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Iran Says US ‘More Realistic’ on Nuclear Issue, as Guards Begin Drills in Hormuz Strait

Iranians walk past an anti-US billboard at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 16 February 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk past an anti-US billboard at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 16 February 2026. (EPA)
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Iran Says US ‘More Realistic’ on Nuclear Issue, as Guards Begin Drills in Hormuz Strait

Iranians walk past an anti-US billboard at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 16 February 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk past an anti-US billboard at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 16 February 2026. (EPA)

Iran said on Monday that the United States' position on Iran's nuclear program "has moved towards a more realistic one", a day ahead of a second round of US-Iranian talks in Geneva. 

Tehran's foreign minister arrived in Geneva for the new round of indirect negotiations with the US, as the Revolutionary Guards began military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil and gas. 

The two sides recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month. 

A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. 

"A cautious assessment is that, from the discussions that have taken place in Muscat to date, at least what we have been told is that the US position on the Iranian nuclear issue has moved towards a more realistic one," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, the official IRNA news agency reported. 

According to Tehran, talks mediated by Oman will be held on Tuesday in Switzerland. 

Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed including Iran's ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region. 

The war games being conducted by the Guards, the ideological arm of the military, aim to prepare it for "potential security and military threats" in the strait, Iranian state TV said. 

Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the strait, a strategic waterway through which about 20 percent of global oil passes, as both sides ramp up pressure with talks set to resume. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday "we're hopeful there's a deal". 

"The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things." 

Meanwhile, Iran's top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on X that he was meeting in Geneva with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, "for deep technical discussion". 

Grossi later confirmed the meeting on X, calling the conversation with Araghchi "in-depth" ahead of Tuesday's "important negotiations". 

- Protest crackdown - 

Araghchi is also set to hold talks with his Swiss and Omani counterparts as well as other international officials, Iran's foreign ministry said. 

"I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table: submission before threats," Araghchi added on X. 

Washington has dispatched Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, the White House confirmed on Sunday. 

The latest talks follow repeated threats from Trump of military action against Tehran, first over Iran's deadly crackdown on anti-government protests, and then more recently over the country's nuclear program. 

The West fears the program is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. 

On Friday, Trump said a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen", as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure. 

His remarks came before demonstrations outside Iran against its clerical authorities swept a number of cities including in the US over the weekend. 

Iranians inside the country have also defied the deadly crackdown on protests last month and continued to shout slogans against the authorities from their windows. 

- 'Viable' deal - 

Iran's deputy foreign minister told the BBC that Tehran would consider compromises on its uranium stockpile if Washington lifts sanctions that have crippled the country's economy. 

"If we see the sincerity on their (American) part, I am sure we will be on a road to have an agreement," said Majid Takht-Ravanchi. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that any deal must involve the removal of all enriched uranium from Iran as well as Tehran's ability to enrich more. 

The whereabouts of Iran's stockpile of around 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent remains unknown, with inspectors having last seen it in June. 

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World

Suspected Measles Cases Kill Nearly 1,000 as Bangladesh Struggles to Contain Outbreak

A child receives treatment for measles, at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital & Institute in Dhaka on September 3, 2026. (Photo by Salahuddin Ahmed / AFP)
A child receives treatment for measles, at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital & Institute in Dhaka on September 3, 2026. (Photo by Salahuddin Ahmed / AFP)
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Suspected Measles Cases Kill Nearly 1,000 as Bangladesh Struggles to Contain Outbreak

A child receives treatment for measles, at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital & Institute in Dhaka on September 3, 2026. (Photo by Salahuddin Ahmed / AFP)
A child receives treatment for measles, at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital & Institute in Dhaka on September 3, 2026. (Photo by Salahuddin Ahmed / AFP)

Eight-month-old Rojatun Jannat Ramisa is struggling to breathe in a hospital in Bangladesh’s capital as her parents sit helplessly beside her. She's one of thousands of children sickened by a measles outbreak that's sweeping across the country and has killed hundreds of children following setbacks to the country's vaccine program.

Ramisa’s mother Ranu Akhter traveled hundreds of kilometers (miles) after doctors in eastern Bangladesh referred her to a specialized child hospital in Dhaka to seek treatment for the life-threatening condition, The Associated Press said.

“Fourteen days ago, when we were at the district hospital, there were other children being treated alongside my daughter. I saw that those children also had red rashes on their bodies, sores in their mouths and fevers,” Akhter told The Associated Press at Dhaka Shishu Hospital.

“It made me realize how widespread the measles outbreak is,” she said.

Every day, the death toll is rising.

Bangladesh races to vaccinate children Bangladesh has been racing to halt the outbreak's spread since March, when more than 100 children died in less than a month. By Tuesday, the death toll from suspected measles cases reached 999 since the start of the year, according to the government’s Directorate General of Health Services.

Since March, the country has recorded more than 166,000 suspected measles cases, including 19,835 laboratory-confirmed infections, according to the Ministry of Health.

The government launched an emergency vaccination drive in March together with the World Health Organization, the UN children’s agency and the Gavi vaccine alliance. It began with a focus on children from 6 months to 5 years old and later expanded nationwide in phases.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that causes fever, respiratory symptoms and a characteristic rash. It can sometimes have severe or fatal complications, especially in young children, according to the WHO.

Two doses of a vaccine provide strong protection against measles, but the WHO says 95% of the population has to be vaccinated in order to stop the disease from spreading — which protects children like Ramisa who are too young to be vaccinated as well as immunocompromised people.

The pandemic and political upheaval set back vaccinations

A few years ago, Bangladesh had measles largely under control, with a vaccination program that was credited for decades for protecting children and mothers from the deadly diseases of tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis and measles. Between 2021 and 2025, the country recorded just 100 to 300 cases per year, down from 2,410 cases in 2020.

But in the last few years, disruptions to the vaccine program have left a growing number of children unvaccinated.

First the pandemic interrupted routine vaccinations, and then in 2024 the government largely missed a vaccination campaign previously carried out every four years.

Atiqul Islam, a neonatal and child specialist at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, said during the pandemic period in 2021 and 2022, many did not take their children to get vaccinated.

“So, if you look at children who are now four or five years old, many of them missed their vaccinations. That created a gap. During the previous interim government, vaccines were also unavailable at many vaccination centers,” he said.

Rival politicians trade blame for vaccine shortfall Bangladesh's current government, headed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, said the failures in planning under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and interim leader Muhammad Yunus left the country with shortages of vaccines and far behind on coverage.

The 2024 measles vaccination campaign was disrupted during the political upheaval that led to Hasina’s ouster. She left the country in the face of a mass uprising in August 2024, and was followed by Yunus, who led an interim administration that transferred power to an elected government after an election in February.

From exile in India, Hasina blamed the Yunus-led government for the disaster.

Doctor says things are getting better, but not fast enough At Bangladesh Shishu Hospital, Islam said the situation has improved, but not enough.

The doctor said his colleagues are struggling to treat infected children who often arrive at the hospital with serious complications like pneumonia, diarrhea and encephalitis, or brain swelling.

“For the past six months, we have been treating measles patients continuously, and we are exhausted,” he said.

World

Merz Says Disaster Narrowly Averted in Russia-Prepared Drone Attack at Airport

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on during a debate at the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on during a debate at the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
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Merz Says Disaster Narrowly Averted in Russia-Prepared Drone Attack at Airport

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on during a debate at the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz looks on during a debate at the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, 09 September 2026. (EPA)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport had been prepared in Russia over an extended period and that a disaster was only narrowly ‌averted.

"This attack ‌was planned in ‌Russia ⁠for months and ⁠was specifically targeted at Germany, and only by pure chance was major material damage and harm to people ⁠prevented," Merz told the lower ‌house ‌of parliament.

Merz spoke after ‌the far-right Alternative for ‌Germany scored a major victory in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, running ‌on a platform that includes calls for ⁠closer ties ⁠with Moscow.

Russia has rejected any involvement in the drone incident at Leipzig airport, and its foreign minister has said these accusations were "the start of a real war".

World

UK Rejects Israel’s ‘Damaging’ Sanctions Retaliation

A view shows the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
A view shows the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
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UK Rejects Israel’s ‘Damaging’ Sanctions Retaliation

A view shows the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, 09 September 2026. (EPA)
A view shows the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, 09 September 2026. (EPA)

British foreign minister Ed Miliband on Wednesday condemned as "regrettable and damaging" Israel's decision to order the closure of the UK's consulate in Jerusalem as retaliation for London-led Western sanctions over settler violence. 

"We anticipated this might happen because we saw other countries, the Dutch, for example, who had announced sanctions, who had seen these reprisals from Israel. I think they're regrettable and damaging," Miliband told BBC Radio. 

Israel on Tuesday ordered the closure after 12 countries including Britain, Canada and France announced they would sanction trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, following a surge in settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel said it would also expel British representatives at a center monitoring the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza, bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces and ban 12 Britons, mostly members of parliament, from visiting the country. 

Miliband rejected suggestions that the sanctions would impact intelligence cooperation with Israel. 

"We have important intelligence and security relationships with Israel, and I'm confident they will continue," he said, declining to go into details. 

"And I was very clear yesterday that we do believe in working with our Israeli partners when it comes to the threats they face from Iran," he added. 

Miliband also dismissed the criticism of the sanctions by Britain's chief rabbi. 

Ephraim Mirvis on Tuesday called the measures "little more than political flag-bearing". 

He said it was a "truly a dark day for British Jews", predicting that the measures "will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target". 

Several antisemitic attacks in London this year have targeted synagogues and other Jewish sites.