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Rubio Says US Ready to Meet Iran but Must Discuss Missiles

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a news conference during the first Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department's Harry S. Truman Building on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a news conference during the first Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department's Harry S. Truman Building on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Rubio Says US Ready to Meet Iran but Must Discuss Missiles

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a news conference during the first Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department's Harry S. Truman Building on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a news conference during the first Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department's Harry S. Truman Building on February 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

The United States is ready to meet Iran this week, but discussions must cover its missile and nuclear programs, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

Rubio did not confirm a meeting on Friday with Iran's clerical state, which has violently put down some of the most serious protests against its rule since the 1979 revolution.

"If the Iranians want to meet, we're ready," Rubio told reporters.

"They've expressed an interest in meeting and talking. If they change their mind, we're fine with that too," he said, after President Donald Trump ordered a sharp military buildup near Iran's coast and threatened to strike.

"In order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles, that includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, that includes their nuclear program and that includes the treatment of their own people," Rubio said.

Iran in previous talks on its disputed nuclear program has ruled out discussions on its missiles, casting the weapons that can hit Israel as a tool of self-defense to which every country has a right.

But Iran has been under growing pressure from the protests and after an Israeli bombing campaign last year. Iran has also lost key regional allies with Israel's severe degrading of Lebanon's Hezbollah and the fall of veteran Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Iranian state media said Wednesday that talks with the United States would take place Friday in Oman, after diplomats earlier said the meeting would happen on Friday in Türkiye.

Rubio said that US envoy Steve Witkoff had been ready to meet with Iran in Türkiye but then received "conflicting reports" on whether Tehran had agreed.

"That's still being worked out," he said of the location for the talks.

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World

Universities Slam Belgian Refusal to Evacuate Gaza Students

Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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Universities Slam Belgian Refusal to Evacuate Gaza Students

Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Belgium's top universities condemned on Monday the government's refusal to help 13 students from war-torn Gaza who received scholarships at Belgian universities reach the country.

Brussels set aside plans to evacuate the Palestinian students last week in a case that has split the coalition government.

The rectors of the European country's top 10 universities expressed their "dismay" at the move in a letter, accusing the administration of using the students as "bargaining chips" in a "disgraceful political horse-trading".

Centrist Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has advocated in favor of evacuating the students but has faced opposition from the Flemish conservatives party of Prime Minister Bart De Wever, according to a government source.

Prevot said one member of the five-party coalition demanded concessions on migration, including the creation of deportation centers, in return for greenlighting the evacuations.

"They must not be treated as bargaining chips or as variables to be adjusted in political debates on migration," the rectors wrote of the Gaza students.

"Their cases must be assessed for what they are: those of students and researchers who have been awarded scholarships on the basis of their academic merit and who have all expressed their intention to return to their home countries to contribute to their reconstruction."

The students are among about 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza currently waiting to reach Belgium, having been granted the right to do so, mainly under family reunification rules, according to several NGOs.

Yet, evacuations from the Palestinian territory at war with Israel are proceeding at a trickle, with activists and now the universities accusing the government of deliberately slowing down the process.

"Discussions in recent weeks also show that the obstacles cited do not stem from insurmountable constraints but rather from a lack of political will," the university chiefs wrote.

The case is not isolated, with Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Türkiye, the Netherlands, Germany also reporting delays in recent months.

Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,221 people, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel's offensive has since claimed at least 73,470 lives in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which operates under Hamas.

World

China’s Spy Chief Warns of National Security Risks from AI

People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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China’s Spy Chief Warns of National Security Risks from AI

People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)

The head of China's spy agency has warned that artificial intelligence endangers the country's national security, with foreign powers potentially using the technology to threaten social order.

"Hostile forces" were abusing generative AI technologies to "fabricate political rumors and spread harmful information", Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article published online on Sunday.

"They launch public opinion wars and cognitive warfare against China, directly threatening our political security, institutional security and ideological security," he said.

The warning comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this month, with AI governance and safety set to be part of their discussions as calls mount for greater oversight of the technology.

US tech leaders have also called for slowing AI advances.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned on Saturday of the "reckless" speed of AI technology development, as worries mount over the risks of superintelligent computer systems.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman said he agreed with Amodei's assessment.

But Chen warned that AI was now "the main battleground for global technological competition and a new track for major power strategic rivalry".

He did not mention existential risks or putting the brakes on technological advances, but singled out Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's ChatGPT-5.5-Cyber for their advanced hacking capabilities that potentially "pose serious risks to China's critical information infrastructure".

"Foreign intelligence agencies are deeply using technologies such as intelligent web crawlers, intelligent data mining, and intelligent profiling analysis to extensively collect and acquire sensitive information such as key national data, trade secrets, and citizens' personal privacy," Chen said.

The US-Iran war has also demonstrated AI's key role in the military, with better technology offering battlefield advantages, he said.

China must "ensure independent control of key core technologies" -- including the advanced computer chips vital to training AI models -- to secure its technology sovereignty, Chen wrote.

World

Boat with Migrants Stranded in Southern Greece with 1 Dead and 20 Missing

File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Boat with Migrants Stranded in Southern Greece with 1 Dead and 20 Missing

File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)

A boat carrying migrants from Libya to the island of Crete took on water and became stranded, leaving at least one dead while 20 are believed to be missing, authorities in Greece said.

The Greek coast guard said 51 people were rescued from the site early Monday, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of Crete. Patrol boats, a helicopter and a drone as well as commercial vessels were involved in the search assisted by the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, said The Associated Press.

The perilous route across the Mediterranean from eastern Libya to Crete has become one of the busiest into Europe for illegal migration, as their numbers on other routes are broadly lower.