WASHINGTON: Iran has not drawn back to a less threatening military posture in the region following the attack on Saudi Arabia, the top US admiral in the Middle East told Reuters, suggesting persistent concern despite a lull in violence.
“I don’t believe that they’re drawing back at all,” Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, commander of the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said in an interview.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany have publicly blamed the attack on Iran, which denies involvement in the strike on the world’s biggest crude oil-processing facility. The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen has claimed responsibility.
Malloy did not comment on any US intelligence guiding his assessment. But he acknowledged that he monitored Iranian activities closely, when asked if he had seen any concerning movements of Iranian missiles in recent weeks.
Malloy said he regularly tracks Iranian cruise and ballistic missile movements — “whether they’re moving to storage, away from storage.” He also monitors whether Iran’s minelaying capabilities head to distribution sites or away from them.
“I get a briefing of movements on a daily basis and then assessments as to what that could mean,” he said.
Relations between the United States and Iran have deteriorated sharply since President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear accord last year and reimposed sanctions on its oil exports.
For months, Iranian officials issued veiled threats, saying that if Tehran were blocked from exporting oil, other countries would not be able to do so either.
However, Iran has denied any role in a series of attacks that have followed, including against tankers in the Gulf using limpet mines earlier this year.
Asked what the latest attack in Saudi Arabia showed him, Malloy said: “From my perspective, it is a land-based version of what they did with the mines ... quick, clandestine — deny it if you can.”
“Send a signal and harass and provoke,” he said.
His remarks came a week after the Pentagon announced it was sending four radar systems, a battery of Patriot missiles and about 200 support personnel to bolster Saudi defenses — the latest in a series of US deployments to the region this year amid escalating tensions.
Still, the latest deployment was more limited than had been initially under consideration.
Reuters has previously reported, for example, that the Pentagon eyed keeping an aircraft carrier in the Gulf region indefinitely, amid speculation that the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group will soon need to wind up its deployment.
Malloy declined to speculate about future carrier deployments. But he acknowledged the tremendous value of aircraft carriers — as well as the ships in the strike groups that accompany an aircraft carrier.
That includes the contribution of destroyers now accompanying the USS Abraham Lincoln to a US-led, multinational maritime effort known as Operation Sentinel.
It is meant to deter Iranian attacks at sea — and expose them if they occur.
“What Sentinel seeks to do is shine a flashlight across that and make sure that if anything happens in the maritime, they will be exposed for that activity,” he said.
This includes by providing a surveillance and communication backbone to share intelligence with nations that have agreed to participate, which include Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We’ve created essentially a zone defense,” he said.
Washington first proposed the effort in the Gulf in June after accusing Iran of attacking oil tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint. But the proposal was met with concern in some European capitals, already at odds with Washington over its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
Malloy met Saudi Arabia’s naval commander on Sunday, assuring him of US support following the Sept. 14th attack, which rattled global oil markets. He said US support included intelligence sharing.
“We are constantly in the process of tightening that information flow with them,” Malloy said.
US admiral says Iran has not backed down militarily since Saudi oil attacks
US admiral says Iran has not backed down militarily since Saudi oil attacks
- Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, commander of the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet says he does not believe Iran is drawing back at all
- The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany all blamed Iran for Aramco attacks
Ray-Ban Meta glasses to launch in the UAE
- Release ‘marks beginning of an effortless, more connected future,’ senior Meta official says
- Collection features different styles and lens variations, including prescription lenses
DUBAI: Meta and optical multinational EssilorLuxottica have announced that the Ray-Ban Meta collection will be available in the UAE from May 12.
The glasses, when paired with a smartphone, allow users to take hands-free pictures and videos, listen to audio with open-ear speakers, and use the inbuilt Meta AI assistant.
The launch “marks the beginning of an effortless, more connected future — one that empowers people to stay in the moment while staying connected to the things and people that matter most,” Fares Akkad, regional director for Middle East and Africa at Meta, told Arab News.
The glasses feature an ultrawide 12-megapixel camera, which can take photos and 1080-pixel videos of up to three minutes. Users can also stream live via the glasses to Instagram or Facebook for up to 30 minutes.
Meta AI, the company’s AI assistant, is built into the glasses and can be used through voice prompts to help with tasks such as recommending music or clicking a picture.
In the coming months, users in the UAE will also be able to use Meta AI to ask questions about their surroundings, such as identifying landmarks or translating street signs, as well as live translation of conversations in English, French, Italian and Spanish. However, live translation for Arabic is not supported yet.
Akkad said: “Just a few years ago, the idea of wearing glasses that could take pictures and videos with voice command, translate to different languages, and become a seamless, helpful assistant everywhere you go felt like something out of science fiction.
“Today, it is a tangible reality.”
Users will be able to regularly update the software on the glasses to enable more features as they are rolled out. These include timers, alarms, calendar and email access.
The Ray-Ban Meta collection features different styles and lens variations, including prescription lenses.
It will be available at all Ray-Ban and partner stores in the UAE from May 12 with prices starting at AED1,330 ($360).
Russia backs 30-day ceasefire but with due account of nuances, Kremlin’s Peskov says
- “This theme was long put forward by the Ukrainian side...,” said Peskov
MOSCOW: Russia supports the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict, but only with due consideration of ‘nuances’ in the more than three-year-old war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Friday.
“This theme was long put forward by the Ukrainian side...,” TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying.
“And as soon as it was advanced by the (US administration of Donald Trump), it was supported by President (Vladimir) Putin with the reservation that it is very difficult to discuss this in detail if no answers are found to a large number of nuances around the notion of a ceasefire.”
Russia has repeatedly said that introducing a prolonged ceasefire depends on establishing mechanisms to monitor and uphold such a move.
Pakistan says India has put neighbors ‘closer to major conflict’
- Escalation comes after attack on tourists last month in Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday accused India of bringing the nuclear-armed neighbors “closer to a major conflict,” as the death toll from three days of missile, artillery and drone attacks passed 50.
The bloody escalation comes after an attack on tourists last month in the Indian-run part of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 people, and which New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — an allegation Pakistan denied.
India responded with air strikes Wednesday on what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, killing more than 20 civilians and fueling the worst clashes between the two in decades.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said that India’s “reckless conduct has brought the two nuclear-armed states closer to a major conflict.”
Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told media: “We will not de-escalate — with the damages they did on our side, they should take a hit.”
“So far, we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing,” he added.
On a third day of tit-for-tat exchanges, the Indian army said it had “repulsed” waves of Pakistani attacks using drones and other munitions overnight, and gave a “befitting reply.”
Late Friday, an Indian defense source told AFP that drones had been sighted in the Indian-administered Kashmir areas of Jammu and Samba, and in neighboring Punjab state.
Earlier, Pakistan’s military spokesman denied that Islamabad was carrying out such attacks.
The two countries have fought several wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is divided between the two.
On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his national security adviser, defense minister and the chiefs of the armed forces, his office said.
Most of the more than 50 deaths were in Pakistan during Wednesday’s air strikes by India and included children.
On Friday, Pakistani security and government officials said five civilians — including a two-year-old girl — were killed by Indian shelling overnight in areas along the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), which separates Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
On the other side, a police official said one woman was killed and two men wounded by heavy shelling.
Pakistani military sources said that its forces had shot down 77 Indian drones in the last two days, with debris of many incursions seen by AFP in cities across the country.
India said 300 to 400 drones had attempted to cross into its territory, and also accused Pakistani forces on Thursday of targeting three military stations.
Pakistan’s military said Wednesday that five Indian jets had been downed across the border, but New Delhi has not responded to the claims, while a military source said three jets had crashed on home territory.
Both sides have made repeated claims and counter-claims that are difficult to verify.
“The youth of Kashmir will never forget this act of brutality by India,” said 15-year-old Muhammad Bilal in Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was hit Wednesday.
In Jammu, under Indian administration, 21-year-old student Piyush Singh said: “Our [attack] is justified because we are doing it for whatever happened to our civilians.”
Militants have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian PM Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule from New Delhi.
Pakistan has rejected claims by New Delhi that it was behind last month’s attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly male Hindu tourists.
India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — a UN-designated terrorist organization — for the attack.
The conflict has caused major disruption to international aviation, with airlines having to cancel flights or use longer routes that do not overfly the India-Pakistan frontier.
India had closed 24 airports, with local media reporting the suspension would remain in place until next week.
The mega Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was on Friday suspended for a week, while Pakistan suspended Super League play indefinitely, barely a day after relocating it to the UAE.
World powers have called for both sides to exercise “restraint,” with several offering to mediate the dispute.
On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir in Islamabad, according to a statement.
That meeting came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Indian counterpart in Delhi on Thursday, days after visiting Pakistan.
The International Crisis Group, however, said “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.
On Friday, the International Monetary Fund said it had approved a $1 billion payout to Pakistan, despite India’s objections.
Iraq hire former Australia boss Graham Arnold as head coach
- Arnold left Australia in September
- Iraq are third in Group B of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup
BAGHDAD: Iraq hired former Australia boss Graham Arnold as head coach of their national team on Friday.
Arnold left Australia in September after six years in charge during which he took the Socceroos to the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup, where they lost to eventual winners Argentina.
Iraq are third in Group B of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup and Arnold will start with two crucial games against leader South Korea in Basra on June 5 and second-placed Jordan in Amman five days later.
Six points from these two matches would seal Iraq’s place at the tournament for the first time since their 1986 debut.
Lebanon welcomes Saudi basketball delegation
- The arrival of Al-Ittihad marks significant step following Beirut’s efforts to rebuild international trust
- Lebanese PM Salam welcomes Saudi team ‘to your second home’ after travel ban lifted
BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad Jeddah Basketball Club landed in Beirut on Friday afternoon, arriving from the Red Sea city on a Middle East Airlines flight.
This marks the first time Saudi nationals have visited Lebanon since the Kingdom’s authorities imposed a travel ban on citizens heading to the country in 2019.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the Saudi team.
“This is a visit filled with hope for increased cooperation in various fields, and an opportunity to strengthen the fraternal relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“Welcome to your second home, and among your people.”
Lebanon’s Youth and Sports Minister Nora Bayrakdarian was at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport to receive the Saudi sports delegation.
Al-Ittihad is participating in the FIBA West Asia Super League final eight, alongside teams from Kuwait, the UAE, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, and two teams from Lebanon —Al-Riyadi and Sagesse SC — in matches from May 10-18.
The UAE lifted its travel ban on its citizens visiting Lebanon, and Emirati travelers began arriving in the Mediterranean country at the beginning of this week.
Lebanon is eagerly anticipating the return of other Gulf nationals, particularly in light of President Joseph Aoun’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, aimed at restoring international trust in the country.
On May 7, an Emirates plane landed at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, and the passengers from the UAE were welcomed with flowers.
At the time, the Lebanese ambassador to the UAE, Fouad Chehab Dandan, posted pictures of the warm reception on his Facebook account.
The ambassador commented: “A step that brings hope for the return of our Arab brothers to their second home, Lebanon, which will welcome and receive them with flowers, warmth, and love.”
