US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington is “very close” to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran after Tehran “sort of” agreed to its terms.

“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust. We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” he said.

Speaking at a business roundtable in the Qatari capital Doha, Trump reiterated that Iran “can’t have a nuclear weapon” and suggested that negotiators are “getting very close to maybe doing a deal.”

During his Gulf tour, Trump has repeatedly warned that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon, threatening to strike the country if it fails to reach a nuclear deal. But he has not explicitly ruled out Iran enriching uranium on its own soil. While uranium is used as a nuclear fuel, it can be weaponized if enriched to high levels.

Iran has said that its right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable, but the Trump administration has sent mixed signals on its position on the matter.

In an interview with Breitbart last week, US foreign envoy Steve Witkoff said that an enrichment program in Iran is a “red line” for the US. In an earlier interview with Fox News, he had suggested that Iran could be allowed to enrich uranium to low levels.

Several rounds of talks have taken place between the US and Iran, but the most recent one in the Omani capital Muscat last weekend was described by the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson as “difficult.”

Global oil prices fell after Trump’s comments. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell over 3% Thursday morning to $64 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the US oil benchmark, was trading down 3.5% to almost $61 a barrel around the same time.

‘We are going to protect this country’

It is unclear what Trump meant by “nuclear dust,” but Gulf states, including Qatar, are concerned that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could cause an environmental catastrophe in the region and drag them into a wider regional war.

Speaking in Doha, Trump vowed to “protect” Qatar.

“For this country in particular, because you’re right next door, you’re a stone’s throw away, not even, right? You’re a foot away. You can walk right into Iran. Other countries are much further away, so probably it’s not quite the same level of danger, but we are going to protect this country, this very special place with a special royal family,” he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian lambasted the threatening remarks by Trump.

The US president “is naive for thinking that he can come to our region, threaten us, and hope that we back down against his demands,” Pezeshkian told a group of academics during a gathering in Kermanshah Province on Wednesday, according to the Iranian media. “We will never negotiate our dignity. This is in the blood of every Iranian,”

“You have tried to bring Iran to its knees for the past 47 years. We have existed for thousands of years and will continue as one for the years to come,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump repeated his threats, saying he doesn’t want nuclear talks in Iran to take a “violent course.”

“Two courses, there’s only two courses. There aren’t three or four or five, there’s two. There’s a friendly and a non-friendly, and non-friendly is a violent course, and I don’t want that. I’ll say it up front. I don’t want that, but they have to get moving,” the president said.

The United States and United Arab Emirates will partner to build a massive data center complex in Abu Dhabi to advance artificial intelligence capabilities with 5-gigawatts of capacity — enough to power a major city.

The agreement, announced Thursday during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UAE, will mark the largest data center deployment outside of the United States, according to the Commerce Department. It will begin with a 1-gigawatt AI data center, but will eventually span 10 square miles.

The project is also expected to expand the footprint of American AI and cloud companies in the Middle East, allowing them to better serve the global south.

No companies were named in the Commerce Department’s announcement, although Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was spotted at one of Trump’s UAE meetings. Nvidia declined to comment.

Trump has been working to push AI investment, as the success of US tech companies are seen as key to retaining the US’s position as a global superpower.

“By extending the world’s leading American tech stack to an important strategic partner in the region, this agreement is a major milestone in achieving President Trump’s vision for US AI dominance,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement.

The UAE has also said it wants to become a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, UAE Minister of Education Sarah Al Amiri said the country is looking to diversify its economy, especially in the areas of AI and technology. Investments in AI infrastructure are seen as crucial to securing the region’s post-oil future.

The White House also announced on Thursday an agreement under which the UAE has committed to build or finance data centers in the United States that are “at least as large and as powerful” as those in the UAE.

After five days of confusion over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Ukraine, the day they were supposed to begin initially brought only more of the same: a seven-hour stakeout on the banks of the Bosphorus, an unruly scrum at the Russian consulate, and finally a decision from Ukraine’s president that may open a new chapter in this intractable conflict.

Russia’s dogged defense of its position is a key reason the Russian president unexpectedly proposed these talks five days ago. Faced with an ultimatum from Kyiv and its allies to sign on to a 30-day ceasefire or face major new sanctions, Putin chose a third path.

“We are proposing to the Kyiv authorities to renew the negotiations, that they cut off” in 2022, he told journalists in a briefing early Sunday. And so, to reinforce that point, he picked the same city that hosted some of those early peace talks – Istanbul – and, he revealed late Wednesday, the same lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, a former culture minister and chairman of Russia’s Military-Historical Society.

“The delegation is committed to a constructive approach,” Medinsky said in a brief appearance Thursday afternoon at the Russian consulate, in which he took no questions. The media scrum was so intense that consular officials could be overheard threatening to cancel the briefing if journalists didn’t calm down.

Medinsky claimed the direct talks were to “establish long-term peace, eliminating the root causes of the conflict.” The use of the phrase “root causes,” which for Russia run the gamut from Ukraine’s NATO ambitions all the way to its existence as a sovereign state, was a reminder of just how distant a deal could be.

And yet, to complicate things further, Russia and Ukraine are now balancing their own interests with their relationship with Donald Trump. The US president once again Thursday dangled the prospect of his own attendance at the talks, saying “if something happened” he would consider going on Friday. White House envoys Keith Kellogg and Steve Witkoff are already slated to be in Istanbul on Friday.

And Zelensky made no attempt to hide Trump was a key part of his eventual decision to engage with Russia. Emerging from his meeting with Erdogan in late afternoon, he said he would not only send a delegation to Istanbul, but it would be led by a higher-ranking official than the Russian side – Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, “out of respect for President Trump.”

Russia is also watching closely for Trump’s next move, still holding out hope for that promised reset in relations. And Trump may have raised those hopes Thursday, telling reporters as he arrived in Abu Dhabi, “nothing’s gonna happen until Putin and I get together.”

Former Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev, who left his post in Geneva in 2022, said he believes a meeting with Trump would be a major win for Putin, while he remains uninterested in meeting with Zelensky.

In the end, it is the Kremlin’s plan playing out, and there appears to be little the White House will do about it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to send defense minister Rustam Umerov to meet with a low-level Russian delegation in Istanbul was a difficult choice forced by necessity. Its audience is one man: US President Donald Trump.

Kyiv must show it is willing to take any step at all to foster any kind of peace, or else it risks Trump slowly finding the pro-Kremlin voices around him rising in volume, getting bored of the processes entirely, and/or limiting aid to Ukraine.

But ultimately, the peace process is going exactly how Russia wants it to. Slowly, and with the Kremlin as its scheduler.

In the past week, since France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland stood with Ukraine and demanded a 30-day unconditional ceasefire to start on Monday, we have learned a lot about Putin and Trump’s real emotions here.

Firstly, the main revelation is the Kremlin is unafraid of further sanctions, of European pressure, and not cajoled by Trump. For now, Russian President Vladimir Putin sees the potential domestic pitfalls of a photo opportunity alongside the US president and his Ukrainian enemy to be far greater than the possible damage incurring Trump’s wrath may cause.

His rejection of this initiative is a calculated risk that may already be paying off. Trump’s reaction – to suggest “nothing is gonna happen” until he and Putin meet – throws all expectations for diplomacy to the wind until the pair have a bilateral summit. It permits Putin to pursue any course at liberty, aware the White House head does really believe there can be progress until the two presidents meet in person.

It is not impossible a bilateral meeting could happen soon, or even that the talks in Istanbul on Friday could spawn a leadership summit at the weekend. But Putin is likely relishing seeing the peace process inch forwards with just enough faux sincerity that the White House won’t drop it. Why rush? His forces are amassing near the eastern frontline, clearly with a larger Russian strategic objective in mind.

Putin’s decision to reject the overtures of Trump to attend reveal two key parts of his thinking. He was willing to endure the further “massive sanctions” France threatened for rejecting the ceasefire – and then the Istanbul summit too. And he likely also foresaw and gambled on, correctly, Trump’s limited anger. The Kremlin head was even willing to risk three days of speculation – and with it reject cajoling from Trump – as to whether he would attend, by keeping the world waiting for the composition of the Russian Istanbul delegation.

Putin may have been negotiating a bilateral with Trump as part of Turkey talks, or explicit conditions or concessions ahead of a presidential summit, or may have had absolutely no intention of accepting Zelensky’s offer. We may never know.

Zelensky now faces an awkward moment during which he must hover around the talks in case they suddenly escalate, yet not be seen be waiting Putin’s next move. A convenient summit – pre-planned, he said – awaits in Albania for Friday, but then he must urgently return to the war.

It is slowly becoming apparent that Trump may continue to shy away from the extra sanctions and consequences for Russia that Europe and his White House have hinted at. The limited and “technical” nature of the Russian team in Istanbul will provide just enough reason for Trump to hold out hope of progress, and delay adding pain to Moscow. The talks will likely sputter ahead, see the Kremlin present a series of maximalist demands, and Ukraine angrily demand a ceasefire that Russia continually rejects.

Even with the addition of Trump’s senior officials to the mix on Friday, there will likely be minimal progress and talks about further talks. And that is exactly how the Kremlin wants it.

An American basketball player for the Indonesian league was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle illegal drugs to the country, police said Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad.

Jarred Dwayne Shaw, 34, from Dallas, Texas, was arrested May 7, after police raided his apartment in Tangerang regency, just outside the capital, Jakarta, and seized 132 pieces of cannabis candies, said Ronald Sipayung, the Soekarno-Hatta Airport police chief.

The arrest followed a tip from the airport’s customs that reported Shaw had received a suspicious airway package from Thailand, Sipayung said. Cannabis has been decriminalized in Thailand since November 2024. Under Indonesia’s anti-drug laws, Shaw faces up to life sentence or death penalty if found guilty, Sipayung said.

A video circulating on social media purportedly showed Shaw, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, resisting as he’s being pushed away by police and shouting “Help … help!” when he was about to be arrested.

Shaw has played for several clubs in the Indonesian Basketball League since 2022, and signed a contract with Tangerang Hawk last year. He told police during interrogation that he wanted to share the cannabis candy with fellow basketball players, according to Sipayung.

He said the candy contained a total gross weight of 869 grams (30.6 ounces) of illegal cannabinoid inside a package.

“We are still running the investigation to uncover the international drugs network behind this case and to stop its distribution,” Sipayung said.

Shaw did not make any statement when he was presented by the authorities at a news conference Wednesday wearing a detainee orange T-shirt and a mask with his hands tied.

Tangerang Hawks’ manager, Tikky Suwantikno, told reporters on Thursday that they regretted what had been done by Shaw and the club had immediately fired him as he has breached the contract.

The Indonesian Basketball League banned Shaw from playing for life, said its chair, Budisatrio Djiwandono.

“We don’t tolerate players, administrators or anyone in the field involved in drugs. There is no room for drug users in the basketball world,” Djiwandono said.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Indonesia is a major drug-smuggling hub despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.

About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.

A Thai court has issued arrest warrants for 17 people including a high-profile construction tycoon, police said on Thursday, over their alleged involvement in the building of a skyscraper that collapsed and killed scores of workers during a powerful March earthquake.

Search teams recovered 89 bodies in a six-week operation in the rubble of the partially constructed 30-story State Audit Office tower in the capital Bangkok, which was the only skyscraper to collapse during tremors caused by a massive 7.7 magnitude quake in neighboring Myanmar.

The charges included building code violations that caused deaths, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, said deputy Bangkok police chief, Police Major General Somkuan Puengsap.

Thai authorities are investigating the cause of the building collapse and have yet to release findings. It was one of the deadliest accidents of its kind in Thailand and seven people are still missing.

An anti-corruption watchdog has said it had flagged to authorities irregularities in the construction of the skyscraper before it collapsed, while industry officials said initial tests of materials at the site indicated the presence of substandard steel.

Those charged include executives and engineers from seven companies involved in the design, construction and building supervision of the collapsed tower, police said, without providing more details.

Police named only one of the 17 wanted individuals, Premchai Karnasuta, a former president of Thailand’s largest construction company Italian Thai Development Pcl ITD.BK.

Italian Thai Development has held meetings with investors and has said it was cooperating with the probe.

Premchai could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

He was convicted and sentenced to more than three years in jail in 2021 for poaching protected species after he was caught by rangers at a jungle campsite in a wildlife sanctuary with carcasses of protected animals, including a black Indochinese leopard.

Police in Thailand have arrested a man on suspicion of wildlife trafficking after he was found with two baby orangutans in a basket at a gas station in the Thai capital.

The 47-year-old suspect was apprehended Wednesday as he was about to deliver the two primates to a customer, Thai police said in a statement on Thursday.

Officers discovered the orangutans – one about 1-year-old and the other 1 month-old – in plastic baskets, police said.

Images released by authorities showed one of the orangutans in a plastic basket, wearing a diaper and hugging a soft toy alongside feeding bottles.

The man was arrested on charges of “illegally possessing protected wildlife” under Thai law and could face up to four years in prison, police said.

The man had admitted he was delivering the animals, “but he didn’t say where he got the babies from,” Kasidach said.

Police said they had uncovered an illegal wildlife trade network and were working to find out whether the orangutans had been bred in Thailand or abroad, he added.

The operation was carried out in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wildlife Justice Commission in the Netherlands, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the police statement said.

The department said that Stefan, the 1-month-old, is in an incubator because of weak health and Christopher, the 1-year-old, has been relocated to a sanctuary run by the agency.

Authorities said the orangutans are believed to have been sold for around 300,000 Thai baht ($9,050).

Orangutans are native to Sumatra and Borneo, two Southeast Asian islands that are home to some of the world’s most diverse rainforests, and have come under threat as a result of deforestation, habitat destruction and poaching.

They are listed as “critically endangered” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, which assesses extinction risks.

The gentle apes, once found in greater numbers across Southeast Asia, have experienced sharp population declines, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Thailand has long been a hub for the illegal wildlife trade.

Its border area with Myanmar, Laos, and China – known as the Golden Triangle – is a hotspot of cross-border trafficking, illegal wildlife trade and consumption, according to WWF.