Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” to saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran — something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war.
Here’s the latest:
Ukrainian officials to meet Trump envoys in Geneva over more Russia talks
The Ukrainian delegation will meet with President Trump’s envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is due to hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday in Geneva, Zelenskyy told reporters.
A U.S. push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year, but the talks have produced no breakthrough on bridging key differences as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor enters its fifth year.
Thursday’s meeting will address details of a possible postwar recovery plan for Ukraine and discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Moscow officials, Zelenskyy said, adding that he has also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange.
Ukraine expects the U.S.-brokered talks with Russia to take place next week, Zelenskyy said.
Vice President JD Vance is making a post-State of the Union visit to a Wisconsin factory Thursday
Vance will deliver remarks “celebrating the Trump administration’s accomplishments” following Trump’s nationally televised address Tuesday night. The vice president’s office said he’ll do so at a to-be-named machining facility in Plover, Wisconsin, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.
High-level administration officials typically fan out across the country after the speech to promote the president’s message and policies. Trump himself won’t hit the road until Friday, when he heads to Texas to talk about the economy and energy policies days before the state’s March 3 congressional primaries.
This will be Vance’s second visit to swing-state Wisconsin as vice president. He was last in the state in August, when he promoted Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts law in the western Wisconsin city of La Crosse.
Trump narrowly won the state in 2024 presidential election after Wisconsin narrowly voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
If talks with Iran fail, uncertainty hangs over the timing of any possible attack
The U.S. hasn’t made clear the aims of possible military action. If the goal is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it’s not clear whether limited strikes will work. If the goal is to remove Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the U.S. to a more massive, longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.
The status of Iran’s nuclear program is another mystery. Trump earlier said American strikes “obliterated” it. Now, dismantling whatever remains of the program appears to be back on the administration’s agenda. IAEA inspectors haven’t been allowed to inspect those sites and verify what remains.
There’s also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the wider region. Tehran could retaliate against the American-allied nations of the Persian Gulf or Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part due to those concerns.
US futures rise as investors turn from Trump’s State of the Union speech to Nvidia’s latest results
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each rose 0.3% before the opening bell, while Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.
In his speech Tuesday night, Trump focused on jobs, manufacturing and an economy he says is stronger than many Americans believe. He didn’t dwell on efforts to lower the cost of living — despite polling showing that his handling of the economy and kitchen-table issues has increasingly become a liability.
Investors are closely watching for an earnings report due later in the day from chipmaking giant Nvidia. The quarterly report is likely to sway a jittery stock market as investors weigh whether the massive bets riding on technology’s latest craze will pay off.
As has been the case since Nvidia’s chipsets emerged as AI’s best building blocks, the expectations are sky-high for the results covering the company’s fiscal quarter, covering November through January.
Casey Means faces the Senate health committee in a confirmation hearing to be US surgeon general
Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement, will appear before the Senate health committee Wednesday as she seeks approval to be the nation’s surgeon general.
The Washington confirmation hearing was rescheduled from last October, when Means went into labor the day she was set to appear. It will give the 38-year-old nominee an opportunity to share her vision for ending chronic disease by addressing its root causes, including through dietary and lifestyle changes. It’s a message that dovetails with that of the nation’s health department, which has shifted its focus away from its controversial vaccine policy changes and toward healthy eating as the midterm elections approach.
But Means also will likely face tough questions about her qualifications and potential conflicts. The Stanford-educated physician’s disillusionment with traditional medicine drove her to a career in which she has promoted a wide range of products, at times without disclosing how she could benefit financially.
CIA offers tips to potential informants in Iran as Trump considers military action
The CIA offered help to potential informants in Iran on Tuesday, providing Farsi-language instructions on ways to contact the U.S. spy agency safely.
The post is the latest in a series of recruitment pitches in Farsi, Korean, Russian and Mandarin that offered secure ways to contact the CIA. The Farsi-language message posted Tuesday to X, Instagram and YouTube, however, comes at an especially uneasy time in U.S.-Iran relations and as the Iranian theocracy faces new protests at home.
In a sign of new unrest in Iran, students held anti-government protests at universities in Tehran on Monday.
“Hello. The Central Intelligence Agency hears you and wants to help,” the agency wrote in the message, according to an English translation. “Here are some tips on how to make a secure virtual call with us.”
The Farsi-language post racked up millions of views within just a few hours.
Trump plans to take his State of the Union message on the road – eventually
Trump’s address on Tuesday was a declaration of pride in the achievements of his still-young second term, as he boasted of an economic renaissance at home while he’s imposed a new world order abroad. Trump is getting his first opportunity to test drive that midterm year message later this week, when he travels to Texas, where the Latino voters whose shift toward Trump in his successful 2024 reelection campaign highlighted how he had reshaped the Republican coalition.
The White House is aiming to promote that message to a broader electorate that is largely disenchanted with Trump’s job performance, while a looming conflict in the Middle East threatens to shift focus away from his domestic priorities.
Still, the themes of economic prosperity and a more secure America that Trump emphasized in his 108-minute speech Tuesday night will underpin the broader narrative that he and his fellow Republicans will seek to sell to voters this November.
US military builds up the largest force of warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades
The Pentagon is building up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, as President Donald Trump warns of possible military action against Iran if talks over its nuclear program fall apart.
“It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, and we have to make a meaningful deal,” Trump said last week. “Otherwise bad things happen.”
Trump likely will have a host of military options, which could include surgical attacks on Iran’s air defenses or strikes focused on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, experts say. But they warn that Iran could retaliate in ways it hadn’t following attacks last year by the U.S. or Israel, potentially risking American lives and sparking a regional war.
“It will be very hard for the Trump administration to do a one-and-done kind of attack in Iran this time around,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group. “Because the Iranians would respond in a way that would make all-out conflict inevitable.”
Iran pushes back against Trump ahead of Geneva talks in face of major US military deployment
Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” to saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran — something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war as the embers of the yearslong Israel-Hamas war still smolder. Already, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk the tens of thousands of American service members in the region.
The Associated Press
