Biden’s top Mideast adviser meets with Qatari leaders

The Associated Press

4 months ago

FILE - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2024. Secr ... — FILE – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2024. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday, July 19, at separate panels in Colorado, that Iran is talking more about getting a nuclear bomb, and has made strides in developing one key aspect of a weapon in recent months. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. The U.S. and others in the international community believe Khamenei long has held off from giving any final go-ahead for Iranian scientists to develop a nuclear weapon. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE – Brett McGurk, U.S. envoy for the global coalition against IS, speaks during a briefing at the State Department in Washington, Aug. 4, 2017, (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr., share a laugh at the start of a press briefing on Friday, April 26, 2024 at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser on Tuesday held talks in Doha with senior Qatari leaders on the ongoing efforts to complete a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, according to a U.S. official.

White House senior adviser Brett McGurk’s meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani comes after the prime minister traveled to Tehran to speak with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday.

The talks also come as ongoing cease-fire talks to pause the war between Israel and Hamas are set to shift to Doha after several days of intense negotiations in Cairo.

Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with top Israeli defense leaders on Monday, and visited the military’s Northern Command headquarters.

Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, Brown’s spokesperson, said the chairman met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in Tel Aviv, and he participated in operational updates with Israeli Defense Force senior leaders.

“The leaders reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Israeli strategic partnership while also discussing the most recent engagement across the Israeli-Lebanese border and the need to de-escalate tensions to avoid a broader conflict,” Dorsey said.

Iran’s supreme leader opened the door to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was “no barrier” to engaging with its “enemy.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks on Tuesday set clear red lines for any talks taking place under the government of Pezeshkian and renewed his warnings that America wasn’t to be trusted.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach and assist the Greek-flagged tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea have been blocked by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the U.S. is “aware of a third party that attempted to send two tugs to the vessel to help salvage, but they were warned away by the Houthis and threatened with being attacked.”

He did not identify the “third party,” but said the Houthis’ actions demonstrate “their blatant disregard for not only human life, but also for the potential environmental catastrophe that this presents.”