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Pentagon Chief Says Trump Still Aiming for Deal with Iran 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
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Pentagon Chief Says Trump Still Aiming for Deal with Iran 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services to discuss the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2025. (EPA)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Monday that President Donald Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran even as hostilities have escalated between US ally Israel and Tehran, while a White House aide said separately that Washington was not attacking Iran.

"Of course," Hegseth said on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" show when asked if Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran.

"We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here," Hegseth said.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump said "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran," citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.

Israel attacked Iran on Friday and since then the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, in five days while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed. Israel says it aims to eliminate what it calls threats posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the region widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

The air war between Iran and Israel has raised further alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023.

Washington has thus far maintained it is not involved in Israeli attacks on Iran and warned Tehran not to attack US interests or personnel in the region.

"We're vigilant, we're prepared, and we have messaged ... consistently from the beginning that we're in the region to defend our people and our assets," Hegseth said on Fox News.

White House aide Alex Pfeiffer took to social media platform X to deny online claims that the US was attacking Iran.

"This is not true. American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed," Pfeiffer said.

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World

Iran’s Leadership Is in Its ‘Final Days and Weeks’, Germany’s Merz Says

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
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Iran’s Leadership Is in Its ‘Final Days and Weeks’, Germany’s Merz Says

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday he assumes Iran's leadership is in its "final days and weeks" as it ​faces widespread protests.

Demonstrations in Iran have evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to calls for the fall of the clerical establishment in the country.

"I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this ‌regime," Merz said ‌during a trip ‌to ⁠India, questioning ​the Iranian ‌leadership's legitimacy.

"When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime."

Merz said Germany was in close contact with the United States ⁠and fellow European governments on the situation in ‌Iran, and urged Tehran to end ‍its deadly crackdown ‍on protesters.

He did not comment on ‍Germany's trade ties with Iran.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that any country that does business with Iran will face a tariff ​rate of 25% on trade with the United States.

Germany maintains limited trade ⁠relations with Iran despite significant restrictions, making Berlin Tehran's most important trading partner in the European Union.

German exports to Iran fell 25% to just under 871 million euros ($1.02 billion) in the first 11 months of 2025, representing less than 0.1% of total German exports, according to federal statistics office data seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

World

Finland Summons Iran Envoy Over Deadly Protests

A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
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Finland Summons Iran Envoy Over Deadly Protests

A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo
A Finnish flag flies over the City Hall in Helsinki, Finland, February 10, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Little/File photo

Finland's foreign minister said Tuesday that she would summon Iran's ambassador, after Tehran's nationwide shutdown of the internet and violent crackdown on protests.

"Iran's regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence," Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen wrote on X.

"This will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran — women and men alike", she said, adding that she would "summon the Iranian ambassador this morning."

Valtonen also said the Nordic country was also "exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people" together with the EU.

Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Monday that the violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran has killed at least 648 people.

A nationwide shutdown of the internet by authorities in Iran, which activists fear is aimed at masking the scale of a crackdown, has now lasted over 108 hours, a monitor said on Tuesday.

World

North Korea's Kim Revamps Private Security Detail, South Says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
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North Korea's Kim Revamps Private Security Detail, South Says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, January 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has replaced three top officials in charge of his personal security, Seoul said Tuesday, a sign the despot may increasingly fear assassination plots.

Seoul's Unification Ministry -- responsible for managing relations with Pyongyang -- said three state agencies handling Kim's security had new bosses, AFP said.

The reshuffle was spotted during a military parade in October, the ministry said.

The changes at the Bodyguard Command in particular, which handles security measures against drone or electronic attacks, could be linked to Kim's decision to send troops to aid Russia's war in Ukraine, an expert said.

"Change in the pattern of Kim's security detail was detected from October 2024, when he deployed North Korean troops to Russia," Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

"He could have judged there could be an assassination attempt against him involving Ukrainians amid heightened international spotlight due to the deployment," he added.

Seoul's spy agency previously said Kim had upgraded the level of security around him due to the risk of attempts on his life.

Kim's office sought to obtain equipment capable of jamming communications and drone detection gear in response, the agency said.

In the past year, Kim has often been seen accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae on official duties including the inspection of a nuclear-powered submarine.

Analysts say she is likely next in line to run the nuclear-armed dictatorship.

This month's capture by the United States of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has also likely heightened security fears in Pyongyang, analysts say.

The operation represents a nightmare scenario for North Korea's leadership, which has long feared a so-called "decapitation strike" of that kind and accused Washington of seeking to remove it from power.