Latest news with #Shiite-majority
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Bahrain announces $17 billion in US deals during Trump talks
US President Donald Trump meets with Bahrain's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 16, 2025. Photo: Reuters Listen to article Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Wednesday announced plans to invest over $17 billion in the United States during a meeting with former President Donald Trump. The high-level discussions focused on trade, Iran, and regional security matters. As part of the investment package, Bahrain is expected to sign a $7 billion deal for its national airline, Gulf Air, to purchase 12 Boeing aircraft, with an option for six additional planes, along with 40 General Electric engines, according to a White House official. 'We're very happy to be announcing $17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States,' Crown Prince Salman said during an Oval Office visit. 'And this is real. These aren't fake deals.' The announcement came on the heels of previous foreign investment commitments Trump secured during his 2023 visit to the Middle East. During his stop in Riyadh, the former president obtained a $600-billion investment pledge from Saudi Arabia and agreed to sell an arms package worth nearly $142 billion. Read More: Syria says agreement reached to halt military operations in Sweida Sunni-ruled Bahrain remains a key security ally of the United States in the Gulf, hosting the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. It normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, driven by mutual concerns over Shiite-majority Iran. Bahrain's exports currently face a 10% baseline tariff under Trump's trade policy but have avoided broader levies imposed on other countries. Trump said he and the crown prince would also discuss Iran behind closed doors. The Islamic Republic has come under increased pressure to resume nuclear negotiations, with Washington and three European powers setting a late-August deadline to revive the stalled talks. Last month, the US and Israel carried out joint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, alleging that Tehran's programme was aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is intended solely for civilian purposes. According to a US official, the Bahrain investment deal is expected to support 30,000 American jobs. The agreement was facilitated with assistance from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. In addition to the aircraft deal, Bahrain is expected to sign agreements with US tech giants Oracle and Cisco. The Gulf state plans to replace Chinese-made servers with Cisco products and expand its investments in US energy, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Further plans include increasing US domestic aluminium production, investing in LNG (liquefied natural gas) to bolster energy supplies, and purchasing advanced AI chips in partnership with American hyperscalers. Also Read: Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France During the visit, multiple agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed, including one to promote a peaceful nuclear partnership between Bahrain and the United States. The document was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani during a meeting at the State Department. The US official confirmed that Bahrain's King is expected to visit Washington later this year to finalize the agreements and solidify efforts to deepen economic ties between the two nations.
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Bahrain announces over $20b in US deals during Trump talks
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa (left) meeting US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on July 16. WASHINGTON - Bahrain's crown prince announced on July 16 plans to invest more than US$17 billion (S$21.8 billion) in the United States at a meeting with President Donald Trump focused on trade, Iran and regional security issues. Under the plan, Bahrain was expected to sign a deal valued at about US$7 billion for its national carrier, Gulf Air, to buy 12 Boeing aircraft with an option for six more and 40 General Electric engines, according to a White House official. 'We're very happy to be announcing US$17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States,' said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'And this is real. These aren't fake deals.' The announcement from Prince Salman came during an Oval Office visit on the heels of foreign investment deals Mr Trump made during a trip to the Middle East in May. During a visit to Riyadh, Mr Trump secured a US$600-billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and agreed to sell the Saudis an arms package worth nearly US$142 billion. Sunni-ruled Bahrain is an important security partner of the United States, hosting the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. It established ties with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, driven in part by shared concerns over Shiite-majority Iran. Bahrain's exports face a 10 per cent baseline tariff under Mr Trump's trade policies but have been spared larger levies imposed on other countries' exports. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Singapore 2 weeks' jail for man caught smuggling over 1,800 vapes and pods into Singapore Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence Sport 'Like being in a washing machine with 40 deg C water': Open water swimmers brave challenging conditions Singapore Primary 1 registration: 38 primary schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2A Singapore ComfortDelGro to introduce new taxi cancellation, waiting fee policy Business Cathay Cineplexes gets fresh demands to pay up $3.3m debt for Century Square, Causeway Point outlets Singapore Countering misinformation requires both laws and access to trusted news sources: Josephine Teo Mr Trump said the two men would privately discuss Iran, which is under pressure to resume nuclear talks with the US as Washington and three major European countries have agreed to set the end of August as the deadline for a deal. Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June, saying that they were part of a programme geared towards developing nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes. The US official said the new Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Mr Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Bahrain is expected to sign deals with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, the official said. Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in US energy, tech, and manufacturing sectors. The official said the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase US domestic aluminium production, invest in US LNG production to secure energy supplies and purchase cutting-edge AI chips, partnering with US hyperscalers. During the visit, the crown prince signed various deals and memoranda of understanding confirming those arrangements. One of these memos seeks to advance peaceful nuclear partnership between Bahrain and the US. It was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani during a State Department visit before the Oval Office meeting. Later this year, the king of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalise these agreements and solidify the progress made in building the two nations' economic prosperity, the US official said. REUTERS
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rabbi Hier: ‘This is a phenomenal time to bring Azerbaijan into the Abraham Accords'
Ahead of Netanyahu's White House visit, a leading US rabbi urges adding Azerbaijan to the Abraham Accords as a key ally to deter Iran and spark wider Muslim participation. In an interview this week, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the rabbi who blessed US President Donald Trump at his 2017 inauguration, reaffirmed his call for the United States to expand the Abraham Accords and welcome Azerbaijan as a new signatory. Referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming White House meeting with President Trump, Hier called this 'a phenomenal time' for bringing Baku into the regional peace framework. Azerbaijan and Israel have enjoyed close relations for more than 30 years. The secular, Shiite-majority state on Iran's northern border supplies a significant share of Israel's oil, buys Israeli defense equipment and shelters an ancient Jewish community. A recent Forbes analysis described Azerbaijan as a natural candidate to join the Abraham Accords, citing its role as an energy bridge between East and West and its close ties with Israel. According to the report, bringing Baku into the framework could boost regional energy stability and help curb Iran's disruptive influence. Hier praised Azerbaijan's decision to include Holocaust studies in its national curriculum and to openly support its Jewish community. 'Azerbaijan now teaches the Holocaust in its schools and its government openly supports its thriving Jewish community,' he noted. He added that these steps show why Azerbaijan 'should join the Abraham Accords — that would be a terrific thing.' He argued that Azerbaijan's inclusion would send Iran a powerful signal after the recent conflict. 'It would be a clear message that any aggression would be faced with a united front,' Hier warned, calling the current Iranian regime 'an absolute disgrace… a reincarnation of what was once done by Adolf Hitler.' Asked whether Azerbaijan's move could inspire other countries, Hier said he sees a clear ripple effect. 'I think it would be a domino effect. There are many people in the Arab world who are sick and tired of the extremists and would tell their governments to do what Azerbaijan did.' During the conversation, Hier also recalledthe letter he recently sent to Trump, praising his leadership for reshaping the Middle East and urging him to take 'this bold step toward a stronger, more united region.' In that letter, he described Azerbaijan as 'a true ally and a bridge between East and West.' Hier, who has repeatedly called the Abraham Accords a historic breakthrough for genuine coexistence, concluded that he hopes President Trump will seize this 'phenomenal moment' to widen the circle of peace.
New York Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Trump Says He Hasn't Made Up His Mind on Iran Strikes
Al Asad Air Base Many of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq are located at this Iraqi base. Al Asad Air Base Many of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq are located at this Iraqi base. Al Asad Air Base Many of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq are located at this Iraqi base. Al Asad Air Base Many of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq are located at this Iraqi base. Kuwait Five installations are located here. They can hold more than 13,500 troops. Kuwait Five installations are located here. They can hold more than 13,500 troops. Thousands of American troops could be in Iran's direct line of fire if President Trump joins Israel in attacking Tehran's nuclear program and military, as he said on Wednesday that he may or may not do. Many would have only minutes to take cover from an incoming Iranian missile. Experts expect that if Mr. Trump orders the American military to directly participate in Israel's bombing campaign, Iran will quickly retaliate against U.S. troops stationed across the Middle East. 'The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,' Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Wednesday, according to state news media. More than 40,000 U.S. active-duty troops and civilians are working for the Pentagon in the Middle East, and billions of dollars in weapons and military equipment are stored there. Over decades, both during and after war, the American military has fortified its defenses in the region, said Dana Stroul, the Pentagon's top official for Middle East policy during the Biden administration. The United States further strengthened those defenses, she said, after Hamas's brutal attacks on Israel in October 2023, which set off a broader conflict between Israel and Iran's regional allies. 'In some ways, the U.S. military has absolutely set the theater to respond to Iranian attacks, should the regime choose to turn its missiles or activate its militias against U.S. forces,' Ms. Stroul said on Wednesday. She added, 'The tipping point in whether this expands, is what decisions the United States makes in the coming days, with respect to partnering with Israel in offensive operations.' Hundreds of, if not a few thousand, American troops are stationed elsewhere in the Middle East, including in Jordan, Syria and Oman, on bases run by those countries. The precise numbers weren't available as the Trump administration looks to trim its footprint in some places, like Syria. Adel Abdel Ghafar, a senior analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha, Qatar, predicted that American troops stationed in Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait would be Iran's first targets. Nonessential American personnel and family have already been withdrawn from the embassies in those three countries. Iran's proxy fighters in neighboring Shiite-majority Iraq and elsewhere pose a formidable ground threat to American military and diplomatic outposts, Mr. Abdel Ghafar said. And it would take only three or four minutes for a ballistic missile fired from Iran to hit bases in Gulf countries housing U.S. troops, he said. 'This gives much less time for air defenses' to intercept incoming missiles, he said, 'so it would be disastrous.' Here is where American troops in the Middle East might be most vulnerable. Iraq As many as 2,500 American troops and military contractors are in Iraq, based in the capital, Baghdad, as well as in the northern Kurdish region and in the western desert. The Al Asad desert base, which is controlled by the Iraqi military, was targeted by Shiite forces backed by Iran earlier this week in drone strikes. American forces stationed there shot down the weapons. The American military has a fraught relationship with the Iraqis, after the eight-year war and the occupation that ended in 2011, but U.S. troops were welcomed back just a few years later to fight Islamic State militants who had seized control of areas in the country's north and west. In 2020, the Trump administration ordered an airstrike that killed the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, as he arrived in Baghdad to meet with Iraq's prime minister. The strike escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran. Bahrain The headquarters of the Navy's Fifth Fleet are in Manama, Bahrain, and host about 9,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel. Part of its mission is to ensure safe passage for commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20 percent of the world's oil supply flows through. Iran has threatened to seed the strait with as many as 6,000 naval mines, a tactic meant to pin American warships in the Persian Gulf. It would also disrupt global oil trade, especially for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which ship a lot of oil through the strait, as well as energy buyers like China and India. Kuwait Five bases in Kuwait, where about 13,500 American troops are stationed, have served for decades as an essential staging point for forces, weapons and military equipment on their way to battlefields around the world. Military ties between Kuwait and the United States have remained strong since the Persian Gulf war of 1991. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United States led a coalition to contain Saddam Hussein's forces in the region and keep him from seizing Saudi Arabia. Within months, U.S. forces had chased Saddam's troops back into Iraq, liberating Kuwait. American troops have been based in Kuwait ever since. More than a decade later, in 2003, U.S. and international troops used Kuwait as a launchpad to invade Iraq and oust Saddam. Qatar The Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is the largest U.S. military site in the Middle East and is the regional headquarters for the U.S. Central Command, which oversees forces in the region. About 10,000 troops are stationed there. The U.S. military has been using Al Udeid since the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when it positioned planes there to target the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Two years later, Al Udeid became the main U.S. air operations hub in the region. U.S. commanders used it to coordinate a wide variety of missions during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as strikes against ISIS in Syria. The Air Force has deployed a wide variety of aircraft there, from advanced fighters and long-range bombers to drones, transport planes and in-flight refueling tankers. It also became the central evacuation point for tens of thousands of Afghans and Americans who fled Afghanistan in 2021 when the U.S. military withdrew. United Arab Emirates About 3,500 U.S. military personnel are at the Al Dhafra Air Base, outside Abu Dhabi, where the United States has deployed F-22 fighter jets in recent years, including to protect Emirati fuel tankers that were attacked by Iran-linked Houthi fighters in 2022. The 380th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force is based at Al Dhafra, from where it has launched combat operations against the Islamic State and the Houthis, and in Afghanistan. It also has been used as an intelligence-gathering and surveillance unit during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for aerial refueling. Graphic by Daniel Wood .
NDTV
16-06-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Pakistan Shuts Border With Iran As Tehran Trades Strikes With Israel
Islamabad: Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on Monday, as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks. "Border facilities in all five districts -- Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar -- have been suspended," Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP. Crossing into Iran "has been suspended until further notice", said Atta ul Munim, an official at one of the crossings in Chaghi district. However, there was "no ban on trade" activities at the border and Pakistani nationals needing to return to their the country from Iran can cross, he added. "We're expecting around 200 Pakistani students coming today," Atta said. On Sunday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said 450 Pakistani pilgrims were evacuated from Iran, with more to follow, as well as from Iraq -- the two countries hosting the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons, said on Friday it "stands in solidarity with the Government and the people of Iran" against strikes by Israel, which both Islamabad and Tehran do not recognise. Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday warned that the world "should be wary and apprehensive about Israel's nuclear prowess" and accused it of lacking "any international nuclear discipline". Israel is the Middle East's only nuclear power, although undeclared. Media reports have said Pakistan may support Tehran if the conflict was to widen, but officials in Islamabad have reiterated that their country is only showing "moral and diplomatic solidarity". Predominantly Sunni Pakistan shares a more than 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Shiite-majority Iran. The relationship between the two neighbours has been complex, with Pakistan often wary of US-led sanctions on Tehran and also mindful of its ties with Riyadh, which has repeatedly helped rescue its economy by rolling over overdue debts. Bilateral trade between the two countries stands at around $3 billion and officials have vowed to boost it to $10 billion in the coming years.
