Middle East News – Iran Hijacks a Korean Ship and a Saudi Arabia-Qatar Deal Unifies Arabs Against Iran

There are two major events in the middle east today. Iran hijacked a South Korean ship and Saudi Arabia and Qatar have a new diplomatic deal that creates a unified Arab front against Iran. 1. Iran seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew. $7 billion in Iranian funds are frozen …

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Five Other Arab Countries Are Negotiating Normalization With Israel

Oman, Sudan, Comoros, Djibouti and Mauritania are in talks with Israel to normalize relations. Israel already had peace deals with Egypt and Jordan. They just recently reached normalization agreements with UAE and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia’s current King Salman is against normalization but reports are that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would be in favor of …

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Will UAE-Israel Deal Lead to Larger Gulf Anti-Iran Coalition?

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel have normalized relations. As part of the deal, Israel has suspended the annexation of the West Bank. The UAE is one of six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The members are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The GCC issued a …

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US All Liquid Oil Production is at 73% of OPEC Oil Production

US All Liquids oil production is at 19.6 million barrels per day. US oil production is forecasted to increase by 1-2 million barrels per day by the end of 2020. US crude oil production is at 12.5 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia had to cut oil production to support oil prices. Saudi Arabia is …

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Pentagon Could Retire Aircraft Carrier to Save $30 Billion

The Pentagon has decided to cut the US aircraft carrier fleet from 11 to 10. In 2014, there was a proposal to cancel the mid-life upgrade of the USS George Washington. This proposal was defeated. The mid-life upgrade cancellations have been part of negotiations to get larger military budgets. The proposal will be in the …

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Will North Korea Dismantle Nuclear Weapons Production and Stabilize with South Korea?

In a New Year’s Day speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made an offer toward denuclearization. Kim indicated that North Korea wants a deal and is interested in another summit. Kim would put nuclear production capability as part of negotiations. A path to the goal of complete denuclearization could be created. North Korea could be …

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North Korea agrees to inspections in bid to salvage nuclear talks

North Korea offers to permanently abolish its key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts, in a new gesture by leader Kim Jong Un to revive faltering talks with Washington over his country’s nuclear program. After a summit in Pyongyang, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the North was also willing to …

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