Rabia Ali
04 February 2026•Update: 04 February 2026
ISTANBUL
Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Wednesday, including US President Donald Trump saying the US is negotiating with Iran. Russia, Ukraine, the US holding a trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi, and the US shooting down an Iranian drone approaching the American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
- US negotiating with Iran 'right now': Trump
The US is negotiating with Iran "right now," President Trump said Tuesday. "They are negotiating," Trump told reporters at the White House, without providing further details.
His remarks came after a US fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday after it approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.
"They had a chance to do something a while ago, and it didn't work out, and we did (Operation) Midnight Hammer. I don't think they want that happening again, but they would like to negotiate.
"We are negotiating with them right now," he said.
- Russia, Ukraine, US to hold trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi
The White House on Tuesday announced that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will attend trilateral negotiations with Russia and Ukraine in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
"Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be in Abu Dhabi tomorrow (Wednesday) for another round of trilateral talks," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.
Noting that the latest trilateral talks that took place in late January "are historic by nature," Leavitt claimed that the three countries have never "really been able to sit down at the negotiating table to move the ball forward towards peace."
"So, the special envoy (Witkoff) and Jared Kushner and President Trump made the impossible possible with respect to peace in the Middle East, and I know they're looking to do the same with respect to the Russia-Ukraine war," she said.
- US shoots down Iranian drone approaching American aircraft carrier in Arabian Sea
A US fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday after it approached an American aircraft carrier, an official said.
"USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was transiting the Arabian Sea approximately 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship.
"The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by US forces operating in international waters,” US Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said.
Hawkins said forces are ensuring the safety of US personnel, ships, and aircraft in the Middle East.
"Continued Iranian harassment and threats in international waters and airspace will not be tolerated. Iran’s unnecessary aggression near US forces, regional partners, and commercial vessels increases risks of collision, miscalculation, and regional destabilization," he added.
NEWS IN BRIEF
- Türkiye will continue to support Syria’s stability and work in cooperation with Saudi Arabia for Syrian reconstruction, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday.
- US President Trump said Tuesday that Washington and Venezuela's leadership are “getting along very well” and that roughly 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil are en route to Houston, Texas.
- Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan, his lawyer Khaled al-Zaidi and adviser Abdullah Osman said on Tuesday evening.
- Trump signed a bill on Tuesday to reopen the government, which was partially shut down on Saturday.
- A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Tuesday, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences.
- Two men died when a light aircraft crashed onto farmland in the Littleborough area, North West England, police said Tuesday.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned that Israel's "unlawful" plans to expand settlements in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank would sever its northern and southern parts and deal a serious blow to the two-state solution.
- The British government has referred materials to the police after an initial review of ex-minister Peter Mandelson's emails to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a statement on Tuesday.
- US special envoy Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday for talks on Iran, Israeli media reported.
- Britain's data protection watchdog said Tuesday it has launched a formal investigation into US tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X and xAI companies after the Grok AI tool produced indecent deepfakes without people’s consent.
- Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit announced Tuesday that they launched a search into the French premises of Musk's social media company X as part of an ongoing investigation.
- The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia’s West Java province rose to 85 as search and rescue operations entered their 12th day, local media reported Wednesday.
- Omar Shakir, the Israel-Palestine director of Human Rights Watch, and assistant researcher Milena Ansari have resigned in protest after the organization blocked a report they said labeled Israel's denial of Palestinian refugees' right of return a "crime against humanity.”
- French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that preparations are underway to resume dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while noting however that Moscow is not showing a "real intention" to negotiate peace with Ukraine.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Tuesday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss formalizing bilateral cooperation on critical minerals exploration, mining, and processing, the State Department said.
- The US State Department has approved a potential $3 billion sale to Saudi Arabia to support the sustainment of the kingdom’s F-15 fighter jet fleet.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
- Türkiye inks $2B energy investment agreement with Saudi Arabia on solar, wind energy projects
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia signed an energy investment agreement Tuesday worth about $2 billion, covering wind and solar power projects in Türkiye, the Turkish energy minister announced.
"In Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, we signed the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Türkiye and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Renewable Energy Power Plant Projects with my Saudi counterpart, His Excellency Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud," Alparslan Bayraktar wrote on Turkish social media platform NSosyal.
The two countries aim for Saudi companies to construct solar and wind power plants with a total capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) in Türkiye, said Bayraktar.
- Bitcoin dives to $73,000 for 1st time since November 2024
Bitcoin fell to just above $73,000 on Tuesday to its lowest level in more than 15 months, extending a downward trend amid large liquidation concerns.
The largest cryptocurrency in the world dropped to as low as $73,072.44, its lowest since November 2024.
Bitcoin was trading around $74,930 at 1900GMT Tuesday, dropping 4.5% day-on-day.
The total value of the global cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin, declined 4.6% in the last 24 hours to $2.52 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
