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Trump issues brazen ultimatum to his own Middle Eastern allies

Donald Trump issued a sweeping ultimatum to nearly a dozen Muslim-majority nations Monday morning, threatening to cut them out of his Iran deal entirely if they refuse to simultaneously sign the Abraham Accords — and he did it in a Truth Social post addressed directly to their heads of state."If they don't, they should not be part of this Deal in that it shows bad intention," Trump wrote, in a message that named Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain as countries he expects to sign the Israel normalization agreements as a condition of participating in any broader Iran settlement.The demand puts enormous pressure on nations that have long resisted formal normalization with Israel for domestic political reasons — particularly Saudi Arabia, whose leaders have said publicly that any normalization would require a credible path to Palestinian statehood, a condition the current Israeli government has flatly rejected.Perhaps most striking was the manner in which Trump chose to deliver the ultimatum. Rather than through traditional diplomatic channels, he issued the demands in a rambling Truth Social post — and then instructed his own representatives to act on it in real time. "By copy of this TRUTH," he wrote, "I am asking my Representatives to begin, and successfully complete, the process of signing these Countries into the already Historic Abraham Accords."In other words, Trump's diplomats learned of their new marching orders at the same moment as the rest of the world.The post also floated the idea of Iran itself eventually joining the Abraham Accords — agreements that are at their core about normalizing relations with Israel, a country Iran has repeatedly called for the destruction of. Trump called the prospect "something special" and said several regional leaders had told him they would be "honored" to have Iran join the coalition.Trump closed with characteristic grandiosity, declaring the potential agreement would be "the most important Deal that any of these Great, but always in Conflict Countries, will ever sign" and that "nothing in the past, or in the future, will surpass it."

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Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha receives royal pardon for treason

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Over 20 taken to hospital after unknown substance allegedly sprayed in Tokyo

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Strait of Hormuz closure chokes trade and aid for Afghanistan

Landlocked Afghanistan is struggling to access supplies as fighting with Pakistan and the Iran war disrupt key routes

Venezuela inmates occupy prison roof and set fire to mattresses to highlight alleged abuse

Inmates at Barinas prison allege they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire, leaving some woundedInmates at Venezuela’s western Barinas prison staged a protest on its roof on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses and calling for the removal of the facility’s director, whom they accused of overseeing guards as they shot unarmed prisoners.“We want justice. They are shooting us, the guards and the wardens,” a prisoner said in a video shared by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a local NGO, on X, in which a man is seen with a bullet wound in his chest. Continue reading...