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Threat Status has an exclusive report on the Biden administration’s behind-the-scenes efforts to renew a controversial 44-year-old science and technology agreement with communist China.
… Another major airstrike in Beirut killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more today, Lebanese authorities said. The Israeli military had no official comment, but key Hezbollah figure Wafiq Safa is reportedly in critical condition after the attack.
… Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are reportedly lobbying the U.S. to pressure Israel not to strike oil refineries in Iran.
… Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations today that the U.S. is concerned about “China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea.”
… Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and said the two nations “are actively working together” on a host of issues. Russian media said the two men are discussing the escalating conflict in the Middle East, among other things.
… Two high-profile former British politicians say President Biden’s opposition to the $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese company will hurt global relations, and they accuse him of blocking the deal solely to score political points.
… And gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded seven others in southwest Pakistan, just days before the country hosts a major security summit.
National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz has an exclusive report on the Biden administration’s behind-the-scenes push to renew a 44-year-old science and technology agreement with China. Congressional Republicans say the deal should be permanently killed because it is helping the Chinese military buildup and undermining American security.
The 1979 U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement, seen at the time as an important milestone in bilateral relations, expired Aug. 27 after a six-month extension. Both governments are trying to come to terms on renewal.
A State Department official said this week that the Biden administration continues to “work towards strengthening the agreement to advance and protect U.S. interests in science and technology.” But critics say the program facilitated China’s massive theft of U.S. technology and played a role in Beijing’s risky virus research that some have blamed for setting off the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said he opposes renewing the pact.
“We absolutely should not encourage additional science or tech collaboration with the [Chinese Communist Party],” the Michigan Republican said.
It’s no secret that Israel is one of America’s closest and most strategically important allies. But the two nations do not have a formal military treaty, and some observers believe it’s time for that to change.
Military Correspondent Mike Glenn has the latest on a push from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, which argues it’s time for Israel to join NATO, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan as formal treaty allies with the U.S.
“In light of Oct. 7, including the subsequent multi-front war that Israel has faced against Iran and its proxies, and the ups and downs experienced by the U.S.-Israel relationship, the rationale for formalizing a U.S.-Israel alliance and significantly deepening the two countries’ commitment to each other’s mutual security is stronger than ever,” JINSA said this week in a new analysis.
The same day JINSA released its analysis, a United Nations commission lobbed new accusations against Israel. The panel accused Israel of destroying Gaza’s health care system through “relentless and deliberate attacks” in its war with Hamas and said that Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages have been tortured and sexually abused. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Amid the international uproar, Israel is keeping up its relentless assault against the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is believed to have carried out another major airstrike in Beirut, which local authorities said killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens more.
The attack reportedly targeted Mr. Safa, a top Hezbollah security official. There were some conflicting accounts Friday of whether he was present at the targeted sites, but other reports said that Mr. Safa was in critical condition after the strikes.
All eyes remain on Israel’s expected direct attack on Iran, which would be retaliation for last week’s Iranian missile barrage against Israel. Iran’s oil refineries and oil-production infrastructure are believed to be among the most likely targets for Israeli strikes.
But behind the scenes, Gulf states are reportedly lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates. Three regional sources told Reuters that as part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, the three countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar — are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed that position to Washington.
It’s worth remembering the event that sparked the escalating Middle East conflict: Hamas’ brutal attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people across southern Israel.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker writes in a new piece for The Washington Times that any attempts to excuse, explain or even justify the attacks against Israel must be countered aggressively.
“Over and over again, we will counter attempts to glorify terrorists and their evil deeds with the truth about the horrors of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and all others who seek to harm Israel and Jewish people around the world. They continue trying to intimidate us, but we will not back down,” writes Mr. Walker, now the president of Young America’s Foundation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin began a visit to Turkmenistan, which included a meeting with the Iranian president on the sidelines of a high-level international conference in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. Russia and Iran are increasingly close military allies, and Mr. Putin said flatly that the two countries “are actively working together on the international arena and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close.”
Those comments come just weeks after reports that Iran was working to broker a deal in which Russia would provide anti-ship missiles to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have routinely targeted Israel over the past year and also regularly launched drones and missiles at international commercial ships in the Red Sea. Iran also has provided drones and other military aid for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin’s meeting with his Iranian counterpart comes as Russian forces again pounded Ukraine’s Odesa region with airstrikes, attacks that seem designed to disrupt the country’s grain exports.
When the FBI arrested Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi this week, it was coy in explaining why the Afghan man, now accused of plotting to martyr himself in an Election Day mass shooting, was free in the U.S. in the first place. What authorities have said, however, raises questions about why Mr. Tawhedi was set free and able to be radicalized by the Islamic State or ISIS.
The Times’ Stephen Dinan has all the latest on the case of Mr. Tawhedi, who stands accused of trying to buy two AK-47 rifles as part of a plan to conduct a mass killing on Election Day next month. He planned to carry out the attack with a nephew, who wasn’t named in court documents, while sending the rest of his extended family back to Afghanistan several weeks before the attack.
The FBI said in court documents that Mr. Tawhedi came to the U.S. on Sept. 9, 2021, just days after the Biden administration completed the troop withdrawal in the wake of the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s full takeover. Special Agent Nathan Wilkins said he arrived here “on a special immigrant visa and is currently on parole status pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings.”
It’s exactly the kind of incident that House Republicans warned about in their recent Terror Threat Snapshot. The report linked the resurgence of extremist groups abroad to the growing threat to Americans here at home.
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