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U.S.-Saudi nuclear power deal faces pushback over potential weapons risks
Confirmed
In Short: Saudi Arabia is grappling with Houthi attacks while a potential boxing match between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua faces location disputes.
Saudi Arabia is facing increasing threats from Houthi forces, with recent attacks on critical infrastructure and strategic locations raising concerns about regional stability.
The attacks have disrupted Saudi oil exports and energy infrastructure, leading to a temporary shutdown of the East-West oil pipeline following a drone strike.
In a separate development, a potential boxing match between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is facing delays due to disputes over the fight's location.
Fury, known as the 'Gypsy King,' has expressed frustration over the lack of confirmation regarding the fight.
Saudi organizers, including Turki Alalshikh, pushed for the event to be held in the United States, while Fury and his promoter, Frank Warren, were open to hosting it outside the UK.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has signed off on foreign investments in Paramount Pictures, including from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, despite potential regulatory hurdles.
This decision could impact the broader geopolitical landscape, as Saudi Arabia continues to navigate its complex relationships with regional and global powers.
For Saudi Arabia, the timing of the Houthi advances is particularly challenging, coinciding with efforts to attract international investment and stabilize its economy.
Security experts warn that the conflict could escalate, potentially disrupting global trade and energy supplies.
The United States is reportedly facilitating dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia to address the growing Houthi threat.
Brad Cooper visited Saudi Arabia to discuss regional security issues with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other officials.
What this adds
The boxing match's location dispute adds to the broader geopolitical tensions surrounding Saudi Arabia.
What's confirmed
- Saudi Arabia is facing increasing threats from Houthi forces, with recent attacks on critical infrastructure and strategic locations raising concerns about regional stability.
- The attacks have disrupted Saudi oil exports and energy infrastructure, leading to a temporary shutdown of the East-West oil pipeline following a drone strike.
- In a separate development, a potential boxing match between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is facing delays due to disputes over the fight's location.
- Fury, known as the 'Gypsy King,' has expressed frustration over the lack of confirmation regarding the fight.
- Saudi organizers, including Turki Alalshikh, pushed for the event to be held in the United States, while Fury and his promoter, Frank Warren, were open to hosting it outside the UK.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. has signed off on foreign investments in Paramount Pictures, including from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, despite potential regulatory hurdles.
- This decision could impact the broader geopolitical landscape, as Saudi Arabia continues to navigate its complex relationships with regional and global powers.
- For Saudi Arabia, the timing of the Houthi advances is particularly challenging, coinciding with efforts to attract international investment and stabilize its economy.
- Security experts warn that the conflict could escalate, potentially disrupting global trade and energy supplies.
- The United States is reportedly facilitating dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia to address the growing Houthi threat.
- Brad Cooper visited Saudi Arabia to discuss regional security issues with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other officials.
What's still developing
- Fury and Joshua looked set to finally go head-to-head but a dispute over the location has emerged as a potential stumbling block, with Saudi organisers Sela keen to stage the blockbuster fight in the United States.
- The FCC has signed off on equity investments from three prominent Middle East sovereign wealth funds that are backing Paramount ’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing a potential regulatory hurdle to the company’s proposed acquisition.
- In Thursday’s ruling, the FCC found that the public interest supports permitting Paramount’s foreign equity ownership to exceed the typical benchmark for such a deal.
- Violations of the conditions can lead to monetary sanctions and potential divestiture of the investments, according to the decision.
- The Brendan Carr-led commission on Thursday approved Paramount’s petition to allow more than 25 percent of the studio’s ownership to be held by foreign investors, which include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
- The deal was structured to provide capital through non-voting equity investments, meaning the funds don’t have any governance rights.
- In a statement, a Paramount spokesperson stressed that the deal will ultimately close.
- On paper, Saudi Arabia has an enormous military and economic advantage over the Houthis—a non-state movement in a country where nearly two-thirds of households lack adequate food, according to the World Food Program.
- "There is still a deal to be had, but it would be an exit arrangement for Saudi Arabia rather than peace for Yemen," Andreas Krieg, an expert on Middle East security and senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London, told Newsweek.
- With the chances of a negotiated settlement looking slim given the recent Houthi advances, Saudi Arabia could pursue a limited military operation designed to reset the game board and return the conflict to a more equitable position from which to begin fresh negotiations.
- More than a decade ago, Saudi Arabia went to war in Yemen to stop the Houthi rebel group from becoming an entrenched armed power on its southern border.
- Last week, the Houthis surged out of their strongholds in northern Yemen to seize the Red Sea port of Mokha and several islands inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, strengthening their control over one of the world’s most important shipping corridors despite years of Saudi, American, British and Israeli strikes.