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No formal direct talks have been held between the US and Iran for a decade. Now, as Donald Trump continues to threaten direct military attacks against the regime, Turkey is stepping in as a last-ditch mediator.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme, if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposed a video conference between Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian. It’s not yet known if the two sides will agree to the virtual sit down.
Araghchi’s visit on Friday comes against the backdrop of urgent international diplomacy and increasingly aggressive threats from both sides.
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday that his department would be able to deliver on any military instructions given by Trump. “They [Iran] have all the options to make a deal,” he said. “They should not pursue nuclear capabilities. And we will be prepared to deliver whatever this president expects.”
Iran seeks to avert US military action with talks in Ankara
Trump has warned Iran that time is running out, vowing that any US attack would be violent and far more extensive than the US intervention in Venezuela.
The Kremlin urged both sides to recognise there was still time for diplomacy, but Turkey appears to have taken up the mantle of the main mediator, as an increasingly apprehensive Middle East eyes a looming conflict that could easily spread across the region.
Senate Democrats reach deal to avoid partial government shutdown
The office of Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, confirmed the deal calls for splitting a funding bill for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from a package of other funding bills, and that the deal would fund DHS for two weeks at its current levels.
Canada separatists accused of ‘treason’ after secret talks with US state department
The premier of British Columbia had some choice words following news of covert meetings between separatist activists in the Canadian province of Alberta and members of the Trump administration.
“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” David Eby told reporters.
Trump threatens tariffs on goods from countries that sell oil to Cuba
The order, which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the Communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil.
ICE ends surge in Maine as border czar pledges to keep operation in Minnesota
Federal authorities have ended their immigration enforcement surge in Maine, a state senator said on Thursday, even as Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan insisted that the much bigger operation in Minnesota would continue.
Kennedy Center official resigns less than two weeks after hiring
The newly appointed senior vice-president of artistic programming at Washington DC’s John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kevin Couch, has resigned less than two weeks after his hiring was announced.
Couch confirmed he “resigned yesterday” in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.
Critics aghast as White House displays framed photo of Trump with Putin
Trump has apparently added a framed photo of himself standing with Vladimir Putin to the White House decor, prompting criticism from a senator, members of the media and beyond.
Newly surfaced photos from the Palm Room, which connects the West Wing to the executive residence, show a framed image of the US president and the Russian president at their summit in Alaska last August.
Trump has ordered the immediate reopening of commercial airspace over Venezuela, weeks after US military forces toppled the dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking at the White House during his cabinet’s first meeting of the year, Trump said he had just concluded a telephone conversation with Venezuela’s acting president (and former vice-president), Delcy Rodríguez, in which he informed her of the decision to restore flight access.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 28 January 2026.
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