ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Russia's challenge to NATO and democratic nations, as well as Iran's influence on the wider Middle East, remain two of the top threats to world peace, two former White House advisers to presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump said Tuesday. But on Tuesday, neither offered the same rebuke Cheney gave of Trump's push to withdraw from the wider region. The two spoke at the SALT finance conference in Abu Dhabi, hosted by Anthony Scaramucci, a financier who had a short-lived 11 days as the director of communications for the Trump White House. For Jones, who served nearly two years in Obama's White House, Iran remains an “existential threat." He praised the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after the president unilaterally withdrew from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago.

Source: International New York Times December 10, 2019 15:22 UTC