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After six rounds of talks in Beijing on 16 May 2026, Donald Trump announced a new US-China “constructive strategic stability” accord and said he may freeze Congress’s $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, urging Taipei and Beijing to "cool down."
On 14–15 May 2026, Presidents Trump and Xi met for 2¼ hours in Beijing and issued a joint pledge to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and bar a nuclear-armed Iran, but produced no comprehensive trade accord while Xi sharpened warnings over Taiwan.
In late March–April 2026, Saudi Arabia quietly flew at least two combat sorties into Iraq, striking drone-launch sites of Iran-backed militias near its northern frontier just before and after the 7 Apr U.S.–Iran cease-fire, while rockets fired from Kuwaiti territory simultaneously hit similar militia targets in southern Iraq.
In the early hours of 14 May 2026, Moscow mounted its heaviest single-night aerial strike of the war—firing 56 missiles and roughly 670 explosive drones that overwhelmed Kyiv’s defences, collapsed a nine-storey apartment block and ended a three-day lull brokered by Washington.
In late March 2026, Saudi fighter jets secretly bombed sites in Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq—a historic first for Riyadh—after waves of Iranian drones and missiles pierced the U.S. security umbrella; the covert raids were followed by rapid Saudi-Iran back-channel talks that slashed incoming attacks and paved the way to the April 7 ceasefire.
On 13-14 May 2026 Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office publicly claimed Benjamin Netanyahu covertly met UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed during March’s “Operation Roaring Lion,” but within hours Abu Dhabi issued an official statement flatly rejecting that any such undisclosed visit or military pact occurred.
On 14 May 2026, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping began their first in-person summit of Trump’s second term in Beijing, reopening top-level US-China dialogue after a year of remote exchanges while a two-month Iran war and fragile trade truce hang in the balance.
A second successful launch of the liquid-fuel RS-28 Sarmat ICBM on 12 May 2026 removed a key technical hurdle and allowed President Putin to order the first Sarmat-equipped regiment into combat duty by year-end 2026, ending years of schedule slippage.
In the early hours of 14 May 2026, Moscow ended a three-day lull by unleashing a record 731 aerial weapons at Ukraine—mostly targeting Kyiv—with Ukrainian defenses claiming to neutralize 693 of them.
On 12 May 2026 Moscow carried out only the second confirmed flight of the RS-28 Sarmat super-heavy intercontinental missile and immediately announced its deployment on combat duty by year-end, the first such step since all U.S.–Russia nuclear limits lapsed in February.
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