DUBAI – Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites, because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.

As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, the three sources close to government circles said.

Israel has promised Iran will pay for its missile attack last week, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the region that could suck in the United States. The moves by the Gulf states come after a diplomatic push by non-Arab Shi’ite Iran to persuade its Sunni Gulf neighbours to use their influence with Washington amid rising concerns Israel could target Iran’s oil production facilities.

During meetings this week, Iran warned Saudi Arabia it could not guarantee the safety of the Gulf kingdom’s oil facilities if Israel were given any assistance in carrying out an attack, a senior Iranian official and an Iranian diplomat told Reuters. Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Saudi royal court, said: “The Iranians have stated: ‘If the Gulf states open up their airspace to Israel, that would be an act of war’.” The diplomat said Tehran had sent a clear message to Riyadh that its allies in countries such as Iraq or Yemen might respond, if there was any regional support for Israel against Iran.

A potential Israeli strike was the focus of talks on Wednesday between Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a Gulf tour to rally support, Gulf and Iranian sources said. The Iranian minister’s visit, along with Saudi-American communications at defence ministry level, are part of a coordinated effort to address the crisis, a Gulf source close to government circles told Reuters. A person in Washington familiar with the discussions confirmed that Gulf officials had been in touch with U.S. counterparts to express concern about the potential scope of Israel’s expected retaliation. (Reuters) …[+]

USA – US Vice President Kamala Harris has pulled in more than $1bn in fundraising since becoming her party’s presidential nominee in July, according to US media reports. While the Harris campaign has yet to disclose the exact total, several sources familiar with the figures, cited by The New York Times and NBC News, confirmed she has surpassed the $1bn mark. It includes funds directed to her campaign, as well as to related Democratic Party committees. The dizzying fundraising surge gives Harris far more cash than her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, to spend in the final leg of a neck-and-neck race.

In August, Trump and the Republican Party brought in $130m, leaving them with $295m in cash available compared with Harris and the Democrats’ $404m. Harris is also poised to greatly exceed Trump’s September fundraising total of $160m, having raised $72m from three end-of-month events, reports The New York Times. However, Republicans are making up some ground via super political action committees (PACs), organisations that can pool unlimited funds for candidates without directly coordinating with their campaigns.

So far in the 2024 election cycle, the largest super PAC supporting Trump has outspent the largest super PAC backing Harris by tens of millions of dollars, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance and transparency. Harris’s deep campaign war chest is likely to boost her advertising and operations in battleground states in the month before the November 5 elections, which polls show is currently a toss-up.

While Harris retains a slight national lead in the polls, most of the seven key swing states that could decide the election are too close to call. A new poll by InsiderAdvantage for Pennsylvania, the swing state with the greatest potential to sway the election, shows Trump up by two points. ( Aljazeera)

AFRICA – Some countries have pledged to donate doses of mpox vaccines to combat an outbreak of the disease in Africa, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a global public health emergency in August for the second time in two years.

Such donations are meant to address the huge inequity that left African nations with no access to the shots used during the global outbreak in 2022.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the current outbreak, launched its first mpox vaccination campaign on Oct. 5. Canada will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses, a government spokesperson said on Sep. 12. The number of doses to be donated depends on the receiving countries’ capacity for storage and administration. France will donate 100,000 doses based on “locally identified needs”, its health ministry said on the Q&A section, opens new tab of its website, last updated on Sept. 16. Germany will donate 100,000 doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak in the short term, a government spokesperson said on Aug. 26. Japan has pledged to donate 3 million doses of KM Biologics’ LC16 vaccine, the largest number of doses pledged to date, the WHO said on Sep. 13, opens new tab.  U.S. President Joe Biden pledged in September that the U.S. would donate 1 million doses of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine and at least $500 million to African countries, to support their response to the outbreak. The U.S. State Department said, opens new tab on Sept. 24 it had delivered 10,000 doses to Nigeria and 50,000 doses to Congo, with further 300,000 doses ready to be disbursed in coordination with Gavi and WHO. The EU and its member states are donating at least 566,500 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine to African countries, including more than 215,000 doses donated by the bloc’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) in cooperation with the Danish vaccine maker. (Reuters) …[+]