Trump hosts Gulf leaders at White House as new violence raises questions about progress toward peace
Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with Bahrain's crown prince and was set to have dinner with Qatar's prime minister.
The Republican president has lavished attention on the Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships . He has already visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the first foreign policy trip of his second term.
With little progress to share on the region's most intractable problems, including the war in Gaza, Trump was more focused Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth.
'Anything they needed, we helped them,' Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'And anything we needed, they helped us.'
Bahrain is a longtime ally that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet , which operates in the Middle East.
Like other Arab leaders, Al Khalifa was eager to highlight the lucrative potential of diplomatic ties with the U.S., including $17 billion of investments.
'And this is real,' he said. 'It's real money. These aren't fake deals.'
According to the White House, the agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers. More investments could be made in aluminum production and artificial intelligence.
Bahrain's king, the crown prince's father, is expected to visit Washington before the end of the year. An important part of the relationship will be an agreement, signed on Wednesday, to advance cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar and a member of the country's ruling family, is scheduled to attend a private dinner with Trump on Wednesday evening.
Trump visited Qatar during his trip to the region, marveling at its palaces and stopping at the Al Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military facility.
The base was targeted by Iran after the U.S. bombed the country's nuclear facilities. One ballistic missile made impact, while others were intercepted.
Trump wants to use a luxurious Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as his Air Force One because he's tired of waiting for Boeing to finish new planes. However, the arrangement has stirred concerns about security and the ethics of accepting a gift from a foreign government .
Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations, said 'the Gulf represents everything that Trump believes is right about the Middle East.'
'It's rich, it's stable, it's populated by authoritarians with whom the president feels very comfortable,' he said.
The fighting in Syria began with clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze factions in the country's south. Government forces intervened, raising alarms in Israel, where the Druze are a politically influential religious minority.
On Wednesday, Israel launched strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus. A ceasefire was later announced , but it was unclear if it would hold.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio , who was in the Oval Office for Trump's meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, said the fighting was the result of 'an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding.' He said 'we think we're on our way to a real de-escalation' that would allow Syria to 'get back on track' to rebuilding after years of civil war.
Despite an international outcry over its punishing military operations in Gaza, Israel has successfully weakened its enemies around the region, including Hezbollah and Iran.
'There's a growing concern that Israel unleashed...has been a bigger sense of unpredictability,' Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said.
He also warned that 'there's still no game plan to deal with the loose ends of Iran's nuclear program and its other activities in the region,' such as support for the Houthis.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
DOJ Asks Judge to Release Epstein Grand Jury Testimony
The mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019. Credit - Kypros/Getty Images The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday asked a federal judge to release the transcripts of grand jury testimony made against Jeffrey Epstein years ago, as the Trump Administration faces a wave of criticism from lawmakers and the public over its handling of the late sex offender's case. The move comes after President Donald Trump said he asked Attorney General Pam Bondi 'to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,' amid the heightened interest in the Epstein case. In its filing, the DOJ writes that even after it and the FBI concluded their review of the case, 'the public's interest in the Epstein matter has remained.' 'Given this longstanding and legitimate interest, the government now moves to unseal grand jury transcripts associated with Epstein,' the filing reads. It adds that officials will 'redact all victim-identifying information' before releasing any documents. The renewed interest in the case involving the convicted sex offender and disgraced billionaire financier began earlier this month, after the DOJ and FBI released a memo in which investigators concluded that Epstein didn't have a 'client list' of co-conspirators and that his 2019 death in jail was a suicide. Epstein has been the subject of conspiracy theories for years, particularly among Trump's MAGA supporters. Trump and his Administration have since tried to dismiss concerns about the Epstein case, sparking anger and frustration from many of the President's own supporters over how he has handled the case. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for transparency, demanding a full disclosure of the Epstein files. Amid the outcry, Trump's years-long relationship with Epstein has drawn heightened attention. The request by the DOJ comes on the same day that Trump filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal's parent firms Dow Jones and News Corp, its owner Rupert Murdoch, and two reporters after the Journal published an article alleging that Trump sent a 'bawdy' letter to Epstein in 2003. Trump has denied writing the letter, telling the Journal, 'It's not my language. It's not my words.' Contact us at letters@
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
War on Gaza: Senators call on Canadian government to uphold international law as children in Gaza are 'living in hell'
On June 25, independent Canadian senator Marilou McPhedran, with 10 other senators from across the country, released a joint statement calling on Mark Carney's government to uphold international law regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The senators write that Canada and its allies have failed to act in the face of 'gross violations of international law through arms sales, economic relations, and diplomatic support for the State of Israel.' PRESS RELEASE: Senators' Statement on the Situation in Gaza — Marilou McPhedran (@SenMarilou) June 26, 2025 But what instigated the letter? Canada is not 'stepping up' to respond to Gaza crisis On June 11, a group of nine humanitarian organizations — including UNICEF Canada and Save the Children Canada — briefed senators, expressing concern over a vast discrepancy in Canada's response to the crises in Ukraine compared to Gaza, particularly when surrounding children's health and safety. 'The goal wasn't to single out a particular crisis,' Emilie Galland-Jarrett, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Government Relations for Save the Children Canada told me from Ottawa. 'We wanted to see the mobilization of senators around the situation of children in Gaza and to call on Canada to stand up in ways they have for children in Ukraine." Canada is a co-chair in an initiative for abducted Ukrainian children, for example. 'That shows moral and global responsibility on this issue,' she says. But the government isn't showing this kind leadership across the board, Galland-Jarrett stresses. 'That's an issue. The leadership demonstrated with Ukraine can't just be specific to one crisis. We have to ensure that in all crises, Canada is stepping up.' The leadership demonstrated with Ukraine can't just be specific to one crisis. We have to ensure that in all crises, Canada is stepping up. The senators who signed the joint statement have concluded that 'what Canada is prepared to do in one country where there is clearly an illegal war, needs to be giving the same level of support and implementing the same level of restrictions,' Senator McPhedran tells me from British Columbia: 'This includes reaching out to the corporate community to make sure there isn't corporate complicity.' Children in Gaza are 'living in hell' The situation for children especially, is both desperate and dire, Rachel Cummings, Humanitarian Lead for Save the Children, tells me from Deir Al-Balah, a city in the centre of the Gaza Strip, where she has been working since February 2024. 'Everyday I see children in Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis walking, desperate to find food and clean water. They are walking around with empty bowls but the food kitchens are pretty much closed,' she says. 'Mothers are bulking out any food they get with grass and dirty water. They're also feeding their children at night so that they have the illusion of having a full stomach before they fall asleep. Mothers tell me their children are crying all the time because they are hungry all the time.' Mothers tell me their children are crying all the time because they are hungry all the time. Children are also taking on duties associated with adults. 'Young children are caring for even younger children while their parents look for firewood.' There is no education as learning has stopped since October 7, 2023, when the war broke out. All of this is compounded by the fact that Palestinians are living under constant bombardment and shelling, adds Cummings. '700,000 people have been displaced since [the last ceasefire] in March.' Humanitarian aid is far from consistent, Cummings says. 'The United Nations and other humanitarian activists have been unable to bring in supplies since mid-May, and the aid is very, very restricted ... People are killed trying to receive food, which is a right. Basically, Palestinians are trying every which way to survive and children, in particular, are living in hell.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNRWA (@unrwa) Canada has failed to act, senator says: 'We seem to have forgotten that we have a Canadian law for 25 years ...' There has been a mounting concern as more and more evidence comes in as to the weaponization of food and starvation in Gaza and the disproportionate impact this has had on children in particular, McPhedran says. 'We seem to have forgotten that we have a Canadian law for 25 years: The Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act,' she says. 'The purpose of that is to implement the statute of the International Criminal Court.' McPhedran says there is a clear obligation for Canadian lawmakers to implement domestic legislation on the situation in Gaza, and that failing to do so makes Canada complicit to what is happening in the region. The funding by the International Court of Justice triggers a responsibility to Canada as a third party. 'Failing to act on Gaza is impunity,' Galland-Jarrett adds. 'And if there is impunity in a particular context, then that opens up the door to impunity in other crises.' Groups raise alarm on death toll, genocide in Gaza One of the humanitarian organizations' "asks" of the government revolves around arms trade. 'We know that there are arms or parts of arms that are being manufactured in Canada and then being sold to other countries like the United States and then being sold to Israel which are being used to bomb children,' Gallant-Jarrett says. If there is a risk that such arms might be used in a way that might violate international humanitarian law, then Canada has a responsibility to stop that arms trade, she adds. 'That's what we're asking for." McPhedren adds that it's very clear in the law that the kind of evidence that is now available shows extensive and clear documentation of the death, damage and destruction happening across Gaza — from the Palestinian health authority, to UNICEF, to special rapporteur Francesca Albanese — with complicity and impunity of third-party countries and corporations. The death toll in Gaza due to strikes by Israel grows daily, with the health ministry estimating at least 58,000 casualties. People in Gaza are killed waiting for aid, water, in churches and neighbourhoods previously marked "safe zones." Humanitarian groups and scholars have described what is happening in Gaza as a genocide. 'The international obligations we have make it very clear that stopping genocide ... is not only the responsibility of those directly involved, but also third parties like Canada,' she says. 'This is an aspect of this whole assault on the Palestinian people that is probably not appreciated so in our letter we address that there is supposed to be an arms embargo that hasn't really happened.' Senator: Carney government 'sidestepping' international responsibility 'I do think that Canada, represented by Global Affairs Canada, represented by our Prime Minister and by our Foreign Affairs Minister, that there is a pattern of avoidance in acknowledging the extent of which we are complicit in the assault of Palestinians," McPhedran says. "I believe there is a sidestepping on the part of officials in Canada and on the part of the Carney cabinet.' What is worrying to the Senator is that just this past February, there was a shipment of arms. 'We know that — and this was from Global Affairs Canada — that there were new military export permits to Israel. This was long after promising that as a country, we wouldn't do that.' McPhedran adds that there is an "obligation" for the government to answer questions from parliamentarians and the media about military supplies and funding sent to Israel. "A choice [is] being made not to give specific answers to these tough questions ... Furthermore, the funding by the International Court of Justice triggers a responsibility to Canada as a third party.' Canada is also signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, which means that the government is obliged to block arms exports if there are substantial risks the goods could be used to commit serious human rights abuses. 'What the senators are asking for is that Canada follow our legal obligations and through international treaties to which we have been a party and honour the commitment made in those treaties.' Senator: We've seen actions against Russia — the same needs to happen with Israel McPhedran asserts that, at minimum, they should be receiving a detailed response from Global Affairs Canada about a two-way arms embargo. 'There's been a very limited response to us and to the media and that puts us in a very regrettable position. As senators and parliamentarians we are entitled to information from the government of Canada — particularly on something as important as Gaza.' McPhedran makes another observation: 'Minister [Anita] Anand has a theme and one of her themes in statements is protection. Three weeks ago, she made a very strong statement about additional sanctions in relation to Russia's war on Ukraine. It would be wonderful to see her take a similar approach against the aggression on the people of Gaza by Israel.' Galland-Jarrett is appealing to the government for leadership on this issue. 'We expect the government to adequately fund humanitarian responses to crises with a children's rights lens and an understanding of how children are affected.' Humanitarian organizations like Save the Children also want to see Canada bring up the issue of children in global spaces, whether it's the General Assembly or other U.N. spaces. 'In statements about different crises, we want to see it actually mention the impact on children in particular,' Galland-Jarrett says. International law applies across the board; it's not supposed to be politicized. Humanitarian aid isn't supposed to be politicized. We've seen Canada step up in other ways, she emphasizes. 'Our main argument is that international law applies across the board; it's not supposed to be politicized. Humanitarian aid isn't supposed to be politicized." In recent days there was a conversation that Prime Minister Mark Carney had with Gabriel Boric, the president of Chile on the need to recognize and respect human rights, Senator McPhedran points out. 'So on one hand we see press release after press release where Canada is claiming its respect for human rights. But when we see situations related to Israel, there seems to be a different standard.' When we see situations related to Israel, there seems to be a different standard.
Boston Globe
19 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Prisoner swap frees Americans in Venezuela for migrants held in El Salvador
The capture and imprisonment of the Americans had been part of the Venezuelan government's efforts to gain an upper hand in negotiations with the Trump administration, while the detention of the Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador played a high-profile role in President Donald Trump's promise to deport millions of immigrants. Advertisement The Trump administration has accused the men it sent to El Salvador — roughly 250 people — of being members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, though it has provided little evidence to back this up. Their lawyers say they were summarily deported from the United States without due process. The Trump administration sent the men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, along with around two dozen Salvadorans, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man the US government later admitted it had mistakenly deported. Venezuela's government began detaining and imprisoning foreigners late last year. Among them was Lucas Hunter, now 37, a US and French citizen who had traveled to Colombia to go kite surfing, according to his family. In an interview, his sister, Sophie Hunter, said he was still in Colombia — close to its border with Venezuela — when he was nabbed by the Venezuelan government in early January. She has been working for his release ever since. Advertisement Six other American prisoners came home from Venezuela in late January, their freedom secured after an unusual and highly public visit by a Trump administration official to Venezuela. After their release, some of them spoke at length with The New York Times about their detention and described being seized, hooded, and handcuffed by Venezuelan authorities. Some Americans in the Venezuelan prison were confined to cement cells, beaten, pepper-sprayed, and subjected to what one prisoner called 'psychological torture.' Negotiations around Friday's exchange had been underway since at least May, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. But the conversations between US and Venezuelan officials stalled in part because two US officials made different offers to the Venezuelans, leaving them unsure whom to trust, the people said. Families of the Venezuelan migrants sent to El Salvador had been lobbying for months for the release of their relatives, organizing marches in front of the Salvadoran Embassy in Caracas and traveling to Geneva to speak with representatives to the United Nations. On Friday, an aunt of one of the men, Widmer Josneyder Agelviz, 24, said she wanted to be grateful to the United States for his release, but mostly felt angry at US officials. 'From the beginning, they knew that they were not capturing criminals,' said the aunt, Jhoanna Sanguino, 35, who lives in Colombia. The Trump administration has said that the men are criminals and Tren de Aragua members and that their deportations and imprisonment in El Salvador are part of an effort to make the United States safer. Advertisement But a Times investigation found serious criminal accusations for only 32 of the men. Most of the 250 men did not have criminal records in the United States or elsewhere in the region, beyond immigration offenses, the investigation found. Many of their family members have said the men were being used as political tools by Trump, who wants to demonstrate a hard line on migration. Agelviz has no criminal record in Venezuela or in Ecuador, where he lived previously, according to government documents reviewed by the Times. He arrived in the United States in September 2024, his aunt said, and had been living in North Carolina when US immigration authorities detained him this year. It was unclear how long the men were supposed to stay in the Salvadoran prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, had said she believed they should be there 'for the rest of their lives.' In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro is facing major economic problems and a weakened mandate, and has been trying to get the United States to ease oil sanctions, a move he needs to help the economy and his popularity. His government has also made the defense of the Venezuelans detained in El Salvador a cause célèbre, saying their detentions point to democratic violations committed by the United States. Maduro's government began imprisoning foreigners in large numbers last year, a tactic security analysts say was designed to help Maduro gain leverage over US officials and other foreign governments. Venezuelan watchdog group Foro Penal says there are 88 people with foreign citizenship detained in Venezuela, among a total of 948 political prisoners. Advertisement The Americans imprisoned by the Venezuelan government also included Wilbert Castañeda, 37, whose brother, Christian, said he last heard from him in late August 2024. Castañeda had served in the US Navy for 18 years, spending much of it as a 'breacher' for the Navy SEALs, his brother said. The job meant Wilbert occasionally used explosives to help his unit break through barriers. The family believes that Castañeda suffered from traumatic brain injuries from his time in the military, and that this might have factored into his decision to travel to Venezuela to meet a romantic partner, despite the nation's track record of detaining Americans. When Castañeda called his brother in the middle of the night on Aug. 28, he told him he was being detained. 'If I can't communicate back with you or am not home by Monday,' his brother recalled him saying, 'then that means things are really, really bad.'
