News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

---

Harris on Arms Embargo Against Israel

Kamala Harris on Board with Administration’s Threat to Israel

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she supported the Biden-Harris administration’s threat to Israel over humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in Gaza — though she denied it warned of an arms embargo.

As Breitbart News reported, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a threat of cutting off arms earlier this week in a letter to Israeli officials. The letter was leaked and the Biden-Harris administration confirmed the threat. It caused an outcry, including protest from former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, who said that the threat by the administration “casts doubts on America’s dependability as an ally and its commitment to defend the Free World.”

Nevertheless, Harris is on board, according to comments she made Wednesday to journalists, as reported by the Times of Israel: “Asked by reporters about the Biden administration’s letter to Israel conditioning continued US military assistance on Jerusalem addressing the Gaza humanitarian crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris says the letter speaks for itself.”

In Harris’s exchange with reporters, however, she denied that the letter threatened an arms embargo:
...
"Do you support the letter the admin sent Israel threatening legal action over military aid?"

KAMALA: "I've issued my statement."

"Are you supporting calling off military aid if the situation in Gaza does not improve?"

KAMALA: "I don't believe that's what the letter said."

"What kind of legal action do you support?"

KAMALA: "We'll take it one step at a time."

Harris Doesn't Want to Think About Biden's Decaying Mind

Kamala Harris Avoids Answering Whether She Had ‘Any Concerns’ About Biden’s Mental Fitness

Vice President Kamala Harris avoided answering whether she had “any concerns” over the past three and a half years about President Joe Biden’s fitness.

In an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, Baier referenced comments Harris had made about former President Donald Trump being “misguided” and “unstable,” and asked her when she “first” noticed Biden’s “mental faculties appeared diminished.”

“You call Donald Trump — he’s misguided, you say now he’s unstable,” Baier said. “He’s not well — you say he’s mentally not stable.”

“You told many interviewers that Joe Biden was on his game, that [he] ran around circles on his staff,” Baier added. “When did you first notice that President Biden’s mental faculties appeared diminished?”
...
“Joe Biden — I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room,” Harris answered. “And, he has the judgment and experience to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”

When asked by Baier if “there were no concerns,” Harris interjected to point out Biden was “not on the ballot.”

Baier continued to point out that actor George Clooney had stated “within a few minutes of talking to President Biden at a fundraiser, that he thought this was not the same Joe Biden we saw on the debate stage.”

“Donald Trump is on the ballot,” Harris interjected.

“I understand,” Baier added. “You met with him at least once a week for three and a half years. You didn’t have any concerns?”

Harris added that the “American people have a concern about Donald Trump.”

Why Did Harris Fund Iran?

Bret Baier: Why Did You Fund Iran? Kamala: ‘Let’s Go Back to Donald Trump’

Vice President Kamala Harris refused to answer a question from Fox News’ Bret Baier about why the Biden-Harris administration allowed Iran to access billions of dollars, deflecting instead to familiar criticisms of Donald Trump.
...
Harris sat for a contentious 27-minute interview on Special Report during which the Democratic nominee often evaded questions or tried to shift the focus to her opponent. Her answer on foreign policy was no different. Given Harris’s claim that Iran (and not China) was America’s greatest enemy, Baier asked her, why had she and Biden “relaxed or failed to enforce sanctions on Iran, allowing all of this money to flow into Iran, like billions in oil profits”?

Baier’s premise was solid. As Breitbart News and others reported this week, the U.S. government itself estimates that Iran earned nearly $200 billion from oil revenues after the administration stopped enforcing sanctions on the regime.

Harris’s response: “Let’s go back to Donald Trump.” She noted that Trump had pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which is true — though it was that deal that had also given Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief (and ransom for jailed Americans. The deal also would have allowed Iran to emerge as a nuclear power after roughly a decade, and — crucially — did not prevent Iran from developing its ballistic missiles, as President Barack Obama had suggested.
Harris then brought up a talking points from the 2020 campaign — namely, that Trump had tried to dismiss injuries to American personnel on a base in Iraq after an Iranian missile attack as “headaches.” What Harris failed to mention was that the Iranian attack took place after Trump eliminated Iranian terror general Qasem Soleimani — an operation she and then-candidate Joe Biden had opposed, predicting (incorrectly) that it would lead to war in the Middle East.

As Baier tried to return to the question, Harris simply talked over him, even bringing up the “suckers and losers” hoax. She never explained why the Biden-Harris administration gave Iran access to money for missiles and terror.

If you watch the clip near till the end, she clearly hates that someone doesn't buy her excuses.
The only thing I never understood about Trump was how he never retaliated against Iran after several soldiers got injured in Iraq. Yet, that has nothing to do with billions flowing into Iranian coffers during the present administration.  Why did Biden keep the tariffs on China but not the sanctions against Iran?

Harris Wants to Import Millions of Immigrants

Report: Kamala Harris Would Import 12.3 Million Migrants

President Kamala Harris could import almost four million migrants in 2025 — and 12.3 million migrants during her four years — by continuing President Joe Biden’s policies, according to a report by pro-migration advocates.

The huge and disruptive inflow of migrants, however, will only raise annual economic growth by one cent for every $10, says the report by the business-funded Brookings Institution.

“We expect net immigration to be significantly higher under a Harris administration than a second Trump administration,” the report says it describes four alternative scenarios:

Net migration in the Harris, high scenario is 3.7 million in 2025 and cumulates to 12.3 million from 2025–2028.
…
Unlike the other scenarios, the Trump, low scenario yields net negative migration. Net migration is around -740,000 in 2025 and -230,000 in 2026 …  Cumulative net migration over the four years is around 410,000.

A 2025 inflow of 3.7 million legal, illegal, quasi-legal, and temporary migrants would deliver one migrant for every American birth. So far, the Harris campaign has signaled she will continue the high-migration policies set by Biden.

Overall, the report says Harris’s high migration policies would grow the U.S. population by 15 million during her four years, or roughly three million new households.

But Trump’s low migration policies would grow the population by almost five million via the rules set for legal migration by Congress in 1990, says the report. The report claims Trump’s focus on Americans will contract the economy by four cents in every $10 during 2025.

The report does not mention the expected rise in ordinary Americans’ salaries and wages in a national labor market. Nor does it mention the pro-family, pro-birthrate impact as housing drops in price once migrants exit. It also ignores the likely civic gains from reduced diversity in the United States, the reduced damage to migrant-sending countries, and the reduced migration chaos and deaths south of the border.

The damage to foreigners was outlined by The Atlantic —  a pro-migration website — when it described the many migrant deaths in the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama:

The morgue is next to the hospital kitchen. [Panamanian doctor Luis Antonio] Moreno said the stench was often intolerable, even before the day this spring when he discovered that the air conditioner had gone out and the bodies inside were decomposing. In March 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has a program to help families track down loved ones who have gone missing while migrating, built a mausoleum in the local cemetery with space for hundreds of bodies, and it’s quickly filling.

At a recent burial ceremony, municipal workers wearing hazmat suits placed 12 white body bags into graves. Ten of the bags were labeled desconocido, or “unknown.” One bore the name of a man from Venezuela whose family had confirmed his identity. Just before the last body bag, which was also the smallest, went into the mausoleum, an ICRC worker opened it and placed a dog tag on the wrist of the 8-month-old Haitian girl inside.

Biden Suggests He Wants Trump in Prison

Biden Suggests He Wants Trump in Prison — After Kamala Warns Trump Will Prosecute Opponents

President Joe Biden suggested Tuesday that he is looking forward to seeing former President Donald Trump imprisoned — right after Vice President Kamala Harris warned that Trump would prosecute his opponents.

Speaking at a rally for Harris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Biden said:

And folks, look. This is the same guy who’s been held liable for $83 million for sexual abuse and defamation, the same guy for getting rid of Roe V. Wade, the same guy with three other major cases waiting for him when he loses. And by the way, 34 felonies, and so far — he had to get sentenced. He got the sentence kick back, but I want to watch that sentence. Look, Donald Trump is not running for you. He’s running for himself. I think he’s running to stay out of jail.
Earlier, on The Breakfast Club, with host “Charlamagne tha God,” Harris had warned:

Harris: Donald Trump has been very clear that he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies [sic]. He has been very clear that he would take out the independent folks who are in there and put in there instead his loyalists [sic]. So understand, again, you talk about — because this brings back to exactly your point about threats to the to our democracy. Donald Trump would go into the Department of Justice and manipulate it in such a way that it would be used as a weapon against his political enemies.

Charlamagne: Yeah, he’s going to lock y’all up if he gets back in office.

Harris: Well, by the way, he’s going to — You should look at his words. I don’t think that you, as a journalist, should should feel so so sure that —

Charlamagne: One hundred percent.

Harris: Journalists, judges, others — and you know who does that? Dictators do that. Other countries do that.

The irony is that the Department of Justice and elected Democratic prosecutors at the state level have been prosecuting Trump for several years in highly dubious and, critics say, partisan cases.

Biden Backs Trudeau in Feud with India

Biden Administration Backs Justin Trudeau in Feud with India

The Biden administration on Tuesday urged India to take Canadian allegations of an assassination plot against Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar seriously and cooperate with Canadian investigators.

Canada and India expelled six of each others’ diplomats on Monday as their feud over the matter escalated.

“When it comes to the Canadian matter, we have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

“We wanted to see the government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation. Obviously, they have not. They have chosen an alternate path,” Miller said.

The State Department said on Monday that a representative from India’s Enquiry Committee visited Washington, D.C. as part of an “ongoing investigation” into another assassination plot, in which an Indian national has been charged with trying to hire an assassin to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

Miller did not provide any details on Monday’s meeting with the Indian representative, other than describing it as a “follow-up on conversations we have been having with the Government of India at the senior-most levels over the past several months.” He insisted the meeting in Washington was planned long before the latest diplomatic row erupted between Canada and India.

“The fact that they sent an Enquiry Committee here, I think, demonstrates that they are taking this seriously,” said White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby said of India’s engagement with the United States.

Canada has accused the Indian government of assassinating Nijjar outside a Vancouver temple in September 2023. Nijjar was a prominent leader in the Khalistan movement, which is dedicated to creating an independent Sikh state from territory in India.

The Indian government considers the Khalistan movement a security threat with links to organized crime and terrorism, and is angry that Canada has provided safe harbor for Sikh separatists. Nijjar was designated as a terrorist by the Indian government in 2020.

India further complains that Canada’s allegations of state involvement in Nijjar’s murder have been made without compelling evidence.

Writing at Firstpost on Tuesday, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) senior fellow Michael Rubin suggested the next escalation could be India labeling Canada as a state sponsor of terrorism for supporting the Khalistani movement.

Rubin argued that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has misrepresented intelligence provided by the United States as firm proof that India commissioned Nijjar’s murder, which he said was more like a “gangland hit” than a state-sponsored assassination. He also accused the Trudeau administration of conflating the Sikh religion with the militant Khalistani movement.

“Perhaps Trudeau believed the volume and frequency of the accusation could trump truth. He also may believe that doubling down on Sikh militants might win him votes in key districts. On both points, he is wrong,” Rubin said.

Nebraska: Let Prisoners Vote!

People with felony records can now vote in Nebraska — and it could help tip the balance in November

Nebraska’s top election official had no authority to strip voting rights from people convicted of a felony, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a decision that could add hundreds of new voters to the rolls and potentially help tip the balance on Nov. 5.

The order by Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen could have kept 7,000 or more Nebraskans from voting in the upcoming election, the American Civil Liberties Union has said. Many of them reside in Nebraska’s Omaha-centered 2nd Congressional District, where both the presidency and the makeup of Congress could be at stake.

Evnen in July had ordered county election officials in Nebraska to reject the voter registrations of those with felony convictions, citing an opinion from the state attorney general. That opinion, which Evnen had requested, deemed as unconstitutional a law passed this year by the Legislature immediately restoring the voting rights of people who have completed the terms of their felony sentences.

“Patty and Selma at the Department of Motor Vehicles may not be constitutional scholars, but they know that they are expected to follow the law,” Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote in the high court’s ruling, criticizing Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers for taking it upon themselves to declare the law unconstitutional. “Do we want to live in a world where every state employee who has a hunch a statute is flawed gets to ignore it?”

Nebraska overall is heavily Republican but is one of only two states — the other is Maine — that apportions its Electoral College votes by congressional district. The Omaha-area district has twice awarded its one vote to Democratic presidential candidates — to Barack Obama in 2008 and again to Joe Biden in 2020. In a 2024 presidential race shown by polling to be a dead heat, a single electoral vote could determine who wins.

Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district by more than 13,000 following a redrawing of the borders in 2021. But the district also has nearly 114,000 independent and third-party voters. In 2020, Biden bested former President Donald Trump there by more than 22,000 votes.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Democratic groups have spent millions there to secure the precious electoral vote — far more than Trump and Republican groups.

Nebraska also has competitive races for one U.S. Senate seat and the 2nd District’s U.S. House seat. Two-term Republican Sen. Deb Fischer faces her strongest challenge yet in independent candidate Dan Osborn, a former union leader who has eschewed both major parties. In the House race, Republican Rep. Don Bacon is running against Democratic state Sen. Tony Vargas in a rematch of the 2022 election, which Bacon narrowly won with 51% of the vote.

The last day to register to vote for the 2024 general election in Nebraska is Oct. 25 and must be done in person. Election Day is Nov. 5.

EUROPE

---

France Won't Let Israel Partake in Euronaval Arms Fair

France Blocks Israeli Companies From Major Upcoming Arms Fair Euronaval

Emmanuel Macron’s French government has banned Israeli defence contractors from exhibiting at next month’s Euronaval, a major arms fair in Paris, the second time Israeli companies have been blocked from a French trade show this year.

Israeli companies will not be able to exhibit at the major Euronaval trade fair in Paris in November, they have been told. Seven Israeli companies, including shipbuilders and other military equipment manufacturers had been registered as exhibitors for the show, which draws major defence firms and potential customers for naval equipment from around the world together.

Euronaval said in a statement on Wednesday that they had been informed by the French government of its decision that Israeli delegations would be permitted to attend but “without any stand or exhibition of equipment”, which really is the point of a trade show, on Tuesday. “In accordance with the French government’s decision, Israeli companies and citizens who wish to attend will be welcomed at the show under the conditions listed above”, they said.

Per the organisers, the show features exhibits by nearly 500 companies who will meet with 22,000 visitors over November 4th to 7th.
...
This is the second time this year the French government of President Emmanuel Macron has decided to block Israeli participation in an arms fair. In May, the French government had announced Israeli exhibitors would be blocked from Eurosatory — named for the French military base where it is held — which is an arms fair focussed on land warfare.

It was said at the time the block was over Macron’s opposition to Israel fighting in Rafah. A French court later overturned the government’s order, but only after the arms fair had already started, and so too late to make much difference. The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (Crif), which represents Jewish interests in France, reported Israeli visitors were made to sign a declaration stating they didn’t work for an Israeli arms firm in order to get into the building, which they decried as “the paper of shame”.

LATIN AMERICA

---

Israeli Consul Denounces that Iranian Forces Are Present in Nicaragua

Israeli Consul in Costa Rica: ‘Radical Iranian Forces’ Present in Nicaragua

Amir Rockman, Israeli Consul to Costa Rica, said in an interview on Tuesday that his government has reason to believe that Iranian-linked terrorist groups are freely operating in Nicaragua, a country that recently broke ties with Israel.

Rockman spoke to Despacho 505 on Tuesday, one of the several Nicaraguan outlets now operating in exile as a result of the repressive actions of communist dictator Daniel Ortega. The interview took place within the context of Ortega’s recent order for his country to break ties with Israel, marking the third time Ortega has broken ties with Israel in roughly four decades.

The Israeli diplomat, who described the Nicaraguan regime as a “kleptocracy,” expressed that while Ortega’s decision neither surprises Israel nor changes much, Nicaragua is a territory of “political concern” for Israel due to the free reign the communist regime has given to Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Rockman pointed out that Iranian interests — particularly, its proxy terror group, the Shiite jihadist group Hezbollah — are “installed in Nicaragua.”

“The regime of the Ortega family not only gives free passage to radical Iranians, but also to other terrorist groups that act freely on Nicaraguan soil and that we do not know the purposes of their actions yet, but we are very concerned,” Rockman said.
Rockman explained that Ortega had been eroding the strength of the bilateral relationship with Israel since August 2023, when the regime removed the Israeli honorary consul post and denied direct communication and consular visits in Nicaragua. The Israeli Embassy in Costa Rica, presently led by Ambassador Michal Gur-Aryeh, was concurrent with Nicaragua. The consul pointed out that the Ortega regime did not issue an official letter notifying Israel of the rupture in diplomatic relations.

The difference between the previous rupture of ties with Israel and the most recent one, Rockman stressed, is that this time the involvement of Iran and other anti-democratic efforts in Nicaragua “has increased a lot” in recent years. He stated that he believes the rupture in relations will last longer than the previous ones because “the interests of the Iranians, Hezbollah, and other anti-democratic groups that are now installed in Nicaragua, play a bigger role than in the past years.”

“We regret that the regime of Daniel Ortega, now I can say it freely, does not represent the people of Nicaragua,” Rockman said. “In my two years in Costa Rica, where I have met many Nicaraguans, I have not had the opportunity to meet a Nicaraguan who is in favor of this dictatorship, kleptocracy.”

“We regret the decision of this regime to choose the welfare of the Iranian government, which, I do not know what interest the Nicaraguan people have with the Iranian regime, but the Ortega family has many interests with the Iranians and that is why they chose to go with this world axis of the Iranians,” he continued.
...
Rockman asserted that it is “curious” that Ortega, “supposedly a leftist, a socialist,” is allied with a fundamentalist religious regime that is on the “two extreme sides of the political map.”

“But I agree that in the end dictatorships are dictatorships and it does not matter if one preaches in the name of socialism and [the other] preaches in the name of God,” he continued, “the two regimes are the same in the way they manipulate and use their own people because in the same way that the radical Islamist Iranian regime does not represent the people of Iran, also the Ortega regime does not represent the people of Nicaragua.”

The Israeli consul referred to Ortega’s accusations that Israel is committing a “genocide” in Gaza, which the dictator used to justify the diplomatic cut, Rockman said that the use of the word genocide is a “commercial or advertising success, it is one of the biggest in recent years but it has nothing to do with reality.”

MIDDLE EAST

---

Iran Threatens to Bomb Israel AGAIN

Iran Dismisses U.S. Missile Defense as ‘Psychological Warfare,’ Threatens to Bomb Israel Again

Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh on Wednesday dismissed the advanced missile defense system the United States is deploying in Israel as “psychological warfare” that would do little to enhance Israel’s defense against Iranian missiles.

Nasirzadeh was referring to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which the Pentagon confirmed on Monday is on the way to bolster Israel’s already formidable missile defenses.

The first team of U.S. military personnel arrived in Israel on Monday to begin setting up the system. The Pentagon refused to discuss “timelines” for when the battery would become fully operational.

“The deployment of the THAAD battery to Israel underscores the United States’ commitment to the defense of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.

Nasirzadeh dismissed the THAAD deployment as an empty gesture that would do nothing to blunt Iran’s vengeance, should Israel choose to respond to Iran’s last ballistic missile attack – which was almost completely intercepted by Israel’s defenses, even without THAAD.

“We consider such measures by the enemy to be in line with a psychological war. There is no specific problem. None of the threats issued by the Zionist regime is new,” the Iranian defense minister said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran is “fully prepared for a decisive and regret-inducing response to any adventurism by the Zionist regime.”

Iranian officials and state media comically insist their missile strikes were devastating blows to the “Zionist regime” and Israel will face even harsher punishment if it dares to retaliate. In reality, nearly all of Iran’s weapons were shot down by Israel’s three-layered interception system of the long-range Arrow, medium-range David’s Sling, and short-range Iron Dome.

Turkey Oversaw Failed Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing

Israel Accuses Hamas Cell in Turkey of Overseeing Failed Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing

Israeli law enforcement authorities revealed on Tuesday that they had traced a failed suicide bombing that occurred in Tel Aviv in August to a Hamas cell based in Turkey.

A terrorist later identified as Jaafar Muna, a resident of the West Bank, self-detonated in the streets of Tel Aviv on August 18, killing himself and injuring one other person. It is not clear at press time why Muna’s explosive backpack went off in a relatively poorly populated area, but authorities noted at the time that such an explosive detonated indoors or in a crowded place could have caused substantial human damage. The target of the attack appeared to be a nearby synagogue.

Hamas and a similar regional terrorist entity, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), claimed responsibility for the failed attack, promising a wave of future suicide bombings and similar attacks within Israel. The attacks, the claimed, would continue “as long as the occupation’s massacres, the displacement of civilians and the policy of assassinations continue.”

The statement referred to Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas in response to the jihadist groups invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of an estimated 1,200 Israelis, the abduction of another 250 (of which about 97 remain in captivity), and a large number of instances of torture, gang rape, infanticide, and other atrocities. Israel declared war on Hamas on October 8 to prevent the terrorists, or other affiliated jihadist groups, from repeating the slaughter. Hamas and its sympathizers routinely describe Israel’s self-defense actions as a “genocide” and campaign against Palestinian civilians, rather than Hamas.

In addition to Hamas, PIJ, and other Iran-backed proxies in the region, Israeli Police and the Shin Bet security service pointed a finger at the government of Turkey in its statement on Tuesday linking Muna to the active Hamas wing in the country.

“The findings of this investigation clearly indicate the establishment of Hamas headquarters in Turkey and their extensive efforts abroad to incite violence and carry out bombings in Israel,” the two Israeli government agencies said in their joint statement, according to the Times of Israel.

The agencies named an allegedly senior Hamas terrorist, Abada Bilal, as Muna’s contact in Turkey and the supervisor of the operation. They also reported that they had arrested nine others in connection with the attack.

“One of the operatives traveled several times to Turkey, receiving funding and explosives training from Hamas members there,” the Times of Israel paraphrased Israeli authorities as saying.

At least one senior Hamas terrorist, “diaspora” office head Khaled Mashal, has openly encouraged the terrorist group’s supporters to plan and execute suicide attacks, or as Hamas refers to them “martyrdom operations.” Notably, Mashal made the call during a speech after the Tel Aviv attack in August, speaking from Turkey.

Saudi Arabia Hasn't Become a Full Fledged Member of BRICS

Saudi Arabia Keeps BRICS Membership Status Intentionally Vague as U.S. Election Looms

The government of Russia confirmed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is not yet an official member of the anti-American BRICS coalition, claiming that the Middle East will formalize its position one way or the other at this month’s summit.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued a statement clarifying that Riyadh does not officially belong to BRICS after another Kremlin official, aide Yuri Ushakov, named Saudi Arabia as a member a week ago, according to Reuters. The Russian government is preparing to host the annual BRICS summit in the city of Kazan beginning on October 22.

BRICS is an economic, security, and diplomatic alliance that initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the countries that gave it its name. The BRICS countries voted to expand membership a year ago and extended invites to six nations: Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Argentina, and Ethiopia. Argentina, under the new leadership of anti-communist President Javier Milei, plainly declined the invite, while the others publicly accepted.

Saudi state television announced in January that the country had begun its membership term in BRICS, reports that went widely unquestioned as Saudi Crown Prince made an appearance at an emergency BRICS event in November to condemn Israel’s self-defense response to the atrocities committed by Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas on October 7 of that year.

By the end of the month, however, its status became murky, as reports surfaced that Riyadh had not finalized the process to join the coalition.

“Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the invitation to join BRICS. It is still under consideration,” an anonymous Saudi source told Reuters.

South African Ambassador to Russia Mzuvukile Geoff Maqetuka told the Russian news agency Tass in February that Saudi Arabia was “still going through its own processes” and “has not yet endorsed” membership.

Little updates have surfaced in February on whether Saudi Arabia is a formal member of BRICS or not. When Ushakov listed Saudi Arabia among BRICS members while discussing the upcoming summit, few questioned the addition.

Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, specified that Saudi Arabia’s status remains unclear as of Tuesday.

“The summit will take place now, we will supply additional information on who will represent Saudi Arabia, whether it will be represented at this summit, and we will draw conclusions from this,” Peskov said.