Trump says US-Iran talks in Oman were 'very good,' claims Tehran wants a deal

Israel has blown up buildings east of Khan Younis, according to The New Arab's sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Jordanian King Abdullah II discussed Gaza's ceasefire according to Qatar News Agency, saying that the two discussed developments on the ground and rejected a displacement of Palestinians from the enclave.

Two Palestinians were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers between the village of Rammun and the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Settlers blocked the road between the two locations and assaulted two Palestinians, with one being transferred to hospital for head injuries.

US President Donald Trump's lead Iran negotiator Steve Witkoff on Saturday said he visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier currently in the Arabian Sea, with Washington and Tehran due to hold further talks soon.

"Today, Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, Jared Kushner, and I met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump's message of peace through strength," said Witkoff in a social media post.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday he hoped talks with the United States would resume soon, while reiterating Tehran's red lines and warning against any American attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, where they will discuss negotiations with Iran, Netanyahu's office said on Saturday.

Iranian and US officials held indirect nuclear talks in the Omani capital Muscat on Friday. Both sides said more talks were expected to be held again soon.

A regional diplomat briefed by Tehran on the talks told Reuters Iran insisted on its "right to enrich uranium" during the negotiations with the US, and that Tehran's missile capabilities were not raised in the discussions.

Iranian officials have ruled out putting Iran's missiles - one of the largest such arsenals in the Middle East - up for discussion, and have said Tehran wants recognition of its right to enrich uranium.

"The Prime Minister believes that any negotiations must include limiting ballistic missiles and halting support for the Iranian axis," Netanyahu's office said in a statement. 

UNICEF has reported that 37 Palestinian children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the year, despite what it described as a fragile ceasefire.

In a report released on Friday examining the situation of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank, the UN agency also said that two children were killed and 25 others injured in the West Bank during January.

Since the beginning of the year, “37 children have been killed across the Gaza Strip,” UNICEF said, warning that conditions for children remain dire.

“The situation remains extremely precarious and deadly for many children in Gaza. Children continue to suffer from airstrikes and are impacted by the collapse of health, water, and education systems,” the report added.

Syria and Saudi Arabia signed deals Saturday that include a joint airline and a $1-billion project to develop telecommunications, officials said, as Syria seeks to rebuild after years of war.

Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of Syria's authorities who took power after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

The new authorities in Damascus have worked to attract investment and have signed major agreements with several companies and governments, including Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Syrian Investment Authority chief Talal al-Hilali announced a series of deals including "a low-cost Syrian-Saudi airline aimed at strengthening regional and international air links".

The agreement also includes the development of a new international airport in the northern city of Aleppo with a capacity of 12 million passengers, and redeveloping the existing facility, according to governor Azzam al-Gharib.

Hilali also announced an agreement for a project called SilkLink to develop Syria's "telecommunications infrastructure and digital connectivity".

Syrian Telecommunications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal told the signing ceremony that the project would be implemented "with an investment of around $1 billion".

For decades, Syria was unable to secure significant investments because of Assad-era sanctions.

But the United States fully removed its remaining sanctions on Damascus late last year, paving the way for the full return of investments.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border on Saturday, pledging reconstruction.

It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January.

Swathes of south Lebanon's border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometres (20 miles) further south.

Visiting Tayr Harfa, around three kilometres from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said frontier towns and villages had suffered "a true catastrophe".

He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns.

Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags.

In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said authorities would "rehabilitate 32 kilometres of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure" and power lines in the district.

Iraq has so far received 2,225 Islamic State group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP news agency on Saturday.

They are among up to 7,000 IS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at "ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities".

Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF's role in confronting IS had come to an end.

Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister's office, told AFP on Saturday that "Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition", which Washington has led since 2014 to fight IS.

He said they are being held in "strict, regular detention centres".

A Kurdish military source told AFP the "continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition", using another name for IS.

Thousands of people protested in Berlin on Saturday in support of Iranians' nationwide uprising, coinciding with the anniversary of Iran's 1979 anti-monarchy revolution.

The rally follows nationwide protests in Iran, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political and were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Around 8,000 were gathered at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate at 1300 GMT, the Berlin police told Reuters news agency, adding that 20,000 had registered to attend.

Shahin Gobadi, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), claimed the crowd numbered 100,000, saying thousands were unable to travel to Berlin after flights were cancelled because of weather.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined the event online after his flight was cancelled.

The event is supported by 344 organizations and political figures, including parliamentary friendship groups for Iran, trade unions, and civil society actors at national and local levels from several European countries, as well as 312 Iranian associations in Europe, according to the organisers.

"The message of the Iranian people and their Resistance has been and remains this: no appeasement, no war or foreign intervention, regime change and sovereignty of the republic of the people, by the people and their organised resistance," said Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at the rally in Berlin.

Former U.S. Secretary of State @mikepompeo: While there are tens of thousands today in Germany, there are millions… in towns all across Iran to say… enough is enough… what we’re seeing in Iran today isn’t just a protest movement… this is a revolution. #BerlinFreeIranDemo…

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 7, 2026

Italy will not take part in US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday, citing "insurmountable" constitutional issues.

Trump launched his "Board of Peace" at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January and some 19 countries have signed its founding charter.

But Italy's constitution bars the country from joining an organisation led by a single foreign leader.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, last month noted "constitutional problems" with joining, but suggested Trump could perhaps reopen the framework "to meet the needs not only of Italy, but also of other European countries".

Tajani appeared Saturday to rule that out.

"We cannot participate in the Board of Peace because there is a constitutional limit," he told the ANSA news agency.

"This is insurmountable from a legal standpoint," he said, the day after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance at the Olympics in Milan.

Although originally meant to oversee Gaza's rebuilding, the board's charter does not limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.

Key US allies, including France and Britain, have expressed doubts about joining.

Israeli forces have detained at least 16 Palestinians, including a child, during widespread raids across several governorates in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA).

In a statement, the monitoring group said the arrests were carried out on Tuesday morning alongside house raids, the establishment of military checkpoints and on-the-spot interrogations.

Most of the detentions took place in Qalqilya governorate, where 10 people were arrested. Two arrests were reported in each of Hebron, Nablus and Salfit.

Among those detained were a child, Muhammad Ahmad Warasneh, arrested in the town of ash-Shuyukh in Hebron governorate, and Murad Shteiwi, head of the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, who was taken into custody in Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya.

Israeli forces have demolished residential buildings to the west of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister outlet.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, has met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Doha, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

In a statement posted on X, the ministry said the talks focused on ongoing efforts to ease regional tensions.

“They reviewed the ongoing efforts to reduce escalation in the region,” the statement said.

The ministry added that Sheikh Mohammed reiterated Qatar’s support for the negotiations between the United States and Iran currently taking place in Muscat.

“His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs renewed, during the meeting, the State of Qatar’s welcome for the negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which are being held in Muscat, and expressed its hope that they will lead to a comprehensive agreement that achieves the interests of both parties and enhances security and stability in the region,” it said.

Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs @MBA_AlThani_ Meets Iran's Foreign Minister

Doha | February 07, 2026

HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani met Saturday with HE Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic… pic.twitter.com/GqKDpGVguF

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 7, 2026

Hamas has said that continued discussion of a ceasefire in Gaza is meaningless while Israel maintains what it described as ongoing killing and destruction across the territory.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Saturday that Israel’s actions undermine any ceasefire agreement, accusing the Israeli government of disregarding mediation efforts.

“The extremist occupation government, through its escalating actions, is disregarding the efforts of mediators and the American administration, and is mocking all calls aimed at implementing what has been agreed upon,” Qassem said.

He urged all relevant parties to apply serious pressure on Israel to allow the Gaza administration committee to enter the Strip and begin its work.

The US President Donald Trump-backed Board of Peace is set to convene in Washington on 19 February during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expected visit, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

The report, citing a source from one of the board’s member states, said Netanyahu’s office has not yet formally confirmed the trip. However, he is expected to be in the United States from 18 to 22 February, where he is also due to open the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

The US Navy’s Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group sailed in formation through the Arabian Sea on Friday, accompanied by two military logistics vessels and two US Coast Guard cutters, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Photographs shared by CENTCOM showed the aircraft carrier operating alongside Coast Guard ships, an uncommon deployment in the region.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that talks with the United States included a handshake with Washington's delegation, despite the negotiations being indirect.

"Although the negotiations were indirect, an opportunity arose to shake hands with the American delegation," said Araghchi, according to excerpts published on his official Telegram channel during an interview with the Al Jazeera network.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has visited the country’s south, a region that continues to face Israeli attacks despite the 2024 “ceasefire” agreement.

During the visit, Salam spoke about the fragile security situation and reaffirmed his government’s determination to confront Lebanon’s ongoing challenges.

“The south is a national issue and a unifying national concern. Our presence here is to confirm that the follow-up will continue with accountability, monitoring and implementation,” he said, according to the official National News Agency.

“I would like to emphasise that the Tyre district, like all of the south, is still subjected to daily attacks, in addition to the prisoners,” Salam added.

“But the presence of the state is a message against this reality, which we must work to change.”

In January, the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of a plan to place all non-state weapons belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon under its control, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border.

At least two Palestinians were killed and 25 others wounded in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The ministry added that Israeli forces have killed at least 576 Palestinians and injured 1,543 more since the ceasefire announced on 10 October.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, the overall death toll has reached 72,027, with 171,651 people injured.

Iran's foreign minister insisted Saturday that nuclear enrichment was an "inalienable right" for Tehran, but he was ready to reach a "reassuring" deal with the United States over the issue.

"(Nuclear) Enrichment is our inalienable right and must continue. Even with bombing they could not destroy our capabilities.

We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment," Abbas Araghchi said, according to excerpts published on his official Telegram channel of an interview with the Al Jazeera network.

Iran has rejected US calls to halt uranium enrichment on its territory during talks in Oman on Friday but said it was willing to discuss the “level and purity” of enrichment or a regional consortium, news agency Reuters reports- citing a regional diplomat briefed by Tehran.

The diplomat told the agency that Tehran believed the U.S. negotiators "seemed to understand Iran's stance on the enrichment ... and they showed flexibility about Tehran's demands".

He added that Iran's missile capabilities were not discussed during the talks in Muscat.

Iran-backed groups in the Middle East should exercise the “greatest restraint” if there is regional escalation between Iran and the United States to avoid destabilizing the region, France’s foreign minister said Friday.

Jean-Noël Barrot made his comments in Beirut, where he arrived earlier in the day after visiting Syria and Iraq. His visit also comes as the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program.

There have been concerns in the region that if the United States attacks Iran, Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon could join the war, worsening the situation.

“If, however, we witness a regional escalation, it would be appropriate for groups supported by Iran to exercise the greatest restraint in the whole region so as not to worsen a situation,” Barrot said after holding talks with Lebanese leaders. “That would profoundly destabilize the Near and Middle East,” he warned.

He added that a military escalation in the region is a risk that must be avoided at all cost, adding that it is neither in the interest of the countries in the region, nor in the interests of France.

The French official discussed the ongoing process to disarm Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group and a conference that is scheduled to be held next month in France to support the Lebanese army that has been expanding its presence in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel after the 14-month war.

Barrot said France is working in close coordination with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, who will co-organize the conference “with us to a targeted collective contribution, built with the Lebanese authorities.”

Qatar's flagship Al Jazeera TV cited Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that no new date was currently set for the next round of nuclear talks with Washington, a day after the two sides held talks in Oman.

Araghchi said in an interview with the channel on Saturday that Tehran and Washington think the new round should be held soon. 

US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order threatening tariffs on Iran's trade partners, after he pledged a further round of talks with Tehran next week.

The order, effective from Saturday, called for a fresh "imposition of tariffs" on countries still doing business with Iran.

It comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, with an American naval group led by an aircraft carrier in Middle Eastern waters and indirect talks held on Tehran's nuclear program in Oman on Friday.

The levies "may be imposed on goods imported into the United States that are products of any country that directly or indirectly purchases, imports, or otherwise acquires any goods or services from Iran", the order said.

Trump issued a threat of 25 percent tariffs on any country trading with Iran last month.

This order establishes a process for his administration to impose tariffs on goods from those countries.

The rate is to be determined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, although the order specifies that it could be "for example" 25 percent, the level first mentioned by the US president in mid-January.

Tariffs would affect trade with a number of countries including Russia, Germany, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.