Middle East Minute by AL-MONITOR

Al-Monitor's Adam Lucente examines the Middle East presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the geopolitics at play and how countries from across the region have won national pride while also snagging medals. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Hamas announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement in China with other Palestinian factions to work together for "national unity," as Beijing emerges as a diplomatic broker. Turkey’s Central Bank kept interest rates steady on Tuesday as inflation cools and the Biden administration resumed negotiations with a senior Iraqi delegation over the roughly 2,500 US troops in Iraq. See Privacy Policy at ht...

On Sunday, as President Joe Biden announced he was removing his bid from the 2024 US election, the floodgates opened up for a new contender to take his place. Prominent democrats, Biden included, have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot, and while her Middle East foreign policy track record aligns with Biden's, there could be differences. Plus, Turkey's ruling party has wal...

Business correspondent Jack Dutton discusses a report this week that found that even with runaway inflation, Turkey ranks exceptionally high in global wealth growth. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Iraq announced on Monday that it has resumed negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the first time since 2008, ultra-Orthodox protesters fight police near Tel Aviv after Israel’s military begins issuing draft notices and at least six killed in attack on a Shiite mosque in the Omani capital, Muscat. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

Egypt’s remittances reach $2.7 billion in boost to foreign reserves, the US dispatches senior officials to Cairo to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire proposal and the NATO summit kicks off in Washington on Tuesday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

A radical shift in the United Kingdom’s Middle East policy is unlikely under the newly elected Labour government, though internal rifts could pose a challenge to Palestine matters. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that he might invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Turkey. Iranians head to the polls in a run-off presidential election vo...

Hamas has provided new feedback to the Israeli cease-fire proposal intended to close the gap  between the two sides , a senior  Hezbollah  commander was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon and Iranians will vote on Friday in a presidential runoff pitting the Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian against ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. See Privacy Policy a...

Al-Monitor's Jared Szuba lays out four outcomes for Hezbollah's confrontation with Israel. Gazans are forced to live in bombed-out buildings or camp next to giant piles of trash, a United Nations spokeswoman said Friday. Iranians headed to the polls to select their president, and Turkey is removed from FATF money laundering watch list. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California...

Al-Monitor's Andrew Parasiliti details what viewers should be watching in the run-up to the Iranian presidential election on Friday. Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin urges warring parties in the Middle East to accept "peace proposals" and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel under a "mentally ill" Netanyahu has set its sights on Lebanon while top US officials are urging a di...

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor's Rina Bassist, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana warns of Iran's destabilizing influence and the group's efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls for "high participation" in Friday's presidential election, Israel’s Supreme Court rules that the government must conscript ultra-Orthodox...

The Telegraph alleged Hezbollah was storing weapons at Beirut's main airport, leading the Lebanese government to defend procedures on Monday. Palestinian factions said that planned reconciliation talks in China have been delayed, with both Hamas and Fatah blaming each other for the hold up. French President Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan Monday called on Israel to lift all land-bas...

Daniel Levy, former Israeli negotiator and president of the US-Middle East Project, talks to US-Israeli affairs and how states recognizing Palestine is the "low bar" in terms of action. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

James Zogby of the Arab American Institute talks through how Arab American voters are thinking in the 2024 US presidential election. Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 13 people in central Gaza, thousands of Israelis protested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Monday and about 20 people have died and more are missing amid the ongoing Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. See Pri...

The Middle East was well represented at the G7 and BRICS+ meetings as well as the Ukraine Peace Summit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his war cabinet on Monday, Muslim pilgrims wrapped up the Hajj in searing heat and Qatar Airways is close to finalizing the purchase of a major stake in RwandAir. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...

Al-Monitor's Jack Dutton speaks to protesters about their most recent targets, including Barclays bank and UK summer music festivals. Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Friday as truce talks with Hamas militants failed to progress, a suspected Israeli strike rocked southern Lebanon late Thursday night and more than a million Muslim pilgrims were in Mecca Friday to begin the Hajj pilgrimage. See Privacy P...

Iran’s Interior Ministry has announced the final list of presidential candidates approved by the hard-line Guardian Council. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the Middle East, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and oil giant Saudi Aramco said that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its l...

Ezgi Akin, Al-Monitor’s Turkey editor, discusses Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan's visit to China this week. Lebanon’s head of the military, Joseph Aoun, is heading to Washington next week, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have detained at least 15 Yemeni employees of UN agencies and other aid organizations, and Saudi Arabia says the hajj will start on June 14. See Privacy Policy at https:...

In a conversation with Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, we discuss the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Wednesday vote to censure Iran for the first time since November 2022. A hospital in central Gaza says that at least 37 people were killed in Israel's overnight bombardment of a UN-run school, a court in Turkey jailed a pro-Kurdish mayor...

Al-Monitor's Rina Bassist chronicles how Rome has adjusted its position and Netanyahu can no longer assume Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is in his political pocket. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi accepted the government’s resignation on Monday, calling for the new one to focus on boosting foreign investment and tackle rising prices. Some 127 international companies have reloc...

Al-Monitor's chief correspondent, traveled to the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem to sniff out a deal the community has been handed that would require them to forfeit much of their land to a luxury hotel development. In other developments, US President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel had offered a new roadmap toward a permanent peace in Gaza. The three-part deal would offer "an enduring&...

After 12 years, Saudi Arabia has appointed an ambassador to Syria and Hajj flights between the two countries have resumed as Syria slowly returns to the Arab fold. Kuwait's newest oil refinery has upped its capacity to a record 1.8 million barrels per day, Israel’s military offensive in Rafah is taking a dire health toll and President Biden has no plans to change his Israe...

In a dispatch from Tehran, Al-Monitor's contributor gives an outlook for the upcoming Iranian presidential election. Flights between Saudi Arabia and Syria resumed on Tuesday after more than a decade, a high-profile Saudi investor invested in Elon Musk’s $24 billion startup xAI and Israel expands its ground assault on Rafah. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy No...

With the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Beijing has lost a partner that helped seal the Saudi-Iran deal it brokered, but foresees little change with whoever takes the role next. The Israeli military announced Friday morning that the bodies of three hostages held in Gaza had been brought back to Israel overnight ,  the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives said Israel...