Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Mideast and Russia expert Ksenia Svetlova joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Former MK Svetlova is the executive director of ROPES (Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security) and a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

We open the program with an exploration of Iran's historic and current ties with Russia, after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met yesterday with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Svetlova explores Russia's influence in the region -- specifically its direct ties to Hezbollah -- and assesses how much leverage Moscow may have in the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States.

In the second half of the program, we focus on Israel's relations with Arab Gulf states in the wake of the war in Iran. We hear how Israel deployed troops and the Iron Dome to its Abraham Accord partner, the United Arab Emirates. She discusses how the region is at a crossroads and the Gulf states are pragmatically discussing whether to deepen ties with Iran, or, potentially, with Israel.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Trump reportedly unhappy with Iran’s proposal to reopen Hormuz but shelve nuclear issue

In Saint Petersburg, Iran’s FM blames US for failure of Pakistan talks

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ari Schlacht edited this episode.

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