Long-Awaited Aid to Ukraine Poised to Pass US Congress, Weapons Coming Soon

 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP)
TT
20

Long-Awaited Aid to Ukraine Poised to Pass US Congress, Weapons Coming Soon

 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP)

Billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan should easily win approval in the US Senate this week, after the House of Representatives abruptly ended a months-long stalemate and approved the assistance in a rare Saturday session.

The Senate on Tuesday will take up the package of four bills passed by the House, one providing $61 billion for Ukraine, a second with $26 billion for Israel, a third with $8.12 billion "to counter communist China" in the Indo-Pacific and a fourth that includes a potential ban on the social media app TikTok, measures for the transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine and new sanctions on Iran.

The package could pass the Democratic-led Senate as soon as late Tuesday. Democratic President Joe Biden has promised to sign it quickly into law.

Two US officials told Reuters the administration was already preparing a $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, the first to be sourced from the bill.

That would clear the way for shipments of military assistance to Ukraine within days, boosting morale for its troops fighting Russian invaders. The influx of weapons should improve Kyiv's chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, analysts said, although it would have been more helpful if the aid had come closer to when Biden requested it last year.

"I ask my colleagues to join together to pass the supplemental today as expeditiously as possible, send our friends abroad the aid they have long been waiting for," Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech as the Senate opened.

As he urged support, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said failing to support allies emboldened rivals like China and Russia, and denounced isolationism. "Today, the Senate sits for a test on behalf of the entire nation. It’s a test of American resolve, our readiness, and our willingness to lead," he said.

It was not immediately clear how the money for Israel would affect the conflict in Gaza - Israel already receives billions of dollars in security assistance from the United States. The package includes humanitarian assistance, which supporters hope will help Palestinians in Gaza.

Humanitarian concerns

The Israel bill passed the House by an overwhelming 366 to 58 - with 21 Republicans and 37 Democrats opposed. The Republican "no" votes came from hardliners who generally oppose foreign aid. Democrats who voted no said they wanted more done to ease the devastating humanitarian toll of Israel's campaign in Gaza as it retaliates for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas fighters that killed 1,200 people and resulted in around 250 being taken hostage.

The Israeli military assault that followed those attacks has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza health authorities.

The Senate passed security aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific more than two months ago, with support of 70% of the 100-member chamber, both Republicans and Democrats.

The White House said Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call on Monday that his administration would provide new security assistance "to meet Ukraine's urgent battlefield and air defense needs" as soon as he signs the supplemental spending bills into law.

The legislation's progress has been closely watched by industry, with US defense firms up for major contracts to supply equipment for Ukraine and other US partners. Backers of the foreign assistance stress that approving the Ukraine bill would create many American jobs.

Experts expect the supplemental spending to boost the order backlog of RTX along with other major companies that receive government contracts, such as Lockheed Martin , General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman.

Congressional aides said the funding for Ukraine includes $8 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which lets Biden send equipment to Ukraine from U.S. stocks.

The House passed the Ukraine funding by 311-112, with all 112 "no" votes coming from Republicans, many of whom were bitterly opposed to providing further assistance to Kyiv. Only 101 Republicans voted for it, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to rely on Democratic support and prompting calls for his ouster as House leader.

However, the House left Washington for a week-long recess, without triggering a vote to remove Johnson.



Trump Says US, Iran Set for Direct Nuclear Talks; Tehran Says They Will Be Indirect 

US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Trump Says US, Iran Set for Direct Nuclear Talks; Tehran Says They Will Be Indirect 

US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Monday that the United States and Iran were poised to begin direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but Iran's foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect.

In a further sign of the difficult path to any deal between the two geopolitical foes, Trump issued a stark warning that if the talks were unsuccessful, "Iran is going to be in great danger."

Iran had pushed back against Trump's demands in recent weeks that it directly negotiate over its nuclear program or be bombed, and it appeared to be sticking to that position on Monday.

"We're having direct talks with Iran, and they've started. It'll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we'll see what can happen," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable," Trump said. He added that Saturday's talks with Iran would be at a very high level, without elaborating. He declined to say where the talks would take place but held out the possibility that a deal could be reached.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on X that indirect high-level talks would be held in Oman, adding, "It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America's court."

On Tuesday, Iran's state media said the talks would be led by Araqchi and US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with the intermediation of Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi.

The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden's term but they made little if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.

Warnings by Trump of military action against Iran had jangled already tense nerves across the Middle East after open warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, military strikes on Yemen, a change of leadership in Syria and Israeli-Iranian exchanges of fire.

Trump, who has beefed up the US military presence in the region since taking office in January, has said he would prefer a deal over Iran's nuclear program to armed confrontation and on March 7 said he had written to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to suggest talks.

Iranian officials said at the time that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations.

"Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren't successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran," Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.

Direct talks would not occur without the explicit approval of Khamenei, who in February said negotiations with the US were "not smart, wise, or honorable."

IRAN FAVORS INDIRECT NEGOTIATIONS

Hours before Trump's announcement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran was awaiting a US response to Tehran's proposal for indirect negotiations. He said Tehran believed it was making a generous, responsible and honorable offer.

After Trump spoke, a senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: "The talks will not be direct ... It will be with Oman's mediation." Oman, which maintains good relations with both the US and Iran, has been a longtime channel for messages between the rival states.

Iran's Nournews, affiliated with the country's top security body, described Trump's statement about a planned direct meeting as part of a "psychological operation aimed at influencing domestic and international public opinion."

A second Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said over the weekend there was possibly a window of around two months to reach a deal, citing worries that Iran's longtime foe Israel might launch its own attack if talks took longer.

Netanyahu, who has shown little support for US negotiations with Iran, said if diplomacy could prevent Tehran from ever getting nuclear weapons "in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing."

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran's sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment.

Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy program.

Tehran says its nuclear program is wholly for civilian energy purposes.

The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for details.

The shift comes at a precarious time for Tehran's regional "Axis of Resistance" which it has established at great cost over decades to oppose Israel and US influence. The axis has been severely weakened since the Palestinian group Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, tipped the Middle East into conflict.

Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been hammered by Israel since the Gaza war began while the Houthi group in Yemen has been targeted by US airstrikes since last month. Israel severely damaged Iran's air defenses last year.

The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another key Iranian ally, has further weakened Tehran's influence.