Category: Nation & World

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Oman’s foreign minister says the next round of talks between the United States and Iran will be Thursday in Geneva.

Badr al-Busaidi said on social media Sunday he was pleased to confirm the development, “with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.”

Oman previously hosted talks and facilitated the latest round in Geneva last week.

Iran’s top diplomat says he will meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday, following two rounds of indirect talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also told CBS in an interview aired Sunday that a “good chance” remained for a diplomatic solution on the nuclear issue, adding it was the only matter being discussed.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Araghchi’s remarks came as new anti-government protests began in Iran, according to witnesses, as university students in Tehran and another city demonstrated around memorials for thousands of people killed in a crackdown on previous nationwide demonstrations about six weeks ago.

The Trump administration has been pushing for concessions from its longtime adversary and has built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades.

President Donald Trump warned on Friday that limited strikes against Iran are possible, even as Araghchi at the time said Tehran expected to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days.

Araghchi told CBS Iran was still working on the draft proposal. He added that Iran has the right to enrich uranium. On Friday, he said his U.S. counterparts had not asked for zero enrichment as part of the latest round of talks, which is not what U.S. officials have said publicly.

Both Iran and the U.S. have signaled they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fail. The latest round of talks was last week in Geneva, with little apparent progress.

The U.S. has said Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them and that it cannot enrich uranium. Tehran has long insisted that any negotiations should only focus on its nuclear program and that it hasn’t been enriching uranium since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Although Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, the U.S. and others suspect it is aimed at eventually developing weapons.

Talks were deadlocked for years after Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Since then, Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.

New protests in Iran

Meanwhile, Iran’s state news agency said students protested at five universities in the capital, Tehran, and one in the city of Mashhad on Sunday. The scattered protests erupted Saturday at universities following 40-day memorials for people killed in January during anti-government rallies.

Iran’s government has not commented on the latest protests.

Many Iranians have held ceremonies marking the traditional 40-day mourning period in the past week. Most of the protesters are believed to have been killed around Jan. 8 and 9, according to activists tracking the situation.

Iranians across the country are still reeling with shock, grief and fear after the earlier protests were crushed by the deadliest crackdown ever seen under the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands are believed to have been arrested.

Although the crackdown tamped down the largest protests, smaller ones are still occurring, according to protesters and to videos shared on social media.

During the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah and brought the Islamic Republic to power, 40-day memorials for slain protesters often turned into rallies that security forces tried to crush, causing new deaths. Those were then marked 40 days later, with new protests.

Posts on social media Saturday and Sunday have alleged that security forces tried to restrict people from attending some 40-day ceremonies.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,015 people were killed in the previous protests and crackdown, including 214 government forces. The group has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists there to verify deaths.

The death toll continues to rise as the group crosschecks information despite disrupted communication with those inside the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll from the previous protests on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

President Donald Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he would be sending a “great hospital boat” to Greenland to care for the Arctic island’s neglected sick is — like many of the president’s remarks around Greenland — causing befuddlement on both sides of the Atlantic.

Officials on the island, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, did not ask for such a ship, and Greenland’s prime minister said it will not be welcoming it, as its citizens are guaranteed free healthcare.

“It’s a no thank you from here,” Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a statement Sunday.

“President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society. That is not how it works in the USA.”

“Please talk to us instead of just making more or less random statements on social media,” Nielsen said later in the statement. “Dialogue and cooperation require respect for the fact that decisions about our country are made here at home.”

Maritime tracking data further suggests there are no U.S. hospital ships currently positioned to sail to Greenland.

Trump’s post Saturday on Truth Social followed months in which he unsettled European allies by threatening to take the Arctic territory from Denmark. The White House eventually backed down and said the U.S. will instead seek strategic agreements with Denmark. But the post signals Trump may remain focused on provoking Denmark.

The president’s unexpected announcement came as Denmark revealed there was a case of medical distress near the island needing emergency attention. But it was the U.S. that needed the help. Denmark’s Arctic Command reported early Saturday that it had evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine in need of doctors.

“The crew member required urgent medical treatment and has been transferred to the Greenlandic health authorities and the hospital in Nuuk,” the Arctic Command said a statement. “The evacuation took place within Greenlandic territorial waters, 7 nautical miles off Nuuk. It was carried out by the Danish Defence Seahawk helicopter. The helicopter was deployed from the inspection vessel Vædderen.”

That event was followed later in the day by Trump’s post, which featured what appears to be an AI-generated illustration of the USNS Mercy steaming toward the Arctic territory. Trump made no mention of the emergency evacuation of the U.S. sailor. But he declared that he was “going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”

“It’s on the way!!!” said the post, which also reported that Trump was executing the action together with his envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

Denmark quickly dismissed Trump’s announcement, saying it was not aware of any medical emergency in Greenland.

“The Greenlandic population receives the healthcare it needs,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Denmark’s public broadcaster, DR. “Trump is constantly tweeting about Greenland. So this is undoubtedly an expression of the new normal that has taken hold in international politics.”

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, also appeared to rebuff Trump’s plan, without mentioning him by name. She wrote Sunday on Instagram that she is happy to live in a country where healthcare is free to everyone and that Greenland enjoys the same system.

The U.S. Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy. Neither appears ready to deploy any time soon, and both were at a maintenance facility, Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, on Sunday, according to ship-tracking data.

Navy officials and officials with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond.

In December, the Pentagon said it had signed a $16.7 million contract with the shipyard to place the Comfort in an extended period of maintenance beginning Jan. 15 with expected completion by April 26.

In June, the Pentagon signed a $18.7 million deal with the same shipyard to place the Mercy in extended maintenance. Navy officials later said the work would take about a year.

According to gCaptain, a website that monitors ship movements, the Mercy “was firmly in dry dock” as of late January.

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that its PreCheck program would remain operational despite an earlier announcement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the airport security service was being suspended during the partial government shutdown.

“As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the agency said.

The TSA also said Sunday that its Global Entry program would be suspended as long as the partial government shutdown remains in effect.

The security disruptions come at a time when a major winter storm will hit the East Coast from Sunday into Monday. Nine out of 10 flights going out of John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Boston Logan Airport have been canceled for Monday.

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the United States from abroad.

The turmoil is tied to a partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14 after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach a deal on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have been demanding changes to immigration operations that are core to President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.

Homeland Security previously said it was taking “emergency measures to preserve limited funds.” Among the steps listed were “ending Transportation Security Administration (TSA) PreCheck lanes and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry service, to refocus Department personnel on the majority of travelers.”

Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on Saturday night that “shutdowns have serious real world consequences.”

One group of fliers will definitely be affected, according to TSA.

“Courtesy escorts, such as those for Members of Congress, have been suspended to allow officers to focus on the mission of securing America’s skies,” the agency said.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing major carriers, said Saturday night that “it’s past time for Congress to get to the table and get a deal done.” It also criticized the announcement by saying it was “issued with extremely short notice to travelers, giving them little time to plan accordingly.”

Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security criticized Homeland Security handling of airport security after the initial announcement on Saturday night. They accused the administration of “kneecapping the programs that make travel smoother and secure.”

Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said Noem’s actions are part of an administration strategy to distract from other issues and shift responsibility.

“This administration is trying to weaponize our government, trying to make things intentionally more difficult for the American people as a political leverage,” he told CNN on Sunday. ”And the American people see that.”

TEL AVIV, Israel — Arab and Muslim nations on Saturday sharply condemned comments by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who said Israel has a right to much of the Middle East.

Huckabee made the comments in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that aired Friday. Carlson said that according to the Bible, the descendants of Abraham would receive land that today would include essentially the entire Middle East, and asked Huckabee if Israel had a right to that land.

Huckabee responded: “It would be fine if they took it all.” Huckabee added, however, that Israel was not looking to expand its territory and has a right to security in the land it legitimately holds.

His comments sparked immediate backlash from neighboring Egypt and Jordan, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the League of Arab States, which in separate statements called them extremist, provocative, and not in line with the U.S. position.

Egypt’s foreign ministry called Huckabee’s comments a “blatant violation” of international law, adding that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or other Arab lands.”

“Statements of this nature — extremist and lacking any sound basis — serve only to inflame sentiments and stir religious and national emotions,” the League of Arab States said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or the United States.

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has not had fully recognized borders. Its frontiers with Arab neighbors have shifted as a result of wars, annexations, ceasefires, and peace agreements.

During the six-day 1967 Mideast war, Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula as part of a peace deal with Egypt following the 1973 Mideast war. It also unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Israel has attempted to deepen control of the occupied West Bank in recent months. It has greatly expanded construction in Jewish settlements, legalized outposts, and made significant bureaucratic changes to its policies in the territory. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank and has offered strong assurances that he’d block any move to do so.

Palestinians have for decades called for an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with east Jerusalem its capital, a claim backed by much of the international community.

Huckabee has long opposed the idea of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian people. In an interview last year, he said he does not believe in referring to the Arab descendants of people who had lived in British-controlled Palestine as “Palestinians.”

In the latest interview, Carlson pressed Huckabee about his interpretation of Bible verses from the book of Genesis, where he said God promised Abraham and his descendants land from the Nile to the Euphrates.

“That would be the Levant, so that would be Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. It would also be big parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq,” Carlson said.

Huckabee replied: “Not sure we’d go that far. I mean, it would be a big piece of land.”

Israel has encroached on more land since the start of its war with Hamas in Gaza.

Under the current ceasefire, Israel withdrew its troops to a buffer zone but still controls more than half the territory. Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw further, though the ceasefire deal doesn’t give a timeline.

After Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted at the end of 2024, Israel’s military seized control of a demilitarized buffer zone in Syria created as part of a 1974 ceasefire between the countries. Israel said the move was temporary and meant to secure its border.

And Israel still occupies five hilltop posts on Lebanese territory following its brief war with Hezbollah in 2024.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was raising the global tariff he wants to impose to 15%, up from 10% he had announced a day earlier.

Trump said in a social media post on that he was making the decision “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” by the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the court ruled he didn’t have the emergency power to impose many sweeping tariffs, Trump signed an executive order on Friday night that enabled him to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on imports from around the world. The catch is that those tariffs would be limited to just 150 days, unless they are extended legislatively.

Trump’s post significantly ratcheting up a global tax on imports to the U.S. yet again was the latest sign that despite the court’s check, the Republican president was intent on continuing to wield in an unpredictable manner his favorite tool to for the economy and to apply global pressure. Trump’s shifting announcements over the last year that he was raising and sometimes lowering tariffs with little notice jolted markets and rattled nations.

Saturday’s announcement seemed to a be a sign that Trump intends to use the temporary global tariffs to continue to flex.

“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.

Under the order Trump signed Friday night, the 10% tariff was scheduled to take effect starting Feb. 24. The White House did not immediately respond to a message inquiring when the president would sign an updated order.

In addition to the temporary tariffs that Trump wants to set at 15%, the president said Friday that he was also pursuing tariffs through other sections of federal law which require an investigation by the Commerce Department.

Trump made an unusually personal attack on the Supreme Court judges who ruled against him in a 6-3 vote, including two of those he appointed during his first term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. Trump, at a news conference on Friday, said of the two justices: “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families.”

He was still seething Friday night, posting on social media complaining about Gorsuch, Coney Barrett, and Chief Justice John Roberts, who ruled with the majority and wrote the majority opinion. On Saturday morning, Trump issued another post declaring that his “new hero” was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote a 63-page dissent. He also praised Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who were in the minority, and said of the three dissenting justices: “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”