KOENIG

(photo: AP)

Negotiations between the United States and Iran are ongoing in Geneva as both sides attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the escalating nuclear standoff. According to US officials speaking to the Wall Street Journal, American negotiators have made clear that Iran must dismantle its three main nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, and surrender its remaining enriched uranium to the United States.

The US team is also demanding that any agreement be permanent, rejecting the phased sunset provisions that allowed certain restrictions to lapse under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

Republicans have long criticized the JCPOA as too weak, and President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the deal during his first term, reinstating severe sanctions on Tehran.

The Israel Defense Forces struck infrastructure of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Baalbek area of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Thursday.

The strike targeted Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, which for years trained to invade Israel’s north and seize communities under a plan known as the “Galilee invasion,” and on which Hamas modeled its cross-border invasion from Gaza to massacre 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a subsequent statement, the IDF confirmed that it had struck eight Radwan Force compounds that were used to “store weapons, train terrorists and plan attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians.”

Iranian media reported that the US left the negotiating table during the third round of talks between the US and Iran on Thursday.

The Trump administration is demanding that Iran agree to a nuclear deal that would remain in effect indefinitely, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told a recent private meeting of donors, according to a Wednesday Axios report. 

Witkoff reportedly told a private gathering of AIPAC donors on Tuesday that the administration aims to avoid a "sunset clause" to ensure there is no limit on the deal's duration, two sources familiar with his remarks told Axios. 

"We start with the Iranians with the premise that there is no sunset provision. Whether we get a deal or not, our premise is: you have to behave for the rest of your lives," the report quoted Witkoff as saying.

US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tilted heavily on domestic issues, but he also made the case for his foreign policy efforts to Americans who are increasingly uneasy about his priorities, vowing to “never hesitate” in confronting threats against the United States or let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.

The president cheered brokering a fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza and his team’s bringing home hostages taken by Hamas terrorists, striking Iranian nuclear sites last June, capturing autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and pressing fellow NATO members to increase defense spending among his biggest wins.

At a moment when polls show the American public increasingly concerned about the economy, Trump’s assignment Tuesday evening also was to cut through thickening skepticism that he’s staying true to his “America First” philosophy after a year in which his focus was often far from home. It’s a wariness shared by some who once counted themselves among Trump’s closest allies.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at Israel's Knesset on Wednesday afternoon after landing in Israel for an official state visit.

He strongly condemned the October 7 massacre and emphasized that his country empathized with Israel.

"We feel your pain. India stands with Israel firmly, with full conviction in this moment and beyond. Nothing justifies error,” he said during his remarks at the Knesset plenum.

US President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the limits of US military leverage against Iran, according to CBS News, citing sources familiar with the matter. 

This comes after aides told Trump that, unlike the recent operation removing leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, an operation in Iran would require more than one strike, according to the Monday CBS report. This could open the US up to a long-term military campaign in the Middle East, the report explained. 

(photo: Jack Guez, Pool via AP)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a state visit to Israel on Wednesday at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to India’s foreign ministry and Netanyahu himself. The visit will mark Modi’s second trip to Israel.

During the two-day visit, Modi will meet Netanyahu to assess “the significant progress made in the India-Israel Strategic Partnership,” the Indian government said in a statement issued in New Delhi on Tuesday. The two leaders are expected to discuss further cooperation in science and technology, innovation, defense and security, agriculture, trade, and more. 

Modi is also set to call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The Islamic Regime has been pushing for an interim deal, seeking to drag out talks with the United States to achieve a deal that would allow it to keep its ballistic missile programe, legitimize its nuclear program and get some degree of relief from US sanctions, Dr. Lynette Nusbacher, a former British Army intelligence officer and one of the architects behind two of the UK’s National Security Strategies as part of Britain’s National Security Secretariat, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

“The whole point of the American concentration of combat power against Iran is to force the [regime] to negotiate a deal… The regime isn't going to fall in armed conflict with the US, because the US isn't going to commit a joint force to fight in Iran. Nobody is going to,” she explained. “The US isn't bluffing: they'd really attack if they felt the Iranians are dragging their feet.”

(photo: Pool via Reuters)

A nuclear deal between the US and Iran is "within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X/Twitter on Tuesday evening.

"We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests," he said.

However, Iran will insist on redlines based on their "fundamental convictions," he insisted.

Israel will reply with “unimaginable” force if Iran launches an attack on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday evening while speaking at a 40-signature debate at the Knesset.

The prime minister said Israel was facing “very complex and challenging days” amid ongoing tensions with Iran and was prepared to respond to any threat.

“We are vigilant and prepared for every scenario. I have made it clear to the ayatollahs’ regime that if they make perhaps the gravest mistake in their history and attack Israel, we will respond with a force they cannot imagine,” he said.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive off Israel’s coast and dock in Haifa on Monday, the latest addition to US reinforcements in the Middle East as Jerusalem and Washington gear up for a potential war against Iran.

As part of the reinforcements, US tankers, as well as cargo and refueling aircraft, have arrived at Israeli airports and docks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that a planned visit by his Indian counterpart this week was part of a broader vision to build alliances to counter both Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim radicalism.

Speaking at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the premier said Israel would seek to deepen economic, diplomatic and security cooperation with New Delhi, while expanding partnerships with Mediterranean, African, Asian and moderate Arab countries.

Netanyahu hinted at new Asian partner nations “that I won’t detail at the moment,” saying he would present them “in an organized manner.”

The United States and Iran will hold their next round of nuclear talks Thursday in Geneva, a facilitator said Sunday, as the Islamic Republic faces both the threat of a U.S. military strike and new protests at home.

Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, confirmed the talks. Oman previously hosted the indirect talks on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program and facilitated the latest round in Geneva last week.

There was no immediate comment from the Trump administration, which has built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades as it pushes its longtime adversary for concessions on its nuclear program and more.

A third round of indirect nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran is planned for early March, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday.

“The negotiations continue and the possibility of reaching an interim agreement exists,” the official said.

The session would be a continuation of Oman-mediated meetings held earlier this month in Muscat and Geneva. The talks are taking place amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and rising tensions.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip will get the war-town coastal enclave “ready for a renaissance,” Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News‘ “My View with Lara Trump” last week.

“Who would ever have thought that we’d get to this place a year ago,” Witkoff told the president’s daughter-in-law, in an interview on the sidelines of Thursday’s Board of Peace meeting that aired Saturday.

The $17 billion raised by Board of Peace members for the reconstruction of Gaza “is going to jumpstart us,” he told Trump, adding: “We are going to have housing, and mass transportation, and we’re going to be able to clear and demolish all the areas there and get it ready for a renaissance.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee responded to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson in a series of posts on X/Twitter, after an interview at Ben-Gurion airport on Wednesday resulted in several unverified claims and assertions made by Carlson to discredit Israel.

Iran and the United States continued to slide rapidly toward military conflict at the weekend, as hopes faded for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program and regional actions, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe said.

Israel and Iran’s Gulf neighbors now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, the sources said, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Israel’s government believes Tehran and Washington are at an impasse and is making preparations for possible joint military action with the United States, though no decision has been made yet on whether to carry out such an operation, said a source familiar with the planning.

The Trump administration is considering an Iranian proposal that would allow so‑called “token” uranium enrichment, according to senior US officials cited by Axios. 

The potential concession would test the limits of longstanding US demands that Iran’s nuclear program not leave any possible path to a bomb.

Under the scenario outlined, Washington would evaluate a written Iranian offer in which Tehran retains minimal enrichment capacity but with strict safeguards to prevent any route to weaponization.

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, delivering a blow to the president in a case centered on one of his signature economic policies — one he characterized as "life or death" for the U.S. economy.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices invalidated Trump's tariffs. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

"The Framers gave that power to ‘Congress alone’ — notwithstanding the obvious foreign affairs implications of tariffs," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. "And whatever may be said of other powers that implicate foreign affairs, we would not expect Congress to relinquish its tariff power through vague language, or without careful limits."

US President Donald Trump is considering launching limited strikes on Iran to force it to accept his demands for a nuclear agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, as Tehran said bases of “hostile force” in the region would become “legitimate targets” if Washington attacks.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said preliminary US strikes on Iran could begin within days, targeting some military or government sites but stopping short of a full-scale assault that could trigger a major Iranian response.

If Iran continues to reject Trump’s demand that it give up its uranium enrichment program, the US will launch a wider assault on regime targets, with the possible aim of toppling the Islamic Republic, according to the newspaper. One source cited by the outlet said Trump could ramp up attacks until the Islamic Republic falls or takes apart its nuclear program.

Araghchi's remarks came amid reports that Trump is weighing an initial limited military strike on Iran to force the country to reach a deal on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs

U.S. President Donald Trump presided over the first Board of Peace meeting in Washington on Thursday morning, where officials gathered to discuss Phase 2 of his Gaza plan.

More than 40 countries, as well as the European Union, confirmed their attendance at Thursday’s inaugural meeting, an unnamed senior official in the U.S. administration told the Associated Press ahead of the event.

In addition to Trump, speakers at the summit included Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Special Envoy Steve Witkoff; Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz; Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; and the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov.

US President Donald Trump presided over the first meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday, with unresolved questions on the likelihood of war with Iran hanging over an event that included representatives from more than 45 nations.

The president said that he would "find out about Iran in about 10 days," Trump added. "We do have some work to do in Iran. They can't have a nuclear weapon."

Regarding the future of Gaza, Trump said he believed "Hamas will be getting rid of their weapons."

Iran on Thursday repeated its assertion that no country can “deprive” it of its “right” to nuclear enrichment, as US President Donald Trump continued to send US military assets into the Middle East in what a report called the biggest build-up of American air power in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on February 28, according to officials in the Trump administration, as Washington intensifies diplomatic and military preparations amid rising tensions with Iran.