 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 by Staff Writers Washington (AFP) April 9, 2018
The United States approved a deal to sell Qatar $300 million in guided missiles Monday, on the eve of President Donald Trump's White House meeting with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Gulf emirate is a long-standing American military ally and host to the largest US air base in the Middle East, but ties have been clouded by a crisis with its Arab neighbors. Led by US allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar's regional rivals launched a diplomatic and trade blockade last year, and Trump initially appeared to take Riyadh's side. Saudi and Emirati officials have accused Thani's government of cozying up to Iran and funding Islamist extremist groups. Qatar denies this and Washington wants to mediate a truce. The emir met US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday and is due to meet Trump on Tuesday. His visit comes after Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman conducted a successful three-week US visit. As a warmup to the visit, the State Department approved the sale of 5,000 Advance Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) to Qatar, including 5,000 high explosive warheads. "Qatar is an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Persian Gulf region," the agency said. "Our mutual defense interests anchor our relationship and the Qatar Emiri Air Force plays a predominant role in Qatar's defense." During the Saudi prince's visit, the US government confirmed more than two billion dollars in arms sales to the kingdom.
Russian delivery of S-400 missiles brought forward to July 2019 Istanbul (AFP) April 4, 2018 Turkey and Russia have agreed to bring forward to July 2019 the delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to Ankara, a Turkish official said, in a purchase that has raised eyebrows among NATO allies. "We brought forward the delivery date in the contract signed with Russia for the acquisition of S-400 systems and got an earlier date of July 2019," Ismail Demir, Turkish Defence Industries undersecretary, wrote on Twitter late on Tuesday. His announcement came after Russian President Vladimir P ... read more
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
