TNT:
Tishwash: American newspaper: Washington deploys 12 warships and 4,000 soldiers in the Middle East
The Washington Post confirmed that the United States has deployed 12 warships to the Middle East, where tensions are escalating following the assassination of Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
A Pentagon official told the Washington Post that American destroyers are stationed in the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, amphibious assault teams, and more than 4,000 Marines and sailors.
According to the report published by the newspaper, the United States has redirected a number of warships stationed in the Red Sea, which are carrying out operations against the Houthis in Yemen, to the Gulf and the Mediterranean, in light of the escalating tensions in the region.
On the other hand, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel warned Hezbollah through Western and regional mediators that any large-scale attack on it would lead to war, and that it intends to target fighters instead of focusing on the infrastructure supporting the fighting, and urged Hezbollah to adopt the same approach in its operations.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on all parties to stop escalatory measures, a message that was interpreted as being directed at Israel following the killing of Shukr and Haniyeh, according to the newspaper.
Regarding the US giving Israel the green light to launch operations in the Middle East, Blinken said: “The current path is heading towards more conflict, more violence, more suffering and more insecurity, and it is important to break this cycle, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Speaking to reporters in Mongolia, Blinken stressed that reaching a ceasefire requires the parties to stop taking actions that lead to escalating tensions, and to find reasons to agree to the agreement rather than delaying or rejecting it. link
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Tishwash: Iraq signs MoU with British company to develop Kirkuk fields
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani sponsored, today, Thursday, the signing ceremony of a comprehensive petroleum memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Oil and the British Petroleum Company (BP) to develop Kirkuk fields for oil and gas production.
According to a statement, the Iraqi side was signed by Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul-Ghani, while the BP CEO Murray Auchincloss signed on behalf of the company.
The statement added, “The memorandum includes the rehabilitation and development of the four fields of the North Oil Company in Kirkuk, which are the Kirkuk field with its two domes (Baba and Avana), the Bai Hassan field, the Jambur field and the Khabbaz field, as well as the possibility of agreeing on other fields or exploration areas by agreement of the two parties, in light of the government’s efforts to optimally invest in promising opportunities in the energy sector, with the aim of increasing and enhancing oil production and gas and solar energy investments in this region.” link
