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White House efforts to limit access to President Donald Trump's conversations with foreign leaders extended to phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to people familiar with the matter. Those calls -- both with leaders who maintain controversial relationships with Trump -- were among the presidential conversations that aides took remarkable steps to keep from becoming public. In the case of Trump's call with Prince Mohammed, officials who ordinarily would have been given access to a rough transcript of the conversation never saw one, according to one of the sources. Instead, a...

Saudi Arabia is opening the ultraconservative kingdom to tourists for the first time, easing restrictions for foreign visitors as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative to diversify the oil-dependent economy. Visas had been restricted to Muslim pilgrims, and business and diplomatic visitors, but on Friday the kingdom said its new online visa portal would be open to visitors from 49 countries, including the U.S and major European and Asian countries. “Opening Saudi Arabia to international tourists is a historic moment for our country,” said Ahmad al-Khateeb, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.

The German government is generally critical of US President Donald Trump’s politics, especially when it comes to questions of war and peace in the Middle East. Last year, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Germany, France and the UK, among others, had struggled to secure and wanted to maintain at all costs. The situation appeared to escalate dangerously after the drone attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia on September 14. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen have claimed responsibility. The US immediately blamed Iran, even as the Saudi government...

In the aftermath of the attacks on Saudi oil, the U.S. average retail gasoline price jumped by more than 10 cents per gallon between September 16 and September 23—the largest weekly increase in gas prices since early September 2017, when in the wake of Hurricane Harvey gas prices jumped by 28 cents/gallon in one week, the EIA said on Wednesday.

The United Kingdom, France and Germany released a statement overnight backing the United States' assessment Iran is behind the recent and economically devastating attack on Saudi Arabia. "We, the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, recall our shared common security interests, in particular upholding the global non-proliferation regime and preserving stability in the Middle East. We condemn in the strongest terms the attacks on oil facilities on Saudi territory on September 14th, 2019 in Abqaiq and Khurais, and reaffirm in this context our full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its population," a joint statement released...

The United States is deploying military forces to the Middle East after Saturday's drone attacks on major oil sites in Saudi Arabia that the administration of President Donald Trump has blamed on Iran.

September 20, 2019 Special Dispatch No.8285 Saudi Journalist: U.S. Taking Weak Position Vis-à-vis Iran, While Blackmailing Us; We Must Fend For Ourselves Following the September 14, 2019 Iranian attack on the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, many Saudi officials called on the international community to take active measures against Iran's regional policy and play a role in defending the world's energy supply.[1] Similar calls were also made by writers in the Saudi press, some of whom condemned what they called the hesitant and feeble policy of the U.S. and the international community towards Iran. Prominent among these responses was a...

"This can't wait until I finish high school" That's what one protest sign said today as students in the United States and around the world skipped classes to protest about climate change.... Britain's Prince Andrew called an "abuser" and a "participant" by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Guiffre... The Battle of Brexit. The Conservative Party closing ranks against Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party as Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks to cut a deal with the European Union that is seen as a "fake Brexit"...... Meanwhile in Brussels Friday Boris Johnson's Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay meeting with European Union Chief Negotiator...

""""President Donald Trump approves deployment of US forces to Saudi Arabia, UAE after attack on oil facilities.""" WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. response to attacks on the Saudi oil industry (all times local): 6:45 p.m. The Pentagon says the U.S. will deploy additional troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to beef up security, as President Donald Trump has at least for now decided against any immediate military strike on Iran in response to the attack on the Saudi oil industry.

I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. Wait… you still need a hint? It rhymes with “rump.” Yes, Virginia Senator (and failed Vice Presidential candidate) Tim Kaine sat down yesterday with CNN’s John Berman to talk about the recent attack on a major Saudi Arabian oil refinery. Given all of the finger-pointing that’s been going on, surely he would be able to shed some light on things and offer a bit of clarity, right? Of course. And he quickly did, pinning the blame on Donald Trump for creating an atmosphere of war by continually “provoking” Iran...

(Video) Tulsi Gabbard: Trump response to Saudi oil strikes a 'disgrace' Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination criticized President Donald Trump’s response to an attack on an oil production facility in Saudi Arabia. Gabbard went on to argue Saudi Arabia’s promotion of extremist Wahhabi ideology was a bigger threat to the United States than Iran. Partial transcript as follows: CAVUTO: All right, so the interpretation I have is that you want to bring back that Iran deal, get — move back to that. .... GABBARD: No,...

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Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of what it described as Iranian drones and cruise missiles used in an attack on Saudi oil facilities as “undeniable” evidence of Iranian aggression. Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said a total of 25 drones and missiles were launched at two oil plants in last weekend’s strikes, including what he identified as Iranian Delta Wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and “Ya Ali” cruise missiles.

On his nationally syndicated radio talk show “The Mark Levin Show” on Monday, host Mark Levin warned that if something serious isn’t done, Iran will take this attack as a first step. “I will say this, if something isn’t done, something serious and significant isn’t done respecting Iran, they’re going to take this as a first step,” stated Mark Levin. “I’m just telling you. They’re going to take this as a first step. So, we’ll see what happens.” Mark Levin’s comments came after a Saudi Arabian oil facility was attacked by “cruise missiles and drones,” FOX News reported, that “were...

Oil prices dropped sharply Tuesday, following Monday's surge that sent shock waves around the world. US oil futures settled down 5.7% at $59.24 a barrel. It was the worst one-day drop for US oil since August 1, according to Refinitiv. Oil prices initially fell after Reuters reported Saudi Arabian oil production would return to normal within two to three weeks. Tuesday afternoon, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said the country's oil exports would not fall in September, as the kingdom will rely on reserves to keep exports stable. Investors took that as a positive sign about the impact of...

The measured response by President @realDonaldTrump regarding the shooting down of an American drone was clearly seen by the Iranian regime as a sign of weakness.— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 17, 2019 -----------------------------31 minutes ago No Lindsey, it was a sign of strength that some people just don’t understand! https://t.co/EU8AvfH7j9— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to help Saudi Arabia protect its people and oil infrastructure by selling the kingdom Russian-made air defense systems. Putin's remark, at a press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, came after U.S. officials said that Iran is likely to blame for the attacks over the weekend on two crucial Saudi oil processing facilities, which Tehran denies. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump pronounced his country "locked and loaded." The Russian president's comments were clearly aimed more at Washington than at Riyadh, and both Rouhani and Iranian Foreign...

President Trump on Monday said it “looks” as if Iran is responsible for weekend attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, but he stopped short of definitively blaming Tehran and said he is not “looking” for war. “I’m not looking to get into [a] new conflict, but sometimes you have to,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. The president said he is not “concerned at all” about a potential war with Iran, adding that he’d “like to avoid it” while boasting the United States is well prepared for any scenario. Trump’s comments differed from those of Secretary of State Mike...

RIYADH — The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said that preliminary investigations indicated that the weapons used in the attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities are Iranian. The Coalition spokesperson Col. Turki Al-Maliki said that an investigation into Saturday's strikes, which had been claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, was still going on to determine the launch location. The drones used in the attack were of the Ababil make, a low-technology drone, the spokesperson added.“The investigation is continuing and all indications are that weapons used in both attacks came from Iran,” Al-Maliki told...

Putin offers to sell Saudi Arabia its missile defense systems in the wake of the attack on its oil facilities. “We are ready to help Saudi Arabia so that she can protect her territory,” he says. “She can do so in the same way that Iran has already done in buying the S-300 Russian missile system and the same way that Turkey has already done in buying the S-400 Russian missile system,” Putin adds at a press conference in Ankara, alongside the Turkish and Iranian leaders. The US has blamed Iran for the attack on the Saudi oil facilities.