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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN
The United States and Iran will meet today for a further round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva, mediated by Oman. Four Iranian officials said that Iran is likely to offer a suspension of nuclear activity and the enrichment of uranium for three to five years. After that, Iran would join a regional nuclear consortium while maintaining a very low level of enrichment, 1.5 percent, for medical research. It would also offer to dilute the 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium it still maintains in phases. The United States, in turn, has to incentivize Iran with rewards, such as lifting both the threat of war and sanctions. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
President Trump’s senior advisers would prefer Israel to strike Iran before the United States launches any strikes, according to two sources. The officials are arguing that an Israeli attack would trigger Iran to retaliate, helping garner support from U.S. voters for U.S. strikes. One source said that the thinking among those closest to Trump is “we’re going to bomb them” as a deal with Iran seems unlikely. Dasha Burns and Nahal Toosi report for POLITICO.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff yesterday told a gathering of AIPAC donors that the Trump administration is demanding that any nuclear deal with Iran must remain in effect indefinitely, according to two U.S. officials and two other sources. “We start with the Iranians with the premise that there is no sunset provision. Whether we get a deal or not, our premise is: you have to behave for the rest of your lives,” Witkoff said, according to the sources. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday imposed sanctions on more than 30 individuals, entities, and “shadow fleet” vessels that it said enabled Iran’s illicit petroleum sales, ballistic missiles, and weapons production. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also targeted multiple networks that enable Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics to secure precursor materials and machinery required for ballistic missiles. Patricia Zengerle reports for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
After Elon Musk’s SpaceX shut down access to Starlink satellite-internet terminals for Russian forces earlier this month, Russian troops lost crucial battlefield internet access, causing communication breakdowns and reduced military activity, according to radio transmissions intercepted by the Ukrainian reconnaissance unit. “On the Russian side, we observed on the very day Starlink was shut down that artillery and mortar fire dropped drastically,” a Ukrainian reconnaissance operator said, adding “coordination between their units has also become more difficult since then.” Ibrahim Naber reports for POLITICO.
Trump reiterated to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday that he wants to push for an end to the war as soon as possible, according to a Ukrainian official and two other sources. Trump also told Zelenskyy that he will work on making a trilateral leaders summit happen if the negotiating teams make some progress in early March. Yesterday’s 30-minute call was the first conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy since they met in Davos at the end of January. U.S. envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner are set to meet with Zelenskyy’s negotiating team in Geneva today. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Images of debris from Russian strikes on Ukraine strongly indicate that Moscow has used the 9M729 cruise missile which led Trump to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, according to two experts. The specialists based their analysis on images of fragments provided to Reuters by three Ukrainian law enforcement sources. Tom Balmforth reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Masoud & Ali Contracting Co, a Gaza-based firm, has been contracted to build an Emirati-funded compound for tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in a part of Gaza which remains under Israeli military control, two Israeli officials and two Palestinian businessmen told Reuters. The United Arab Emirates has not formally announced the housing project, but according to planning maps seen by Reuters, the compound would be built near Rafah. One of the Palestinian businessmen said the project consisted of pre-fabricated trailer-style units stacked multiple storeys high. Rami Ayyub, Nidal al-Mughrabi, and Alexander Cornwell report.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and tents in the Palestinian village of Susiya in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday night, residents said. Videos verified by Reuters showed a masked group of men, who residents said were Israeli settlers, burning property and vehicles. “They attack us almost every day, repeatedly, because we live near the main road,” a Susiya resident said yesterday. The U.N. has documented at least 86 instances of settler violence from Feb. 3 to 16, leading to the displacement of 146 Palestinians and injury of 64. Reuters reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Violent incidents involving Islamist groups in the border region between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria rose 90% between 2024 and 2025, and deaths more than doubled to over 1,000 as attacks intensified, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project said in a report published today. The report said fighters aligned with al Qaeda and Islamic State have deepened their presence in Benin’s Alibori and Borgou departments, Niger’s Dosso region, and Nigeria’s Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger and Kwara states. Their operations now reflect “continued spread, growing lethality, and rising risks to civilians,” it added. Macdonald Dzirutwe and David Lewis report for Reuters.
A Hong Kong court today sentenced Kwok Yin-sang, the father of a U.S.-based activist, to eight months in prison for attempting to withdraw some funds from his daughter’s insurance policy. This is the first case against a family member of a pro-democracy advocate brought under national security law. Kanis Leung reports for AP News.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
OpenAI has banned a ChatGPT account linked to Chinese Law enforcement which tried to use the AI chatbot to undermine support for Japan’s prime minister, OpenAI said in a report yesterday. The operation was unusual and “revealed a lot about China’s strategy for covert influence operations and transnational repression,” Ben Nimmo, a principal investigator at OpenAI, told reporters. Sam Sabin reports for Axios.
Major tech companies, including OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft, are expected to join Trump next week at the White House to sign a “ratepayer protection pledge” committing to build or buy their own electricity to power AI data centers. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters yesterday that the event would result in a “unified announcement” on companies’ cooperation. Chuck McCutcheon and Ben Geman report for Axios.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Zimbabwe has rejected a U.S. health deal that would have provided $367 million in funding over five years because of Washington’s demand for sensitive data. A spokesperson for Zimbabwe’s government explained that the United States was demanding access to biological samples for research and commercial gain, but was not willing to share the benefits for future vaccines or treatments. “We will now turn to the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe,” U.S Ambassador to Zimbabwe Pamela Tremont announced on Tuesday. Shingai Nyoka reports for BBC News.
The Trump administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to oppose foreign “data sovereignty” and localization laws, according to an internal diplomatic cable, dated Feb. 18, seen by Reuters. The cable, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said such laws would “disrupt global data flows, increase costs and cybersecurity risks, limit Artificial Intelligence and cloud services, and expand government control in ways that can undermine civil liberties and enable censorship.” Raphael Satter and Alexandra Alper report.
British far-right and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson yesterday visited the State Department and met with at least one U.S. official, social media posts from Robinson and a department official showed. “Honored to have free speech warrior @TRobinsonNewEra at Department of State today,” State Department official Joe Rittenhouse said. “The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy.” Humeyra Pamuk reports for Reuters.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
Cuban border troops killed four people and wounded six during a confrontation with a Florida-tagged speedboat yesterday. Cuba’s Ministry of Interior said the speedboat’s passengers opened fire on troops after they approached the vessel in Cuban territorial waters. In a statement, the Cuban government said the 10 people involved in the attack were Cuban nationals living in the United States who “intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.” The Cuban authorities seized assault rifles, handguns, and explosive devices following the confrontation. Jacob Wendler reports for POLITICO.
Rubio said yesterday that U.S. officials are looking into Cuba’s confrontation with the Florida-tagged boat, adding that there was no U.S. government operation in Cuba and no U.S. personnel were involved. “We’re going to find out exactly what happened here, and then we’ll respond accordingly,” Rubio said. Julianna Bragg and Rebecca Falconer report for Axios.
The Treasury Department said yesterday that it would authorize companies seeking licenses to resell Venezuelan oil to Cuba’s private sector, according to guidance posted on the Department’s website. The guidance makes clear that potential transactions must “support the Cuban people, including the private sector,” while transactions involving or benefiting the Cuban military or other government institutions would not be covered. Marianna Parraga and Simon Lewis report for Reuters.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro cannot pay for his legal defense in the federal cases against him because the Trump administration will not allow the Venezuelan government to fund his representation, according to a court filing from Maduro’s lawyer yesterday. Erica Orden reports for POLITICO.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Trump administration told Congress earlier this month that it will not share the classified intelligence that led to a whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, citing executive privilege, according to an email reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. In a letter to Gabbard sent on Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-IN) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) asked who asserted privilege over the intelligence report and on what basis. Dustin Volz reports.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) yesterday condemned the arrest of her guest to the State of the Union, Aliya Rahman, who was previously dragged from her vehicle by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Rahman has been charged with unlawful conduct by disrupting congress, according to Rahman, Omar, and the U.S. Capitol Police. Omar said the arrest “sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy.” Chris Cameron and Michael Gold report for the New York Times.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) yesterday sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking her to explain why dozens of pages of interviews and notes relating to allegations of Trump’s sexual abuse of a minor were not among the documents released in the latest tranche of Epstein files. Stephen Fowler reports for NPR.
Lawrence H. Summers, a Harvard University economist and the school’s former president, will resign from his faculty appointments, relinquishing his University Professorship, a Harvard spokesperson confirmed to The Crimson. Summers has also resigned as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. The announcement comes months after documents released by the Justice Department showed a close relationship between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein. Mark Arsenault reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Around 10 FBI employees were dismissed this week for their work on the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to five sources. The firings came hours after FBI Director Kash Patel told Reuters that the FBI had subpoenaed phone metadata from himself and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in 2022 and 2023 during the documents inquiry. Patel portrayed the seizing of his phone records by the FBI and efforts to conceal them as an example of overreach by unelected government officials under Biden. It has been known for years that Patel was closely scrutinised by the investigators under special counsel Jack Smith and that some of Wiles’s phone records were obtained. Glenn Thrush, Alan Feuer, and Devlin Barrett report for the New York Times.
Vice President JD Vance yesterday announced that the Trump administration would temporarily halt $259.5 million in Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concerns. Michelle L. Price and Ali Swenson report for AP News.
Homeland Security Department official Heather Honey yesterday told election officials that ICE officers will not be stationed at polling places in November. “Any suggestion that ICE is going to be present at polling places is simply disinformation,” Heather Honey said. Andrew Howard and Erin Doherty report for POLITICO.
Treasury Department Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley is leaving his post after privately raising objections to the Trump administration’s plan to crack down on alleged fraud within the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota, according to seven sources. Two sources said he raised data privacy concerns over the plans in question. Hurley denied these claims, saying “anyone who has told you I do not proudly support these America First efforts is either uninformed or malicious.” Andrew Ackerman, Jeff Stein, Natalie Allison, and Ellen Nakashima report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday ruled that the Trump administration’s policy to quickly remove people to third countries to which they have no previous connection is unlawful, stating that people must receive meaningful notice and the chance to challenge their deportations. Gary Grumbach and Daniella Silva report for NBC News.
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