According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), talks between the American and Iranian delegations in Oman are advancing, with it possible that talks will last into the weekend and next week as Iran appears defiant on several issues, particularly a total ban on the enrichment of uranium, instead pushing for the deluding of only its highly-enriched uranium and/or the transfer of it to a friendly nation like Russia.

Today’s talks between the American and Iranian delegations in Oman were primarily face-to-face, despite reports from some outlets that they were instead through intermediaries, however, the negotiations were mediated in part by Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi. During the talks, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for upwards of eight hours, their first meeting face-to-face since last June’s strikes against nuclear sites in Iran, according to Iranian officials who spoke to Fox News.

Six F-35B Lightning lls with the No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force departed from RAF Marham in England earlier today, supported by a pair of Voyager KC2/3 Aerial-Refueling Tankers, heading for RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean. The F-35Bs are likely heading to the region in support of Operation Shader, the United Kingdom’s military intervention against ISIS in Iraq and Syria which is launched from Akrotiri, though the fighter jets could also be used for the defense of bases in the Middle East if strikes are carried out against Iran.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas G. Dinanno has officially accused China of secretly carrying out nuclear explosion testing in violation of several international conventions, “including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons,” with Dinanno specifically mentioning a covert nuclear explosive test conducted by Beijing in July 2020 during Friday’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland.

Speaking to reporters tonight aboard Air Force One, President Donald J. Trump appears to talk positively about today’s negotiations in Oman, stating that the talks were “very good” and that Iran wants to make a deal “very badly” with the United States.

“We likewise had very good talks on Iran. Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We have to see what that deal is. But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should. Last time, they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently. We'll see what the deal is. It'll be different than last time. And we have a big armada. We have a big fleet heading in that direction. It'll be there pretty soon. So we'll see how that works out.”

The White House, Pentagon, and President Trump still have yet to clarify what “armada” the President keeps talking about, considering the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and her Carrier Strike Group, as well as a handful of others surface ships, have already arrived in the region and there are no other carriers or big decks that are enroute to the Middle East.

Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, Commander of the Israeli Air Force, met Friday with the Head of the Israel Defense Force’s Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder and other senior defense officials, to finalize preparations for potential military action against Iran if or when the United States decided to act, according to the Israeli online newspaper Ynet.

Traders on Polymarket predict that the chance of imminent military action by the United States against Iran still remain low following Friday’s talks in Oman, with the chance of strikes by the end of March at only 42%.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been named on a flight manifest found in the recent release of documents as part of the Epstein Files, showing that he flew in 2006 from London to New York on a Boeing 727-200 owned by convicted sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, aboard an aircraft known more commonly as the Lolita Express.

Twelve other passengers are listed on the manifest besides Phelan, including Epstein himself and Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and close associate of Epstein who was facing charges of sexual assault and rape of a minor when he was found dead in his prison cell in 2022. Six other names on the list have been redacted by the Justice Department. The flight left London traveling to New York on the afternoon of March 3, 2006.

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces reports that Polish and NATO fighter jets and early-warning aircraft have been scrambled from bases in Eastern Europe, while ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance have been raised to their highest state of readiness across Poland, due to activity by Russia’s long-range aviation, which is currently carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine.