🇮🇷 IRAN
US Tells Americans:
Leave Iran
Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei (left) and US President Donald Trump (right)
The US Virtual Embassy in Iran told American citizens to "leave Iran now" ahead of US-Iran talks in Oman on Friday.
This isn’t the first time: they issued the same warning earlier in January amid protests across Iran.
Precautionary language, or something more?
Alert. A security notice posted early Friday urged Americans in Iran to depart and to prepare exit plans that do not rely on US assistance. This shows that Washington has limited ability to help inside Iran.
Talks. The warning landed just as US and Iranian officials were set for a new round of negotiations in Oman on Friday, with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expected to meet a team led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
In fact, as of writing, the talks have begun. 👇🏼
Demands. The US has demanded zero uranium enrichment in Iran, limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program, and an end to Iran’s support for regional proxy groups. Meanwhile, President Trump has threatened strikes if Tehran refuses.
Pressure. However, Iran initially rejected the package as an attack on its sovereignty and warned it would retaliate against US military targets in the region and Israel if attacked.
The US is still increasing its military posture in the Gulf led by the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln has been sent to the area.
📌 Context. The planned Oman talks would be the first official Tehran-Washington meeting since tensions spiked in June 2025 after a 12-day war with Israel led to US strikes that damaged Iran’s three main nuclear facilities.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 RUSSIA & UKRAINE
Abu Dhabi POW Deal
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) being transferred.
Click for video
Ukraine and Russia closed a second round of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi with a 314-person prisoner swap and an agreement to keep talking.
President Zelenskyy says the next meeting should happen soon, likely in the United States.
US envoy Steve Witkoff
Deal. US envoy Steve Witkoff said the US, Ukrainian, and Russian delegations agreed to exchange 314 prisoners of war, and the swap happened on Feb 5, 2026, the first such exchange in five months.
Russia’s defense ministry said 157 POWs were returned to each side, plus three civilians from Russia’s Kursk region.
Tone. Witkoff described the discussions as "constructive," and Zelenskyy publicly backed any diplomatic format that can deliver a lasting peace, while repeating that Ukraine needs firm security guarantees, including from Washington.
Zelenskyy said some freed Ukrainians had been held for nearly four years.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Pressure. US Treasury Secretary Bessent said further sanctions on Russia would depend on how the talks proceed. Bessent reiterated that he believes:
Russia’s 2022 invasion was illegal
Vladimir Putin is a war criminal
Faultline. However, the talks still crash into the same concrete wall: territory, especially Donetsk, where Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from the entire region.
However, Ukraine refuses, arguing for a freeze along current front lines instead.
Ukraine also says it wants control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, while the head of Russia’s Rosatom (State Atomiс Energy Corporation) said international cooperation is possible but only if the facility remains Russian.
🇮🇱 ISRAEL
"We will bring
Israel to its knees"
A coalition calling itself the Global Sumud Flotilla says it will send roughly 100 vessels toward Gaza in March, pitching the mission as a challenge to Israel's blockade.
The face of the push is Mandla Mandela, the grandson of the former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Announcement. The plan was announced Thursday night at a news conference at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, with Mandla Mandela urging activists worldwide to sign up for what organizers are calling "Mission 2026."
Organizers claimed the sailing would include about 1,000 medical professionals, plus engineers and people they described as "war crimes investigators."
Logistics. Organizers said ships would depart from Spain, Tunisia, and Italy, and that the flotilla would be paired with an overland convoy aimed at pulling in participants across the region.
They did not give a precise launch date, and they acknowledged that authorities, including in Egypt, are likely to block any attempt to reach Gaza by land.
Another organizer, Susan Abdallah, offered the more realistic line, saying, "We may not reach Gaza physically," while arguing the symbolism still matters.
Rhetoric. Mandela described the goal as isolating Israel and said activists could "bring it to its knees," casting the effort in the language of anti-apartheid campaigns.
Precedent. Sumud is not new to this, and neither is Israel's response.
A previous flotilla in October, after two smaller sailings in June and July, involved about 40 boats and was intercepted by the Israeli Navy.
Israel detained 450 participants, including Greta Thunberg, who were later deported.
Detractors called her flotilla a pro-Palestine “photo op,” with some pointing to footage that shows activists tossing phones into the sea, which critics says clashes with her image as an environmental activist.
Supporters, however, praised her for using her platform to spotlight what they describe as genocide in Gaza.
