International
The US makes “significant progress” with Saudi Arabia to increase defense cooperation
The United States made “significant progress” with Saudi Arabia to increase cooperation between the two countries in defense, part of the “megapact” that Washington has been promoting for months and that could lead to the normalization of relations between Israel and the Saudi kingdom.
These advances occurred during the meeting held this weekend in Saudi Arabia by the White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman, as John Kirby, one of the White House spokesmen, explained to the press on Monday.
Kirby said that the agreement “is closer than ever” and that the text that details the terms of it is already “almost finalized.”
The spokesman refused to set a date for the official announcement of those agreements, but assured that this weekend a “historic progress” was achieved in the elements of the so-called “megapact” that concern both Saudi Arabia and the United States.
“We believe that, after this weekend, we have achieved a set of practically definitive texts on some of those bilateral agreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” Kirby emphasized.
In a similar tone, the Saudi Government has pronounced itself, which this Sunday, through the official SPA agency, indicated that the draft of the “strategic agreements” is already “almost finished.”
The details of this “megapact” that Washington has been promoting for months and that took a back seat after the October 7 attack by the Islamist group Hamas, which caused 1,200 deaths and triggered an Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip with more than 35,000 fatalities, have not yet been made public.
However, those negotiations have been reactivated in recent days and have gained greater importance within the framework of the talks to end the war in Gaza and rebuild the enclave.
Specifically, according to the details revealed by the US media, progress has been made in the negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the United States for the signing of a defense pact that allows the Saudi kingdom to strengthen its position vis-à-vis Iran, which it considers the main threat in the region.
That pact would allow Riyadh to have long-term access to advanced weapons, without its transfer being interrupted by diplomatic incidents, as it tried to be part of the Democratic bench of the US Congress after the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia has also pressed for the agreement to allow it to enrich uranium, although Washington could impose some conditions to prevent the door from being opened to a possible nuclear weapons program.
In exchange for those concessions, Saudi Arabia would agree to limit Chinese technology in its most sensitive networks, in what is perceived as an attempt by Washington to limit the impact of the Asian giant in the region.
Once Washington and Riyadh reach an agreement, the next step would be to get Israel to agree to create a Palestinian state and end the war in Gaza.
However, the creation of that Palestinian State seems incompatible with the political positions of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has publicly opposed it and whose permanence in power depends on the support of far-right politicians who support the creation of more Israeli settlements in territories that the Palestinians claim as their own.
International
FBI Warns of Possible Iranian Drone Attack on U.S. West Coast
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned police departments in California about a possible Iranian plan to carry out a drone attack against the west coast of the United States, according to a report published Wednesday by ABC News.
The warning was issued through a memorandum sent to agencies participating in a Joint Terrorism Task Force, outlining the possibility of a surprise attack involving unmanned aerial vehicles launched from a vessel off the U.S. coastline.
According to the document, intelligence suggested that in early February 2026 Iran may have considered an attack against unspecified targets in California if the United States carried out airstrikes on Iranian territory.
However, the memo also noted that authorities lack additional details about the timing, method, specific targets, or individuals responsible for the alleged plan.
Reports cited by U.S. media indicate that the alert coincided with the start of a military offensive by the administration of Donald Trump against the Iran, a development that has heightened tensions across the Middle East.
Law enforcement sources with counterterrorism experience told the Los Angeles Times that the warning is part of a routine precautionary advisory based on information from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The sources emphasized that there is no credible indication of an imminent attack and no evidence that Iran currently has the capability to successfully carry out such an operation.
California is home to the largest Iranian community in the United States. According to the Migration Policy Institute, more than half of Iranian immigrants in the country lived in the state in 2019, including around 140,000 people in Los Angeles County alone.
The city also hosts a neighborhood widely known as “Tehrangeles,” where a large Iranian community began settling in the 1960s and continued to grow following the Iranian Revolution.
International
Trump Says Iran Is Welcome at 2026 World Cup but Warns of Security Concerns
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said Thursday that the national football team of Iran is “welcome” to participate in the 2026 World Cup, although he suggested it might be safer for the team not to take part in the tournament.
“The Iranian national soccer team is welcome at the World Cup, but I really don’t think it’s appropriate for them to be there, for their own safety,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
His comments came a day after Iran’s sports minister, Ahman Donyamali, said that there are currently no conditions for the country to participate in the tournament following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during a military offensive launched on February 28 by Israel and the United States.
“After the corrupt government killed our leader, there are no conditions that allow us to take part in the World Cup,” the Iranian official said. He added that the country has faced two wars in the past eight or nine months, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths, making participation in the tournament unlikely.
On Tuesday, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, met with Trump at the White House.
Following the meeting, Infantino said that Trump reiterated that Iran’s national team would be allowed to compete in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
“We discussed the current situation in Iran and the fact that the Iranian team has qualified to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026. During the conversation, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino wrote on Instagram.
International
Iran issues threat to Trump as conflict escalates over Strait of Hormuz
The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, threatened U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning him to “beware of being eliminated.”
The Republican president had warned on Monday that he would strike Iran “very hard” if the Islamic Republic blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed since the war began eleven days ago.
“Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Others more powerful than you tried to destroy the Iranian nation and failed. Beware that you are not eliminated,” Larijani wrote on X.
Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards — the ideological military force of the Islamic Republic — also said their forces would move to block oil exports from the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military offensive against Iran is far from over.
“Our aspiration is that the Iranian people free themselves from the yoke of tyranny; ultimately, that depends on them. But there is no doubt that with the measures taken so far we are breaking their bones, and we are not finished yet,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
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