Politics
US jet downs Iran drone but talks still on course
- US says F-35C fighter jet shot down Iranian drone in self-defence.
- President Trump refuses to rule out military action ahead of talks.
- Washington wants Tehran to cut its vast arsenal of ballistic missiles.
WASHINGTON: A US fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier in the Middle East on Tuesday, Washington said, as renewed tensions on the high seas overshadowed plans for nuclear talks.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that US envoy Steve Witkoff is still expected “to have conversations with the Iranians late this week,” despite the incident.
The downing of the drone was the second clash between the foes in Middle Eastern waters on the same day, after Iranian forces attempted to detain a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington and Tehran have agreed to talks after US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with military action — and Iran warned that it would respond with strikes on US vessels and bases.
The US bombed Iran’s nuclear sites last summer, and has sent a naval battlegroup back to the region since Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
Negotiations are now set for Friday, but Trump has refused to rule out military action, and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian insists talks will only go ahead provided they were free of threats.
“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defence,” Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement.
The aircraft carrier was dispatched to the Arabian Sea last month amid a buildup of US forces.
‘Bad things’
Trump had told Iranians that “help is on its way” during anti-government protests in Iran that were met with a deadly crackdown last month.
Pezeshkian confirmed on Tuesday that he had ordered the start of talks with the United States, provided they were free of threats, after Trump suggested “bad things” would happen without a deal.
Iran has not confirmed where the talks will take place but said Turkey, Oman and “some other countries in the region” had expressed willingness to host them, adding that the venue and timing were “not a complicated issue.”
Meanwhile, Iran has demanded that talks with the US this week be held in Oman, not Turkey, and that the scope be narrowed to two-way negotiations on nuclear issues only, a regional source said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Witkoff in Jerusalem on Tuesday that Iran “cannot be trusted,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
The US opposes Iran’s nuclear programme, which it maintains is a precursor to acquiring nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists it is for civilian research purposes.
Washington also wants to curtail Iran’s support for forces in the region and cut its vast arsenal of ballistic missiles.
“I have instructed my minister of foreign affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations,” Pezeshkian wrote in a post on X.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that any talks should focus solely on the nuclear issue and not its missile programme or defence capabilities.
While Trump and Pezeshkian insisted they were dedicated to talks, US and Iranian forces were in action at sea.
A US-flagged tanker was challenged on Tuesday by Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command said.
Spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said two Iranian boats and a drone approached the M/V Stena Imperative “and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”
A US destroyer responded with air support and escorted the tanker onwards.
British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech reported that the Stena Imperative was approached by three pairs of small armed boats belonging to the Revolutionary Guards while transiting the strait 16 nautical miles (30 kilometres) north of Oman.
The ship increased speed and maintained course, the firm added, stressing it did not enter Iranian waters.
But the Iranian news agency Fars said a vessel, whose nationality it did not specify, had entered the country’s territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz.
“It was therefore warned and immediately left Iranian waters,” Fars said.
- Zelenskiy continuing Gulf visit after arriving in Riyadh on Thursday.
- Qatar says Doha, Kyiv have signed defence cooperation agreement.
- UAE, Ukraine earlier agreed to cooperate on security and defence.
Ukraine on Saturday agreed to cooperate on defence with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to both countries amid escalating tensions in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Doha and Kyiv have signed a defence cooperation agreement, which includes the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
Zelenskiy had earlier been to the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the two countries agreed to cooperate in the fields of security and defence.
“Our teams will finalise the details,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app with reference to the UAE discussions.
Ukraine, which now has years of experience shooting down Russian drones and missiles, was close to clinching several security agreements to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha had told Reuters on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has killed more than 2,000 people, upended global markets and spurred Iranian retaliatory strikes that have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and targeted several countries across the Gulf with missiles and drones.
Zelenskiy had first arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday where the two countries also signed an agreement on defence cooperation.
- After Oli’s arrest, supporters staged protest rallies.
- Oli had resigned after fatal protests last September.
- Police say Oli and Lekhak will be brought to court Sunday.
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, was arrested on Saturday as police investigate whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, said officials.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he should be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.
76 people were killed last September during a police crackdown and arson and violent unrest during the protests, which led to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest on Saturday, supporters staged protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tyres near the prime minister’s office. Police lobbed a teargas shell and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an act of “revenge”. It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for Sunday.
Shankar Pokhrel, a senior party official, told reporters that protest notes against the arrest would be handed to the government in all 77 districts of the country on Sunday.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
Election defeat
Oli was prime minister four times between 2015 and 2025 but never served a full five-year term. In 2020, he published a new political map including in it a small stretch of disputed land controlled by India, giving him a popularity boost in Nepal.
His popularity did not last, and he was beaten by Shah in his home constituency in an election this month, his second defeat since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Anger over the deaths in September’s protests helped Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party win the election by a landslide.
The panel investigating last September’s violence held Oli and Lekhak responsible for not taking any action to stop hours of firing on the protesters by police.
Police spokesperson Om Adhikari said Oli and Lekhak would be brought to court on Sunday.
Oli, 74, who has had two kidney transplants, has been transferred to a hospital from the police office where he was first taken, witnesses said.
His lawyer, Tikaram Bhattarai, told Reuters that the arrest was unwarranted and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“They have said it (the arrest) is for investigation. It is illegal and improper because there is no risk of him fleeing or avoiding questioning,” he said.
Lekhak and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
MINNEAPOLIS: Massive nationwide protests against US President Donald Trump are expected Saturday as millions of people vent fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.
It is the third time in less than a year that Americans will take to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called “No Kings,” the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.
And now they have something new to fume over — the war in Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion.
The first such nationwide protest day came in June on Trump’s 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade in Washington that he insisted on holding.
Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco and many places in between.
The second “No Kings” day in October drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organisers.
The goal now is to bring out even more people on Saturday, as Trump’s approval rating is low at around 40% and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump’s Republicans could lose control of both chambers.
Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his “Make America Great Again” movement, on the other side of America’s wide political chasm, he is disliked or even loathed with equal passion.
Trump foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his embrace of fossil fuels and climate change denial even as the planet warms, his fight against racial and gender diversity programs, and his newfound taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.
“Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war,” said Naveed Shah of Common Defence, a veterans association that belongs to the “No Kings” movement.
“At home, we’ve watched citizens killed in the streets by militarised forces. We’ve seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king,” Shah said.
Springsteen in Minneapolis
Organisers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, an increase from the last protest day, in major cities coast to coast and in suburbs and rural areas — even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.
Minnesota will be a key focal point, returning to the limelight months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump’s violent immigration crackdown.
Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform in St Paul, the capital of the northern state, his song “Streets of Minneapolis.”
It is a ballad he wrote and recorded in the space of 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Americans shot and killed by federal agents during protests in frigid January weather against Trump´s immigration offensive.
“Masked secret police terrorising our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war putting us in danger and driving up our costs. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Costs pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant,” the “No Kings” movement said.
It said what began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a powerful movement of national resistance to the Trump administration.
Organisers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds — a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.
“America is at an inflection point,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“People are afraid, and they can’t afford basic necessities. It’s time the administration listened and helped them build a better life rather than stoking hate and fear.”
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