Iran embassy opens in Riyadh

Iran opened its embassy in its old headquarters in the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh. Those who attended the opening ceremony included Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Saudi Consular Affairs Ali Al-Youssef, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Ali Reza Bekdli, and the Iranian Chargé d’Affairs Hassan Zarnegar.

The embassy opening comes about three months after a bilateral agreement was reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume bilateral relations, brokered by China. Last month, Iran appointed Alireza Enayati, a veteran diplomat, as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had announced on Monday that the country would re-open diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in the next two days. Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the ministry, said in a statement earlier that the Iranian embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh and consulate general and representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah would officially re-open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kanaani stated that the embassy in Riyadh and its consulate-general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, set to start by the end of June.

Under a Chinese-brokered deal reached in March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.

 

Israeli overindulgence becoming headache for United States

For decades, the primary concern of the United States, under both democratic and republican administrations, is to make sure that Israel is able and ready to defend itself. 

The US citizens pay for expansionist policies and influential lobbies of Israel in the US political power structure, under the justification of securing the country's interests.

The truth is, contrary to what US officials constantly claim, unilateral and unconditional support for Israel always has the opposite effect. Not only has it not resolved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it also has made the United States ousting from the region a uniting objective for Western Asian populations, giving rise to terrorism and extremism.

Israel's opposition to the US returning to the Iran deal is another classic example of the Zionists' attempt to turn its concerns with removing Iran sanctions into a global one. They argue to the European and the US governments that the deal is flawed and that Plan B ‑ military option ‑ is inevitable. According to the US strategic national security documents, it is in its best interest to establish peace and stability in West Asia and the Persian Gulf.

It is necessary to reiterate that the unequivocal and unwavering support for Israel not only does the United States interests disservice, but it also runs counter to it. It further angers the Muslim nations and encourages masses to oppose and actively target the US interests in the region.

Perhaps it is time for the members of Congress and the Federal government to pay closer attention to Israel playing the victim card and manipulatively globalizing its interests. It is wasting the US tax-payers’ money and putting the lives of the US soldiers in danger, to only secure Israel’s security and its interests.

Therefore, it is clear that the Israeli regime manipulates the US administration to achieve its most wanted objective and interest of taking a strike on Iran by removing its key player. Sadly, the Trump administration succumbed to Israel's demand to make an unlawful killing, leaving Iran with no retaliatory option other than firing a barrage of rockets at Ain Al-Assad Base housing the US troops. The attack, unprecedented as it was, led to several wounded US soldiers, and, above all, it discredited and humiliated the United States in regional and global arenas.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has never recognized Israel as a legitimate state. Therefore, Israeli officials and the Zionist lobbyists in Washington direct their destabilizing activities toward the Islamic Republic and never miss an opportunity to turn the US administrations against the Islamic Republic.

One of the many tipping moments when Israeli officials proved most influential in the US foreign policy decision-making was the unlawful assassination of General Soleimani, which has been admitted to by Israeli intelligence officials.

In an interview with the Israel Channel 12, Tamir Hayman, a former Israeli intelligence chief, acknowledged that the Israeli intelligence services informed the US officials that the Iranian Quds General had been planning on an extensive military operation, in the Persian Gulf, against the American forces. Accordingly, the US forces were on alert for possible Iranian aggression.

Contrary to what the Israeli officials claimed, General Soleimani and his associates flew to Iraq on a civilian airplane to carry a message about “the Baghdad Initiative” to reduce regional tensions, according to Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the former Iraq Prime Minister.

Commencement of commercial flights between Egypt and Israel

An Egyptair aircraft landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday in the airline’s first-ever commercial flight to Israel. The Egyptian national carrier will now run four weekly round-trip commercial flights between Tel Aviv and Cairo. 

Sunday’s flight was greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration of the historic event.

Since Israel and Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979, flights between the two countries have been offered by a subsidiary of Egyptair, called Air Sinai, created exclusively for that purpose. Those flights ran with varying frequencies between the two countries, depending on diplomatic conditions, and never showed the company’s logo on the plane.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh three weeks ago in the first visit of an Israeli prime minister to Egypt in a decade. Sisi felt comfortable at the time announcing the meeting publicly, whereas in the past, only Israel would publicize such high-level diplomatic events.

The flight followed another “historic first” flight last week, a direct commercial flight to Israel from Bahrain, kicking off Gulf Air’s new biweekly route between Ben-Gurion and Manama, Bahrain’s capital city.

Flights between Israel and Dubai began last November, and a direct route to Abu Dhabi launched in April. In July, El Al and Israir both launched their first flights to Marrakesh, Morocco, following the normalization of ties in December.

Israel has had peace with Egypt since 1979, but while Cairo has remained an important strategic partner throughout, the relationship has had hot and cold periods.

Last month the Taba border crossing between Israel and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula returned to full activity after Israel’s National Security Council lowered the travel alert level of beaches there. Travel to Sinai, a popular tourist destination for Israelis, was severely restricted during the past year due to the corona pandemic.

Can US$3.4 billion helicopter sale to Israel be stopped?

A US$735 million precision-guided weapons sale to Israel caused a firestorm on Capitol Hill earlier this year amid a two-week military conflict between Israel and Hamas in which more than 200 Palestinians were killed. 

Progressive Democrats in the House and Senate introduced resolutions to block the sale, but the congressional review period had already lapsed, dooming those efforts from the start. 

In a fresh bid, the State Department has approved selling Israel up to 18 CH-53K heavy-lift cargo helicopters in a deal estimated to be worth US$3.4 billion. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the notice from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

In addition to the Lockheed Martin-made helicopters, the deal would include related equipment including up to 60 General Electric-made engines, up to 36 navigation systems, communication equipment, .50 caliber machine guns and more, as well as technical and logistical support.

The sale would help the Israeli Air Force’s “capability to transport armored vehicles, personnel and equipment to support distributed operations,” the notice said.

“Israel will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense,” it added.

The notice kicks off a congressional review period in which lawmakers could vote to block the sale if they wanted.

Progressive Democrats in the House and Senate introduced resolutions to block the sale, but the congressional review period had already lapsed, dooming those efforts from the start.