Middle East Monitor
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Abraham offered normalisation. Makkah offers securityThere’s a striking irony sitting inside this year’s diplomacy. Back on May 25, Donald Trump publicly pushed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords en masse — part of a wider attempt to reshape the region while he negotiated an end to the war with Iran. Pakistan pushed back. Saudi Arabia wouldn’t move without progress on Palestinian statehood. The mass expansion Washington wanted simply didn’t happen.Middle East Monitor
Trump cancels planned strikes on Iran to allow for talks on peace dealUS President Donald Trump said Saturday that he canceled a planned military strike against Iran after Tehran and “other Middle Eastern countries” requested time to finalize the framework of a peace deal, saying Israel has joined the commitment, Anadolu reports.Middle East Monitor
Regime Change or the End of Iran? Washington and Jerusalem Are Not Chasing the Same WarTwo words get used as if they mean the same thing. They do not. “Regime change” means new rulers in Tehran. “Dismemberment” means no Tehran to rule at all. Washington has flirted with the first idea for decades. Israel, in its most candid strategic writing, has quietly built the case for the second. The distinction is not academic. It decides whether Iran remains one exhausted, humbled state or becomes six-or-seven-armed fragments, each a magnet for the next war.Middle East Monitor
Trump grows increasingly frustrated as Iran war enters 5th month: ReportUS President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated and skeptical about the prospects for a lasting peace as the war in Iran enters its fifth month with no end in sight, according to administration officials and people close to the president.Middle East Monitor
The nuclear leash: Washington’s deal to put Saudi Arabia back in its placeThe United States has presented its new nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia as a gift: reactors, technology, investment, prestige, and the radiant promise of a peaceful atomic future. Washington is forever giving gifts of this kind. Curiously, they tend to arrive fitted with surveillance equipment, political conditions, and a discreetly concealed choke chain. This is not merely a civil nuclear agreement.Middle East Monitor
Israel warns Saudi-US nuclear deal raises stakes as Iran expands nuclear programmeIsrael Hayom has published an analysis article titled “Saudi nuclear reactor deal poses existential threat to Israel”, following the signing of a nuclear cooperation agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States. The newspaper said that, while global attention has focused on the wider implications of the agreement, Israel remains primarily concerned with the Iranian nuclear programme.Middle East Monitor
Trump weighing ‘massive’ US strikes on IranUS President Donald Trump is considering launching a new military operation against Iran that could surpass the scale of the US strikes from Operation Epic Fury earlier this year, Axios reported Thursday. In an interview with the outlet, Trump said he was nearing a decision on a potential major attack but stressed that no final determination had been made. Two US officials also told Axios that no new military orders have been issued. “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before.Middle East Monitor
Riyadh’s energy horizon and the dawn of a more equal futureThere are moments in international affairs when the tectonic plates of the global order grind against each other, and the resulting tremor is felt not only in chancelleries but in the very architecture of power that has defined the post-war world. The signing of the US-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement—a thirty-year framework that could place uranium enrichment capability in the hands of an Arab nation for the first time—is precisely such a moment. This is not merely an energy deal.Middle East Monitor
Trump says Saudi nuclear deal will be subject to Riyadh joining Abraham AccordsUS President Donald Trump said Thursday that a nuclear cooperation deal with Saudi Arabia will be subject to Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords, Anadolu reports. “The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.Middle East Monitor
Modish blockades: The Houthis, Trump and expanding the warThe naval blockade has become conveniently modish, particularly when it comes to narrow straits of water where heavy international traffic and cargo pass through. The Iranians were the first to realise an eventuality long suspected: that the Strait of Hormuz might be feasibly shut for lengthy periods of time with minimum use of force, periodically and selectively opened to balance the strategic books when needed. It has been seen, no less, as a divine gift with ambrosial properties.Middle East Monitor
China urges US, Iran to cease hostilities, resume dialogueChina on Thursday voiced “deep concern” over escalating tensions in the Middle East, urging the US and Iran to halt hostilities, return to dialogue and pursue a political solution amid fears that full-scale conflict could resume, Anadolu reports. “The achievements made through negotiations have been hard-won, and the resumption of hostilities serves the interests of no party.Middle East Monitor
After Trump’s threat, Iran warns no one will sell oil if Tehran can’tIran’s Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Wednesday that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz would not return to its pre-war state, warning that no country in the region would be able to sell oil if Iran was prevented from doing so, Anadolu reports. In a post on the US social media platform X, Qalibaf said the conflict had become an “all or nothing” equation. “In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one will sell oil,” he warned.Middle East Monitor
Iran threatens attacks on regional energy infrastructure after Trump’s threat over HormuzAn Iranian military source warned Wednesday that Tehran would strike regional infrastructure, including energy facilities, if Washington targeted bridges and power plants in Iran, following US President Donald Trump’s threat to attack infrastructure over commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Anadolu reports. Trump threatened early Wednesday that the US would bomb an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Tehran attacked a commercial vessel in the strategic waterway.Middle East Monitor
Trump warns US will bomb bridge or power plant for every attack on ship in HormuzUS President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Washington would bomb an Iranian bridge or power plant each time Tehran attacks a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Anadolu reports.Middle East Monitor
Israeli shelling, incursions continue in southern Lebanon as army deployment enters 2nd dayIsraeli violations continued in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as the Lebanese army’s deployment in the town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh entered its second day under phase one of a framework formula agreement, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, Anadolu reports. Israeli artillery intermittently shelled Ali al-Taher hill on the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, while an Israeli drone carried out a strike on the town, the agency said.Middle East Monitor
Oslo on the Strait of HormuzThe most successful peace processes are often those that allow the stronger party to continue the war under diplomatic cover. Bombs fall. Ports close. Civilians die. Then diplomats appear before polished lecterns to announce that dialogue remains “constructive.” Constructive for whom is never explained. Not for those beneath the aircraft. Not for the states ordered to negotiate while under attack.Middle East Monitor
Trump says 18 US troops killed during war with IranUS President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that 18 American troops have been killed during the war involving the United States and Israel against Iran. In a post on social media, Trump wrote: “Military conflict with Iran: four months and 18 dead.” Earlier, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said two US soldiers were killed and a third was missing in Jordan on Friday while responding to Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.Middle East Monitor
14 US refueling aircraft arrive in Israel amid Iran escalation: ReportA view of US military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport in the capital Tel Aviv, Israel on March 22, 2026. [Nir Keidar – Anadolu Agency] Fourteen US refueling aircraft arrived in Israel over the weekend, amid an exchange of attacks between Washington and Tehran, Israeli media reported on Sunday. The Walla news site, citing an unnamed source in the Israeli Air Force, said the US military plans to deploy 100 refueling aircraft to Israeli military bases and Ramon Airport in southern Israel.Middle East Monitor
Digital campaign debunks Israel’s narrative about Gaza ceasefireActivists launched a digital campaign under the hashtag, “They Lied to You,” in an effort to bring the suffering in the Gaza Strip back to the forefront of global attention, Anadolu reports. They stressed that the decline in international media coverage of events in the territory does not mean that the genocidal war has ended or that the suffering of its residents has stopped.Middle East Monitor
Protesters in Sweden denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza, LebanonPeople gather to stage a protest against Israel’s attacks on Palestine and Lebanon, in Stockholm, Sweden on July 18, 2026. [Atila Altuntaş – Anadolu Agency] A demonstration in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Saturday condemned Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, with protesters calling for an end to civilian deaths and bombings, Anadolu reports.Middle East Monitor