Iran orders talks with US as Trump warns of 'bad things' if no deal reached

by AFP Staff Writers
Paris, France (AFP) Feb 3, 2026

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said, as his counterpart Donald Trump threatened "bad things" if no deal with the Islamic republic was struck.

Following the Iranian authorities' deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, the US president has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.

Trump has maintained he is hopeful that Washington will "work something out" with Iran but also warned on Monday that "bad things would happen" if no deal is reached.

Tehran has insisted it wants diplomacy, while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.

"President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States" on Iran's nuclear programme, the Fars news agency reported on Monday, citing an unnamed government source. The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.

A meeting is likely to take place in Turkey on Friday, following interventions by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Oman, an Arab official told AFP on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

US news site Axios cited two unnamed sources as saying Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was expected to meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Istanbul to discuss a possible deal on the nuclear issue.

Trump had warned "time is running out" for Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb, a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Araghchi said: "President Trump said no nuclear weapons, and we fully agree. We fully agree with that. That could be a very good deal," adding that, "in return, we expect sanctions lifting".

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier on Monday that Tehran was working on a method and framework for negotiations that would be ready in the coming days, with messages between the two sides relayed through regional players.

- 'Police the world' -

Turkey has led a diplomatic push to defuse tensions, with Araghchi visiting Istanbul last week and speaking with other regional counterparts, including in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Jordan's top diplomat, Ayman Safadi, assured Araghchi on Monday that the kingdom would "not be a battleground in any regional conflict or a launching pad for any military action against Iran".

Iranian authorities, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have warned any US attack would trigger a "regional war".

In Tehran, pensioner Ali Hamidi told AFP he was a veteran and "not afraid of war", but that "America should mind its own business, why does it want to police the world?"

But, the 68-year-old added, "Iranian officials are also at fault for not providing for the people. The economic troubles are back-breaking... The officials should do something tangible, not just talk."

The protests were sparked in late December by economic strain and exploded in size and intensity over several days in early January.

Authorities have said the protests were "riots" inflamed by its arch-foes the United States and Israel, with Khamenei likening them to a "coup" attempt.

- Ambassadors summoned -

Tehran has acknowledged thousands of deaths during the protests, and on Sunday the presidency published the names of 2,986 people out of the 3,117 whom authorities said were killed in the unrest.

Authorities insist most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to "terrorist acts".

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based NGO, said it has confirmed 6,854 deaths, mostly protesters killed by security forces, with other rights groups warning the figure is likely far higher.

Young Iranian Selina, who would not give her full name, travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan seeking some relief from "living in fear".

"It's not safe for us" in Iran, the 25-year-old told AFP.

"We don't even dare to go out after 6:00 pm because soldiers are everywhere."

The crackdown prompted the European Union to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, with Iranian lawmakers retaliating on Sunday by slapping the same designation on European armies.

The EU also issued fresh sanctions on Iranian officials, including the interior minister, a move echoed on Monday by Britain, which announced sanctions on 10 individuals over the "brutality against protesters".

Baqaei said Monday the foreign ministry had summoned all the EU member state ambassadors in Tehran over the designation, and that other responses were to come.

Iranian state television also announced four foreigners had been arrested in Tehran for "participation in riots", without specifying their nationalities.

Authorities have continued to announce arrests, with rights groups estimating at least 40,000 people have been detained over the protests.

Right-wing candidate set for Costa Rica election landslide
San Jose (AFP) Feb 2, 2026 - Right-wing candidate Laura Fernandez was on course for a landslide win in Costa Rica's presidential election on Sunday, according to partial results from the vote, which was dominated by concern over crime.

With results from 53 percent of polling stations counted, the ruling party candidate had 50.87 percent of the vote, 13 points more than needed to win the election outright in the first round.

Fernandez's nearest rival, centrist economist Alvaro Ramos, was at 31.63 percent.

Costa Rica, long seen as an oasis of stability and democracy in Central America, has become a logistics hub for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels.

Drug trafficking has spilt over into local communities, fuelling turf wars that have caused the murder rate to jump 50 percent in the past six years.

Fernandez cites iron-fisted Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has locked up thousands of suspected gang members without charge, as an inspiration on how to tamp down crime.

A victory for the 39-year-old political scientist would confirm a rightward lurch in Latin America, where conservatives have come to power in Chile, Bolivia and Honduras in recent months.

Bukele rushed to congratulate "president-elect" Fernandez on Sunday, wishing her "every success."

- Attacks on the judiciary -

Fernandez is the protege of popular outgoing conservative President Rodrigo Chaves, whom she served as planning minister and chief of staff.

Chaves deflected criticism for rising violence on his watch by placing the blame on what he sees as an overly-permissive judiciary.

Jessica Salgado, 27, said she voted for Fernandez as the continuity candidate, because she felt the government was on the right track, even if violence is on the up.

"The violence exploded because they (the government) are going after the ringleaders, it's like dragging rats out of the sewer," Salgado told AFP.

Costa Ricans also voted for members of the 57-seat Legislative Assembly on Sunday.

Fernandez is hoping to win a big enough parliamentary majority to change the constitution and overhaul the judiciary.

Her detractors fear she will try to change the charter to allow her mentor Chaves to return as president after her four-year mandate ends.

Under the current constitution, he is barred from seeking re-election until he has been out of power for eight years.

As he voted on Sunday, former president Oscar Arias, winner of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, warned that the "survival of democracy" was at stake.

"The first thing dictators want to do is to reform the Constitution to stay in power," he said, alluding to Chaves.

Ramos, the candidate of the National Liberation Party (PLN) who sought to rally opposition to Fernandez, warned that "modern dictatorships don't always arrive with tanks."

Fernandez insists she is committed to upholding Costa Rica's democratic tradition.

- Cocaine-smuggling hub -

The drug trade has sucked in the high-density "precarios" (informal settlements) of cities such as the capital San Jose, where shootouts between rival drug gangs are increasingly frequent.

Fernandez has vowed to complete construction of a maximum-security prison modelled on Bukele's brutal CECOT penitentiary.

She has also promised to stiffen prison sentences and to impose a Bukele-style state of emergency in areas worst hit by crime.

Bukele is a hero for many in Latin America, credited with restoring security to a nation traumatized by crime.