Washington fears Iran becoming directly engaged in Israel-Gaza war

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The US on Sunday said it feared an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved.

Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“We can't rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way," he said. "We have to prepare for every possible contingency.

“That's a risk that we have been mindful of since the start,” Mr Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza last weekend.

“It's why the President moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he sent a very clear message to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation."

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of a second aircraft carrier on Saturday “to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening this war following Hamas's attack”.

In the eastern Mediterranean the carrier USS Eisenhower and its accompanying ships will join the USS Gerald R Ford, which was sent after the Hamas attack on October 7.

Iran on Sunday warned any Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip could escalate conflicts elsewhere in the Middle East.

“No one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non-expansion of the conflicts,” an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement read.

The Israeli army told the Shiite militant group Hezbollah to closely watch what is happening to Hamas and warned its militants against “crossing the threshold”.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday said Israel has no interest in waging war on its northern front and that if Lebanese group Hezbollah restrains itself, Israel would respect the situation on the border as it is today.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks on northern Israel since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.

"Of course Iran is broadly complicit and this has helped Hamas function and be able to conduct the terrorist attack they have conducted," John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council said on Fox News.

But he reiterated the US position that it has no intelligence pointing to specific Iranian participation in the Hamas attack.

The Old Slave and the Mastiff

Patrick Chamoiseau

Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”