US strikes Iran for tenth straight night as Tehran hits Kuwait base; American death toll reaches 17Iranian missile hit US troop housing at Jordan base; Aqaba airport and port evacuatedHouthis declare Saudi naval blockade as fresh tanker attacks hit the Strait of HormuzBrent crude back above $90 as Gulf war rattles stocks, currencies and rate-settersTrump imposes 50% tariffs on Canadian goods under untested 1930 trade lawMerz signals cabinet reshuffle after Spahn quits as parliamentary leader over surrogacy rowBurnham takes office as UK prime minister, names Healey chancellor and calls TrumpRussia hits Kyiv with one of the war's largest ballistic barragesUkrainian drones and sea drones strike Russian oil terminals, power grid and Black Sea shipsFerry with about 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana; dozens missingAt least 50 Malian soldiers killed in jihadist–separatist ambush near AnefisChina uses WAIC to press its claim to lead 'global AI governance'Heatwave fuels major wildfires in Spain and Greece; nearly 50,000 hectares burnedUS strikes Iran for tenth straight night as Tehran hits Kuwait base; American death toll reaches 17Iranian missile hit US troop housing at Jordan base; Aqaba airport and port evacuatedHouthis declare Saudi naval blockade as fresh tanker attacks hit the Strait of HormuzBrent crude back above $90 as Gulf war rattles stocks, currencies and rate-settersTrump imposes 50% tariffs on Canadian goods under untested 1930 trade lawMerz signals cabinet reshuffle after Spahn quits as parliamentary leader over surrogacy rowBurnham takes office as UK prime minister, names Healey chancellor and calls TrumpRussia hits Kyiv with one of the war's largest ballistic barragesUkrainian drones and sea drones strike Russian oil terminals, power grid and Black Sea shipsFerry with about 133 aboard capsizes off Guyana; dozens missingAt least 50 Malian soldiers killed in jihadist–separatist ambush near AnefisChina uses WAIC to press its claim to lead 'global AI governance'Heatwave fuels major wildfires in Spain and Greece; nearly 50,000 hectares burned
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Serbia and the US

Symbolic image

Under President Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia has for years pursued a policy of balancing between the EU, Russia, China and the US without clearly committing to one side. A central point of friction in the relationship with Washington is the oil company NIS, which is majority Russian-owned and has been under US sanctions since early 2025; these threaten the operation of the refinery in Pančevo and thus Serbia's energy supply. At the same time, the unresolved Kosovo question and Belgrade's close ties to Moscow burden the relationship with the US. The groundwork for a rapprochement was laid from the summer of 2025, when Serbian representatives and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed on a format for a strategic dialogue that puts energy, investment and the sanctions question at its center. A bilateral energy cooperation agreement already signed in 2024 served as the starting point.

Balkan Green Energy News: US launching strategic dialogue with SerbiaSerbian Monitor: US makes historic decision regarding SerbiaKosovo Online: Vucic strategic dialogue step forward in relations with US

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Saturday, 18 July 2026Geopolitics

Serbia and the US open a strategic dialogue and sign two memoranda

In Washington, Serbia and the US have opened a “strategic dialogue” and signed two memoranda, a step Belgrade is celebrating as historic. Foreign Minister Marko Đurić spoke of a strategic partnership. Observers are asking whether Serbia is thereby abandoning its years-long policy of balancing between East and West.

The Serbian government is staging the launch of the dialogue as the start of a new chapter: Đurić congratulated citizens on the “strategic partnership” with the US, and Kosovo's Koha soberly confirms the signing of two memoranda. The independent Serbian outlet N1, by contrast, asks whether Belgrade is really breaking with its “four pillars” policy among Washington, Moscow, Beijing and Brussels. The analyst Kostić argues on N1 that Serbia will continue to balance so as not to anger Russia, especially as long as the dispute over the mostly Russian-controlled and US-sanctioned oil company NIS remains unresolved. Thus the state-aligned Serbian success narrative, the skeptical independent view and the Kosovar-Albanian observation stand side by side. How far the rapprochement will carry depends on tangible questions such as energy, investment and Kosovo.

N1B92Koha