The Financial Times online says that Moody’s rating agency has warned that Israel’s government will struggle to meet fiscal targets if it does fulfil the spending promises made to coalition partners as part of recent negotiations to form a new government, posing a danger of economic deterioration rather than improvement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last night finally saw his government sworn in after a protracted process culminated in a lengthy day of negotiations with fellow Likud MKs over ministerial portfolios. In a separate item, the Financial Times online includes a feature on growing Chinese interest and investment in Israeli companies.

The Guardian online reports from that Gulf states and Saudi Arabia have told US President Barack Obama that they would welcome a deal which stops Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Washington has reportedly pledged a package of military assistance in return, which according to the Financial Times focuses on missile and cyber defence. Senior representatives from the six countries which comprise the Gulf Corporation Council have been attending a two-day summit in the United States, having publicly expressed their fears over the nascent nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). Meanwhile, the Financial Times online also reports that Iranian President Rouhani’s economic team is already planning for a post-sanctions reality in anticipation of a long-term agreement.

In the Telegraph, David Blair analyses what he terms “tangled” American policy regarding Iran and asks how it has come to pass that US Secretary of State John Kerry spends significant time with Iran’s Foreign Minister while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “shunned” by the White House. Blair says that Washington’s trust in Tehran’s leadership has forced Gulf powers into an “extraordinary alliance of convenience with Israel.”

The Guardian online reports that a former-Lebanese government minister has implicated Syria’s security chief Ali Mamlouk in supplying bombs and explosives intended for carrying out assassinations in Beirut. Meanwhile, in Syria itself, the online editions of the Times, Guardian and Telegraph all cover ISIS gains which have put them at the gates of the historic city of Palmyra, where irreplaceable artefacts and architecture lie at their mercy.

The Times online says that in Egypt, young people are flocking to join the Muslim Brotherhood, which could enjoy a resurgence, despite being outlawed by President al-Sisi.

In the Israeli media, the top item is yesterday’s eventual government swearing-in, following a tortuous day of negotiations between Prime Minister Netanyahu and fellow Likud MKs to fill ministerial positions. Israel Hayom’s front page proclaims, “At long last, a government,” while both Maariv and Haaretz emphasise the commotion among Likud MKs in allocating portfolios. Yediot Ahronot’s headline quotes opposition leader Isaac Herzog, who called the entire process and the consequent government “a circus.”

Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon gives a scathing assessment, saying “It took 55 days, with 30 seats, and this is what Netanyahu managed to put together. And we’re not just talking about a narrow coalition whose days appear numbered and tortured. We’re talking about a division of portfolios to Likud ministers that appears to be patchwork.”

Another major story in Maariv and Haaretz is a vehicle terror attack which took place in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank yesterday. A Palestinian man ploughed a car into a group of waiting bus passengers, injuring four people, two moderately. The suspect was quickly apprehended and apparently confessed to carrying out the attack due to nationalistic motivations.