World News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he may meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) summit next month in Japan.

The United States Wednesday ordered non-emergency staff evacuated from its Baghdad embassy due to an ‘imminent’ threat from Iranian-linked Iraqi militias, but President Donald Trump predicted Iran would ‘soon’ want to start talks.

Iran’s defense minister said Wednesday his country would defeat the US-Israel alliance in the region, amid rising tensions and fears of a potential war between Iran and the US.

The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps on Wednesday warned Tehran was on the brink of full-on conflict with its enemy, a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there would not be a war with the United States amid escalating tensions.

China is running out of options to hit back at the United States without hurting its own interests, as Washington intensifies pressure on Beijing to correct trade imbalances in a challenge to China’s state-led economic model.

President Trump promised a deal with China will come “when the time is right” Tuesday, calling the current atmosphere of mistrust between the two countries, which has produced an increase in tariffs on both nations’ goods, “a little squabble.”

The White House took a step Monday toward placing new tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods by submitting the proposal for public comment.

China on Monday said it would retaliate against the US by raising the tariff rates on thousands of American products, days after the US expanded duties on Chinese goods as trade negotiations stalled.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next month as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies intensified, sending shivers through global markets.

Four oil tankers were attacked in the Middle East Sunday, leaving no casualties but significant structural damage to the vessels, and possibly confirming reports on Israeli television Friday that had warned of Iran’s intentions to strike back at Saudi oil assets.

Britain warned Monday that conflict might break out ‘by accident’ between the United States and Iran amid rising tensions, as European Union powers gathered to thrash out ways to keep the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic afloat.

France, Britain, and Germany, the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, held the Islamic Republic to its commitments as outlined in the deal this week in spite of recent threats from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to resume high-level enrichment of uranium.

A Venezuelan general called on the country’s armed forces on Sunday to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, who has relied on the backing of the military to hold on to power despite an economic collapse.

Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in attacks that caused ‘significant damage’ to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the U.S.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Sunday the U.S. military presence in the Gulf used to be a serious threat but now represents a target, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered his trade chief to begin the process of imposing tariffs on all remaining imports from China, underscoring a lack of progress by U.S. and Chinese negotiators in talks aimed at ending an escalating trade war.

A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group rushes toward the Persian Gulf. Decades-old B-52 bombers rumble down runways at desert air bases. The Pentagon, meanwhile, routes a Patriot missile battery and an amphibious supply ship to return to the region.

In recent days, the US has announced the deployment of an array of military power to the Middle East as tensions grow with Iran. On Friday, the US Department of Defense approved the addition of the USS Arlington and a Patriot battery to US Central Command to fill a request last week. The additional forces come as tensions with Iran are rising and the US has warned Iran that any attack by Iranian forces or their proxies will be met with retaliation.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cancel the Moscow leg of his Russia trip, but will meet President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as planned on Tuesday, a State Department official said.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles on Thursday, according to South Korean military, as the U.S. responded with an intercontinental ballistic missile test of their own just 10 minutes later.