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  • Rubio: Russia, US need to normalize embassy staffing

    American negotiators who met with Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said the two countries agreed on “four principles” that will move cease-fire talks between Russia and Ukraine forward — starting with the restaffing of embassies. “For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after the meeting, sitting alongside national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting between the U.S. officials and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin aide Yuri Ushakov — which lasted roughly 4.5 hours — is an “important first step” of a “long and difficult journey,” Rubio said.

  • Saudi prince proving crucial to Trump efforts to end Ukraine, Gaza wars

    Top U.S. and Russian officials wrapped up their meetings Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss a pathway to end the war in Ukraine, days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to convene a summit with leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to discuss an Arab response to U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to take over Gaza. The two separate talks reflect the growing role of the prince in Trump's efforts to fulfill his campaign promise to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The Saudi talks signaled a major détente between Washington and Moscow and an abrupt end of U.S. policy under former President Joe Biden to isolate Russia and support Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

  • Middle East Balance of Power Continues to Shift

    The setbacks suffered by Iran and its Axis of Resistance partners in their post-October 7 battles against Israel have set the stage for a realignment of the Middle East balance of power. The leading beneficiary of the power shift is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has sparred with Iran for regional influence since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Another competitor of both Saudi Arabia and Iran, Türkiye, has benefitted from the overthrow of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria by Turkish-backed Sunni Islamist armed dissidents. At the same time, the Kingdom by no means regards Iran as eliminated from the region’s power structure. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has stated an intent to rebuild Iran’s resistance axis gradually, including in Syria. In March 2023, under pressure from the Iran-led Axis and doubtful the U.S. would continue to protect the Arab Gulf monarchies, Saudi leaders, using China’s mediation, finalized a restoration of relations with Tehran in March 2023.

  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff with Jennifer Hansler of CNN and Matthew Lee of the Associated Press

    But I think the most important part is the President has stated his desire, his determination, to end this war, to end the killing that is going on.  The death and destruction that is happening as this war goes on and on, month after month after month in the killing fields of eastern and southern Ukraine, is unacceptable.  It is not in the interest of either country.  It’s not in the interest of the world and certainly not in the interest of United States and Europe.

  • Russia’s wealth fund chief will meet US delegation in Saudi Arabia: Source

    Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev will meet a US delegation in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to focus on strengthening ties and increased economic cooperation, a source in Riyadh told Reuters. The meeting involving Dmitriev is the first confirmation that the US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker will be involved in talks with the United States. Dmitriev, 49, is an investment banker who studied at Harvard and Stanford in the 1990s. He worked at the US firms Goldman Sachs and McKinsey before returning to Moscow.

  • Saudi Arabia takes bold decision to unlock full economic potential, diversify away from oil: Alibrahim

    Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of the Crown Prince, made a bold decision to unlock the full potential of its economy by planning long-term and looking at the big picture to move away from oil dependence, Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim said. The country adopted a constructive approach based on innovative radical change, the minister said during a panel discussion at AlUla Emerging Markets Conference. This approach stimulated innovation from top to bottom in the public sector and opened markets to innovators from within the Kingdom and globally. There is progress and momentum and the Kingdom is on the right track, but the task is not yet complete, he noted.

  • Rubio meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting Monday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. The State Department issued a statement on Rubio’s meeting with the Saudi crown prince, saying Rubio emphasized the necessity of a Gaza solution that strengthens regional security. However, the statement didn’t elaborate on how Rubio and Crown Prince Mohammed reconciled their differing opinions on Gaza’s future.

  • ‘Positive feeling’ in Iran amid talk of Saudi mediation with Trump

    Saudi Arabia is apparently floating the notion of mediating between Iran and the United States. First reported by CNN, Tehran has dismissed the idea as “speculation”—but that has not stopped the Iranian press from discussing what Saudi intervention could entail, and what Riyadh may gain by brokering talks. Speaking to Amwaj.media on condition of anonymity, a high-ranking Iranian political source expressed “a positive feeling” about the Kingdom potentially playing a constructive role in enabling engagement with the Donald Trump administration. Addressing the reasons for his positivity towards such a scenario—mindful of how other Gulf Arab states have more established records of facilitating dialogue with Washington—the source indicated Trump’s close relationship with Riyadh.

  • US-Russia hold talks in Riyadh without Ukraine

    Top United States and Russian diplomats met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, February 18, for talks on resetting their fractured relations, the first such discussions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both sides downplayed expectations of a breakthrough in this first high-level meeting between the countries since US President Donald Trump took office. Still, the very fact the encounter is taking place has triggered concern in Ukraine and Europe following the US' recent overtures towards the Kremlin. At Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the talks began without visible handshakes, and no statements were made. A stern-faced US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat across from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff by his side. Lavrov was accompanied by senior Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban also attended.

  • Top Russian and US officials discuss improving ties and ending the Ukraine war — without Kyiv

    The top diplomats from Russia and the U.S. met Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine — talks that represented a rapid and major change in American foreign policy under President Donald Trump. No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country won’t accept any outcome from this week’s talks if Kyiv doesn’t take part. European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined. Beyond Ukraine, the meeting — attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials — had been expected to focus on thawing relations between the two countries, whose ties have fallen to their lowest level in decades.