Saudi crown prince welcomes Trump to kingdom as he begins Middle East tour
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as the US leader began a four-day Middle East tour.
Mr Trump, as he did in his first term, is paying an early visit to the kingdom after the crown prince promised to pump hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments in the United States.
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The US administration said it intended to use the trip to launch economic agreements with the Saudis as well as the governments of Qatar and United Arab Emirates later this week.
But behind closed doors, the leaders of all three countries are aiming to get a bead on US efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme, end the war in Gaza, hold down oil prices and more.
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Daily Mail
35 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Living Nostradamus predicts Middle East ceasefire is 'NOT the end of hostilities' and issues chilling WWIII warning to Brits
A psychic has warned Donald Trump's Middle East ceasefire is 'not the end of hostilities' and claims the UK will be 'dragged into the conflict'. Athos Salomé, 38, from Brazil, is often referred to as the 'Living Nostradamus' because he accurately predicted dozens of events such as the Microsoft global outage, the coronavirus pandemic and Queen Elizabeth's death. In May, he warned we were 'just seconds away' from 'a silent nuclear crisis' saying the destruction of an Iranian nuclear reactor would have a global environmental and political impact. Now, Salomé has issued a chilling warning about the current geopolitical scene after the United States president Donald Trump launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday evening and announced the 'bilateral ceasefire' on Monday. Salomé revealed that this is 'not the end of hostilities', saying: 'It is merely a theatrical interlude in a script written to manipulate headlines, delay investigations and test how far misinformation can be sold as heroism.' 'True peace does not come about suddenly, nor from a solitary speech during prime time. It requires real commitment, mature diplomacy and, above all, respect for life.' None of this was present in yesterday's announcement, according to the Living Nostradamus. Contrary to what has been suggested, the psychic believes 'war is not over'; it has merely changed its guise. Salomé added: 'Drones continue to fly over sensitive regions, troops remain in position, and reconnaissance satellites have not changed their focus. 'Deep down, we are not talking about a ceasefire, we are talking about political survival, a possible freeze. 'Trump, who vowed to restore American greatness, now plays with the pieces of his own ego. Every move he makes is calculated: not to avoid war, but to avoid his downfall.' The psychic also predicted that the UK will be dragged into the conflict 'not by choice, but by force of silent alliances, strategic treaties and hidden pressures that escape public scrutiny.' According to Athos, the 'first domino has already fallen' and the UK is already very much involved behind the scenes. He claimed: 'Even more worrying is the silent involvement of the United Kingdom, which, although it has not made an official statement, is already moving its military bases in Diego Garcia to support American logistical operations. 'Fuel, transport, evacuation of diplomats, all of this is being treated as 'technical support,' although the smell of pre-engagement is in the air.' Salomé revealed three unprecedented fronts through which Britain will become a 'key player' in the international crisis. He warned of three potential scenarios in which Britain's involvement in the conflict could escalate. 1. Iran targets the British base at Diego Garcia The British base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which is technically under UK sovereignty but operated in close collaboration with the US, is already in full 'hidden' activity, serving as a logistical and digital support centre. Salomé added: 'Even without a public statement, Diego Garcia is being used for diplomatic evacuation operations, strategic weapons transport and electronic surveillance. 'Emergency contracts with civilian companies have been hastily signed. In the event of retaliation by Iran, the base could become an indirect target for cruise missiles or attacks by Iranian drones and their proxies in Yemen or Pakistan.' If this happens, says Athos, the United Kingdom will be forced to react, not of its own volition, but because its territorial integrity will have been violated. According to Salomé, the second front is already discreetly in motion. After the US bombed Iran's three main nuclear sites, Tehran said it will reserve all options to defend itself. This has stoked speculation that Iran's leadership may pressure its enemies to relent by blocking or effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. The waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf handles about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade, so if Iran were to block access to the massive tankers that deliver oil and gas to China, Europe, and other major markets, it could drive up global oil prices and trigger widespread economic disruption. Salomé claims the British Royal Navy has received secret orders to reposition ships between Oman and Bahrain as a containment plan called 'Operation Shield of Hormuz.' He added: 'If Iran blocks the strait, as it has already threatened to do, the United Kingdom will act immediately, escorting oil tankers and conducting naval mine sweeps. 'But beware: although sold to the press as a 'humanitarian action', this mission will involve direct clashes with drones, torpedoes and underwater sabotage. The war will be technical, but real.' Athos warns that this involvement will be the beginning of a continuous and inevitable presence of British forces in the Persian Gulf. 3. NATO's hidden card and cyber warfare The third and most insidious line of involvement will come, according to Salomé, from the digital realm. Behind the scenes at NATO, there are confidential talks about the possible invocation of Article 5, the collective defence clause, in the event of coordinated cyber attacks by Tehran against American facilities in Europe, such as the Ramstein air base in Germany. 'If there is an Iranian digital offensive against military targets in Europe, the United Kingdom will be legally compelled to participate in NATO's defence. 'This will include coordinated blockades, electronic sanctions, cyber espionage and even attacks on Iranian servers.' In other words, the United Kingdom could enter the war not with tanks, but with algorithms, firewalls and state viruses, according to the Brazilian medium. Keir Starmer is currently engaged in frantic diplomacy over the Iran crisis with Donald Trump. The PM and president spoke last night after the US strikes on Tehran's nuclear sites. But Downing Street's readout notably did not include any reference to the 'de-escalation' Sir Keir has been urging in other statements. Instead No10 said the leaders agreed Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and should return to negotiations. Soon after the call Mr Trump took to social media apparently endorsing regime change - swiping that it could be time to 'Make Iran Great Again'. The stance raises fresh questions about Sir Keir's influence and the health of the Special Relationship. After meeting Mr Trump in person at the G7 in Canada last week, the premier had insisted he did not believe the US would go ahead with the attacks. America did not ask to use the Diego Garcia base for the bombing raid, amid speculation that Attorney General Lord Hermer had advised UK participation would be illegal. Ministers again refused to say explicitly this morning whether Britain supported the action taken by the US. Last month Salomé warned: 'There are wars that aren't televised, but they happen every day. 'One of them is the underground conflict between Iran and Israel. Drones, industrial sabotage and cyber-attacks already make up a silent theatre of war. He revealed the greatest risk is the destruction of an Iranian nuclear reactor, which would have a global environmental and political impact. 'The world is just seconds away from a silent nuclear crisis,' he warned, saying that only three heads of state are aware of the real magnitude of this threat.
Reuters
37 minutes ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: Fed should wait on rate cuts with price hikes expected, Bostic says
ATLANTA, June 24 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve need not cut interest rates with companies planning to raise prices later this year in response to higher import taxes and with the job market still stable, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters. "I think we have some space and time" to watch how the tariff and other policy debates evolve, said Bostic in an interview at his office in downtown Atlanta. He sees the Fed only needing to approve a single quarter-point rate cut late in 2025, based on his view that economic growth will fall to perhaps 1.1% this year and inflation returning to nearly 3% by year's end. Though some Fed officials say rates could fall as soon as July, and U.S. President Donald Trump has been criticizing tight Fed monetary policy, Bostic said the job market shows little sign of fading, while inflation remains a risk. "I'm more concerned about what happens if we don't get to our 2% mandate. Because of that I'm willing to stay in this restrictive posture for longer just to be absolutely sure," said Bostic, referring to the 4.25% to 4.5% policy interest rate the Fed has maintained since December to contain inflation. "I would see the last quarter (of the year) is sort of when I would expect we would know enough to move." Fed policy will be the focus of congressional hearings this week, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell beginning two days of testimony Tuesday morning before the House Financial Services Committee. Trump has called for immediate rate cuts, but uncertainty around his trade and other policies has pushed the central bank onto a cautious footing that may be further amplified by new risks around the conflict with Iran. After a turbulent few months in which recession risk rose alongside the Trump administration's plans for historically high import tariffs, then fell as Trump backed off, Bostic said business sentiment has improved recently - something Powell alluded to in a press conference last week. "Business leaders have lowered the probability of the doomsday scenario" in which tariffs and prices skyrocket and demand wanes, Bostic said. Business executives, he said, have told him they are confident about finding strategies to deal with the tariff levels they expect they are most likely to face. Those strategies include raising prices, perhaps in several steps over time, as companies respond to their competitors, negotiate with suppliers and monitor how consumers adapt, he noted. "They tell me 'I'm pretty sure I am going to have to raise my prices. The question is not whether but when,'" Bostic said, citing a major reason he remains reluctant to cut rates until more is known. Bostic's single anticipated cut this year is less than the two quarter-point cuts at the median of projections issued last week by the Fed's 19 policymakers. Bostic is not a voter this year on interest rates, but like all Fed officials he participates in Federal Open Market Committee debates about appropriate policy. Since December that has meant holding the benchmark overnight rate steady as the Trump administration moved to reorder global trade by imposing stiff tariffs on imported goods. Some of those levies are already in place, but have yet to significantly affect the pace of price increases that are near but still above the central bank's 2% target. In recent days, Fed Governors Chris Waller and Michelle Bowman, who is also the U.S. central bank board's vice chair for supervision, said recent inflation data has been mild enough to justify a rate cut as soon as July. But much remains unknown ahead of a July 9 deadline for the imposition of U.S. tariffs as high as 50% on European Union nations and various levies across much of the rest of the world. Bostic said many businesses in his southern Fed district say they have held the line on prices so far, but have nearly exhausted the tools at hand to keep doing so. "More and more businesses are telling me that in their sector, the strategies that they had to forbear are increasingly running their course," Bostic said. "They have worked but they have run their course and they can't keep doing it."
Reuters
40 minutes ago
- Reuters
Powell is staying at the Fed, with Trump appointments possibly limited
WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell begins two days of congressional testimony on Tuesday under fire from President Donald Trump for not cutting interest rates but with his status as head of the central bank seemingly secured from any presidential action by a Supreme Court ruling last month. Trump has mused about firing Powell or naming a successor soon, in what some analysts see as an effort to influence monetary policy through a "shadow" Fed chair even before Powell leaves office in May 2026. However the Supreme Court's acknowledgment last month that the Fed has a unique status, with its seven governors immune from removal over policy disagreements, has highlighted not just that Powell will serve out his term, but that Trump may be able to appoint only one additional board member before leaving office in January 2029. The risk of naming a Powell replacement early, months before a board seat opens in January, and months after that until Powell departs, could be greater than any influence a chair-in-waiting might have, Evercore ISI vice chair and former New York Fed official Krishna Guha wrote recently. "Nominating the next Fed chair now with the expectation that this person would be an active alternative voice on monetary policy for the best part of a year would confuse the ways that would not help advance rate cuts," Guha wrote. "The intended be unable to exercise real influence on policy for some time, and could lose credibility critiquing a Committee he would need to manage upon taking over." Any missteps could also complicate Senate confirmation. Powell starts his twice-yearly round of Capitol Hill hearings on Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee with many policymakers reluctant to cut interest rates, despite Trump's public demands, until the administration's back-and-forth debate over tariffs is resolved and there is more clarity about how they may influence inflation, growth and jobs. The U.S. bombing of Iran and conflict between Iran and Israel could also factor into Powell's appearance, with the possibility of rising oil prices becoming part of a Fed economic outlook that has been revised towards slower growth and higher inflation since Trump took office and embarked on his tariff campaign. So far, though, oil prices have remained steady. Whatever Trump thinks the Fed should do, the ranks of policymakers are all but settled, absent unexpected resignations. To limit how much change a president can make at the Fed in any four-year term, and thus cap political leverage over interest rate decisions that can have electoral consequences, Congress sets Fed governors' terms at 14 years, with expirations staggered every two years. The chair's term runs on a separate four-year schedule to give every president the chance to name the central bank's powerful head. While his chair term expires next May, Powell's Fed board term expires in 2028, though he may well follow precedent and leave the Fed once his time as chair is over. That means Trump has only two certain vacancies to fill in his term, Powell's and another seat held by Governor Adriana Kugler, appointed by former President Joe Biden, that expires in January. Two other board members, Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Chris Waller, were appointed by Trump in his first term. They are now as insulated from pressure as the others, and have joined a series of unanimous votes this year to keep interest rates steady, though both recently said a cut as soon as July may be appropriate. Interest rates, though, are set at meetings that include the 12 regional Fed bank presidents, five of whom vote on rates in any given year. They are even further outside of presidential control, hired by the boards of directors of what are quasi-private institutions established more than a century ago to ensure regional input into national monetary policy. While a chair or a president could veto a given candidate to run a reserve bank, terms of only three of the 12 expire before Trump leaves office, and none until 2028. The rest are under terms extending into the 2030s. Former and current Fed officials talk about the pull of the institution on those inside it. Each of eight annual meetings involves extensive staff and other briefings on the state of the economy and the outlook. Officials also shape their views from interviews with business and community leaders, the regular cycle of data from government statistical agencies, and the almost constant chatter of colleagues expressing their opinions in public. Markets play a role as well, voting daily on emerging Fed policy through the pricing of bonds, stocks, and contracts tied directly to the Fed's policy rate. For actual policymakers, let alone "shadow" officials not acting in any formal capacity, there's not much room to hide, a sea change from the days when former Chair Alan Greenspan tightly controlled the Fed's sometimes cryptic messaging. "We have 19 members, all of whom are pretty confident and opinionated. One thing that we get very well conditioned to do is to listen attentively to the opinions of the many people who think that there are things we could do differently and better, but then still try to make the right decision," Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin told Reuters. "I think we're well conditioned to focus on the mission and not focus on the noise."
