PrairiePundit

 Federalist Wire: ... President Donald Trump capped his high-stakes Gulf tour with a landmark announcement on Thursday, unveiling over $200 billion in commercial agreements between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The deals, struck during the final stop of his regional visit, signal a bold step forward in strengthening America’s economic ties with the Gulf and fostering new opportunities for growth. The UAE agreements follow a wave of significant trade and investment commitments secured earlier in Trump’s trip from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These partnerships are poised to drive job creation, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and fuel innovation across multiple industries. “President Trump continues to advance the interests of the American people, enhancing market access for American exporters to strengthen our economic and national security,” the White House stated. Among the “transformative deals” are major wins for American companies. Boeing and GE Aerospace sealed a $1...

 Breitbart: The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was illuminated in the stars and stripes of the American flag to honor U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. ...    That is a pretty cool wecome sign for Trump.  The Emirates appear happy to host a Trump visit.

 Washington Times: U.S. F-22 fighter jets arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, part of an American defense response to recent missile attacks by Yemen ‘s Houthi rebels targeting the country. The Raptors landed at Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi , which hosts some 2,000 U.S. troops. American soldiers there launched Patriot interceptor missiles in response to the Houthi attacks last month, the first time U.S. troops have fired the system in combat since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. ... “The Raptors’ presence will bolster already strong partner nation defenses and puts destabilizing forces on notice that the U.S. and our partners are committed to enabling peace and stability in the region,” Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, the commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Mideast command, said in a statement. The deployment comes after the Iranian-backed Houthis launched three attacks targeting Abu Dhabi last month, including one targeting a fuel depot that killed three people and woun...

  Pamala Geller: TRUMP PEACE: UAE Stops Iranian Terror Attack Against Israelis The UAE has been a popular destination for Israelis since the signing of the Abraham Accords.  The Iranians have an irrational hatred for Israelis and any country that tolerates them. I find it more than passing strange that Biden wants to renew Obama's terrible deal with Iran.  It is one that is unsupported by Middle Eastern countries.  It is just not an intelligent position.  The Trump sanctions have reduced the Iranian threat in the region and their ability to fund terrorism. 

Trump and his administration appear to be the only ones who got this right.  The entire media establishment and former Democrat officials were dead wrong.

Washington Free Beacon: The Palestinian government reportedly softened its stance toward a recent peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, signaling that Palestinian leaders have become even more isolated regionally as a result of their hardline rhetoric and ongoing support for terrorism. Palestinian leaders are scheduled to unveil a draft resolution on the Israel-UAE peace accord later this week during a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo. While senior Palestinian officials initially reacted to the historic peace deal with anger and threats, their draft resolution walks back this hostility. The measure "does not include a call to condemn, or act against, the Emirates over the U.S.-brokered deal," according to Reuters. The Palestinian government recalled its ambassador from the UAE after the peace deal was announced and vowed he would not return to the country until the peace agreement was nixed. The Palestinians found themselves further isolated in the ...

Fox News: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned of a “dangerous future” for the United Arab Emirates over a U.S.-brokered agreement that sees the UAE open up diplomatic relations with Israel. The Iranian guard called it “shameful” and an “evil action” underwritten by the U.S. that would set back U.S. influence and bring a “dangerous future” for the government. That comes after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address that the UAE had made a “huge mistake” in normalizing ties with Israel and that it would allow the U.S. ally to gain a “foothold in the region.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry had released a statement Friday in which it decried the “shameful move to normalize relations with the fake, illegitimate and anti-humane Zionist regime” calling it a “dangerous measure.” President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed announced Thursday ...

AA: Oman welcomes UAE-Israel agreement Like neighboring Gulf state of Bahrain, Oman praises new agreement as 'historic' move One of the things that made this agreement possible was Trump's support for Israel annexation of the West Bank.  This had the effect of negative consequences for Palestinian intransigence on a deal with Israel.  It made the failure to negotiate in good faith have consequences finally.  In the past, the Palestinians and the Arab states had no real incentive to do a deal.   What these Arab states are doing is giving the Palestinians time to come to their sense an do a deal with Israel.

The Lid: President Trump has announced a peace agreement between the UAE and Israel. He released a joint statement issued by the three nations (below) saying they “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” and Israel agreed to suspend declaring sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (commonly known as the West Bank). This deal could only have been negotiated with the involvement of this president, Donald Trump. Obviously, this deal could have never happened under the previous administration. Obama’s hatred of Israel and Jews resulted in an Israeli mistrust of anything Obama. His deal with Iran and the lack of follow-through of his threats to Syria resulted in the Gulf States’ lack of trust in the Obama administration. The Trump administration thought outside of the box to make this deal. The supposed peace experts of previous administrations had always bloviated that no Arab country would ever formalize ties with Israel before a Palest...

NY Times: American Missiles Found in Libyan Rebel Compound The powerful American missiles had fallen into the hands of rebels fighting a U.S.-backed government. The U.S. appears to have sold the missiles to the U.A.E. Will the UAE be held to account for its failure to safeguard the weapons it has purchased from the US?  The Saudis and others in the Middle East have accused the UAE of having close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist supremacy organization.

Middle East Monitor: Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent military forces to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group in north-east Syria, Turkey’s Yenisafak newspaper reported. The paper said the forces will be stationed with US-led coalition troops and will support its tasks with huge military enforcements as well as heavy and light weapons. Quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the newspaper reported that a convoy of troops belonging to an Arab Gulf state recently arrived in the contact area between the Kurdish PKK/YPG and Daesh in the Deir Ez-Zor countryside. This comes at a time when Ankara is preparing to launch an expanded military operation with the Free Syrian Army against the Kurdish PKK group in the northeast of Syria. ... This could lead to a general war in the region between Arabs, Kurds, and the Turks. The Turks have a large army which was weakened by Erdogan's purge after the alleged coup attempt. The Saudis and UAE are well equipped with America...

BBC: Fierce fighting has been reported after pro-government forces in Yemen, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched an offensive on the rebel-held city of Hudaydah, a key port for aid supplies. The United Arab Emirates confirmed four of its soldiers had been killed and 22 Houthi rebels reportedly also died. Fighting raged mainly near the city's airport and the al-Durayhmi area south of the city, media reports say. The UN Security Council is to hold urgent talks on Yemen on Thursday. About eight million people are at risk of starvation in the war-torn country and the coastal city is where most aid arrives for people in rebel-held areas. The Emirati news agency Wam said attacking forces had managed to "liberate areas... in the surroundings of the airport" and captured or killed "dozens" of Iranian-backed Houthis. It reported the "martyrdom" of the four Emirati soldiers but did not give further details of the fighting. Medical sources in the region ...

Thread Reader: United States #US and United Arab Emirates #UAE disrupt large scale currency exchange network transferring millions of dollars to #Iran ’s #IRGC -Qods Force. Exchange Network CHART published by @USTreasury    home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… According to statement @USTreasury : “Today the US and the UAE jointly took action to disrupt an extensive currency exchange network in Iran and the UAE that has procured and transferred millions in U.S. dollar-denominated bulk cash to #Iran ’s IRGC-QF) to fund its malign activities and regional proxy groups.” “Specifically, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( #OFAC ) designated nine Iranian individuals and entities.” #Iran ’s Central Bank was complicit in the #IRGC -QF’s scheme and actively supported this network’s currency conversion and enabled its access to funds that it held in its foreign bank accounts. This network of exchangers and couriers has converted hundred...

Jerusalem Post: Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies welcomed President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from a nuclear agreement with Iran after years of warning that it gave their arch-rival cover to expand its regional influence. The quick embrace of Trump's announcement on Tuesday reflects a sense of vindication by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have pushed Washington to take seriously Tehran's ballistic missile program and support for militant groups - security threats they regard as existential. Ordinary Saudis rejoiced at the announcement, tweeting photos of Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with comments like "We prevailed", "Game over", and "Action, not words". "No deal could ever be struck with the devil, and Saudi Arabia fully supports President Trump's decision ... Together we prevail," one tweet read. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has been at loggerheads with Shi...

Bloomberg: Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they fired a ballistic missile at a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, targeting a second member of the Arab coalition battling them. The United Arab Emirates’ state-run WAM news agency said the claim, reported by the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV, was untrue. The conflicting reports come just weeks after the Iranian-backed Houthis launched a missile at Saudi Arabia’s international airport in Riyadh. That attack, foiled by Saudi air defenses, upped the stakes in a showdown between the oil-rich kingdom and Iran. Saudi Arabia also intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen last week, which it said was a threat to regional and international security. ... The claim comes as the Houthis have been forced to retreat from the Yemen capitol area.  The Arab coalition has a pretty tight blockade of Yemen ports so it will be interesting to find out how Iran was able to get the missiles into Yemen.  The blockade was recently part...

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix: UAE needs Qatari natural gas to keep Dubai's lights on Apparently, the gas has not been cut off so far, although other commerce appears to be halted.  Qatar supplies gas via a pipeline to the UAE and Oman.

CNN: The Trump Administration is expected to decide as soon as this week on a plan to increase US military involvement in Yemen's civil war. The proposal calls for stepping up military assistance to support Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their fight against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have toppled the central government there. The move would have significant implications for the US military posture on Iran, while Yemen is a key location for a top al Qaeda affiliate. The proposal is part of the overall military plan to counter ISIS being reviewed by the White House, a US defense official said. But in contrast to other parts of the strategy, increased US support to the Saudis and UAE in Yemen could be interpreted by Iran as the beginning of a Trump administration effort to build an anti-Iranian military coalition, the official acknowledged. The defense official noted that if Iran perceives US assistance to Tehran's foes in Yemen as an anti-Iranian move...

Daily Caller: EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Aide Cheryl Mills OK’d Oil Deal That Put $500K In Bill’s Pocket That was just one of the deals that enriched Clinton. Bill further earned $15 million in a hedge fund deal with business partner Sheikh Mohammed bin-Rashid al-Marktoum, the UAE’s authoritarian ruler. He collected an additional $5.6 million to serve as “honorary chairman” of a Dubai-based for-profit network of Islamic K-12 schools throughout the world. The curriculum featured in those schools includes instruction on Sharia Law, which is at the heart of Islamic terrorist ideologies behind groups like Islamic State. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton Got Millions From World’s Biggest Sharia Law Education Firm) Bill collected another $1 million for two speeches he delivered in Abu Dhabi that were paid for by the royal government while Hillary was secretary of state. Clinton spoke in the country while the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security were deliberating on op...

Washington Post: U.S. forces now on the ground supporting combat operations in Yemen Officials said the U.S. military is also providing Emirati forces with medical, intelligence and maritime support, and is flying surveillance and aerial refueling missions. It appears to initially be a small force of advisors to the  UAE and others fighting rebels and al Qaeda in Yemen.  The war in Yemen has been mainly an effort by the Saudis and its Sunnie allies against Iranian proxy forces and al Qaeda and ISIL.

Politico: The Giant Al Qaeda Defeat That No One’s Talking About With little notice, the Saudis and UAE knocked out a key Al Qaeda stronghold in Yemen. When al Qaeda departs from its strategy of causing chaos and tries to take an hold  territory, it makes it easier to find and destroy its forces.  The Saudis and the UAE deserve credit for this victory over the forces of radical Islam.  They have not been getting much when it comes to fighting ISIL, but they have set back Iran's ambitions and its Houthi proxies and now they have done the same with al Qaeda.