Latest news with #SenateForeignRelationsCommittee
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Khulaifi, US senators discuss regional developments
QNA Washington Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi met with Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Jim Risch, along with a number Senators, in Washington. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the close strategic relations between Qatar and the US, ways to support and strengthen them, and the joint efforts that resulted in reaching a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel. The latest developments in the Gaza Strip, the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria were also discussed. The Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs of the United States of America Allison Hooker on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of the peace agreement between the Republic of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). During the meeting, they reviewed the close strategic relations between Qatar and the US, ways to support and strengthen them, and the joint efforts that resulted in the peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC, and the ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel. The two sides also discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria, in addition to a host of topics of mutual interest. During the meeting, the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs expressed her country's appreciation for the role played by Qatar in mediation and conflict resolution, and its continuous efforts to support regional and international stability through peaceful and diplomatic means.
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Murphy: Trump administration knew Gabbard ‘wasn't going to toe the line' at Iran briefing
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday suggested Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was disinvited from a Capitol Hill briefing on the U.S. strikes in Iran because she has not been in lock step with President Trump's assessment of Iran's nuclear capabilities. 'I've never, ever been part of a major cabinet level classified briefing where the Director of National Intelligence was banned from the room,' Murphy said in an appearance on CNN's 'The Source.' 'I think it stands to reason that they knew that she was not going to toe the line, that she was likely going to refuse to say what the administration wants, which is that the program was obliterated,' the Connecticut Democrat told host Kaitlan Collins. Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was referring to the classified briefing senators received from CIA Director Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the strikes. Trump notably broke with Gabbard at the onset of the conflict between Israel and Iran, after the national intelligence chief testified in March that the Iranian regime did not appear to be building a nuclear weapon. Asked about that testimony, Trump shot back: 'I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.' Since launching strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran last Saturday, competing reports have emerged on how significant the damage is. The president and Israeli officials have contended the attacks 'obliterated' the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan enrichment sites and its nuclear program will likely face years of setback. CNN and The New York Times, however, reported that an early U.S. intelligence assessment shows the damage only delaying Tehran's nuclear efforts by a few months. The administration has pushed back strenuously on the reporting, including Hegseth during Thursday's early Pentagon press briefing. The FBI and White House are investigating what they've called a 'leak' of information — and have moved to pair back sharing of classified intelligence, even with members of Congress. A personal lawyer for Trump has also threatened to sue the Times and CNN for their reporting about the preliminary intelligence report. Gabbard has since leaned into Trump's analysis of the damage in recent days, agreeing that the sites had been 'destroyed.' On CNN, Murphy warned that the U.S. strikes was likely counterintuitive to the administration's mission of ending Iran's nuclear program. 'It's true that Israel has targeted a lot of the scientists, but Iran still has the know-how to put back together a nuclear program,' he said, referring to the initial attack on Tehran by the Israeli military on June 13, which killed several of Iran's top leaders and led to over a week of counterstrikes. 'And the strikes potentially could have the impact of convincing this regime in Tehran or the next regime that they now have no choice but to rush to a nuclear weapon,' the senator added.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
NATO agrees to a big increase in military spending, pleasing Trump
Advertisement Trump was pleased. 'This was a tremendous summit, and I enjoyed it very much,' he said at a news conference at the end of the meeting. He added that he understood the central role the United States plays in the defense of Europe. 'They want to protect their country, and they need the United States and without the United States, it's not going to be the same,' he said. Trump has long denigrated NATO allies as freeloaders, relying on the United States for protection, and Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have described Europe as a drain on US security resources. The president has even mused publicly about withdrawing from the alliance. But the summit's brief communiqué, unanimously approved Wednesday, included a restatement of the allies' commitment to collective defense in Article 5 of the NATO pact. The president has often been reluctant to commit publicly to Article 5, though he often does in private. Advertisement At his own news conference, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed frustration over continued questions about Trump's commitment to Article 5. He urged journalists and politicians 'to stop worrying,' adding: 'The United States is totally committed to Article 5. How many times do we want them to say this?' The summit won praise from Senator Christopher Coons, a Delaware Democrat who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 'This will be remembered as a landmark summit,' he said in an interview in The Hague. 'The agreement to spend 5 percent is a significant step forward toward a shared commitment to our collective security.' But he cautioned that 'this money has to be coordinated and spent well, or it will do little more than run up costs and inflation.' Others were skeptical. 'All the big challenges were left off the agenda,' said Torrey Taussig, a former Europe director for the National Security Council under former president Joe Biden. There was 'no meaningful deliverable for Ukraine, despite a fourth year of a land war in Europe,' she said, and no discussion of future policy toward Russia or the rising challenges of China. Also, the commitment is to raise spending to 5 percent over a decade, and that is a long time. Some countries may never reach these targets. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said before the summit that Spain would spend 2.1 percent of its GDP on defense, 'no more, no less.' Slovakia and Belgium also hinted that the 5 percent pledge was going to be impossible to meet. Advertisement But Rutte worked around Spain with a bit of mushy diplomatic language. The communiqué said 'the allies' — not 'all allies' — had agreed to the 5 percent figure. Rutte presented the agreement as a victory for Trump, praising him for pushing the Europeans to do what was necessary in their own interests. 'You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,' Rutte told Trump in a private text message that Trump posted on social media. Even if countries spend unevenly, the result would be a very large increase in Europe's military spending. The hope is that the money will be spent effectively and on critical areas such as air defense and satellite intelligence, where the US is currently indispensable. There will be a spending review in 2029. Trump has ordered a review of where US troops are now stationed, and where they should be in the future. That is likely to affect what forces NATO wants each ally to have, from troop numbers to equipment. Despite the promises, many governments, especially in the west of Europe, will have a difficult political task to convince their publics that the threat to their security is real, and that money must be spent for deterrence. That is 'where the rubber hits the road,' said Rachel Rizzo, a European defense expert at the Atlantic Council. 'Will European leaders expend the political capital to sell this commitment to their publics?' But speed is also crucial, with some intelligence agencies warning of a Russian threat to Europe within three to five years of the end of the Ukraine war. Advertisement Ukraine was reduced to the sidelines in this summit, though President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump. They were scheduled to meet last week at the Group of 7 summit in Canada but the president skipped their meeting, citing a need to return to Washington to handle the conflict between Israel and Iran. In his news conference, Rutte promised 'continued support' for Ukraine with money and equipment. The communiqué did not mention the prospect of Ukraine's future membership in the alliance, apparently as another gesture to Trump, who opposes it. But Rutte made a point of repeating NATO's long-standing pledge of eventually admitting Ukraine. 'Our aim is to keep Ukraine in the fight today so that it can enjoy a lasting peace in the future,' he said. 'We stand by Ukraine in its pursuit of peace and will continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership,' echoing last year's communiqué in Washington.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Trump says whether he'll commit to NATO mutual defence guarantee 'Depends on your definition'
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday injected some uncertainty over whether Washington would abide by the mutual defence guarantees outlined in the NATO treaty as he headed to its summit — comments that could revive longstanding concern from European allies about his commitment to the military alliance. 'Depends on your definition,' Mr. Trump told reporters on Tuesday as he was headed to The Hague, where this year's summit is being held. 'There are numerous definitions of Article Five, you know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friend.' Asked later to clarify, Mr. Trump said he is 'committed to saving lives' and 'committed to life and safety', but did not expand further, saying he did not want to elaborate while flying on an airplane. The remarks, which came to reporters on Air Force One as Mr. Trump travelled to the Netherlands, previewed what could be another volatile appearance by Mr. Trump at a summit celebrating an alliance that the Republican President has often derided. And it comes amid a backdrop of tumult in West Asia, after Mr. Trump moved to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran as well as the President's sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a 'complete and total ceasefire.' The sharp U-turn in hostilities — followed hours later by Mr. Trump's declaration that both parties violated the agreement — had already started to shape the summit, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte dancing around the issue even as hundreds of people showed up in The Hague on Sunday to denounce the conflict in a protest that was initially focused on defense spending. Still, other NATO countries have become accustomed to the unpredictable when it comes to Mr. Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for the alliance, which was created as a bulwark against threats from the former Soviet Union. Mr. Trump's debut on the NATO stage at the 2017 summit was perhaps most remembered by his shove of Dusko Markovic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, as the U.S. President jostled toward the front of the pack of world leaders during a NATO headquarters tour. And he began the 2018 summit by questioning the value of the decades-old military alliance and accusing its members of not contributing enough money for their defense — themes he has echoed since. In Brussels, Mr. Trump floated a 4% target of defence spending as a percentage of a country's gross domestic product, a figure that seemed unthinkably high at the time. 'NATO was broke, and I said, 'You're going to have to pay,'' Mr. Trump said on Tuesday, recounting his initial encounters with the alliance. 'And we did a whole thing, and now they're paying a lot. Then I said, 'You're going to have to lift it to 4% or 5%, and 5% is better.'' That 5% figure is 'good,' Mr. Trump said, adding: 'It gives them much more power.' Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will also attend the NATO summit this week. She said if Trump does anything to sow division within the alliance, it would benefit Xi Jinping of China, which NATO countries have accused of enabling Russia as it invades Ukraine. 'That does not help America, does not help our national security,' Shaheen said in an interview. 'What it does is hand a victory to our adversaries, and for an administration that claims to be so concerned about the threat from (China), to behave in that way is hard to understand.' Mr. Trump heavily telegraphed his attitude toward global alliances during his presidential campaigns. As a candidate in 2016, Trump suggested that he as President would not necessarily heed the alliance's mutual defence guarantees outlined in Article 5 of the NATO treaty. And during a campaign rally in 2024, Trump recounted a conversation with another NATO leader during which Trump said he would 'encourage' Russia 'to do whatever the hell they want' to members who weren't meeting the alliance's military spending targets. In The Hague, Trump will want to tout — and take credit for — the pledge to hike military spending, which requires other NATO countries to invest in their defense at an unprecedented scale. Last week, the president went as far as to argue that the U.S. should not have to abide by the 5% spending pledge he wants imposed on the other NATO countries, although he appeared to soften those comments on Tuesday. That 5% is effectively divided into two parts. The first, 3.5%, is meant to be made up of traditional military spending such as tanks, warplanes and air defense. What can comprise the remaining 1.5% is a bit fuzzier, but it can include things like roads and bridges that troops could use to travel. According to NATO, the U.S. was spending about 3.4% of its gross domestic product on defense as of 2024. Most NATO countries — with Spain as the key holdout — are preparing to endorse the pledge, motivated not just by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to bolster their own defenses but also perhaps appease the United States and its tempestuous leader. 'He hasn't said this in a while, but there are still a lot of worries in Europe that maybe the United States will pull out of NATO, maybe the United States won't honor Article 5,' said Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a former Pentagon official. 'I think there is a real fear among Europeans that we need to deliver for Trump in order to keep the United States engaged in NATO.' Kroenig added: 'Like it or not, I do think Trump's tougher style does get more results.' European allies have taken note of potential signs of a broader U.S. retreat. France and other NATO countries have been concerned that the Trump administration is considering reducing troop levels in Europe and shift them over to the Indo-Pacific, which Cabinet officials have signaled is a higher priority. Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker have underscored the U.S.' commitment and have said the Trump administration is only seeking a stronger alliance. The White House has not said which world leaders Trump will meet with at the World Forum in The Hague. Trump said Tuesday that he'll 'probably' see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders were scheduled to meet at the Group of 7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, earlier this month before Trump abruptly cut his trip short and returned to Washington as the Israel-Iran conflict was intensifying.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump says whether he'll commit to NATO mutual defense guarantee 'Depends on your definition'
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday injected some uncertainty over whether the U.S. would abide by the mutual defense guarantees outlined in the NATO treaty as he headed to its summit — comments that could revive longstanding concern from European allies about his commitment to the military alliance. 'Depends on your definition,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday as he was headed to The Hague, where this year's summit is being held. 'There's numerous definitions of Article Five, you know that, right? But I'm committed to being their friends.' Asked later to clarify, Trump said he is 'committed to saving lives' and 'committed to life and safety' but did not expand further, saying he didn't want to elaborate while flying on an airplane. The remarks, which came to reporters on Air Force One as Trump traveled to the Netherlands, previewed what could be another volatile appearance by Trump at a summit celebrating an alliance that the Republican president has often derided. And it comes amid a backdrop of tumult in the Middle East, after Trump moved to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran as well as the president's sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a 'complete and total ceasefire.' The sharp U-turn in hostilities — followed hours later by Trump's declaration that both parties violated the agreement — had already started to shape the summit, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte dancing around the issue even as hundreds of people showed up in The Hague on Sunday to denounce the conflict in a protest that was initially focused on defense spending. Still, other NATO countries have become accustomed to the unpredictable when it comes to Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for the alliance, which was created as a bulwark against threats from the former Soviet Union. Trump's debut on the NATO stage at the 2017 summit was perhaps most remembered by his shove of Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, as the U.S. president jostled toward the front of the pack of world leaders during a NATO headquarters tour. And he began the 2018 summit by questioning the value of the decades-old military alliance and accusing its members of not contributing enough money for their defense — themes he has echoed since. In Brussels, Trump floated a 4% target of defense spending as a percentage of a country's gross domestic product, a figure that seemed unthinkably high at the time. 'NATO was broke, and I said, 'You're going to have to pay,'' Trump said Tuesday, recounting his initial encounters with the alliance. 'And we did a whole thing, and now they're paying a lot. Then I said, 'You're going to have to lift it to 4% or 5%, and 5% is better.'' That 5% figure is 'good,' Trump said, adding: 'It gives them much more power.' Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will also attend the NATO summit this week. She said if Trump does anything to sow division within the alliance, it would benefit Xi Jinping of China, which NATO countries have accused of enabling Russia as it invades Ukraine. 'That does not help America, does not help our national security,' Shaheen said in an interview. 'What it does is hand a victory to our adversaries, and for an administration that claims to be so concerned about the threat from (China), to behave in that way is hard to understand.' Trump heavily telegraphed his attitude toward global alliances during his presidential campaigns. As a candidate in 2016, Trump suggested that he as president would not necessarily heed the alliance's mutual defense guarantees outlined in Article 5 of the NATO treaty. And during a campaign rally in 2024, Trump recounted a conversation with another NATO leader during which Trump said he would 'encourage' Russia 'to do whatever the hell they want' to members who weren't meeting the alliance's military spending targets. In The Hague, Trump will want to tout — and take credit for — the pledge to hike military spending, which requires other NATO countries to invest in their defense at an unprecedented scale. Last week, the president went as far as to argue that the U.S. should not have to abide by the 5% spending pledge he wants imposed on the other NATO countries, although he appeared to soften those comments on Tuesday. That 5% is effectively divided into two parts. The first, 3.5%, is meant to be made up of traditional military spending such as tanks, warplanes and air defense. What can comprise the remaining 1.5% is a bit fuzzier, but it can include things like roads and bridges that troops could use to travel. According to NATO, the U.S. was spending about 3.4% of its gross domestic product on defense as of 2024. Most NATO countries — with Spain as the key holdout — are preparing to endorse the pledge, motivated not just by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to bolster their own defenses but also perhaps appease the United States and its tempestuous leader. 'He hasn't said this in a while, but there are still a lot of worries in Europe that maybe the United States will pull out of NATO, maybe the United States won't honor Article 5,' said Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a former Pentagon official. 'I think there is a real fear among Europeans that we need to deliver for Trump in order to keep the United States engaged in NATO.' Kroenig added: 'Like it or not, I do think Trump's tougher style does get more results.' European allies have taken note of potential signs of a broader U.S. retreat. France and other NATO countries have been concerned that the Trump administration is considering reducing troop levels in Europe and shift them over to the Indo-Pacific, which Cabinet officials have signaled is a higher priority. Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker have underscored the U.S.' commitment and have said the Trump administration is only seeking a stronger alliance. The White House has not said which world leaders Trump will meet with at the World Forum in The Hague. Trump said Tuesday that he'll 'probably' see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders were scheduled to meet at the Group of 7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, earlier this month before Trump abruptly cut his trip short and returned to Washington as the Israel-Iran conflict was intensifying.
