Iran’s president said Tuesday he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington.

It comes after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had broadly warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control.

It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.

But possible talks were thrust into question when U.S. Central Command said Tuesday a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching an American aircraft carrier.

In an e-mailed statement, U.S. Central Command said the drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and it “continued to fly toward the ship despite deescalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.”

Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region. A Turkish official later said the location of talks was uncertain but that Turkey was ready to support the process. The official did not provide further details.

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Foreign ministers from Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been invited to attend the talks, if they happen, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to journalists.

But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as U.S. President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks.

Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

Writing on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”

“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence and expediency,” he said.

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The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.

On Tuesday, Araghchi spoke by phone with his counterparts from Oman, Qatar, Turkey and Kuwait, but did not mention anything about a possible venue.

Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.

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Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.

He suggested that if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then move to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.

The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.

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Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”

“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.

“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.

Witkoff is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

While in Israel, Witkoff will meet with the head of the Mossad intelligence service and the Israeli military’s chief of staff, according to another official who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel is expected to ask that any agreement with Iran include removing enriched uranium from the country, stopping the enrichment of uranium, limiting the creation of ballistic missiles and ending support for Tehran’s proxies.

However, Shakhani in his interview rejected giving up uranium enrichment — a major obstacle in earlier talks with the U.S. In November, Araghchi said Iran was doing no enrichment in the country because of the U.S. bombing of the nuclear sites.

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Witkoff will travel to Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.

“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.

“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

Mike Pompeo, a hard-liner on Iran who served as CIA director and secretary of state in Trump’s first term, said it was “unimaginable that there can be a deal.”

“I think they may come away with some set of understandings,” Pompeo said at Dubai’s World Governments Summit. “But to think that there’s a long-term solution that actually provides stability and peace to this region while the ayatollah is still in power is something I pray for but find unimaginable.”

Also Tuesday, a ship transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, reported being hailed on the radio “by numerous small armed vessels,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

There was no identifying information on the vessel, which continued into the Persian Gulf. The position of the incident appeared to be in Iranian territorial waters, where officials had warned of a naval drill by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days.

The son of Norway’s crown princess pleaded not guilty to rape charges as he went on trial Tuesday for multiple alleged offences, opening weeks of proceedings in a case that has cast a shadow on the royal family’s image.

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, is the eldest son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit from a previous relationship and the stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon. Høiby has no royal title or official duties.

Høiby stood while prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø read out the 38 counts against him in the Oslo district court, asking him if he pleaded guilty. He replied “no” to the most serious charges, including the four counts of rape.

The charges also include abuse in a close relationship against one former partner, acts of violence against another and transporting 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pounds) of marijuana. Others include making death threats and traffic violations.

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Høiby pleaded guilty to several driving offences, to an aggravated drugs offence and breaking a restraining order, and “partly” to threats and aggravated assault. Wearing glasses, a brown sweater and beige trousers, he spoke quietly and conferred regularly with a defence lawyer.

Prosecutors have said that Høiby could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the trial, which is scheduled to last until March 19. Seven alleged victims are expected to testify.

“There is equality before the law,” Henriksbø told the court. “The defendant is the son of the crown princess. He is part of the royal family. He shall nevertheless be treated in the same way as any other person who is charged with the same offences.”

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The defendant sat between defence lawyers Ellen Holager Andenæs and Petar Sekulic for the beginning of the trial and moved later to a table behind them, where he fiddled with a chain while the prosecutor outlined the allegations.

International interest

Reflecting international interest in the trial, Judge Jon Sverdrup Efjestad addressed the court in English, warning that it was prohibited to record or take photographs in the courtroom and advising that some witness testimony would be heard behind closed doors.

Andenæs argued that Høiby’s fame had already coloured the case. She said he had faced a “tsunami of publicity” over a long period that had made him “feel that he is losing control of his life,” and that the weight of public scrutiny from thousands of newspaper articles had made it difficult for him to believe he could prevail.

“Like everyone else, he is innocent until proven guilty. The verdict will be pronounced in this courtroom and not anywhere else,” the defence lawyer told the court. “It is only you who will decide this.”

Outside the courtroom, Hege Salomon, a lawyer for one of the alleged rape victims, said her client wanted to remain anonymous and was “very scared” that the public might learn her name, adding “the media coverage adds to the pressure, especially because she’s not a famous person.”

Salomon said her client had been contacted by police and decided to testify, “and she thinks it’s correct that … they have pressed charges and so on, but it was not her that initiated it.”

The investigation began in 2024. Police were first called to an apartment in Oslo’s upscale Frogner neighbourhood following reports of a violent incident. Høiby was arrested and later released, but the case expanded as additional women came forward with allegations.

The indictment prosecutors centers on four alleged rapes between 2018 and November 2024; alleged violence and threats against a former partner between the summer of 2022 and the fall of 2023; and two alleged acts of violence against a subsequent partner, along with violations of a restraining order.

It was expanded in January, when Høiby was charged with six more offences, including possession and delivery of large quantities of marijuana and further restraining order violations.

He was free pending trial until Sunday, when police said he was arrested over new allegations of assault, threats with a knife and violation of a restraining order.

Crown Prince Haakon said last week that he and Mette-Marit don’t plan to attend the trial and that the royal house doesn’t intend to comment during the proceedings.

Royal problems

King Harald, 88, and the royals are generally popular in Norway, but the Høiby case has been a problem for the family’s image.

The trial opened at a particularly sensitive moment. Mette-Marit faces renewed scrutiny over her past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 in a New York jail cell as he faced sex trafficking charges, following the release on Friday of a new batch of documents from the Epstein files.

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They contained several hundred mentions of the crown princess, who already said in 2019 that she regretted having had contact with Epstein, Norwegian media reported. The documents, which include email exchanges, showed that Mette-Marit borrowed an Epstein-owned property in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days in 2013. Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that the stay was arranged through a mutual friend, which was later confirmed by the royal household.

Mette-Marit said in a statement that she “must take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein’s background more thoroughly, and for not realizing sooner what kind of person he was.” She added: “I showed poor judgment and regret having had any contact with Epstein at all. It is simply embarrassing.”

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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is in Norway for the start of a trip that will also visit Denmark and Greenland, which comes just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened annexation of Greenland.

A statement from Rideau Hall notes the trip will engage leaders of Norway, Denmark and Greenland for “Arctic collaboration” and emphasizes the role of Indigenous and northern communities in shaping the future of Arctic societies and sovereignty — including in Greenland.

In Norway, Simon is participating in the Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromsø and will meet with royalty of the Kingdom of Norway, including Their Majesties King Harald V and Queen Sonja, as well as His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon, in Oslo.

Simon also spoke at a fireside chat and youth-led dialogue, which featured Indigenous Sámi women speaking on Arctic policy and diplomacy.

From Thursday to Saturday, Simon will travel to the Kingdom of Denmark and then to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

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In Copenhagen, she will meet with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and in Greenland, she will meet with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

Simon will also attend the opening of the Canadian consulate in Nuuk, Greenland.

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Trump had threatened tariffs on countries which opposed his Greenland ambitions and, at one point, would not rule out the use of military force to annex the Danish territory.

He later said at the World Economic Forum that he would not use force.

Greenland is also a member of both NATO and the European Union.

On Jan. 21, Trump announced he had reached a “framework” for “a future deal” with Greenland and reversed course on his tariff threats, but there has been no indication the “deal” would allow the annexation Trump has sought. Instead, NATO has said it focuses on security in the region.

“Discussions among NATO allies on the framework the president referenced will focus on ensuring Arctic security through the collective efforts of allies, especially the seven Arctic allies,” a NATO spokesperson said.

“Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold — economically or militarily — in Greenland.”

The Prime Minister of Denmark said Greenland’s sovereignty cannot be included in any negotiations with Trump, but the door remains open for discussions about politics, security, investments and the economy.

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