Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff told a private gathering on Tuesday that the administration is demanding any nuclear deal with Iran should remain in effect indefinitely, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing a U.S. official and two others with knowledge of the comments.
US Vice President JD Vance told Iran on Wednesday to take Washington's threats of military action "seriously," a day after President Donald Trump appeared to build the case for war in his State of the Union address.
As US forces mass in the Middle East, Trump claimed in his speech to Congress on Tuesday that Iran was seeking to develop missiles that can strike the United States.
German culture officials plan to summon organisers of the Berlin film festival Thursday after the event was rocked this year by controversy over the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Gaza war.
Bild daily reported that Tricia Tuttle, the US director of the Berlinale, is expected to be sacked at the meeting, citing sources close to the KBB, the state-owned company that runs the festival.
The KBB dismissed the report, telling AFP in a short statement: "We believe this is fake news."
Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump still preferred a diplomatic solution with Iran and that he hoped Iranians took that seriously in their negotiations on Thursday.
"The President has been as crystal clear as he could be, Iran can't have a nuclear weapon... He's going to try to accomplish it diplomatically," Vance told Fox News in an interview.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
SUSIYA, West Bank Feb 25 (Reuters) - Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and tents in the Palestinian village of Susiya on Tuesday night, residents said, in the latest incidentof settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Videos verified by Reuters showed a masked group of men, who residents said were Israeli settlers, approaching the village near the city of Hebron, and later burning vehicles and Palestinian property.
An Iranian delegation headed by its top diplomat arrived in Geneva on Wednesday for talks with the US, as the Islamic republic's president struck an upbeat tone about the prospect of a negotiated agreement to avert fresh conflict.
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened strikes if Iran fails to cut a deal on its atomic programme, and in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, the US president accused Tehran of "sinister nuclear ambitions" after he ordered a massive military deployment around the Gulf.
Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed new Iran-related sanctions on four individuals, several entities and tankers, according to a notice on its website.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis)
Egypt said Wednesday that 18 of its citizens were still missing after a migrant boat capsized, killing four people, off the Greek island of Crete last week.
The wooden boat was carrying 50 people, including four minors, when Greece's coast guard was alerted late Friday.
Greek authorities then directed a commercial vessel to the area for a rescue operation.
According to Greek public broadcaster ERT, an accident occurred when the commercial vessel approached the migrants' boat.
DUBAI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Iran sees the chance of a good outcome from a third round of talks with the United States, its President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday, as a delegation left for Geneva for negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
A senior U.S. official said on Monday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are slated to meet with the Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in Geneva on Thursday.
By David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work last year, two-thirds of them killed by Israel, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.
It was the second straight year that press killings set a record and the second straight year that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of them, the CPJ, a New York-based independent organization which documents attacks on the press, said in its annual report.
