THE HAGUE, 15 June 2022, (TON): NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “Western countries must send Ukraine more heavy weaponry as it battles Russia’s advance in the east of the country.”

Stoltenberg told a press conference “yes, Ukraine should have more heavy weapons.”

Stoltenberg said NATO was already stepping up deliveries and officials would be meeting in Brussels to coordinate further support including heavy weaponry.

Stoltenberg said “because they absolutely depend on that to be able to stand up against the brutal Russian invasion.”

Ukraine has repeatedly begged for heavy weapons from the West, criticizing some European leaders for failing to deliver arms that Kyiv says it needs to push back Moscow’s forces.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Danish premier Mette Frederiksen were hosting Stoltenberg and the leaders of Poland, Romania, Latvia, Portugal and Belgium ahead of a crunch NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June.

ANKARA, 15 June 2022, (TON): Turkey is a safe country, its foreign ministry said “after Israeli authorities urged their citizens to leave over fears of Iranian attacks.”

In an indirect response that did not mention Israel, the ministry noted some countries had issued travel warnings.

The statement said “Turkey is a safe country and continues to fight against terrorism.”

It added “these travel warnings are considered to be related to different international developments and motives.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday urged citizens in Turkey to leave “as soon as possible” over threats that Iranian operatives were planning attacks on Israelis in Istanbul.

He said there was a real and immediate danger from Iranian agents.

RIYADH, 15 June 2022, (TON): The White House and Saudi officials ended weeks of speculation by confirming that US President Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia on July 15 and 16 at the invitation of King Salman.

Biden will meet the king and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and attend a summit of the six GCC states plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington welcomed the presidential visit, which it said would enhance the historic and strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia and the US.

The embassy said “at a time of global challenges related to the global economy, health, climate and international conflict, the partnership between our two countries is as critical as ever to the promotion of peace, prosperity and stability around the world.”

Issues on the agenda for talks in the Kingdom include support for the UN-brokered truce in Yemen, which has led to the most peaceful period there since war began seven years ago.

BEIRUT, 15 June 2022, (TON): The US envoy mediating between Lebanon and Israel over their disputed maritime border met Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut for talks on ways of reaching a solution amid rising tensions along the tense boundary.

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the US State Department, arrived in Beirut on Monday following an invitation by the Lebanese government.

The invitation came after Israel set up a gas rig at its designated location at the Karish field, which Israel says is part of its UN-recognized exclusive economic zone. Lebanon insists it is in a disputed area.

Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant Hezbollah have been exchanging threats, with Hezbollah’s leader last week warning he would strike the gas rig at Karish.

The heavily armed Hezbollah, which has fought several wars with Israel, has repeatedly said in the past that it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon’s economic rights.

WASHINGTON, 15 June 2022, (TON): The United States said “it awaits a constructive response from Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that excludes extraneous issues, a possible reference to Iran’s demand that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be dropped from a US terrorism list.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said “we await a constructive response from the Iranians, a response that leaves behind issues that are extraneous to the JCPOA.”

In 2018 then-US President Donald Trump reneged on the deal, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating its core nuclear limits about a year later.

Speaking at a briefing, Price was responding to questions about the Iranian foreign minister’s statement that Tehran had put forward a new proposal on reviving the agreement, which the US spokesperson did not address in detail.

CAIRO, 15 June 2022, (TON): Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has praised Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their financial assistance in response to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to the media at the inauguration of a series of dairy production facilities and slaughterhouses in Sadat City, in response to a question about the support provided by the Kingdom and the UAE, the president said “the two Gulf states moved together without a request from Cairo.”

Saudi Arabia announced it would deposit $5 billion with the Central Bank of Egypt to contribute to supporting Cairo’s foreign exchange reserves, after the Egyptian economy was affected by the Russian invasion.

The value of the Egyptian pound has fallen since the outbreak of the war by more than 20 percent, with the country also heavily reliant on grain exports from Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, 15 June 2022, (TON): The United States backed Taiwan’s assertion that the strait dividing the island from the Chinese mainland is an international waterway, a further rebuff to Beijing’s claim to exercise sovereignty over the strategic passage.

The Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People’s Republic of China.

In recent years, US warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have sailed through the strait, drawing Beijing’s anger.

China’s Foreign Ministry said “the country has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait and called it a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters’.”

WASHINGTON, 15 June 2022, (TON): Ambassador Masood Khan, Islam­abad’s representative in Washington, meets US President Joe Biden, an appointment that will formalise his position as Pakistan’s envoy to the United States.

Ambassador Khan was sent to Washington on March 25, when the PTI government was still in power, but after Imran Khan’s ouster on April 11, there was speculation that the change in Islamabad would also impact diplomatic appointments.

But Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram, later explained that incumbent ambassadors continue to represent the country in foreign capitals unless specifically asked by the new government to return home.

Neither Ambassador Khan nor Ambassador Akram were asked to do so.

KRAMATORSK, 15 June 2022, (TON): Ukraine’s president has made an impassioned plea to Western allies to speed arms deliveries and help stem terrifying casualties as Russian forces lay siege to the eastern city of Severodonetsk, destroying the last bridges into the industrial hub.

The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the eastern Donbas region of Lugansk still under Ukrainian control.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said “the human cost of the battle for the region was simply terrifying.”

Zelensky expressed confidence in Ukraine’s ability to reclaim territory, calling on the nation’s allies to send more weapons.

“We just need enough weapons to ensure all of this. Our partners have them.”

BEIRUT, 15 June 2022, (TON): UNRWA Advisory Commission meetings commenced in Beirut, with Arab countries hosting Palestinian refugees insisting that the agency remain in control of its mandate under Resolution 302.

The agency provides services to over 5.8 million Palestinian refugees in Arab host countries, namely Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, as well as the West Bank, which believe these services provide a stability factor in the region.

The meetings of the UNRWA Advisory Commission, held for the first time in Beirut, were chaired by Lebanon.

Topping the commission’s agenda were the financial crisis facing the agency and ways to mobilize financial resources.