• Denmark says it is boosting military presence in Greenland.
• Greenland crucial for Golden Dome defence system: Trump.
• Sweden says its officers joining Denmark’s military exercise.
  

Denmark and Greenland’s top diplomats held high-stakes talks at the White House on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump warning it was “vital” for the United States to take control of the Arctic island.

Shortly before the meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Denmark announced it was immediately boosting its military presence in strategic Greenland.

Footage from CNN showed Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt arriving at the White House campus, while AFP journalists saw Rubio and Vance heading into the talks.

The White House posted an image on X showing two possible paths for Greenland.

On the left, a sunny White House awaits. On the right, apocalyptic thunderstorms in China and Russia.

The image was posted at 11:31am (1631 GMT). It is unclear whether the meeting was still ongoing at that time.

Trump’s escalating threats over Greenland — a vast and sparsely populated autonomous territory belonging to Nato ally Denmark — have deeply shaken transatlantic relations.

The 79-year-old Republican insisted ahead of the talks that Nato should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, saying it was crucial for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defence system.

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network.

“IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” added Trump.

Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.

“If the US continues with, ‘We have to have Greenland at all cost,’ it could be a very short meeting,” said Penny Naas, a senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington think tank.

Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen sought to further ease US concerns on Thursday, telling AFP his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies.

The Danish defence ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.”

Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark´s request, Stockholm said.

‘Big problem’

Denmark’s Rasmussen said ahead of the meeting that he was hoping to “clear up certain misunderstandings.”

But it remains to be seen if there is a chance of de-escalating the situation.

Greenland´s leader said Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Shortly after the White House talks, a senior delegation from the US Congress — mostly Democrats, but with one Republican — will visit Copenhagen to offer solidarity.

Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the US backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.

The White House has said that military action against Greenland remains on the table.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an attack on a Nato ally would end the alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.

It is a founding member of Nato and its military joined the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter to much criticism.

An agreement with Denmark currently allows the United States to station as many soldiers as it wants on Greenland. It also has a “space base” at Pituffik in northern Greenland.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen meanwhile said ahead of the Washington talks that “Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

But Trump has been insistent that he wants to acquire Greenland wholesale, repeatedly insisting on what he calls the threat of a takeover by Russia or China.

The two rival powers have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, which is home to 57,000 people.

The UAE passport has surged to fifth place on the Henley Passport Index, allowing holders visa-free access to 184 countries and territories.

The UK-based institution Henley Passport Index ranks passports by the number of destinations their holders can visit visa-free or with visa-on-arrival access. It’s considered the most reliable measure of passport strength globally.

Since 2015, the UAE passport has climbed an impressive 37 spots, from 42nd to 5th. This rise is a result of the UAE’s strategic diplomatic efforts, opening up more travel opportunities for its citizens.

Other key rankings include the UK passport in 7th place, tied with Australia, and the Russian passport in 46th. 

The Saudi passport sits at 54th, while Pakistan ranks 98th, offering access to 66 countries.

Here’s the top 10 for 2026

• Singapore – 192 destinations
• Japan & South Korea – 188 destinations
• Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland – 186 destinations
• Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway – 185 destinations
• Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates – 184 destinations
• Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland – 183 destinations
• Australia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, United Kingdom – 182 destinations
• Canada, Iceland, Lithuania – 181 destinations
• Malaysia – 180 destinations
• United States of America – 179 destinations

This significant rise highlights the UAE’s growing global influence, making international travel easier than ever for its citizens, according to the authorities.

• Diplomats say personnel advised to leave US air base in Qatar.
• Tehran calls US warnings “pretext for military intervention”.
• Iran chief justice fast trials against those involved in violence.
  

Tehran has warned neighbouring countries hosting US troops that it would retaliate against American bases if Washington carries out threats to intervene in protests in Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Three diplomats said some personnel had been advised to leave the main US air base in the region, although there were no immediate signs of a large-scale evacuation of troops as took place in the hours before an Iranian missile attack last year.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where a rights group claims hundreds have been killed in recent days in a crackdown on the protest movements.

According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene, although the scope and timing of this action remain unclear, an Israeli official said.

The three diplomats told Reuters that some personnel had been advised to leave the US military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening.

One of the diplomats described the move as a “posture change” rather than an “ordered evacuation”. There was no sign of a large-scale movement of troops off the base to a nearby soccer stadium and shopping mall, as took place last year in the hours before Iran targeted the base with missiles in retaliation for US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear targets.

The US embassy in Doha had no immediate comment and Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump vows ‘very strong action’

Trump has been openly threatening to intervene in Iran for days, though without giving specifics.

In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” he said. He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring “help is on the way”.

The Iranian official, a senior figure speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking Iran”.

“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkiye, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.

The official added that direct contacts between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, reflecting mounting tensions.

A second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of government or US intervention in Iran. Israel fought a 12-day war against Tehran last year, which the United States joined at the end.

The United States has forces across the region, including the forward headquarters of its Central Command at Al Udeid in Qatar and the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

Iran holds contacts with Turkiye, UAE, Qatar

Iranian state media reported that the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar, and Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts.

Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that “calm has prevailed” and Iranians were determined to defend their sovereignty and security from any foreign interference, state media reported.

Meanwhile, the flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout, with internet monitor Netblocks saying on Wednesday that the blackout had lasted 132 hours.

“Metrics show #Iran remains offline as the country wakes to another day of digital darkness,” it said in a post on X.

Some information has trickled out of Iran however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.

Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, carried out by people it calls terrorists.

Iran’s chief justice urges swift actions

Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran’s chief justice said speed in judging and penalising those involved in violence was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.

Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly”, in comments broadcast by state television.

Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.

State TV said that a funeral procession would take place on Wednesday in Tehran for more than 100 civilians and security personnel killed in the unrest.

Pro-government rallies were held in Iran on Monday, a show of loyalist support for the current Iranian rulers. So far, there have been no signs of fracture in the security forces that have quelled other bouts of protest over the years.

While Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest unrest is taking place with Tehran still recovering from last year’s war against Israel.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that military action was among the options he was weighing to “punish Iran”.

“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening.

Trump on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran — a major oil exporter. The US State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now.

Tehran called the American warnings a “pretext for military intervention”.

Iran’s UN mission posted a statement on X, vowing that Washington’s “playbook” would “fail again”.

“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the post said.