All posts tagged: Mideast

Xi visits Egypt as China seeks deeper influence across the Mideast : NPR

Xi visits Egypt as China seeks deeper influence across the Mideast : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi prior to their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP hide caption toggle caption Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP CAIRO — On the surface, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Egypt this week is a run-of-the-mill opportunity for two countries to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties. But there is deep subtext to the meeting between Xi and President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi: China, the United States’ top global rival, is cultivating an extensive relationship with one of America’s key allies in the Middle East as it moves to expand its influence in the rapidly changing region. Xi aims to present China as a stabilizer in the region and contrast it with the United States, which for decades has been militarily entangled there — its six-month war with Iran being just the latest example. “China continues to build up its soft power reserves while the United States self-sabotages its own stock,” Amr …

Oil Falls Further As US Prepares Return Of Diplomats To Mideast Embassies

Oil Falls Further As US Prepares Return Of Diplomats To Mideast Embassies

Published by Jenni Sidey

There continue to be clear signals that the White House is moving away from the potential for renewed military action and instead settling in for a long economic siege campaign targeting Iran, on a permanent basis. The avoidance of more bombs away and with all the risks and uncertainty of a military ‘solution’ has seen oil prices drop. Energy prices are weakening also amid positive signals from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who just left Tehran after carrying a fresh US-drafted framework. Crude oil prices (WTI) dropped 3% to just below $82.50 a barrel on Tuesday, extending the 2.4% decline recorded in the previous session. The US Embassy in Qatar, via State Dept/Stars & Stripes Al-Arabiya is reporting that he presented an offer to lift sanctions under the MOU, so long as Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz and halts all hostile actions against Gulf states. Munir had spoken to Trump by phone before travelling to Tehran, which underscores the high-level nature of the reported offer. Other top Pakistani officials accompanied him: Pakistan and Iran made …

Iran Security Chief Threatens Neighbors Against Economic Measures, and Other Mideast Developments

Iran Security Chief Threatens Neighbors Against Economic Measures, and Other Mideast Developments

Published by Sam Flores

The new leader of Iran’s top security body is threatening neighbors against joining new U.S. efforts to squeeze Tehran’s economy. Egypt is trying to revive Iran-U.S. negotiations. And Iraq and Iran say Tehran has helped some ships carrying Iraqi oil to transit the Strait of Hormuz. France and Saudi Arabia are expected to discuss plans to bypass the waterway. Meanwhile, Israel has carried out strikes in Syria and in Gaza. Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage can be found here. Iran’s new top security adviser issues threats The hard-line new leader of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council threatened Tehran’s neighbors against joining the new U.S. effort to hurt Iran’s economy, and accused the United States of increasing global nuclear insecurity with months of war. “If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” he said in an interview with the state broadcaster that aired Saturday. Mohsen Rezaei was named this month as part of senior appointments widely …

Sailors and their families have lives on pause, uncertain if they’ll return to Mideast : NPR

Sailors and their families have lives on pause, uncertain if they’ll return to Mideast : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A plume of smoke rises after a reported Iranian strike on fuel tanks in Muharraq, Bahrain, on March 12. Fadhel Madhan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Fadhel Madhan/AFP via Getty Images Shortly after the war with Iran started in late February, one military spouse was about to go back to Bahrain with her husband. Then they got a call from the U.S. Navy. “A day before we were supposed to leave to be stationed at Bahrain together, we were told we need to go somewhere else for a short period of time, and then here we are five months later,” she said. NPR has agreed to withhold their names and location. The Navy spouse is concerned about the potential impact on her husband’s career. The two of them are now living out of three duffel bags, in their seventh hotel room. “We were at one location for a while and then, spur of the moment, sent to another location for what ended up being 10 weeks,” she said. “So it’s a lot of …

Airspace Lockdown Looms: US Warns Americans Get Out Of Mideast As Iran Targets Kuwait Again

Airspace Lockdown Looms: US Warns Americans Get Out Of Mideast As Iran Targets Kuwait Again

Published by Jenni Sidey

There were no Friday night into Saturday morning US attacks on Iran, after President Trump warned he has given an order to hit Iran ‘hard’ – though didn’t disclose a timeline. Friday reports in The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Axios strongly suggested that large US strikes would commence at some point this weekend, as the region remains on edge. The only new and recent attacks have been more apparent Iranian drone strikes on Kuwait. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday has confirmed Iran’s “continued aggression” against it after a drone attack earlier targeted “vital installations”. Kuwait City file image The ministry called out the attacks as a “flagrant violation” of Kuwait’s sovereignty which reveal a “determination to persist in a hostile approach.” It said the country reserves the right to “take all necessary measures” to protect its security and resources. According to some details in The Wall Street Journal: Iran fired a drone barrage into Kuwait on Saturday, hitting a U.S. ally following President Trump’s vow to intensify military strikes in a rapidly expanding Middle East war. Kuwait …

U.S. and Iran exchange intensifying fire across Mideast : NPR

U.S. and Iran exchange intensifying fire across Mideast : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A truck carrying the coffins of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family moves through a main avenue lined with thousands of mourners during the final stage of funeral ceremonies in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026. Hasan Salavati/Shahraranews via AP hide caption toggle caption Hasan Salavati/Shahraranews via AP DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting U.S.-allied Mideast countries in an exchange of fire that threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East. Back-and-forth attacks, including a day earlier, have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire. But Thursday’s appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar. Sirens sounded Thursday afternoon in Jordan as well, where the U.S. has stationed troops and aircraft. An Iranian official accused the U.S. of launching an airstrike later Thursday targeting the area around Iran’s sole nuclear power …

China’s Refiners Slash Runs To Lowest Since 2017, As Asia Refiners Slow Purchases Of Mid-East Oil

China’s Refiners Slash Runs To Lowest Since 2017, As Asia Refiners Slow Purchases Of Mid-East Oil

Published by Jenni Sidey

A little over a month ago, we explained that energy traders are “Traders Puzzled As Physical Oil Prices Tumble Amid Surging Chinese Crude Sales, Plunging Imports”, and highlighted how already razor-thin independent refiner (teapot) margins had plunged to record negative as a result of the war in Iran and government policies meant to keep prices from rising. Fast forward to today when the previously discussed dynamics have gotten progressively worse, and this morning Bloomnberg writes that China’s independent oil refiners have slashed operating rates to a nine-year lo. Run rates at so-called teapots fell to 50.5% in the week to June 21, dropping below pandemic-era lows to the weakest since 2017, according to consultant JLC. High feedstock costs, weak domestic fuel demand, and curbs on product exports have squeezed processors’ margins, prompting them to scale back. As we noted previously, China – the world’s largest oil importer – sharply reduced crude imports after the conflict erupted in late February as prices initially spiked, sending oil imports to a 9 year low, a key reason why oil prices did not …

SOS messages from Mideast seas plunge India-US ties into choppy waters

SOS messages from Mideast seas plunge India-US ties into choppy waters

Published by Sam Flores

The panic was audible in the sailor’s SOS message shortly after a US missile hit a tanker off the coast of Oman. “We have fire on board. We have fire on board and vessel is sinking,” began the frantic call of the sailor on board the Marivex. “Please help. Please help. We have fire on board … All crew Indian, 24 crew. All crew Indian. Please help quickly. Please, we need immediate help.” To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices The message to Indian authorities was released by an Indian seafarer’s union earlier this month, as the US military targeted commercial shipping vessels in the Gulf of Oman while enforcing a US naval blockade. The Marivex crew were lucky. All 24 sailors were saved by the Omani navy on June 8. But a day later, the US military killed three Indian sailors on board the Settebello in the Gulf of Oman in the third such attack in a week, forcing India’s foreign ministry …