United States/Pakistan – The US administration has shared a list 20 terrorist groups which the Americans claim are operating in Pakistan, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting diplomatic sources. On the 1 Nov 17 US Secretary of state Rex Tillerson had told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Pakistan is willing to target terrorists if provided information by the US government. "Pakistanis have indicated - if we provide the information they will act. We're going to have to test that, give them an opportunity to do so," Tillerson had told the committee. Pakistan officials denied US had given a list of 75 terrorist organizations, Dawn said. The Dawn also reported that the US government released a list of kind of militants on The Washington Post’s demand, it included: those who launched attacks on Afghanistan, those who targeted Pakistan and critically for India - militants who focused on Kashmir. Top of the list of militants is the Haqqani network, the Dawn report said. The list also includes Jaish-e-Mohammed which operates in Kashmir and Lashkar-e-Taiba led by Hafiz Sayeed who India accuses of having masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The other groups include: Harakatul Mujahideen, Lashkar-i-Jhanghvi, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Harakatul Jihadi-i-Islami, Jamaatul Ahrar, Jamaatud Dawa al-Quran and Tariq Gidar Group. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Commander Nazir Group, Indian Mujahideen, Islamic Jihad Union, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ISIS-Khorasan, Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent and the Turkistan Islamic Party Movement are also on the list, Dawn reported.
United States/Iran – US President Donald Trump notified Congress on the 6 Nov 17 that he was extending the national emergency with Iran that has been in place since the 1979 hostage crisis. “Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing,” Trump wrote Congress in the formal notice. The Trump administration has vowed to confront Iran much more aggressively in the region, where it shares the Saudi view that Tehran is fomenting instability via a number of proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen among other countries. Tehran denies the allegations. Last month, Trump decertified the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration, leaving it to Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions. Events in Saudi Arabia in recent days appeared to open the prospect for a sharper confrontation with Iran and its proxies. Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on the 6 Nov 17 of declaring war against it because of what it called aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on the 4 Nov 17 announcing his resignation from Riyadh and blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech. Also on the 4 Nov 17 Saudi Arabia’s air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from warring Yemen over the capital, Riyadh.
United States/Iran – US President Donald Trump notified Congress on the 6 Nov 17 that he was extending the national emergency with Iran that has been in place since the 1979 hostage crisis. “Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing,” Trump wrote Congress in the formal notice. The Trump administration has vowed to confront Iran much more aggressively in the region, where it shares the Saudi view that Tehran is fomenting instability via a number of proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen among other countries. Tehran denies the allegations. Last month, Trump decertified the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration, leaving it to Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions. Events in Saudi Arabia in recent days appeared to open the prospect for a sharper confrontation with Iran and its proxies. Saudi Arabia accused Lebanon on the 6 Nov 17 of declaring war against it because of what it called aggression by the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on the 4 Nov 17 announcing his resignation from Riyadh and blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech. Also on the 4 Nov 17 Saudi Arabia’s air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired from warring Yemen over the capital, Riyadh.
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