Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, discussed Washington's stance on Iran and the war in Gaza in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson. Bloomberg
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, discussed Washington's stance on Iran and the war in Gaza in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson. Bloomberg
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, discussed Washington's stance on Iran and the war in Gaza in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson. Bloomberg
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, discussed Washington's stance on Iran and the war in Gaza in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson. Bloomberg

US envoy Witkoff says Trump wants to ‘build trust’ with Iran to avoid armed conflict


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US President Donald Trump is attempting to build trust with Iran to avoid an armed conflict, Washington's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in an interview released late on Friday.

On March 7, Mr Trump said he had sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging a resumption of negotiations about the Iranian nuclear programme. He also warned of potential military action.

“It roughly said: 'I'm a president of peace. That's what I want. There's no reason for us to do this militarily. We should talk,'” Mr Witkoff told right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson.

Mr Khamenei, in a televised speech on Friday, said: “The Americans should know threats will get them nowhere when confronting Iran.”

Mr Witkoff said Mr Trump has the military upper hand and it would be more natural for the Iranians to push for a diplomatic solution. “Instead, it's him doing that.”

He said the US is continuing discussions with Iran through “back channels, through multiple countries and multiple conduits”.

Mr Trump is “open to an opportunity to clean it all up with Iran, where they come back to the world and be a great nation once again … He wants to build trust with them,” he said.

Ties between Washington and Tehran have been strained further by the resumption of Israeli strikes on Gaza this week and US strikes on the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen after they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping through the Red Sea.

Mr Witkoff also spoke about the war in Gaza and attempts to revive the ceasefire that he helped to broker between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

He did not give details on what Mr Trump’s plan for Gaza is, but he said the priority was achieving “stability in Gaza” and that this “could mean some people come back. It could mean some people don’t come back.”

If Hamas wants “to stay there till the end of time and they want to rule Gaza” that would be “unacceptable” to the Trump administration, Mr Witkoff said.

Instead, Washington is aiming for the group disarm – if they agree then they could “stay there a little bit, be involved politically”, he said.

But the US “can’t have a terrorist organisation running Gaza, because that won’t be acceptable to Israel”.

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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

Company%20profile
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GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
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- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
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In the Restaurant: Society in Four Courses
Christoph Ribbat
Translated by Jamie Searle Romanelli
Pushkin Press 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Laal Kaptaan'

Director: Navdeep Singh

Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain

Rating: 2/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company profile

Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018

Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: Health-tech

Size: 22 employees

Funding: Seed funding 

Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate 

Teams

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.

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AT4 Ultimate, as tested

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

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Updated: March 22, 2025, 8:56 AM`