Pakistani PM in Washington seeking concessions on military aid and sanctions
Imran Khan will meet Donald Trump on his first visit to Washington as Pakistan’s prime minister, burdened by the task of trying to mend relations mired in mutual distrust and restoring financial support cut off by the US president.
The US has suspended most of its military aid, worth $300m (£240m), after Trump accused Pakistan of not doing enough to fight extremism.
Continue reading...With the seizure of a supertanker off Gibraltar, distracted UK government was set up by John Bolton as collateral damage
John Bolton, White House national security adviser and notorious Iraq-era hawk, is a man on a mission. Given broad latitude over policy by Donald Trump, he is widely held to be driving the US confrontation with Iran. And in his passionate bid to tame Tehran, Bolton cares little who gets hurt – even if collateral damage includes a close ally such as Britain.
So when Bolton heard British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar on America’s Independence Day, his joy was unconfined. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” he exulted on Twitter.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says Britain’s response will be ‘considered but robust’ if UK-flagged tanker is not released
The British government has warned that Iran is choosing “a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour” and advised UK ships to avoid the strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker as the crisis in the Gulf escalates.
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be “considered but robust” if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he had earlier said the government was not contemplating military action.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has had some awkward exchanges with survivors of religious persecution during a meeting with them in the Oval Office on Wednesday. When the Nobel laureate and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad requested aid for the Yazidis, the president replied: ‘And you had the Nobel prize? That's incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?’ When asked by a Rohingya refugee about the plan to help his people, Trump replied: ‘Where is that exactly?’
Continue reading...The US has said that one of its warships brought down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The incident was first revealed by Donald Trump, who said that USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action after the drone came within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt tries to reinforce nuclear deal abandoned by US
Tensions in the Middle East could pose an existential threat to mankind unless the Iran nuclear deal is maintained, Jeremy Hunt will say on Monday in his starkest warning since the regional crisis escalated two months ago.
Speaking ahead of an EU meeting in Brussels, the UK foreign secretary will try to underline the importance of the deal, which was abandoned unilaterally by the US a year ago, leading to an accelerating reciprocal withdrawal by Iran.
Continue reading...Relatives hope raising awareness in the US can help end detention of Hathloul who battled the ban on women driving
When Lina al-Hathloul learned her sister, the Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul, had been whisked away by Saudi Arabian police in the middle of the night, she thought it was a joke.
Related: Saudi Arabia 'planning to relax male guardianship laws'
Continue reading...After an explosive leak, the British ambassador resigned. The special relationship has been propelled into a strange and uncertain new era
Donald Trump, president and showman, was staging a military pageant to celebrate the Fourth of July and independence from the British empire. George Washington’s soldiers, he told a rainsoaked crowd in Washington, toppled a statue of King George and melted it into bullets for battle.
Related: Kim Darroch's fall from grace casts chill over Washington ambassadors
Continue reading...“This is a dangerous game,” an Iranian foreign ministry official warned on Friday. He was urging the UK to release the Iranian tanker which the British navy helped authorities in Gibraltar to seize last week. But the context, as he made clear, is the intensifying struggle between Washington and Tehran, in which the main players appear overconfident they know the rules and understand the stakes, while minor players fret about outcomes they have limited power to change.
Mohamed ElBaradei, who headed the UN nuclear watchdog in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, has offered one of the sharpest warnings of the potential consequences: “All that I hear basically [brings] to mind the days before the Iraq war,” he told the BBC. The Iranian regime’s record at home and in the region is a grim one. But this crisis was created by the US president’s determination to destroy an international nuclear deal – which Iran was abiding by – and throttle the economy. It cornered Tehran and empowered its hardliners, who seized on the proof that America could never be trusted.
Continue reading...China has said it will impose sanctions on US firms involved in a deal to sell $2.2bn worth of tanks, missiles and related equipment to Taiwan, saying it harmed China’s sovereignty and national security.
The Pentagon said on Monday the US state department had approved the sale of the weapons requested by Taiwan, including 108 General Dynamics Corp M1A2T Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, which are manufactured by Raytheon.
Continue reading...Pentagon’s top general says group of nations would ensure freedom of navigation in Straits of Hormuz
The United States hopes to enlist allies in the coming weeks for a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters in the Persian Gulf where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks, the Penatgon’s most senior general has said.
Under the plan, which has only been finalised in recent days, the US would provide command ships and lead surveillance efforts for the military coalition in seaas off Iran and Yemen. Allies would patrol waters near those US command ships and escort commercial vessels with their nation’s flags.
Continue reading...US commerce secretary pulls out of trade talks as president calls envoy ‘very stupid’
Transatlantic tensions over the British ambassador’s leaked criticisms of Donald Trump have grown into a diplomatic crisis after the US president attacked Sir Kim Darroch as “a pompous fool” and his commerce secretary postponed planned trade talks with Liam Fox.
A day after Trump said he would no longer deal with Darroch following the release of UK diplomatic memos calling him “incompetent”, “inept” and “insecure”, he used his Twitter feed to attack the diplomat, who he described as “wacky” and “very stupid”.
Continue reading...Tehran breaches agreed 3.67% limit and hints it could soon start enriching to 20%
Iran has enriched uranium beyond the key limit dictated in its 2015 deal with major powers, in the latest escalation of the crisis between Washington and Tehran.
The move, confirmed by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, came amid hints from Iran that it could start enriching to 20% later in the year unless it secured European help in the face of crippling US sanctions.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has been accused of taking nepotism to alarming new depths after giving his daughter, Ivanka, a prominent role in meetings with the G20 and Kim Jong-un.
Related: #Unwantedivanka: awkward moment at G20 prompts slew of Trump parodies
Continue reading...US-North Korea negotiations are back on – but will they lead anywhere?
As it turned out, it was more than a photo op. Donald Trump not only shook hands again with Kim Jong-un and became the first incumbent US president to enter North Korea but also, instead of the expected exchange of pleasantries, sat down with his counterpart and talked for an hour in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the Koreas. And there was a tangible outcome.
Meetings between US and North Korean working groups will restart four months after they broke down at the Hanoi summit in February. Real negotiations are back on. The question, as ever, is whether they will lead anywhere.
Continue reading...The US has imposed sanctions on Nicolasito, 29, who claims to be an economist and a flautist and has faced claims of nepotism
The Trump administration has slapped sanctions on the son of Nicolás Maduro, in the latest attempt to tighten the screws on Venezuela’s embattled leader.
The move by the US treasury department freezes any US assets belonging to the president’s son – Nicolás Maduro Guerra, or Nicolasito – and bars Americans from doing business with him.
Continue reading...Expectations are not being met in discussions with world powers, claims Iranian envoy
Iran said some progress had been made at a meeting with world powers on its nuclear accord – but probably “still not enough” to keep the landmark 2015 deal alive.
“It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations,” said Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, after the talks on Friday. “I don’t think the progress made today will be enough to stop our process – but the decision will be made in Tehran.”
Continue reading...US president appears to make light of 2016 scandal before meeting at G20 summit
Donald Trump has sardonically asked Vladimir Putin not to meddle in the 2020 US election, smirking and pointing his finger as he did so and appearing to make light of a scandal that led to an investigation of his campaign’s contact with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.
The US president and his Russian counterpart were heading into talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan’s western city of Osaka, their first formal face-to-face meeting since a high-profile summit in Helsinki last July.
Continue reading...Asked by a reporter at the G20 summit in Japan whether he would raise the issue of electoral interference during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, the US president says: 'Yes, of course I will.' He then points his finger at Putin and gives the directive twice while pointing at him and smiling, appearing to make light of
a scandal that led to a two-year investigation into his campaign's
contact with the Kremlin in 2016. Putin smiles without comment throughout
PM says ‘substantial and difficult’ issues to be resolved in standoff after speaking with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 in Osaka
Scott Morrison says it is “unrealistic” to expect a quick resolution of the damaging trade dispute between the United States and China on Saturday at the G20 meeting in Osaka.
After conversations with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, Morrison told travelling reporters on Friday there was a determination to resolve the standoff but he was not “naive” about how quickly the two countries would come to terms because there were “real, substantial and difficult issues to be resolved”.
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