DUBAI: Dubai has taken another step towards smart mobility as Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum arrived at the World Governments Summit 2026 in a fully autonomous taxi, formally signalling the launch of the emirate’s driverless transport service.

Officials said 100 driverless taxis will begin operating next month, marking the first phase of the programme aimed at transforming public transport through advanced technology.

The autonomous vehicles are powered by artificial intelligence and advanced sensor systems, enabling them to analyse data within seconds and make independent driving decisions without human intervention.

Speaking on social media, Sheikh Hamdan said the future of mobility in Dubai would be smarter, safer and more efficient, adding that the project would improve quality of life and make transport more inclusive for residents and visitors.

The initiative is being implemented by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in partnership with global technology firms as part of the emirate’s broader strategy to adopt sustainable and intelligent transport solutions.

• Steve Witkoff, Abbas Araghchi to lead delegations at talks.
• Talks to focus on nuclear programme, missiles: New York Times.
• US maintains military option while pursuing diplomatic solution.

Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there is any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action.

The talks, which were finally confirmed by both sides late Wednesday after hours of doubt over the location, timing and format, will be the first such encounter between the two foes since the US joined Israel’s war against the Islamic republic in June with strikes on nuclear sites.

President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are due to lead their delegations at the talks in the discreet Gulf sultanate, which has periodically acted as a low-profile mediator between the countries.

The meeting comes just under a month after the peak of a wave of protests nationwide in Iran against the Iranian leadership that has left thousands dead.

“They’re negotiating,” Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast. “They don’t want us to hit them, we have a big fleet going there,” he added, referring to the aircraft carrier group he has repeatedly called an “armada”.

Trump initially threatened military action against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters and even told demonstrators, “help is on its way”. But his rhetoric in recent days has focused on reining in the Iranian nuclear programme that the West fears is aimed at making a bomb.

“He (Trump) is going to do is he is going to keep his options open, he is going to talk to everybody, he is going to try to accomplish what he can through non-military means and if he feels like the military is the only option then he is ultimately going to choose that option,” US Vice President JD Vance told SiriusXM in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

Vance also expressed frustration with the fact that Trump could not deal directly with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, “it’s a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can’t even talk to the person who’s in charge of the country”.

‘Inflexibility towards US demands’

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, urged Iran’s leadership to “truly enter talks”, saying there was a “great fear of military escalation in the region”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspapers as saying that “so far, I see that the parties want to make room for diplomacy”, adding that conflict was “not the solution”.

There had been tensions in the run up to the talks over whether the meeting should also include regional countries and address Tehran´s support of proxies and ballistic missile programmes, two US concerns that Iran resisted.

Citing unnamed Iranian officials, the New York Times said the United States agreed the talks would exclude regional actors, and while the meeting would focus on the nuclear file it would also discuss missiles, “with the goal of coming up with a framework for a deal”.

“Iran continues to show inflexibility towards addressing US demands, which reduces the likelihood that Iran and the United States will be able to reach a diplomatic solution,” the US-based Institute for the Study of War said.

‘Compromise or war’

With the American threats of military action still looming, the United States has manoeuvred a naval group led by aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the region while Iran has repeatedly vowed it will hit back at US bases in the region if attacked.

“We are ready to defend and it is the US president who must choose between compromise or war,” state television on Thursday quoted army spokesman General Mohammad Akraminia as saying, warning that Iran had “easy” access to US bases.

In a sign of the tensions, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized two oil tankers with their foreign crews in Gulf waters for “smuggling fuel”, the Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.

It was not immediately clear what flags the tankers were carrying nor the nationalities of the crew.

“Iran is fully prepared to stand against any foreign threat and enemy,” said former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who remains an advisor to Khamenei, quoted by the ISNA agency.

Iran’s top military official says the country has strengthened its deterrence by upgrading domestically manufactured ballistic missiles.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi made the remarks on Wednesday during a visit to an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) missile town.

“By upgrading its ballistic missiles in all technical dimensions, Iran has been able to strengthen its deterrence power,” he said during the visit, accompanied by Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force.

Mousavi also expressed Iran’s readiness to confront any act of aggression by its enemies.

“Following the 12-day war, we have changed our military doctrine from defensive to offensive by adopting the policy of asymmetric warfare and [boosting readiness for a] crushing response to the enemies,” the top general said.

He was referring to the illegal US-Israeli aggression against Iran that killed at least 1,064 people last June.

Israel launched the unprovoked war on June 13 while Iran was engaged in nuclear talks with the US, which also joined the aggression by striking Iranian nuclear sites.

In response, Iranian armed forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories and at Al-Udeid, the largest US military installation in West Asia.

Iran has since moved to enhance both its defensive and offensive capabilities.

The region is once again bracing for another potential military confrontation after the United States deployed air and naval forces to the region and threatened to attack the Islamic Republic.

Iranian officials have warned that any US attack would prompt an immediate response and could ignite a regional war.

Tensions have eased slightly as regional countries launched a flurry of diplomatic efforts to prevent war. Iranian and US diplomats are now set to meet in Oman on Friday for a new round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Earlier this week, General Mousavi warned that any miscalculation by the Islamic Republic’s enemies would trigger a “rapid” and “decisive” response.

Iranian Armed Forces are prepared to respond forcefully to threats, he added. “We think only of victory. We have no fear of the enemy’s superficial might, and we are fully ready for confrontation and to deliver a retaliatory slap.”