Saudi-Iranian Meeting
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Top of the Agenda
Saudi Arabia’s defense minister met Iran’s top leader yesterday, voicing a goal of boosting bilateral relations ahead of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. Envoys from the United States and Tehran are due to meet in Rome tomorrow for a second round of talks following negotiations last weekend. The defense minister was the highest-ranking Saudi royal to visit Iran for official talks in decades. His rare trip emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Iran negotiations for countries elsewhere in the Middle East, experts said—as well as the risk of conflict if they fall through.
The latest in the region.
- Yesterday’s visit shows that Saudi Arabia is continuing its rapprochement with Iran after decades of rivalry.
- That de-escalation draws a contrast to Israel’s reported willingness to escalate with Iran. Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to partly confirma New York Times report that he recently pushed back against an Israeli plan to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump said he was “not in a rush” to strike Iran and that he would like to see Iran “live happily without death.”
- While Washington has temporarily upped aircraft carrier deployments to the region to deter Iran, it is beginning to downsize its troop presence in Syria, unnamed U.S. officials told multiple media outlets.
The latest on nuclear talks.
- UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi met Wednesday with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who will represent Tehran in tomorrow’s talks. Grossi told reporters yesterday that he was in Iran to “facilitate this process” of an agreement because the parties “are in a very crucial stage.”
- U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who will represent Washington, issued contradictory statements earlier in the week about U.S. objectives for the talks: he first cited a potential limit on enriched uranium, then called for the end of Iran’s enrichment program.
“There was enough agreement…in terms of Iran’s nuclear program, its support for proxies, and its missile program, that the negotiators decided that they could continue those talks. My sense is, however, that at some point, if the Trump administration maintains its requirements—the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, the end of support for proxies, and the reigning in of Iran’s missile program—these talks will run into roadblocks.”
—CFR expert Steven A. Cook tells MSNBC
Across the Globe
U.S.-Ukraine minerals memo. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko signed a virtual memorandum of intent on a bilateral minerals investment deal yesterday. Officials from both countries say they plan to finalize the full agreement next week. Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Paris today that the Trump administration would decide in “a matter of days” whether progress on ending the war in Ukraine is possible, and if not, “we need to move on.”
Growth and rate cuts. International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva said the current U.S.-driven “reboot of the global trading system” would lead to “notable markdowns” in growth projections, but stopped short of forecasting a global recession. The IMF is due to announce more specific economic projections next week. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank cut interest rates yesterday over tariff uncertainty.
Israel, Hamas clash over deal. Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a forty-five day truce in exchange for releasing ten hostages, saying that instead it was willing to release all hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war. As fighting continues, Israeli strikes on an area housing displaced Palestinians killed at least twelve people from Wednesday night to Thursday, a rescue service said. Hamas is struggling to pay its political staff and fighters amid restrictions on money and aid to Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meloni-Trump talks. Trump said he was “100 percent” sure the United States would reach a trade deal with the European Union in a White House meeting yesterday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. No details were immediately announced from their talks. Trump later told reporters that “we’re going to make a deal with everybody”—including China—in the next “three or four weeks.”
France-Haiti commission. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the debt France imposed on Haiti for its independence two hundred years ago was unjust and announced a joint French-Haitian historical commission to “examine our shared past.” He stopped short of mentioning the possibility of financial reparations, a longtime Haitian demand. The New York Times estimated that Haiti paid back $560 million in 2022 dollars over six decades.
Russia delists Taliban. Moscow yesterday removed the Afghan Taliban from a list of banned terrorist groups after two decades. Russia hopes for “mutually beneficial ties with Afghanistan in all areas,” including trade and “the fight against drugs and terrorism,” the foreign ministry said. Russia attributed a March 2024 attack on a Moscow concert hall to the Afghan branch of the self-declared Islamic State.
Measles in North America. Canada has reported more than 730 measles cases this year, while Mexico has reported 360 cases and one death. The fact that the virus is circulating in neighboring countries while the United States battles its own outbreak—with more than 665 cases reported in the southwestern U.S. states—prompted the Western Hemisphere arm of the World Health Organization to warn that the virus’s status of being eliminated was at risk.
El Salvador meeting with detainee. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) metyesterday with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the Trump administration acknowledged it had wrongly expelled to El Salvador. Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to check on Abrego Garcia, whom he said had been “totally beyond reach” after his transfer to a Salvadoran prison. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted on social media that Abrego Garcia would remain in El Salvador’s custody.
What’s Next
Today, the Art Dubai cultural festival begins.
Today, Cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin hands over command of the International Space Station to JAXA astronaut Onishi Takuya.
- On Sunday, the Trump administration reaches a ninety-day deadline for its review of foreign aid.