Everyone spent the week furious that Mamdani skipped the parade. Then Israel sent Smotrich, Amichai Eliyahu, and Yitzhak Wasserlauf to lead it: the annexation minister, the one who suggested to nuke Gaza, and another Kahanist from Otzma Yehudit.
If the goal was repairing Israel's image in New York, these are the last people you put at the front.
Video: Liri Agami
"We're close to a very good deal," says @POTUS on Iran.
"If you're going to be in a hurry, you're not going to make a good deal, and slowly but surely, we're getting, I think, what we want โ and if we don't get what we want, we're going to end it a different way."
๐ธ๐พ๐ฎ๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Turkey-Syria-Iraq: Ambassador Tom Barrack isn't going anywhere.
Secretary Rubio clarified that the man who rebuilt America's Syria policy from scratch stays on as senior conduit and respected principal interlocutor for both Syria AND Iraq. Title change or not.
Barrack spent the past year stabilising a warring country, lifting US sanctions on Damascus, getting Assad's successor al-Sharaa into the White House, and brokering the SDF ceasefire deal in January. He also brokered tricky elections in Iraq amidst a pressure-campaign by Iran, allowing the election of a young, charismatic, business-oriented Prime Minister who is open-minded about a U.S. rapprochement. Finally, he reset Tรผrkiye-USA relations to a historic high on all counts.
Members of the Administration have called Syria "the most stable Arab country in the Levant right now." That's his work.
The 180-day special envoy designation clock ran out; that's a legal formality, not a firing. He still holds Turkey, and will maintain influence over Syria and Iraq until such time Ambassadors are appointed to each country in the future.
Glad that Washington is keeping one of its most experienced Middle East hands exactly where he is at a time the World needs more stability.
Quote: "Do the math. In a Senate where Republicans hold 53 seats, Mr. Trump has alienated more senators than he can afford to lose. And as Mr. Trumpโs influence over the national GOP grows, his control of the Senate weakens." https://t.co/iCcnFG3rOP