logo
Trump says US will hold talks with Iran next week

Trump says US will hold talks with Iran next week

The National6 hours ago

This comes after failed negotiations between the two nations prompted a US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Zohran Mamdani Wins New York Mayoral Primary
Zohran Mamdani Wins New York Mayoral Primary

UAE Moments

timean hour ago

  • UAE Moments

Zohran Mamdani Wins New York Mayoral Primary

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker, won New York City's Democratic mayoral primary after beating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a landslide with the first round of voting. Mamdani announced the news in a tweet on X on Wednesday, June 25, saying, "In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it's done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honoured to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City." According to The Associated Press news agency, experts say that Mamdani will surpass the 50 percent threshold because of his strategic alliances with other candidates to support each other as a 'second place' candidate. If Mamdani is elected as mayor, he would be the first of Asian heritage and the first Muslim mayor. Mamdani is the son of the award-winning film director, Mira Nair, and the Columbia University professor, Mahmood Mamdani. This article was previously published on kuwaitmoments. To see the original article, click here

What will Trump do next in the Middle East?
What will Trump do next in the Middle East?

The National

time2 hours ago

  • The National

What will Trump do next in the Middle East?

The ceasefire between Israel and Iran marks a dramatic culmination of events that have urgently reshaped the geopolitics of the Middle East, leaving many wondering what US President Donald Trump 's next moves might be in the region. His first order of business will be to shore up the fragile truce, which came after the US joined Israel in bombing Iran by striking three nuclear sites at the weekend. Israel also wiped out many of Iran's air defences and hit its senior commanders and officers. Mr Trump on Wednesday said the US and Iran would hold talks next week, raising hopes for a durable peace between Israel and Iran, two rivals that have spent decades waging a rhetorical war that frequently saw Iran strike at Israeli or western interests through an array of proxy groups. 'We may sign an agreement, I don't know,' Mr Trump said at a Nato summit in The Hague. 'The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done." Iran, however, insists it will retain its nuclear programme and appears set to halt co-operation with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, highlighted the unpredictability of Iran's actions and how these might shape the Trump administration's Middle East policies. He said Mr Trump has made a strategic bet that military force will shock the Iranians and force them into making the concessions he wants. "He might be right, he might be wrong. Last time he took a strategic bet like this, in 2018 when he pulled out of the [2015 nuclear deal ], his gamble didn't work out, and Iran enriched more and more. In fact, it started acting [more aggressively] in the region," Mr Vatanka told The National. Before this month's war between Israel and Iran, the Trump administration had been working on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The Israel-Iran ceasefire will now help that deal come to fruition and secure the release of hostages in Gaza, Mr Trump said on Wednesday, amid reports that talks had picked up pace in Egypt. "It helped a little and showed a lot of power … we were very close to making a deal in Gaza … I think this helped, yes," he said. Iran's nuclear capabilities and its "malign activities", including the funding of proxy groups, have dominated foreign policy conversations and think tank research in Washington for decades. The apparent end of Iran's nuclear programme and the erosion of groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas leaves an opening for the US to focus more on what it wants from the Middle East, namely investment and trade deals and an expansion of the Abraham Accords, as shown by the US President's trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE last month. "If Trump can do that, then you can see a region emerging where the focus is on economic development integration, where non-state actors backed by Iran are sidelined," Mr Vatanka said. He said Arab states could gain more leeway to try to persuade the transactional Mr Trump to begin to support a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some Iran watchers have warned that Tehran is unlikely to move quietly into peaceful coexistence with Israel and is going to accelerate its nuclear programme to develop a bomb. "But racing to the bomb is not so simple," noted David Makovsky, director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It presupposes that they have the resources and that the world is so distracted that they will let them do that. And I don't see that at this time." Mr Makovsky told The National that some estimates put the total cost of Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions against the regime at about $500 billion. "Not a good investment for the Iranian taxpayer," he said. Experts predict some sort of shift within Iran's ruling power structure, although not necessarily regime change. After the US strikes, Mr Trump on Sunday asked "why wouldn't there be a regime change" in Iran, but on Tuesday he said he opposed such an outcome as it would invite chaos. Enia Krivine, who runs the Foundation for Defence of Democracies' Israel Programme, said Israel and Mr Trump are going to focus on normalisation, in which Arab and other Muslim-majority countries will begin to establish ties with Israel. She also predicted that Mr Trump would use the US air strikes in Iran to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza. "There's going to be a lot of pressure on Israel to come to some sort of conclusion in Gaza that everyone can live with," Ms Krivine told The National. "There's probably going to be some trade-off for Trump's operation over Iran. He's a very transactional president, for better or worse."

Netanyahu's party gets small popularity boost after Iran war, poll shows
Netanyahu's party gets small popularity boost after Iran war, poll shows

The National

time4 hours ago

  • The National

Netanyahu's party gets small popularity boost after Iran war, poll shows

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's Likud party gained a small increase in popularity after the country's 12-day war with Iran, although his far-right coalition remains a long way from being able to win a majority. Likud was forecast to get 26 seats, a small climb that would largely come at the expense of parties already in his coalition. This is a worrying prospect for the Prime Minister, whose popularity has fallen since the October 7 attacks and who has struggled to make political alliances with parties other than those on the most extreme right and religious wings of Israeli politics since his continuing corruption trial began. Sources close to Mr Netanyahu told Israeli network Channel 12, which carried out the poll after Tuesday's ceasefire, that he was disappointed with the numbers. Unlike the Gaza War, the campaign against Iran enjoyed overwhelming support among Jewish Israelis. The coalition was forecast to get 49 seats, well below the number needed to get a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Mr Netanyahu won the last election, in late 2022, with a coalition of 64 seats. According to the numbers, Mr Netanyahu is tailed closely by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, with 24 seats. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents said they would prefer Mr Netanyahu as prime minister, with Mr Bennet getting 35 per cent. Left-wing party The Democrats come in third with 12 seats. The poll put the total number of seats won by opposition parties at 61, excluding parties that represent Palestinian citizens of Israel. They do not usually join governing coalitions, although some did in the previous government. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most extreme members of the current coalition, would not win sufficient votes to enter the next parliament, although similarly extreme National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party would win six seats. Elections are due to be held in October 2026. Channel 12's report suggested Mr Netanyahu's disappointment at the numbers could stop him from trying to call an early election, after he appeared to hint he might do so during a press conference on Sunday. Israeli outlet Haaretz reported on Wednesday that Mr Netanyahu is not seeking an early election, at least not before an end to the Gaza War and the return of hostages held in the strip. He also wants 'the Saudi channel, with normalisation and trade agreements with it and other countries such as Indonesia', a source, described as a close adviser, told the paper. 'After this achievement, it is reasonable to assume he will choose to move up the election,' the source said. Mr Netanyahu has long touted normalisation with Saudi Arabia, as well as other Muslim states, as a key foreign policy goal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store