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Weekly-News
Oman's Foreign Minister Said US-Iran Deal Was 'Within Our Reach.' Then Trump Started Bombing
"The Omani FM decided to go public," suggested one observer, "so that the American people knew that peace was within reach when Trump instead opted for war."
Feb 28, 2026
Hours before President Donald Trump announced his decision to bomb Iran and pursue the overthrow of its government, the foreign minister of Oman appeared, in person, on one of the most prominent US television news programs to declare that a diplomatic breakthrough was possible.
"I can see that the peace deal is within our reach," Badr Albusaidi, the mediator of recent talks between the US and Iran, told "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan on Friday. "I'm asking to continue this process because we have already achieved quite a substantial progress in the direction of a deal. And the heart of this deal is very important, and I think we have captured that heart."
Pressed for specifics, Albusaidi said that Iran committed during the talks to renounce the possibility of amassing "nuclear material that will create a bomb"—a pledge that Trump claimed Iran refused to make as part of his justification for Saturday's strikes.
"This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama's time," Albusaidi said, referring to the 2015 nuclear accord that Trump ditched during his first term in the White House. "This is something completely new. It really makes the enrichment argument less relevant, because now we are talking about zero stockpiling. And that is very, very important, because if you cannot stockpile material that is enriched, then there is no way you can actually create a bomb, whether you enrich or don't enrich. And I think this is really something that has been missed a lot by the media, and I want to clarify that from the standpoint of a mediator."
"There is no accumulation, so there would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling, and full verification," the Omani foreign minister continued. "Full and comprehensive verification by the [International Atomic Energy Agency]."
In a social media post following the interview, Albusaidi reiterated that a deal "is now within reach" and implored all parties to "support the negotiators in closing the deal." Prior to Saturday's attacks, additional US-Iran talks were scheduled for next week.
Watch the full segment, which critics highlighted as evidence that the US-Israeli attacks on Saturday were aimed at forestalling a diplomatic resolution:
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the US-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Albusaidi's remarks that "the Omanis are famously cautious."
"The Omani FM going on CBS to reveal what has actually been achieved in the negotiations is quite unprecedented. And what has been achieved is significant—Trump can indeed declare victory. Listen to this segment—it goes way beyond what Obama achieved," Parsi wrote. "But everything indicates that Trump won't take yes for an answer. That he will start a war of choice very soon."
"Which is probably why the Omani FM decided to go public," Parsi added. "So that the American people knew that peace was within reach when Trump instead opted for war."
According to one survey released earlier this month, just 21% of Americans support "the United States initiating an attack on Iran under the current circumstances."
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'Bombs Will Be Dropping Everywhere': Trump Launches Illegal Regime Change War Against Iran
"The US once again used the veneer of negotiations as a cover to bomb Iran."
Feb 28, 2026
President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Saturday morning that the US has launched a massive military operation aimed at toppling the Iranian government as blasts were reported in Tehran, including near the offices of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is taking part in the assault. Unnamed Israeli security sources told Channel 12 that Israel and the Trump administration are "going all in" against Iran as Trump instructed Iranians to "stay sheltered," warning that "bombs will be dropping everywhere." People were seen seeking cover in Tehran as the US and Israeli bombs began to fall.
The assault, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" by the Pentagon, comes days after the US and Iran took part in talks in Geneva, which Trump's envoys characterized as "positive." In announcing military action on Saturday, Trump said falsely that the Iranian government has "rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions."
The US and Israeli attacks—which both nations characterized as "preemptive"—are plainly illegal under international law, which prohibits the threat or use of force except in response to an armed attack. The Trump administration is also violating US law, which gives Congress the sole power to declare war.
"The term 'preemptive' is pure propaganda," wrote Drop Site journalist Jeremy Scahill. "The US once again used the veneer of negotiations as a cover to bomb Iran. Tehran had just offered terms that went far beyond the 2015 nuclear deal. What was preempted was diplomacy. The same propaganda tactics used in the 2003 Iraq war."
Trump, who ditched the 2015 nuclear deal during his first White House term, repeatedly made clear in his remarks Saturday that he does not intend the new assault on Iran to be limited in scope like his bombings of Iranian nuclear sites last year. In the weeks leading up to Saturday's attack, the Trump administration carried out a massive military buildup in the Middle East even as the president publicly claimed he was open to a diplomatic resolution.
"We may have casualties," the US president said of American troops. "That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future."
Trump also urged the Iranian armed forces to surrender or "face certain death" as the US fired Tomahawk cruise missiles and other munitions at Iran.
The Iranian government's immediate response to Saturday's onslaught was a pledge of "crushing retaliation" and a wave of drone and missile attacks on Israel. The Associated Press reported that "hours after the strikes on Iran, explosions rocked northern Israel as the country worked to intercept incoming Iranian missiles."
Iran's foreign minister later informed his Iraqi counterpart that Iran would be targeting US military installations in the region in retaliation for Saturday's attacks.
A spokesperson for the Iranian military declared that "we will teach Israel and America a lesson they have never experienced in their history."
"Any base that helps America and Israel will be the target of the Iranian armed forces," the official added.
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'Peace President' Trump Floats 'Friendly Takeover' of Cuba While Preparing to Attack Iran
"Trump ran on an explicitly anti-interventionist platform when he ran for president," noted one critic. "He lied to the American people."
Feb 27, 2026
As the world braces for a possible US war on Iran and people in Venezuela, Nigeria, and Yemen still reel from recent US attacks, President Donald Trump—the self-proclaimed "peace president" who has bombed more countries than any other American administration—said Friday that the United States may launch a "friendly takeover" of Cuba.
"The Cuban government is talking with us, they're in a big deal of trouble, as you know," Trump told reporters outside the White House before departing for Texas. "They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they're talking to us, and maybe we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba."
"We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba," he added.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío posted on social media Friday that "the US maintains its fuel embargo against Cuba in full force, and its impact as a form of collective punishment is unwavering."
"Nothing announced in recent days changes this reality," he added. "The possibility of conditional sales to the private sector already existed and does not alleviate the impact on the Cuban population."
Trump's comments sparked criticism on social media, with one X user writing: "A 'friendly takeover' is an interesting phrase in international diplomacy. If the US is discussing Cuba’s future, I’m sure [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is suddenly very interested in the definition of friendly' too."
University of North Texas, Dallas political science professor Orlando Pérez said on X that "more often than not, [Trump's] mouth is his worst enemy."
"This BS plays into the hands of hard-liners on both sides of the Florida Straits and reduces chances of a negotiated deal," he added. "Why would anyone in Cuba agree to a deal that leads to a US 'takeover'?"
Meanwhile, dozens of civil society groups on Friday sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers "to press the Trump administration to reverse its aggressive policy towards Cuba."
"Instead, Congress should call on the administration to expand humanitarian relief, support political and economic engagement, and foster a more vibrant private sector that can deliver a better quality of life for the Cuban people," added the groups, which include Alianza Americas, American Friends Service Committee, CodePink, Demand Progress, Peace Action, Presbyterian Church USA, RootsAction, United Church of Christ, and Win Without War.
Trump's remarks Friday came in response to a question from NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez regarding Wednesday's incident in which Cuban maritime defense forces killed four men and captured six others during a shootout with a Florida-registered speedboat allegedly carrying weapons intended for what Havana called “an infiltration for terrorist purposes.” South Florida has long been a base for right-wing Cuban exiles who have launched numerous terror attacks against the Cuban people and international tourists on the island, including by speedboat strafings.
Trump did not clarify his comments, seemingly suggesting that moves to topple Cuba's socialist government—which has outlasted a dozen US presidents—could be freshly afoot. Since Cubans overthrew a brutal US-backed dictatorship in 1959, the United States or allied exile forces tried to assassinate former Cuban President Fidel Castro hundreds of times, backed an ill-fated invasion at Bay of Pigs, served as a base for perpetrators of some of the hemisphere's worst terror attacks, and even hatched a plan to detonate a nuclear bomb high above the island to convince its people that the return of Jesus Christ was nigh and the only thing standing in the way of the so-called "Second Coming" was Castro.
A 64-year US economic embargo on Cuba, which Trump recently worsened by cutting off fuel, has been a leading force crippling Cuba's economy and is now being blamed for a soaring infant mortality on the island.
Friday's remarks by Trump came as Iranians and people across the Middle East and beyond are bracing for a possible US attack on Iran—the second in as many years—and less than than two months after the president ordered the bombing and invasion of Venezuela during an operation that ended with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro abducted and jailed in United States, where he is expected to face trial for dubious narco-trafficking charges.
If the US strikes Cuba, it will be the 11th country attacked during Trump's two terms in office. The president—who says he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize—has ordered attacks on Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen, and has bombed dozens of boats allegedly transporting drugs in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
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'Batshit Authoritarianism': Trump Allies Drafting Order to Give Him 'Extraordinary Power Over Voting'
“This is a plot to interfere with the will of voters and undermine both the rule of law and public confidence in our elections," said Sen. Mark Warner.
Feb 26, 2026
A group of right-wing activists is crafting an executive order that would let President Donald Trump unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the order being drafted by Trump allies would give him "extraordinary power over voting," even though the US Constitution explicitly gives individual states the powers to run their own elections.
An advocate for the order, Florida attorney Peter Ticktin, acknowledged in an interview with the Post that the Constitution does not give the president any role in shaping elections, but he said Trump needed to act to prevent China from supposedly interfering with American elections.
"Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that,” Ticktin said. "But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes. That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it."
The activists drafting the emergency order said that they are working in coordination with the White House, although the extent of any cooperation isn't clear.
However, the Post pointed to some evidence that the White House really is on board with such a strategy, such as the Trump administration's efforts to investigate his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden, which the president has long baselessly claimed was due to foreign interference from a number of nations, including China and Venezuela.
As the Post noted, "a 2021 intelligence review concluded that China considered efforts to influence the election but did not go through with them."
Additionally, Trump has publicly stated numerous times that he wants to completely do away with mail-in ballots and voting machines, both of which he has baselessly claimed are riddled with fraud.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the draft order was simply an attempt by the president's allies to block democratic accountability in future elections.
"We've been raising the alarm for weeks about President Trump’s attacks on our elections and now we’re seeing reports that outline how they may be planning to do it,” Warner told the Post. “This is a plot to interfere with the will of voters and undermine both the rule of law and public confidence in our elections."
Government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said that the drafted order was plainly unconstitutional and would fail in court.
"The Constitution gives states power over election law with oversight from Congress," CREW wrote in a social media post. "Notice who's missing? The president. Trump may try to cook up a sham national emergency to try to seize control of elections but it won't stand up to scrutiny."
MS NOW national security contributor Marc Polymeropoulos called the draft order "batshit authoritarianism" and cautioned that "this crazy shit is possible as Trump knows Congress is all but lost at this point in a free election."
"To save himself," Polymeropoulos added, "anything is possible."
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pointed to the Post report and warned, "Donald Trump’s plan to steal the 2026 midterm elections is already underway."
Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) accused Trump of "setting the stage to steal the midterm elections and set fire to our democracy," while vowing that Democrats would "fight for our democracy and safeguard the right to vote."
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