Category Archives: US foreign policy

Saudi Arabia ‘getting closer’ to normalising relations with Israel, crown prince says

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In a rare interview with Fox News, Mohammed bin Salman said major progress must be made in creation of a Palestinian state

A potential normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and what those negotiations could mean for the Palestinians, are top of the news agenda in the Middle East after the two countries and the US signalled progress on the matter on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

In a rare interview with western media, Riyadh’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, told Fox News on Wednesday that ongoing talks with Israel meant the prospect of normalised relations was “getting closer every day”.

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US and Brazil warn of attempt to stop Guatemala president-elect taking power

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Fears Guatemalan democracy is in peril amid warning of potential coup to block inauguration of anti-corruption crusader

International concern over the future of Guatemala’s democracy is growing, as Brazil’s president warned of a possible coup to stop the president-elect taking power and the US denounced unprecedented attempts to undermine the Central American country’s election result.

The centre-left anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo was elected Guatemala’s new president last month. This week thousands of supporters took to the streets to protest against alleged attempts to block his inauguration in January.

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Biden wary of history repeating as he braves Republican criticism of Iran swap

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The failure to free US hostages seized at the US embassy in Tehran over 40 years ago consigned one Democratic president to a single term

For all the widespread fear of a second Donald Trump presidency, the Biden White House could be forgiven for being more preoccupied by the spectre of Jimmy Carter and the baleful images of his last year in office.

Carter was the last Democratic president to serve only a first term, brought low by the searing drama of the Tehran embassy siege, when Iranian revolutionaries had overrun the US diplomatic compound and held 52 American personnel captive for more than a year, heaping international humiliation on a military superpower when the cold war was still at its height.

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Five Americans head home in $6bn US-Iran prisoner swap deal

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Joe Biden announces return of detainees as US in turn frees five Iranians under controversial agreement

The US and Iran have freed five detainees each in a controversial prisoner swap involving the unfreezing by the Biden administration of $6bn (£4.8bn) of Iranian oil money.

In an elaborate and delicate diplomatic deal, months in the making, the five Americans – some held for nearly a decade – were taken from hotels in Tehran to a plane that flew to Qatar, before heading back to Washington.

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US-Iran prisoner swap: the detainees freed in exchange agreement

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US and Iran agree to free five people each under deal also involving transfer of $6bn in unfrozen Iranian assets

The US and Iran have freed five detainees each under an exchange agreement that also involves the transfer of $6bn (£4.8bn) in unfrozen Iranian assets from South Korea.

The following are the US citizens who were previously imprisoned in Iran:

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US and Iran expected to complete $6bn prisoner swap deal

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Conservationist Morad Tahbaz among prisoners to be swapped in deal involving unfreezing of Iranian oil money

The US and Iran are expected to pull off a controversial prisoner swap on Monday involving the unfreezing by the Biden administration of $6bn (£4.8bn) of Iranian oil money held in South Korea since 2018.

Tehran and Washington are due to swap five prisoners each, including the conservationist Morad Tahbaz, a British-American citizen.

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Top US and Chinese diplomats meet in Malta to smooth strained relations

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‘Candid, substantive and constructive’ talks were held as a possible prelude to a Joe Biden-Xi Jinping meeting in November

Top US and Chinese diplomats met in Malta over the weekend as the world’s two largest economies attempted to smooth strained relations and clear a path for their respective presidents – Joe Biden and Xi Jinping – to meet in November.

According to both Beijing and Washington, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met multiple times with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Malta, where – according to separate statements – “candid, substantive and constructive” talks were held.

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Joe Biden to meet Benjamin Netanyahu at UN in awkward rapprochement

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US president agrees to talks at general assembly despite deep unease over policies of Israeli PM’s hardline coalition

Nine months after returning to office, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is finally getting his long sought-after meeting with Joe Biden – but an awkward rapprochement at the UN general assembly is unlikely to improve the strained relationship between the two leaders.

The US president is scheduled to meet Netanyahu in New York on Wednesday, the White House said on Friday. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the two leaders would “discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues focused on the shared democratic values between the United States and Israel and a vision for a more stable and prosperous and integrated region, as well as to compare notes on effectively countering and deterring Iran”.

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US agrees to release $6bn in Iran funds as part of deal to free detained Americans

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Sanctions waiver will allow transfer of $6bn in frozen Iranian assets from South Korea to Qatar, in effort to win release of quintet

The Biden administration has issued a waiver to allow the transfer of $6bn in frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar as part of a deal to free five Americans detained in Iran.

The waiver was a necessary step towards advancing a previously announced deal, which also involves the freeing of five Iranian citizens imprisoned in the US, mostly for sanctions-busting offenses.

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Joe Biden calls for stable US-China relationship during south-east Asia tour

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The US president’s remarks came after after meeting in Vietnam with Communist party official to secure global supply chain

Joe Biden’s national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country.

“I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said. “I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about.”

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Watered-down G20 statement on Ukraine is sign of India’s growing influence

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Joe Biden’s need to nurture alliances to contain China sees Ukraine perceptibly slipping down list of priorities

It took exhausted Indian diplomats 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings and 15 drafts, but in the end the G20 countries reached a consensus declaration on the war in Ukraine – one that largely retreated into generalised principles rather than the specific condemnation of Russia that the same group of leaders agreed when they met in Bali a year ago.

Moreover, no invitation was extended to Ukrainie’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to address the gathering, meaning the only direct combatant around the table was Russia, represented by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

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Biden renews effort to woo India’s Modi in talks before G20 summit

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Meeting in Delhi overshadowed by press freedom questions as US journalists kept away

Joe Biden took fresh steps on Friday to lure India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, into an alliance designed to contain China, at a bilateral meeting in Delhi where the pair struck a series of commercial and defence deals covering remote-controlled aircraft, semiconductors and quantum computing.

However, the question of press freedom also dominated the agenda on the eve of the full G20 summit as journalists were blocked from covering the event. Before the bilateral at the prime minister’s residence, the US press corps, used to being given privileged access to the president, were told to remain outside in a van, out of eyesight of the two leaders.

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India, US and Saudi Arabia in talks on rail and ports deal linking Gulf and south Asia

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Talks include Europe and UAE as Joe Biden flies to Delhi with aim of rivalling China’s Belt and Road

The US, Saudi Arabia, India and other nations are discussing a possible infrastructure deal that could reconfigure trade between the Gulf and south Asia, linking Middle Eastern countries by railways and connecting to India by port, according to US officials aware of the conversations.

The talks, which have also included the United Arab Emirates and Europe, may or may not yield a concrete result in time for an announcement on the sidelines of this week’s G20 leaders’ meeting, the officials said.

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China reportedly extends iPhone ban to more workers as tensions with US rise

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Apple shares fall as local government and state-owned firms latest to face restrictions on devices at work

China’s government has reportedly expanded its ban of iPhones to local government workers and state-owned companies, a day after it emerged central government employees were forbidden from bringing the devices to work.

Several agencies had begun instructing employees not to bring iPhones to work and the ban was expected to be further extended, Bloomberg reported. Nikkei reported at least one state-owned company had told its employees that anyone working with trade secrets could not bring their iPhones, Apple Watches or AirPods into work from next month.

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G20: battle for influence as US seeks to rival China in the global south

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There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nations

The run-up to this weekend’s G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host’s efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.

Yet this year’s G20 – the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 – is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world’s 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine.

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Antony Blinken arrives in Ukraine for surprise visit

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US secretary of state expected to announce initial package of military aid for Kyiv of up to $200m

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit that is his first for a year to the Ukrainian capital.

He is expected to announce a new package of US assistance of $175m-$200m during the two-day visit, AP reported, with a larger package worth more than $1bn expected later this week, according to a senior state department official.

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China on the agenda: 2024 candidates fret over how to deal with Beijing

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Republicans showcase range of hawkish policies designed to counter perceived threat amid diplomatic push by Biden

The United States’ tangled and increasingly fraught relationship with China is emerging centre stage in the 2024 presidential campaign in a rare case of foreign policy capturing the limelight in the race for the White House.

Half a century since a Republican president, Richard Nixon, made a historic visit to communist China to carve out a lauded strategic opening in the election year of 1972, Republican candidates vying to succeed him in the Oval Office are showcasing a range of hawkish policies designed to counter the perceived threat from Beijing.

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Twitter accused of helping Saudi Arabia commit human rights abuses

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Lawsuit says network discloses user data at request of Saudi authorities at much higher rate than for US, UK and Canada

The social media company formerly known as Twitter has been accused in a revised civil US lawsuit of helping Saudi Arabia commit grave human rights abuses against its users, including by disclosing confidential user data at the request of Saudi authorities at a much higher rate than it has for the US, UK, or Canada.

The lawsuit was brought last May against X, as Twitter is now known, by Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of a Saudi aid worker who was forcibly disappeared and then later sentenced to 20 years in jail.

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Germany says it ended training of Saudi border forces after abuses reported

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Statement comes amid concern about allegations Saudi forces have killed hundreds of migrants

Germany ended a training programme for Saudi border forces, who have been implicated in the mass killing of migrants at the country’s border with Yemen, after it was alerted to reports of “possible massive human rights violations”, the German interior ministry has said.

In a statement to the Guardian, the ministry said training undertaken by the federal police service for the Saudi border force had been “discontinued after reports of possible massive human rights violations became known and, as a precaution, are no longer included in the current training programme [for Saudi security forces]”.

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