Mike Pompeo is expected to arrive in Israel next week to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz

• US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo // Photo: APP

The US State Department announced Friday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will return to state visits and visit Israel next week, with the aim of consulting with new government members sworn in Wednesday.

According to the announcement, Pompeo is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker and Prime Minister Benny Gantz. Leaders will discuss the joint effort to fight the Corona virus and a host of security issues posed by the Iranian threat in the region. 

"The US commitment to Israel has never been stronger than under the leadership of President Trump. The United States and Israel will face the risks and challenges together. 

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Mark Asper calls for the withdrawal of troops by the multinational observers operating in the Sinai Peninsula, an area where Egyptian security forces are fighting against ISIS. According to the report, published in the Wall Street Journal in the US State Department and Israel express opposition to the move.

The observers force includes personnel from 13 countries, and has placed over 400 American soldiers whom I would like to tell to remove from the area. The purpose of the force, since its establishment, was to help maintain the peace agreement signed between Israel and Egypt with the support of the United States.

US Defense Forces officials said the withdrawal would be part of a series of measures to cut U.S. military spending, saying that deploying U.S. forces in Sinai is not worth the cost or risk of soldiers' lives in the region. 

Meanwhile, in a tweet posted Thursday (Thursday), Asper said he spoke with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Zaki, adding that he was grateful for the US's ongoing strategic defense ties with Egypt. Asper noted that the two discussed Egypt's participation in the program The State Partnership ”of the U.S. National Guard and the Commonwealth of Commonwealth Prevention of Corona Expansion.

The US withdrawal from Sinai comes on the back of another Wall Street Journal report Thursday (Thursday), which states that the United States has removed an array of patriot missiles in Saudi Arabia and is also considering reducing further forces in the country, which may signal the end of widespread military armaments in an area designed to threaten Iran. , According to officials.

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The same report noted that two US fighter jets have also left the area, and the US will also consider reducing the US Navy presence in the Persian Gulf soon. According to the report, the US is making changes to its Saudi armed forces based on factor estimates It is official that Tehran no longer poses an immediate threat to American strategic interests.

Apparently, one of the reasons the US no longer sees Iran as an immediate threat is the Corona crisis. Iran has been severely affected by the virus and, according to estimates, the true death toll in the country is five to ten times higher than the official number, which currently stands at 6,486. Some of them died from the virus.