatic process, a senior U.S. official said.

  • Analysis: U.S. navigates complicated relationship with Saudi Arabia

    But the U.S. and Saudi Arabia also need each other — for trade and for broader security arrangements in the Middle East, including conflicts in Yemen and Sudan, where they work together to broker cease-fires or deliver humanitarian aid to devastated populations. And the Biden administration is fervently coaxing Riyadh to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, following similar Trump-era breakthrough gestures by a small number of other gulf or Muslim nations.

  • Saudi foreign minister: wants U.S. to bid in domestic nuclear programme

    Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Thursday the kingdom would prefer to have the U.S. as one of the bidders for its civilian nuclear programme. Prince Faisal bin Farhan was commenting in a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "We have differences of opinion but we are working on finding mechanisms for us to be able to work together," he said.

  • Israeli leaks seen as trying to derail U.S. effort to avoid Iran nuclear escalation

    To read some recent Israeli media reports, one might come to suspect that the U.S. and Iran are on the verge of some sort of new nuclear deal, or mini deal. But there are reasons to think that the reports are misleading, and on the Israeli side, are meant to try to scuttle any far more limited understanding to head off a crisis in the absence of conditions for a major new diplomatic resolution on Iran.

  • U.S.-Saudi relations have been fraught, but that’s been changing: Fahad Nazer

    President Biden visited Saudi Arabia in 2022, and Secretary of State Blinken is there now. NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Fahad Nazer, spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.