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by Mohamad Ali Harissi On Board the RFA Cardigan Bay in the Gulf, Undefined (AFP) — The United States is training Gulf allies to “protect navigation” in the region’s troubled waterways, as it seeks to build an alliance to contain Iran. Washington’s three-week International Maritime Exercise (IMX), which started on October 21, came after a number of commercial vessels were attacked in the Gulf from May, ratcheting up regional tensions. Washington and other Western powers […]
by Anuj Chopra RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Top finance moguls and political leaders attended a Davos-style Saudi investment summit on Tuesday, in stark contrast to last year when outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder sparked a mass boycott. Organisers say 300 speakers from over 30 countries, including American officials and heads of global banks and major sovereign wealth funds, are attending the three-day Future Investment Initiative (FII), nicknamed “Davos in the desert”. A […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Thirty-five foreigners were killed and four others injured when a bus crashed with another heavy vehicle in the Muslim holy city of Medina, Saudi state media said on Thursday. The accident on Wednesday involved a collision between “a private chartered bus… with a heavy vehicle (loader)” in the western Saudi Arabian city, a spokesman for Medina police said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Those involved were Arab and […]
by Aziz EL MASSASSI RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The Saudi capital burst into life with the cheers of young fans of Korean pop group BTS as they performed in the kingdom seeking to transform its ultra-conservative image. The seven members of the wildly popular K-pop band were sweating it out as they danced and sang Friday night in front of thousands of Saudis and expatriates in Riyadh’s 70,000-capacity King Fahd International Stadium. “I am […]
by Amir HAVASI Agence France Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Suspected missile strikes hit an Iranian oil tanker off the Saudi coast on Friday, its owner said, the first Iranian vessel targeted since a spate of attacks in the Gulf Washington blamed on Tehran. The National Iranian Tanker Company, which owns the ship, said the hull of the Sabiti was hit by two separate explosions off the Saudi port of Jeddah, saying they were […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Five people were injured in a fire that broke out at a new high-speed train station in Saudi Arabia’s western city of Jeddah on Sunday, state television reported, with huge palls of smoke seen rising into the air. The station serves the main Haramain High-Speed Rail system. The route opened to the public in October last year, taking passengers between Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites. “Five people who sustained […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said in an interview aired Sunday that war with Iran would devastate the global economy and he prefers a non-military solution to tensions with his regional rival. “If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests,” Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the CBS program “60 Minutes.” “Oil supplies will be […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia said Friday it will offer tourist visas for the first time, opening up the ultra-conservative kingdom to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil. Kickstarting tourism is one of the centrepieces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform programme to prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era. The announcement comes just two weeks after devastating attacks on Saudi […]
by Anuj Chopra Agence France Presse ABQAIQ, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Friday revealed extensive damage to key oil facilities following weekend aerial strikes that were blamed on Iran, but vowed to quickly restore full production even as regional tensions soar. Yemen’s Tehran-linked Huthi rebels, who on Friday announced a sudden halt to attacks on Saudi Arabia, claimed the strikes on state giant Aramco’s facilities in Khurais and the world’s largest oil processing […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday that the United States will send reinforcements to the Gulf region at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, following attacks on Saudi oil facilities which it blames on Iran. The Pentagon chief said an Iranian attack on an American spy drone in June after Tehran seized a British oil tanker, combined with the attack on two Saudi oil installations […]
by Sarah Stewart with Anuj Chopra in Riyadh DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The US wants a peaceful solution to the crisis sparked by attacks on Saudi oil installations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, after Iran raised the spectre of “all-out war”. Pompeo has blamed Iran for the dramatic weekend assault on two facilities, condemning an “act of war” which knocked out half the kingdom’s oil production. The rhetoric has raised the […]
by Anuj Chopra with Sarah Stewart in Dubai Agence France Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure as an “act of war”, as Riyadh unveiled new evidence it said showed the assault was “unquestionably” sponsored by arch-foe Iran. The comments raise the risk of a wider conflict in the tinderbox Gulf region after the weekend strikes on the heart of the kingdom’s […]
