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Iran President Orders Talks with US as Trump Hopeful of Deal

Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
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Iran President Orders Talks with US as Trump Hopeful of Deal

Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran, 02 February 2026. (EPA)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said Monday, after US leader Donald Trump said he was hopeful of a deal to avert military action against the country. 

Following the Iranian authorities' deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East. 

Trump has maintained he is hopeful of making a deal and Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy, while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression. 

"President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States" on Iran's nuclear program, the Fars news agency reported on Monday, citing an unnamed government source. The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh. 

US news site Axios cited two unnamed sources saying Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday in Istanbul to discuss a possible deal on the nuclear file. 

Trump had warned "time is running out" for Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb, a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied. 

In an interview Sunday with CNN, Araghchi said, "President Trump said no nuclear weapons, and we fully agree. We fully agree with that. That could be a very good deal," adding that, "in return, we expect sanctions lifting". 

Iran foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier Monday Tehran was working on a method and framework for negotiations that would be ready in the coming days, with messages between the two sides relayed through regional players. 

- 'Police the world' - 

Türkiye has led a diplomatic push to defuse tensions, with Araghchi visiting Istanbul last week and speaking with other regional counterparts, including in Egypt and Jordan. 

Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, on Monday assured Araghchi the kingdom would "not be a battleground in any regional conflict or a launching pad for any military action against Iran". 

Iranian authorities, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei, have warned any US attack would trigger a "regional war". 

In Tehran, pensioner Ali Hamidi told AFP he was a veteran and "not afraid of war", but that "America should mind its own business, why does it want to police the world?" 

But, the 68-year-old added, "Iranian officials are also at fault for not providing for the people. The economic troubles are back-breaking... The officials should do something tangible, not just talk." 

The protests were sparked in late December by economic strain and exploded in size and intensity over several days in early January. 

Authorities have said the protests were "riots" inflamed by its arch foes the United States and Israel, with Khamenei likening them to a "coup" attempt. 

- Ambassadors summoned - 

Tehran has acknowledged thousands of deaths during the protests, and on Sunday the presidency published the names of 2,986 people out of the 3,117 whom authorities said were killed in the unrest. 

Authorities insist most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to "terrorist acts". 

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it has confirmed 6,842 deaths, mostly protesters killed by security forces, with rights groups warning the figure is likely far higher. 

Young Iranian Selina, who would not give her full name, travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan seeking some relief from "living in fear". 

"It's not safe for us" in Iran, the 25-year-old told AFP. 

"We don't even dare to go out after 6:00 pm because soldiers are everywhere." 

The crackdown prompted the European Union to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, with Iranian lawmakers retaliating on Sunday by slapping the same designation on European armies. 

The EU also issued fresh sanctions on Iranian officials, including the interior minister, a move echoed on Monday by Britain, which announced sanctions on 10 individuals over the "brutality against protesters". 

Baqaei said Monday the foreign ministry had summoned all the EU member state ambassadors in Tehran over the designation, and that other responses were to come. 

Iranian state television also announced four foreigners had been arrested in Tehran for "participation in riots", without specifying their nationalities. 

Authorities have continued to announce arrests, with rights groups estimating at least 40,000 people have been detained over the protests. 

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World

Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
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Earthquake Kills 8 Members of Same Family near Afghan Capital

Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)
Previous earthquake in Afghanistan (Archive-Reuters)

An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186 kilometers (115 miles) at the epicenter in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists.

"In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake," Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August, a shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest tremor in the country's recent history.

World

Ukrainian Drone and Missile Attack Kills at Least One in Southern Russia

Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
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Ukrainian Drone and Missile Attack Kills at Least One in Southern Russia

Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Rescue workers try to put out a fire caused by the fragments of a Russian drone that hit a private house during air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A Ukrainian drone and missile attack on southern Russia killed at least one person, injured four others, and sparked a blaze aboard a foreign-flagged vessel, Russian officials said on Saturday.

Earlier, Yuri Slyusar, ‌governor of ‌the Rostov region, ‌said ⁠that one person was ⁠killed and four seriously injured in an air attack by Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Commercial infrastructure was also damaged during the missile attack on ⁠the city of Taganrog. ‌

A ‌fire broke out in the warehouse ‌premises of a logistics ‌company, and a commercial vessel was damaged and a fire broke out ‌as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack ⁠in ⁠the Sea of Azov, Slyusar said.
Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said the Russian city of Togliatti was attacked by Ukrainian drones . It was not clear what was hit. Ukraine has previously targeted the TogliattiAzot chemical fertilizer producer.

World

2 US Aircraft Shot Down as War in Iran Escalates. At Least 1 Crew Member is Missing

Image circulating of American warplanes flying during the pilot rescue operation in western Iran (Social Media)
Image circulating of American warplanes flying during the pilot rescue operation in western Iran (Social Media)
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2 US Aircraft Shot Down as War in Iran Escalates. At Least 1 Crew Member is Missing

Image circulating of American warplanes flying during the pilot rescue operation in western Iran (Social Media)
Image circulating of American warplanes flying during the pilot rescue operation in western Iran (Social Media)

Iran shot down two US military planes in separate attacks Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing, in a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago.

It was the first time US aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the US has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”

One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A US crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a US military search-and-rescue operation was underway, reported The Associated Press.

Neither the White House nor Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.

“No, not at all. No, it’s war,” he said.

Separately, Iranian state media said a US A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Arabian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces.

A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said earlier that it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it went down was immediately known.

Those incidents came as Iran fired on targets across the Middle East on Friday, keeping the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors despite US and Israeli insistence that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed.

Second service member's status unknown

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. But the Pentagon notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member from the fighter jet was not known.

In an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.

Downed jet could mark a new level of pressure on the US Prior to word of the rescue, social media footage showed American drones, aircraft and helicopters flying over the mountainous region where a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television said earlier that at least one pilot bailed out of the fighter jet.

An anchor urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward.

It was the first time the US has lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the conflict and could mark a new level of pressure on the US military.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time that Iran went on television urging the public to look for a downed pilot.

Iranian state media said in a post on the social platform X that the military shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a pilot and weapons system officer.

Alan Diehl, a former investigator for the Air Force Safety Center, said the Strike Eagle has an emergency locator beacon in a survival kit that can be set to activate automatically or manually.

News about the downed planes came after Iran attacked Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery. The state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group, an Israeli drone strike on worshippers leaving Friday prayers near Beirut killed two people, according to the state‑run National News Agency

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with US and Israeli strikes. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a US-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Iran keeps a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz

World leaders, meanwhile, have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the waterway, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The UN Security Council was expected to take up the matter Saturday.

Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it does not open the strait and telling other nations to “go get your own oil.” On Friday he said in a post on social media that, “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109, up more than 50% since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the strait.