"International Relations Update: US Strikes in Yemen & Key Meeting with Saudi Defense Minister"

US strikes on Yemen leave 33 killed, 80 injured

According to Almasirah, the attack targeted the port of Ras Isa on the Red Sea, home to an oil terminal, overnight into Friday. The strikes set off a massive fire after at least 14 US sorties.

The attack continued even after medical and civil defense teams arrived at the scene of the bombing.

“The criminal US aggression was directed against the port of Ras Isa, which is a site of exclusively civilian infrastructure,” said Abdallah Oteify, governor of the Hodeida region that includes the port, Al Masirah reported.

He said US actions will not force the Yemeni people to stop supporting the Palestinians in Gaza.

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VIDEO: Leader holds meeting with Saudi defense minister

Apr 18, 2025

Mehr News Agency

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Middle East

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https://en.mehrnews.com/news/230713/

Apr 18, 2025, 8:18 AM

News ID 230713

Apr 18, 2025, 8:18 AM

VIDEO: Leader holds meeting with Saudi defense minister

TEHRAN, Apr. 18 (MNA) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei held a meeting withSaudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman in Tehran on Thursday.

News ID 230713

Oman says Iran, US will hold 2nd round of talks in Italy

“The second round of talks between representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America will be held in Rome this Saturday. The talks will aim to achieve further progress towards a fair, binding and sustainable agreement,” the ministry said in a statement, TASS reported.

Commenting on the matter, Iran”s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Rome is the location of the talks, not the host. “Oman remains the official mediator and host of the indirect negotiations between Iran and the US. We will attend the talks wherever the Omani mediator designates. The mediation and indirect communication role still rests with Oman’s foreign minister and government.”

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Saudi Defense Minister: Cooperation with Iran cornerstone of regional security

On Thursday evening, during a meeting in Tehran with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Khalid bin Salman highlighted Saudi leaders’ determination to expand relations with Tehran at all levels. He stressed the importance of implementing bilateral agreements in social, political, and economic fields.

The Saudi Defense Minister also described the occupation and expansionist policies of the Zionist regime’s leaders as a danger to the entire region, emphasizing the Islamic world must act in a coordinated and united manner on this issue.

During the meeting, Ahmadian, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, noted that Iran and Saudi Arabia are two major and influential countries, stating that a “strategy of cooperation” will ensure security and progress in this sensitive region.

He also highlighted that strengthening economic ties and exchanges will solidify other aspects of bilateral relations.

Ahmadian described the Saudi Defense Minister’s visit to Tehran as an effective step toward continued cooperation, adding the level of bilateral relations has been on an upward trajectory, and that Iran is prepared to expand this cooperation in all areas, including joint investments.

Both sides condemned the aggressions of the Zionist regime and stressed the urgent need to halt the unprecedented violence against the people of Gaza.

Source: Ifp Media Wire

Deputy director of IAEA to travel to Tehran within two weeks

Kamalvandi said the trip was agreed following IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s recent visit to Iran and falls within the framework of ongoing technical cooperation between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog.

“This visit was pre-arranged and is part of our continuing engagement with the Agency,” the AEOI said.

According to the senior Iranian nuclear official, Grossi”s deputy is scheduled to come to Tehran to review various issues.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has six deputies, while Kamalvandi did not say which one of them will travel to Tehran.

The IAEA chief arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for a two-day official visit and, after holding meetings with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami left Tehran for Vienna yesterday, Thursday.

MNA/IRN85806791

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Rubio warns if it”s not possible to end the war in Ukraine

“If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” he told reporters before departing Paris, according to CNN. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable.”

The comments come a day after he and special envoy Steve Witkoff met with European and Ukrainian allies as US President Donald Trump’s administration pushes for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

A US-authored outline of a peace plan had received an “encouraging reception” at the talks, according to a State Department readout, which did not give details on the outline. Rubio also spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and conveyed the same outline, the readout said.

Speaking Friday, Rubio said he and Witkoff had come to Paris to “begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war” and whether or not this is a war that can be ended.

“If it’s not possible, if we’re so far apart that this is not going to happen then I think the president is probably at a point where he’s going to say we’re done,” he said.

“It’s not our war. We didn’t start it. The United States has been helping Ukraine for the past three years and we want it to end, but it’s not our war,” he added.

“President (Trump) has spent 87 days at the highest level of this government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to and end. We are now reaching a point when we need to decide and determine whether this is even possible or not. Which is why we’re engaging both sides.”

Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine overnight, hitting a residential neighborhood of the city of Kharkiv. The strike killed one person and wounded 67 others, authorities said Friday, adding they feared more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of a damaged apartment building.

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Ukraine says it has signed outline of minerals deal with US

Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum as an initial step towards the clinching of an agreement on developing minerals in the country, Kyiv’s first deputy prime minister and economy minister said, according to Al Jazeera.

“We are happy to announce the signing, with our American partners, of a Memorandum of Intent, which paves the way for an Economic Partnership Agreement and the establishment of the Investment Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on the social media platform X.

Kyiv and Washington had discussed signing a deal on extracting Ukraine’s strategic minerals in February, but a clash between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy temporarily derailed work on the agreement.

Trump says he wants the deal, designed to give the US royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals, as compensation for aid given to Ukraine by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Svyrydenko did not publish details of the memorandum, but said work continued towards securing a final agreement.

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