Latest News
According to sources, the UAE will provide billions of cash for Iran.
In a tactical change following weeks of Iranian attacks on the affluent Gulf Arab state during the US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic Republic, the United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of cash for Iran, according to four sources.
The final stages of larger negotiations between Tehran and Washington on ending the war, which diplomats say may involve the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks under US sanctions, coincide with news of the UAE’s move to seek de-escalation, which has not been previously reported.
Iran has trained its missiles and drones on Kuwait and Bahrain, but the UAE, which was frequently targeted by Iran during the height of the conflict, has not seen any new attacks in the last month. More than a month has passed since Iran’s most recent documented direct attack on the United Arab Emirates, which targeted the Gulf state’s Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman on May 4.
Over $3 billion of the $10 billion that the UAE had pledged to release has already been released, according to two regional sources who spoke with Reuters.
The total amount of money involved, according to two other persons with knowledge of the deal, was $20 billion. They also stated that the action was agreed upon in exchange for an end to Iranian strikes on the United Arab Emirates.
A first tranche of $3 billion has already been made available, according to one of the sources with knowledge of the agreement.
Reuters was unable to determine if the money designated for the transfers came from Iranian accounts that had been barred for a long time in the UAE banking system or from another source.
Reports of the transfer, “including allegations concerning $3 billion,” were firmly denied by the UAE foreign ministry in a statement released early on Saturday.
No blocked Iranian monies have been freed, moved, or facilitated through the UAE, according to the UAE statement, which “affirmed that these allegations are entirely false and unfounded.”
No other details were included in the UAE statement.
A UAE official previously stated that the nation was attempting to reduce tension and promote peace when Reuters contacted them to comment on the transfer.According to the source, “the UAE’s foreign policy is guided by promoting de-escalation and reducing tensions across the region while advancing lasting peace and stability.” “The UAE supports efforts, including those undertaken by the United States, to protect the peoples of the region from the repercussions of conflict.”
against May 4, Iran launched its most recent direct attack against the UAE.
A request for comment on the action was not immediately answered by the White House.
Vice President JD Vance stated in Washington on Friday that Iran will not receive money for attending a meeting or striking a contract with the United States. He added that the proposed agreement is set up to guarantee that Tehran would receive financial rewards if it fulfils its commitments.
Reuters asked Iranian authorities for comment on the action, but they did not immediately respond.
Because of the delicate nature of the subject, none of the sources included in this piece would consent to be identified.
The agreement marks a dramatic change from the open hostility that characterised UAE-Iran ties during the majority of the war, when Iranian attacks destroyed Dubai’s hotels, forced some foreigners to leave, and damaged the reputation for safety that is essential to the nation’s standing as a top business hub.
According to one of the people with knowledge of the arrangement, the move offered a way to help resolve the conflict between the US and Iran without either side going over its red line: Abu Dhabi gets its own security and Dubai’s hub status, Washington can insist it paid nothing, and Iran can claim it extracted compensation for war damages, all while framing the move as an investment in restoring regional trust.
According to the other source with knowledge of the agreement, Iran will stop attacking the United Arab Emirates with missiles and drones in exchange for the payment, and bilateral relations would be restored, including economic cooperation and intelligence sharing.
According to the source, Iran had made similar arrangements with at least two other Gulf Arab nations.
According to the first person with knowledge of the arrangement, negotiations had begun a few weeks ago but accelerated when representatives of Iran’s formidable Revolutionary Guards travelled to Abu Dhabi last week to meet Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates, and stayed at his guest house.
UAE officials then travelled to Tehran to negotiate the mechanism’s specifics.
DUBAI’S SIZEABLE IRANIAN ASSETS
The UAE-Iranian agreement is expected to take place in a complicated financial environment that may involve Dubai, the primary commercial center of the UAE and one of Tehran’s most vital economic lifelines.
Due to US sanctions that monitor the worldwide dollar-clearing system and put foreign banks that deal with Iranian firms on the blacklist at risk of being shut off from the US financial network, Dubai’s banks have long held significant Iranian-linked deposits, many of which are now immobilised.
A US official quickly refuted a senior Iranian source’s claim on April 11 that the US had agreed to release Iranian blocked assets held in Qatar and other international institutions.
Unfreezing the assets was “directly linked to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” a crucial issue in negotiations aimed at resolving the crisis, according to the source, who chose not to be named owing to the delicate nature of the situation.
Latest News
Amazon raised worries about Anthropic AI models before US crackdown, source says
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was among tech titans who raised security concerns to senior Trump administration officials this week over Anthropic’s most advanced AI models, a person familiar with the subject told Reuters.
Jassy’s presence underscores the dramatic step taken by Anthropic on Friday to shut down its newest models worldwide under national security demands from the administration of President Donald Trump.
The San Francisco-based AI startup, which has confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering, had previously warned about hacking capabilities of its Mythos model and held it back from wide release, but earlier this week, Anthropic rolled out a public version, called Fable, with what it described as cybersecurity safeguards.
That brief release was over Friday. In a blog post, Anthropic said the U.S. government notified the company it believes there is a way to bypass, or “jailbreak,” a protection against using the model to uncover cybersecurity flaws.
In a blog post, Anthropic said the bypass only revealed “minor” security weaknesses that other publicly available models may find.
The Trump administration told the business to prevent any foreign nationals, inside or outside the U.S., from utilising both its latest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, Anthropic stated. Anthropic responded by saying it would block access to the models worldwide.
Amazon will not say if it had spoken to government officials regarding Anthropic’s models.
“It is not unusual for governments to ask us for advice about potential security issues because we are a leading cloud provider serving a large number of customers in the public and private sectors,” an Amazon spokeswoman said. “When they happen, we don’t disclose the details of these discussions.”
EXPORT RESTRICTIONS
Earlier Saturday, tech news site The Information highlighted Jassy’s concerns. The Information later reported, citing a U.S. official, that the administration was unlikely to require other AI companies to adhere to limits comparable to those placed on Anthropic.
Reuters could not immediately confirm plans by the Trump administration to regulate other corporations.
The U.S. government’s prohibitions were an export control, Anthropic stated in its blog post. The Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Commerce Department, which supervises export controls, did not react right away to a request for comment.
Officials issued the export control “reluctantly” after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei “refused” to “fix the jail break or de-deploy the model”, White House adviser David Sacks stated in a social media post on Saturday.
“The hope now is that Anthropic remediates the safety issue, the export control is lifted, and Fable goes back into general release,” wrote Sacks, co-chair of Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and once the White House’s AI czar.
Some advocates of export limits were puzzled by the Trump administration’s move because it also applies to allied nations, not only rivals.
“This wasn’t thought out very well,” said Jimmy Goodrich, a senior scholar at the University of California’s Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation. “It even prohibits Canadians and Brits working at Anthropic from doing research and development.”
The directive came as a previous fight between Trump administration officials and Anthropic was simmering down among portions of the U.S. government.
Latest News
Met Office forecasts windy weather in Karachi
The weather report said that the port city will have hot and humid weather with cloudy sky and maximum temperatures will hover between 34 and 36 Celsius.
Humidity ratio remained 66% in the air in morning which is predicted to remain between 55 to 75% during day, Met Office stated.
After days of searing hot weather with excessive humidity, Karachi reverted to Seabreeze on Saturday.
The sea wind, a critical factor that controls coastal temperatures, returns, making the usually heat-beaten metropolis more bearable. The influx of humid air from the Arabian Sea provides a relief to residents.
Health officials are urging the public to keep taking measures, particularly during the high afternoon hours. Still, it’s best to stay hydrated, not to get direct sun and use sun protection.
Karachi, being coastal, generally depends on the sea wind to keep the excessive heat at bay. The recent interruption of the breeze had sent temperatures soaring and the city was humid enough to feel considerably hotter.
Business
Aurangzeb says IMF had not asked for a tariff on solar panels
He disputed allegations that the government had considering taxing solar panels before the budget. ‘There was never any such demand from the IMF and the topic was never discussed,’ he said.
Aurangzeb stated in a media interaction that the government is working on a set of structural reforms in the energy sector to bring down electricity rates, improve the business environment and increase the competitiveness of major industries, according to a federal minister.
In reply to questions on the high energy costs and capacity charges carried over by successive governments, the minister said expensive power continues to pose a serious problem to industry including manufacturing, information technology, mining and other energy-intensive industries.
He said the government, in partnership with Energy Minister Awais Leghari, had already taken steps to remove cross-subsidies for industry and was pursuing changes through wheeling policy and other measures to increase efficiency in the electricity sector.
Read More : Solar panels, inverters, lithium batteries’ prices soar ahead of budget
The government is moving from short-term relief to more extensive, long-term structural reforms, the minister said. These efforts are to be expected to bear fruit in the coming years rather than immediately, he said.
Privatisation of energy distribution companies (DISCOs) is a crucial part of the reform agenda. The minister said three DISCOs had already been awarded expression of interest (EOI) and two more EOIs will soon be awarded. He said he was certain that the first batch of distribution businesses would be handed over to private sector management by the end of the year, with the rest to follow in phases.
There would need to be more regulatory control to accompany privatisation and work was beginning to ensure the regulatory system would be robust and effective, he said.
He also emphasised the ambitions to shift away from the existing single-buyer energy market model, controlled through the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), to a competitive multi-buyer system. “The change will help dismantle existing monopolistic structures and improve market efficiency,” he said.
-
Latest News4 weeks agoICC board meeting in India: Mohsin Naqvi gets invitation
-
Business1 month agoThe IMF mission has arrived in Pakistan for discussions regarding the budget.
-
Business4 weeks agoOil hits 2-week high following drone strike on UAE nuclear power facility
-
Business1 month agoIn the open market, flour prices increase by Rs 700 per mound.
-
Latest News4 weeks agoThis week is anticipated to see a decision about Mohsin Naqvi’s journey to India.
-
Entertainment4 weeks agoG7 finance leaders look to address inequities as trade tensions fray unity
-
Latest News5 days agoShehbaz, Zardari discuss key issues as PPP hints at budget support
-
Latest News1 month agoFazlur Rehman declares nationwide demonstrations in response to the assassination of Maulana Idrees.
