Middle East & North Africa
Hegseth makes a surprise visit to Israel and meets Netanyahu eight days before the election
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, October 19 and met Prime Minister…
Topic
Donald Trump
Middle East & North Africa
Netanyahu to Trump: “We have a job to finish” – “You’re a warrior, Bibi,” the US president replies in a video released eight days before the election
Benjamin Netanyahu has published a video of his phone call with Donald Trump, hours after the US president publicly backed…
Politics & Diplomacy
Zelensky on Trump: “Moves have been made to force Ukraine to capitulate” – proposes ending strikes on Russian diesel in exchange for Patriots
Volodymyr Zelensky accused Donald Trump of trying to pressure Kyiv into capitulating to Russia, and proposed that Ukraine stop striking…
Politics & Diplomacy
Putin proposes a three-way meeting with Trump and Xi on Ukraine in Shenzhen – the Kremlin confirms talks, with Zelensky not at the table
Vladimir Putin has proposed a three-way meeting with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on ending the war in Ukraine, the…
Middle East & North Africa
Trump gives Netanyahu “Complete and Total” support nine days before Israel’s election – “There has never been a greater friend of Israel in the White House”
Donald Trump publicly backed Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israel’s October 27 election, calling him “strong, brave and brilliant”; Netanyahu…
Middle East & North Africa
Vance on the Iran war: “the enemy gets a vote too” – seeks a “final, durable commitment” that Tehran will not rebuild its nuclear programme
At a CBS News town hall in Michigan, Vice President JD Vance defended the administration’s Iran strategy, blamed Iranian tanker…
Middle East & North Africa
Trump: “Israel has helped Saudi Arabia a lot” – normalisation under the Abraham Accords on the table “maybe more than ever”
Trump said he believes Saudi Arabia would accept Israel's offer of help against the Houthis and that normalisation under the…
Politics & Diplomacy
Trump enforces and “freezes” the Graham Act’s Russia sanctions and tariffs on the same day – “in the national interest”
Trump signed an executive order implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and, in the…
Politics & Diplomacy
Starshield: the order to “slow down” service to Ukraine came from the White House, Reuters reports – Trump: “It wasn’t me” – Zelensky: speeds not yet restored
Reuters reports that the order to limit SpaceX's Starshield service for Ukraine's military came from inside the White House. Trump…
Middle East & North Africa
Iran: “If the US leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will open” – “If they don’t leave, we will drive them out”
Iranian Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said the Strait of Hormuz will open if US forces leave the region,…
Europe
Trump calls Ukraine’s refinery strikes a “disgrace”; Zelensky, in Brussels, answers: “Yesterday we had a thousand drones” – and asks the EU for €70 billion and 300 Patriot missiles
Trump said Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian refineries only raise oil prices and that Zelensky is harder to deal with…
Middle East & North Africa
Trump: “We may have to hit Pickaxe Mountain. We will destroy it quickly”
President Donald Trump said the US is looking at a new strike on Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s deeply buried nuclear site…