Axios

President Biden's trip to the Middle East this week inadvertently underscores the fact that at least three big promises he made before taking office have been abandoned or remain unfulfilled.

Driving the news: The Iran deal hasn't been restored, Biden is heading to the country he vowed to make a "pariah," and the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem is still closed.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday told his Cabinet that he will resign after a fissure in the unity government he formed.

The latest: Draghi said in a statement that the "majority of national unity that has sustained this government from its creation doesn’t exist anymore." But later Thursday, President Sergio Mattarella rejected the resignation, and requested that Draghi address the parliament to assess the “the situation that has arisen.”

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, called President Biden's planned visit to Saudi Arabia "heartbreaking" and "disappointing."

Driving the news: Biden, who once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah," is set to meet with the crown prince on Friday, a move that Cengiz described as "a huge backing down" in an AP interview.

The Israeli government on Thursday approved the parameters of a deal around two strategic Red Sea islands that would pave the way for Saudi Arabia to take steps toward normalizing relations with Israel.

Why it matters: The deal, which the U.S. has been quietly negotiating for months, would be a significant foreign policy achievement for the Biden administration in the Middle East.

The U.S.'s new national poet laureate hopes to use poetry to help heal the trauma so many Americans experience.

Driving the news: The Library of Congress on Tuesday named Ada Limón as the 24th national poet laureate. She's the first woman of Latino heritage to serve in the role.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that faulty "security measures" led to the assassination of former leader Shinzo Abe last week, AP reports.

Driving the news: "I think there were problems with the security measures," Kishida said, adding that officials at the National Public Safety Commission and National Police Agency are opening a probe into the assassination.

A second round of voting among Conservative members of Parliament cut the contenders to be the U.K.'s next prime minister down to five, led by former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who received 101 votes, and trade minister Penny Mordaunt (83 votes).

State of play: Attorney General Suella Braverman, a hardline Brexiteer, was eliminated. That leaves Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (64 votes) and former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch (49 votes) competing to consolidate the party's right flank behind them. Tom Tugendhat (32 votes), a moderate ex-army officer, also survived the second round.

President Biden said in Jerusalem Thursday that the U.S. won't "wait forever" for Iran to respond to its proposal to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

Driving the news: The last round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran in Qatar two weeks ago ended with no progress and no date for another round of talks.

Pope Francis appointed three women to the Vatican office that advises the pontiff in the selection of bishops worldwide on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Nuns Raffaella Petrini and Yvonne Reungoat and laywoman Maria Lia Zervino are the first women to join the previously exclusively male Dicastery for Bishops, per the Vatican News.

The House passed a bill on Wednesday to expand health care access for veterans who became ill after being exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in the military.

Driving the news: The bill, which passed 342 votes to 88, would make it easier for more than 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to obtain health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, per a statement from House Veterans' Affairs Chair Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

President Biden will ask acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid during their meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday to increase Israel's military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said in a briefing with reporters.

Why it matters: The issue of weapons supply is one of the last policy differences between the U.S. and Israel when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

A Secret Service employee was sent back to the U.S. after being briefly detained in Israel following an alleged "physical encounter," the federal agency said Wednesday.

Driving the news: Secret Service agents went to Israel ahead of President Biden's visit to the country this week, and the employee was "detained and questioned by Israeli police" last Monday, a spokesperson said.