At the middle of the most recent key developments within the battle with Iran are assaults on US ally Saudi Arabia by Tehran-supported teams.
As a reminder, the Saudi Defense Ministry mentioned Monday that it intercepted several drones launched from Iraq that focused petroleum services within the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province and the Riyadh area.
Here are the most recent developments on that entrance and different important points we’re monitoring:
• While the drones launched at Saudi Arabia had been not the first to come from Iraq, a number of nations have condemned the assaults, together with Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Lebanon.
• Oman launched a regional diplomatic push Monday geared toward discovering a political answer to the army battle between the US and Iran. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi held calls with counterparts from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt to debate de-escalation efforts, in response to Oman’s Foreign Ministry.
• Iran is not currently engaging in peace talks with the US. Tehran “will never allow the United States to determine the timing of war and peace,” Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, mentioned in a televised press convention. While the US has mentioned it’s pausing strikes on Iran to permit talks to develop, Baghaei mentioned there are “no negotiations with the United States at present.”
• The US want to have extra subtle munitions as the battle in Iran attracts down stockpiles, President Donald Trump mentioned, but he insisted that the military has what it needs to wage the battle. The president acknowledged that Russia could also be serving to Iran by passing alongside intelligence on US bases, but he brushed it off, saying it “hasn’t had much impact because we’re knocking the hell out of them.”
• Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is en route to the US, the place he mentioned Iran can be a key challenge “on the agenda” throughout his assembly with Trump on Tuesday. The US president individually shut down questions on Netanyahu’s objection to F-35 fighter jet gross sales to Turkey, saying that “nobody” dictates the gross sales but him.
• And subsequent week, Israeli and Lebanese officers will once more meet in Rome to proceed to work on implementing a US-brokered settlement in the end geared toward a complete peace between the 2 nations. The US-led talks will happen on August 4-6, a US State Department official mentioned.
• Almost all the 78 vessels that crossed the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday used the route designated by Iran, and none recorded utilizing the southern route close to Oman’s coast promoted by the US, in response to delivery intelligence group Marisks.
NCS’s Aida Karimi, Sana Noor Haq, Abbas Al Lawati, Dana Karni, Tim Lister, Eleni Giokos, Kevin Liptak, Jennifer Hansler, Aileen Graef, Eyad Kourdi, Aqeel Najim and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.