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Dennis Ross: Riyadh Ideal Platform for US-Russia Summit

Ross said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s participation in the US-Russia summit reflects the trust the Kingdom’s leadership enjoys with Presidents Trump and Putin. (AFP file)
Ross said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s participation in the US-Russia summit reflects the trust the Kingdom’s leadership enjoys with Presidents Trump and Putin. (AFP file)
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Dennis Ross: Riyadh Ideal Platform for US-Russia Summit

Ross said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s participation in the US-Russia summit reflects the trust the Kingdom’s leadership enjoys with Presidents Trump and Putin. (AFP file)
Ross said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s participation in the US-Russia summit reflects the trust the Kingdom’s leadership enjoys with Presidents Trump and Putin. (AFP file)

US former diplomat and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute, Dennis Ross, said the upcoming American-Russian summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh reflects the keenness of the parties involved in negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.

The summit is a remarkable development given that no negotiations have been held over the war since 2022, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He highlighted the participation of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, at the summit, saying it demonstrates the trust he enjoys with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Riyadh has maintained good relations with all parties involved in the conflict, which makes it a natural location to host the summit, he went on to say.

Saudi Arabia had welcomed on Friday the hosting of the summit between Trump and Putin in the Kingdom.

Senior American and Russian officials are also expected in Riyadh this week to hold talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Riyadh on Monday as part of a regional tour that he kicked off in Israel on Sunday. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz were due to arrive in Riyadh this week as well.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin Riyadh in December 2023. (SPA)

Ross said American, Russian and Ukrainian officials will discuss in Riyadh a roadmap of issues on the table. It is important to begin with confidence-building measures, such as a prisoner exchange, which is something Riyadh had previously mediated.

Trump had previously said that Crown Prince Mohammed will play a role in the Riyadh discussions.

Witkoff recently confirmed that the Crown Prince had played an effective role in securing the release of American Marc Fogel from Russia.

Ross said that Crown Prince Mohammed’s participation in the Riyadh talks demonstrates the trust he enjoys with Trump and Putin. He added that it would have been best if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would be involved because the war is ultimately not between the US and Russia.

He acknowledged that the divide between Russia and Ukraine remains deep and it would be difficult to bridge if both parties remained unyielding in their positions.

Among the challenges are Putin’s insistence on not recognizing Ukraine’s sovereignty and maintaining military presence there. Ukraine is also refusing to acknowledge the regional changes.

US former diplomat Dennis Ross. (Getty Images)

Ross, however, underscored the need for a ceasefire, which should be part of a broader effort to end the war.

Commenting on European concerns over a possible American-Russian deal without consulting them, Ross said no decision should be taken without them.

Saudi Arabia, as the host country, must keep the Europeans informed on proceedings, he added.

On the summit’s impact on the Middle East, Ross said Putin may offer to help in regional files, such as Gaza, Syria, Iran and others, but such offers will not be a “good trade” and caution would be necessary towards them.

He explained that Putin has limited influence in Gaza and Syria, but he may hold sway in Iran given the mutual needs between Moscow and Tehran.

Iran wants to avoid being isolated, while Putin needs to realize that if it continues to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade, then the risk of it being attacked will rise, which is something the Russian president wants to avoid, Ross said.

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World

Switzerland Closes Tehran Embassy but Maintains 'Open Line' between US, Iran

07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Switzerland Closes Tehran Embassy but Maintains 'Open Line' between US, Iran

07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
07 March 2026, Iran, Tehran: Members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) rescue teams work at the site of a building damaged in an airstrike in Iran, following the strikes launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, prompting Iran to retaliate with strikes on Israel and Gulf states. Photo: IRCS via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Switzerland said Wednesday it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran due to the Middle East war but maintaining an "open line" of communication between the United States and Iran.

For decades, neutral Switzerland has played a key role in maintaining basic diplomatic contacts between Iran and the United States, AFP said.

The foreign ministry in Bern said that in view of the war in the Middle East and the increasing security risk, it had "decided to temporarily close the Swiss embassy in Tehran".

Ambassador Olivier Bangerter and the remaining five other Swiss staff members left Iran by land earlier on Wednesday and will return to Tehran once the situation allows.

"As part of its good offices, Switzerland will continue to maintain an open line of communication between the United States and Iran, in consultation with the two countries," said the ministry statement.

Both the United States and Iran were informed of the temporary closure of the embassy and the departure of its Swiss staff.

"Switzerland will continue to be available to channel communications that the parties consider useful," the statement added.

"The protecting power mandate, under which Switzerland represents US interests in Iran, can be exercised independently of geographical location."

- The protecting power -

Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations.

The Swiss embassy in Tehran handles all consular affairs between the United States and Iran, including passport requests, altering civil status and consular protection for US citizens in Iran.

Under the protecting power mandate, "Switzerland can either offer to act as a go-between on its own initiative or can fulfil this function at the request of the parties concerned, provided that all those involved agree," the foreign ministry says on its website.

The United States and Iran held a third round of indirect talks through Omani negotiators, on Iran's nuclear program, in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 26.

Two days later, the United States and Israel launched the first wave of attacks in a war that has seen Iran strike targets in multiple countries around the Gulf.

Switzerland has called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.

World

Norway Police Arrest 3 Suspects in Bombing of US Embassy

Forensic investigators work at the scene in connection with the arrest of three brothers after the explosion at the US embassy on Sunday, in Oslo, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB via AP)
Forensic investigators work at the scene in connection with the arrest of three brothers after the explosion at the US embassy on Sunday, in Oslo, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB via AP)
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Norway Police Arrest 3 Suspects in Bombing of US Embassy

Forensic investigators work at the scene in connection with the arrest of three brothers after the explosion at the US embassy on Sunday, in Oslo, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB via AP)
Forensic investigators work at the scene in connection with the arrest of three brothers after the explosion at the US embassy on Sunday, in Oslo, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB via AP)

Norwegian police said on Wednesday they had apprehended three brothers suspected of carrying out Sunday's bombing at the US embassy in Oslo, in an attack investigators have branded an act of terrorism.

The powerful early-morning blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) damaged the entrance to the embassy's consular section but caused no injuries, Norwegian authorities have said.

The three suspects, all in their 20s, are Norwegian citizens with a family background from Iraq, Reuters quoted police as saying.

"They are suspected of a terror bombing," ⁠Police Attorney Christian Hatlo ⁠told reporters.

"We believe they detonated a powerful bomb at the US embassy with the intention of taking lives or causing significant damage," Hatlo said, adding that none of the suspects had so far been interrogated.

One of the men was believed to have planted the bomb while the two others were believed to have taken part in the plot, Hatlo said.

The brothers, who were not named, ⁠had not previously been subject to police investigations, he added.

A lawyer representing one of the three men said he had only briefly met with his client and that it was too early to say how the suspect would plead.

Lawyers representing the two others did not immediately respond to requests for comment when contacted by Reuters.

"Although it is early in the investigation, it is important that the police have achieved what they characterize as a breakthrough in the case," Norway's Minister of Justice and Public Security Astri Aas-Hansen said in a statement.

Images of one of the suspects released by police on Monday showed a ⁠hooded person, ⁠whose face was not visible, wearing dark clothes and carrying a bag or rucksack.

Investigators on Monday said one hypothesis was that the incident was "an act of terrorism" linked to the war in the Middle East, but that other possible motives were also being explored.

Police are now investigating whether the bombing was done on behalf of a foreign state, Hatlo said, reiterating that they were also looking into other possible motives.

World

Iran Tells World to Get Ready for Oil at $200 a Barrel as It Fires on Merchant Ships

Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Tells World to Get Ready for Oil at $200 a Barrel as It Fires on Merchant Ships

Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. (AFP)
Commercial vessels are pictured offshore in Dubai on March 11, 2026. (AFP)

Iran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel as its forces hit merchant ships on Wednesday and the International Energy Agency recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s.

The war unleashed with joint US and Israeli air strikes nearly two weeks ago has so far killed around 2,000 people, mostly Iranians and Lebanese, as it has spread into Lebanon and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.

Despite what the Pentagon has described as the most intense airstrikes since the start of the war, Iran also fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, demonstrating it can still fight back.

On Wednesday, three vessels were reported to have been hit in Gulf waters as Iran's Revolutionary Guards said their forces had fired on ships in the Gulf that had disobeyed their orders.

US President Donald Trump suggested the campaign would not last much longer, telling Axios news website there was "practically nothing left" to target in Iran.

"Any time I want it to end, it will end," he said in a telephone interview.

Oil prices, which shot up earlier in the week to nearly $120 a barrel before settling back to around $90, rose more than 4% on Wednesday amid renewed fears about supply disruption, while Wall Street's main share indexes fell in morning trade.

Previously, stock markets had rebounded as investors bet on Trump ‌finding a quick exit.

But ‌other signs pointed to a continuation of fighting which has seen ports and cities in the Gulf states as ‌well as ⁠targets in Israel hit ⁠by drone and missile barrages from Iran, adding urgency to calls from Türkiye and Europe to end the fighting.

An Israeli military official said the military still had an extensive list of targets to hit in Iran, including ballistic missile and nuclear-related sites.

'LEGITIMATE TARGETS"

So far there has been no sign that ships can safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz, the now-blockaded channel along the Iranian coast that serves as a conduit for around a fifth of the world's oil.

Trump said on Wednesday that ships "should" transit through the Strait but sources said Iran had deployed about a dozen mines in the channel, further complicating the blockade.

The US military told Iranians to stay clear of ports with Iranian navy facilities, drawing a warning from Iran's military that if the ports were threatened, economic and trade centers in the region would be "legitimate targets".

With prices at the pumps already surging in some countries and Trump's Republican Party trailing badly in the polls ahead of midterm elections, oil ⁠prices have become an increasingly urgent element in the calculations behind the war.

The International Energy Agency, made up of major oil consuming ‌nations, recommended releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves to stabilize prices, the biggest such intervention in history, which ‌was swiftly endorsed by Washington.

But the rate at which countries can release strategic reserves will vary and the amount released would account for just a fraction of the supply through the Hormuz Strait.

Iranian ‌officials made clear on Wednesday they intended to impose a prolonged economic shock as the war continues.

"Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price ‌depends on regional security, which you have destabilized," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's military command, said in comments addressed to Washington.

After offices of a bank in Tehran were hit overnight, Zolfaqari said Iran would respond with attacks on banks that do business with the US or Israel. People across the Middle East should stay 1,000 meters from banks, he added.

At sea, a Thai-flagged bulk carrier was set ablaze, forcing the evacuation of crew, with three people reported missing and believed trapped in the engine room.

Two other ships, a Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, were also reported to have sustained ‌damage from projectiles, bringing the number of merchant ships that have been hit since the war began to 14.

IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS MOJTABA KHAMENEI LIGHTLY WOUNDED

In Iran, huge crowds took to the streets for funerals for top commanders killed in airstrikes. They ⁠carried caskets and brandished flags and portraits of ⁠slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son and successor, Mojtaba.

An Iranian official told Reuters that Mojtaba Khamenei had been lightly wounded early in the war, when airstrikes killed his father, mother, wife and a son. He has not appeared in public or issued any direct message since the war began.

The Iranian military said on Tuesday it had launched missiles at targets including a US base in northern Iraq and at targets in central Israel. Explosions rang out in Bahrain, while in Dubai four people were wounded by two drones that crashed near the airport.

In Tehran, residents said they were growing accustomed to nightly airstrikes that have sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to the countryside and contaminated the city with black rain from oil smoke.

"There were bombings last night but I did not get scared like before. Life goes on," Farshid, 52, told Reuters by phone.

'NO TIME LIMIT', SAYS ISRAEL

Despite calls from Trump for Iranians to rise up, US and Israeli hopes that Iran's system of clerical rule would be overthrown by popular protest have not been borne out.

Iran's police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, said on Wednesday anyone taking to the streets would be treated "as an enemy, not a protester. All our security forces have their fingers on the trigger".

A senior Israeli official told Reuters Israeli leaders now privately accepted that Iran's ruling system could survive the war. Two other Israeli officials said there was no sign Washington was close to ending the campaign.

US and Israeli officials say their aim is to end Iran's ability to project force beyond its borders and destroy its nuclear program.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday the operation "will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign".