By Maria Fantappie and Vali Nasr — foreignaffairs.com — US. President Joe Biden’s July trip to the Middle East comes at a delicate moment. There is a last gasp effort underway to revive stalled talks between the United States and Iran on restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal aimed at preventing the Islamic Republic from being able to develop a nuclear weapon. Since the last round of talks in Vienna, Tehran has accelerated its program and will soon become a threshold nuclear state. When the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—the UN nuclear watchdog—censured the country for failing to cooperate with inspectors, the Iranian government further curtailed IAEA monitoring of its nuclear program and announced new underground advanced enrichment facilities.

Israel, however, has long promised that it will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, and it is working outside of multilateral institutions to realize that goal. Israel has assassinated Iranian scientists and military officials. It has conducted air attacks on Iranian targets in Syria and expanded its strike capabilities, presumably in preparation for new attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and military facilities. With American backing, the Israelis are also seeking to organize a number of Arab states into a military alliance against Iran. According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States convened a meeting last March with security officials from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to integrate intelligence sharing and air defense systems to combat aerial threats from Iran.

Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Abdallah Bou Habib

NNA – Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Abdallah Bou Habib, and Arab League Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, held a joint press conference this evening, in which they outlined the discussions that took place during the consultative meeting of the Arab foreign ministers held at Al Habtoor Hotel in Sin El Fil this morning.

Bou Habib began by expressing gratitude for “this wide Arab participation in the meeting, which was successful by all standards, thanks to the cooperation between us and His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League, my brother Ahmed Aboul Gheit and his team.” He added: “I felt from all the ministers and heads of delegations all devotion and solidarity with Lebanon in its crisis, for everyone is eager for its recovery as soon as possible…and all deemed that participating in this meeting, in itself, is a message of support and standing by Lebanon.” Bou Habib went on: “This meeting is hosted by Lebanon in its capacity as the current head of the Arab Ministerial Council, and is dedicated to consulting on developments and challenges facing the region and the world.

by bbc.com — Matt Murphy — Military officials say the drones were launched from Lebanon and were shot down by a combination of fighter jets and ship-mounted missiles. Hezbollah confirmed it had launched the drones in a short statement. Tensions have mounted between Israel and Lebanon over ownership of the Karish gas field. US energy […]

by mtv.com.lb — MTV has learned that President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, proposed to Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati three options to facilitate the formation of the government, which are: Option 1: Expanding the government to 30 ministers, provided that it includes political ministers in order to secure political coverage for the government, which will […]

By Margarita Arredondas — atalayar.com — Delegations from 21 Arab countries are already beginning to arrive in Beirut, which is hosting a summit of Arab League Foreign Ministers on Saturday. The meeting will also be attended by the organisation’s secretary general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt. Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Comoros, Sudan, Somalia, Palestine and Yemen will be represented by their respective Foreign Ministers, while the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Djibouti, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania will be represented by their permanent delegates to the Arab League, as announced by the Lebanese government. Syria, which was expelled from the pan-Arab organisation in 2011, will not participate in the summit. The first to land in the country of cedars was the head of Qatari diplomacy, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rahman Al Thani, who was received by his Lebanese counterpart, Abdullah Bou Habib.

This meeting will serve to prepare for the Arab summit to be held in Algeria in October. A consultative conference is scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by a joint press conference between Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Abdullah Bou Habib, reports Al-Ain. Lebanese diplomats have relayed to the Arab media that the holding of this meeting generates “positive signals”. The sources also assured that no minutes or final decisions will be issued, as the summit will be based on the interventions of the ministers or representatives. A government official told Reuters that Aboul Gheit will meet with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Saturday.

 Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced during a dinner banquet in honor of the Arab foreign ministers in the Grand Serail, that Lebanon is committed to implementing all resolutions of the Security Council and the League of Arab States, and expressed its commitment to the policy of disassociation from any Arab dispute and its adherence to preventing abuse of Arab countries or threatening their security. He also appealed to the Arab brothers to embrace Lebanon and its people, especially at this delicate stage in its history.