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Trump says more Iran talks expected on Friday

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not happy with Iran but more talks were expected on Friday on Tehran's nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters before a trip to Texas, Trump said he wants to make a deal with Iran but reiterated that Tehran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

Talks over Tehran's nuclear program continued this week amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the region. Trump said he does not want to use military force in Iran but sometimes you have to.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media, as he departs from the White House ahead of his trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

USS Gerald R. Ford: the world's biggest aircraft carrier

The USS Gerald R. Ford -- the world's largest aircraft carrier -- is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea and is expected to take part in strikes against Iran if US President Donald Trump decides to launch them.

Washington has threatened military action against Tehran if talks fail to reach a replacement for the nuclear deal Trump tore up in 2018, and he has ordered the deployment of a massive military force -- including the Ford -- to the Middle East.

Below are some key facts about the aircraft carrier.

- Massive warship -

The USS Gerald R. Ford departed Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete on February 26

Satellite images show more aircraft at Saudi airbase used by US forces

By Catherine Cartier, Eleanor Whalley and Maria Laguna

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Satellite images showed a rise in the number of military support aircraft including refuelling tankers at a Saudi airbase used by the U.S. military during a four-day period in February, as Washington built forces in the region amid tensions with Iran.

Saudi Arabia, a longstanding U.S. ally, told Iran last month it would not allow its airspace or territory to be used for military actions against Tehran, which held indirect negotiations with Washington on Thursday over its nuclear programme.

A satellite image shows planes at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia February 21, 2026. 2026 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS    THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY MANDATORY CREDIT

Women at risk as Taliban curbs hit Afghan healthcare, UN expert warns

By Emma Farge

GENEVA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Restrictions imposed by the Taliban are jeopardising the lives of women and their children who are sometimes denied emergency treatment, a U.N. human rights expert said on Friday.

Regulations require sick or injured women to adhere to a dress code, be accompanied by a male guardian and be treated by male medics, Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett told a press briefing.

Bennett said women were frequently denied ambulance services without a male guardian.

FILE PHOTO: Afghan women in burqa walk towards a safer place after their house was damaged following a deadly magnitude 6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Sunday, at Lulam village, in Nurgal district, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib/File Photo

IAEA report says Iran must allow inspections, points at Isfahan

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog issued a confidential report on Friday urging Iran to let it inspect all its nuclear sites and pointing at Isfahan as a place of interest because of a new enrichment plant and near-bomb-grade uranium that was stored there.

The report was sent to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a quarterly meeting next week of its 35-country board, amid nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, the latest round of which was held on Thursday with no breakthrough.

Satellite image shows buildings at Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, before Israel launched an attack on Iran targeting nuclear facilities, in Isfahan, Iran May 17, 2025. Planet Labs PBC via REUTERS

Israelis weary but prepared for possible Iran strikes

Under the shadow of a possible war between the United States and Iran, Israelis expressed weariness at the prospect of strikes on their country but said they were ever-prepared for a regional flare-up.

"The threat of war is, for us, a kind of routine," lawyer Maya Liya Cohen told AFP in the northern port city of Haifa.

"No matter what happens, what we do, if it has anything to do with us or nothing to do with us, then we are under continuous threat," she added.

For Israelis, memories of missile barrages from Iran lie in the not too distant past

IAEA stresses 'urgency' to verify Iran's nuclear material

The UN nuclear watchdog stressed on Friday the "utmost urgency" of its request to verify all nuclear material in Iran, according to a confidential report seen by AFP.

Two new reports are to be discussed at an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors' meeting next week, as the United States threatens strikes on Iran and presses its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades.

The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation has approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency despite an appeal from key ally Russia for cooperation to continue.

Analysis-Pakistan's Afghan salvo risks turning 'open war' into long crisis

By Ariba Shahid

KARACHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Weeks after the Taliban's lightning offensive in 2021 wrested control of Afghanistan from a U.S.-led military coalition,Pakistan's then intelligence chief flew into the capital Kabul for talks, where the serving lieutenant general told a reporter: "Don't worry, everything will be okay."

Five years on, Islamabad - long seen as a patron of the Taliban - is locked in its heaviest fighting with the Islamist group, which Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif described on Friday as an "open war".

FILE PHOTO: A Taliban soldier keeps vigil from inside his post near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Khost province, Afghanistan, February 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Kurdish Iranian groups in Iraq eye opportunity for change at home

In the Iraqi mountains near Iran, an exiled Kurdish Iranian commander told AFP that whether or not the US launches strikes on Iran, he will still seek regime change in order to win self-determination for the Kurds.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region has long been a haven for Kurdish Iranian armed factions, which have repeatedly faced cross-border strikes from Iran.

Iraq's Kurdistan region has long been a haven for Kurdish Iranian armed factions like Haftan's