The Guardian: First Thing

"US and Iranian negotiators meet for critical nuclear talks in Geneva."

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Support independent journalism Support us   First Thing: US and Iranian negotiators meet for critical nuclear talks in Geneva Tehran insists deal is possible if Trump abides by preconditions agreed with Witkoff. Plus, will Andrew bring down the British monarchy?  A woman walks next to an anti-US mural in Tehran on Monday. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA Jem Bartholomew Good morning. Iran enters critical talks on its nuclear program with the US in Geneva today, insisting a deal is possible as long as Washington sticks by three preconditions: to concede Iran’s symbolic right to enrich uranium, allow Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and not impose controls on Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Iranian officials claim these principles had already been accepted in two previous rounds of indirect talks by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is heading to Geneva with Jared Kushner, but it is unclear if Donald Trump will accept these parameters. Meanwhile, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday it would be a “big problem” if Iran did not negotiate over missiles. What do we know about Trump’s position? In his State of the Union speech, Trump veered sharply away from the negotiating path adopted by Witkoff when he warned about Iran’s ballistic missiles reaching Europe, accused Iran of being the number one sponsor of terrorism and again claimed Iran had not promised to forgo nuclear weapons. He also claimed 32,000 demonstrators had been killed by the Iranian authorities in recent protests. This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage here. Vance says Minnesota’s Medicaid funds halted as part of Trump’s ‘war on fraud’  Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and JD Vance, the vice-president. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA JD Vance announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” more than $250m in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota, escalating Donald Trump’s newly announced “war on fraud”. Vance said the action was to ensure Minnesota was “a good steward of the American people’s tax money”. The Trump administration has aggressively targeted Minnesota after a fraud scandal involving the state’s social service programs. Federal prosecutors estimate as much as $9bn has been stolen across schemes linked to the state’s Somali population. Dozens of people were charged with fraud in 2022 during the Biden administration. In recent months the Trump administration has sent thousands of federal immigration agents to Minneapolis, resulting in the deaths of two US citizens and widespread protests. How have Democrats responded? “This has nothing to do with fraud,” Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, said on X. “The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DoJ is gutting the US Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.” Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025  A person holds up a placard at a vigil in the UK in September for journalists and photographers killed by Israel in Gaza. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the CPJ’s annual report found. Israeli fire killed 86 journalists last year, the CPJ said, the majority of them Palestinians reporting from Gaza. What is the context? Israel does not permit foreign journalists to enter Gaza, so all the media workers killed there were Palestinians. The report said the “Israeli military has now committed more targeted killings of the press than any other government’s military on record”, noting that the CPJ started collecting data more than three decades ago. In other news …  Aliya Rahman is removed from the House chamber as Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP A guest of the congresswoman Ilhan Omar was arrested by Capitol police for standing at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident, was arrested for unlawful conduct and disruption of Congress, police stated. Cuban forces killed four exiles and wounded six others, the country’s government said, saying a Florida-registered speedboat had sailed into its waters and opened fire on a Cuban patrol. Larry Summers, a former president of Harvard University, will resign from teaching at the end of the academic year “in connection with the ongoing review” of Epstein files. Two women have been arrested and detained in Uganda after allegedly kissing in public, an act of “same-sex activity” that can lead to a life sentence in the east African country. Stat of the day: Judge orders Greenpeace to pay $345m over Dakota Access oil pipeline protests  Protesters against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota, in November 2016. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Reuters A North Dakota judge has said he will order Greenpeace to pay damages expected to total $345m to the pipeline company Energy Transfer. It relates to protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017. A jury found Greenpeace USA liable on counts including conspiracy, trespass, nuisance and tortious interference. Greenpeace says the lawsuit was intended to silence activists. The Filter Recommends: The best (and worst) chocolate bars – tasted and ranked  The Guardian held a blind taste test of the best chocolate bars in the US. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian “Finding the perfect chocolate bar is a bit like dating. Some bars are an acquired taste, while others are love at first sight,” write Karen Yuan and Lauren Gould for the Filter. “Which ones actually taste good? To find out, we held a blind taste test of 10 of the top chocolate brands in the US.” Don’t miss this: Will Andrew bring down the British monarchy? – podcast  Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in the UK on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/Reuters As UK lawmakers vote to release documents relating to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy, Today in Focus spoke to Andrew Lownie, the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, about whether this scandal could be the British monarchy’s last. Climate check: Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis, study finds  An orchid bee visits an orchid in north-western Ecuador. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy Tropical flowers are blooming months earlier or later because of climate breakdown, with potentially “cascading impacts across ecosystems”, according to a study of 8,000 plants dating back 200 years. “These changes, and more in turn, fracture communities and food chains,” the researchers wrote in the paper. Last Thing: Why the wildest reality TV shows of the 2000s are haunting us now  Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model. Photograph: CBS There’s been a recent spate of postmortems revisiting 2000s shows – The Biggest Loser, To Catch a Predator and America’s Next Top Model – that monetized humiliation at scale. “These docs provide a strange nostalgia trip,” writes Andrew Lawrence. “But today’s young scolds should take heed: soon enough, you’ll have to answer for Love Island and MrBeast.” Sign up First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now. Get in touch If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com   Betsy Reed US editor, the Guardian At this unsettling time I hope you appreciated this newsletter. Before you move on, I wanted to ask if you could support the Guardian at this crucial time for journalism in the US. In his first presidency, Donald Trump called journalists the enemy; a year into his second term, it’s clear that this time around, he’s treating us like one. From Hungary to Russia, authoritarian regimes have made silencing independent media one of their defining moves. Sometimes outright censorship isn’t even required to achieve this goal. In the United States, we have seen the administration apply various forms of pressure on news outlets since Trump's return to office. One of our great disappointments is how quickly some of the most storied US media organizations have folded when faced with the mere specter of hostility from the administration – long before their hand was forced. While private news organizations can choose how to respond to this government’s threats, insults and lawsuits, public media has been powerless to stop the defunding of federally supported television and radio. This has been devastating for local and rural communities, who stand to lose not only their primary source of local news and cultural programming, but health and public safety information, including emergency alerts. While we cannot make up for this loss, the Guardian is proud to make our fact-based work available for free to all, especially when the internet is increasingly flooded with slanted reporting, misinformation and algorithmic drivel. Being free from billionaire and corporate ownership means the Guardian will never compromise our independence – but it also means we rely on support from readers who understand how essential it is to have news sources that are immune to intimidation from the powerful. We value whatever you can spare, but a recurring contribution makes the most impact, enabling greater investment in our most crucial, fearless journalism. We’ve made it very quick to set up, so we hope you’ll consider it. Thank you. Support us     Manage your emails | Unsubscribe | Trouble viewing? You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to First Thing: the US morning briefing. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396