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The U.S. is moving additional military assets into the Middle East amid speculation Trump could green light an attack on Iran at any moment. More than a dozen F-15 fighter jets have been deployed along with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. The sense that an overt war is imminent has abated and the protests, riots, and bloodshed in the streets of Iran that took place earlier this month have, for now, ended, yet the incendiary situation remains liable to develop into wider conflict.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that if Iran sought to assassinate him, “the whole country’s going to get blown up.” “I have very firm instructions,” he continued. “Anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that any attempt to assassinate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”

Drop Site News’s Jeremy Scahill spoke to Dr. Foad Izadi, professor of American studies and international relations at University of Tehran, on Wednesday. They discussed the origins of the protests, the narrative war, how Iran might respond to another military attack by the U.S. and more.

“The U.S. wants to repeat the Libya experience, disintegrate Iran, take out the oil-rich southern part, and then the rest of the country would fall apart. This is the ultimate plan they have,” said Izadi. “I don’t think they have given up. I think Trump has basically given the Iran portfolio to Netanyahu. He decides what to do. And then basically Trump implements whatever Netanyahu has decided to do. And Trump is going to be in office for another three years. So I don’t think they are done with Iran.”

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US President Donald Trump told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted an invitation to join an US-led “Peace Council” to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.

The council, which is intended to provide international oversight of the levelled Palestinian territory in the wake of a US-brokered ceasefire, has been snubbed by many European leaders over concerns that it could undermine the role of the United Nations.

As per AFP, Trump said of Putin that “he was invited, he’s accepted. Many people have accepted.”

Although the Kremlin received Trump’s invitation on Jan. 19, it has not yet confirmed its acceptance. “The Russian foreign ministry has been charged with studying the documents that were sent to us and to consult on the topic with our strategic partners,” Putin told a televised cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

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President Trump said Wednesday that he’s reached the framework of a deal with NATO on the future of Greenland and will not impose tariffs he previously threatened on European countries. 

“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post from Davos, Switzerland.

“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress,” he continued.

When asked by reporters in Davos about the deal, Trump described it as “infinite.” 

“It’s the ultimate long-term deal, and I think it puts everyone in a pretty good position especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else,” the president said.

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Israel is razing a strategic area of Rafah in southern Gaza, compacting the ground, and clearing rubble in a way that suggests the land is being prepared for the construction of new residential infrastructure, according to new research by Forensic Architecture. The findings, which are based on an analysis of satellite imagery, suggest that Israel is beginning to build infrastructure which may be used to house Palestinians and effectively contain them in an area under full Israeli military control.

Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect on October 10, Israel has engaged in widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure across the more than 53% of Gaza that it occupies east of the yellow line. However, this pattern of Israeli activity—razing the land, compacting the ground, and clearing the rubble—is not visible at this scale anywhere else east of the yellow line. The activity is centered in an area around 1 square kilometer in Rafah at the intersection of the two military corridors.

The location lies on the northern edge of what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz first announced in July would be a planned “humanitarian city” that would eventually house the entire population of the Gaza Strip.

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Several Ukrainian power substations critical to nuclear safety were damaged during widespread Russian attacks on Monday morning, leaving the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) closely monitoring the situation, the agency’s chief said.

The attack also disconnected the Chornobyl nuclear power plant – the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster – from the grid for some hours.

At around noon on Tuesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant lost all external power supply, while power transmission lines serving other nuclear power plants in Ukraine were also affected.

“Several Ukrainian electrical substations vital for nuclear safety were impacted by widespread military activity this morning,” Grossi said in a statement. “The IAEA is actively following developments in order to assess their impact on nuclear safety.”

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U.S. military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela on Tuesday as the Trump administration continues its efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil.

U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post that U.S. forces apprehended the Motor Vessel Sagitta “without incident” and that the tanker was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

The military command did not say whether the U.S. Coast Guard took control of the tanker as has been the case in prior seizures. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions for more details.

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The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged tanker and its registration says it is owned and managed by a company in Hong Kong. The ship last transmitted its location more than two months ago when exiting the Baltic Sea in northern Europe.