The briefing for Sunday, February 1.

US charge d'affaires Laura Dogu arrived in Caracas on Saturday to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties. The reopening comes nearly one month after a military operation ordered by President Trump removed then-leader Nicolás Maduro from office. Venezuela and the US broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019 when Trump publicly supported lawmaker Juan Guaidó's claim to be interim president.

According to the AP, Dogu's arrival follows Venezuela's announcement of an amnesty bill to release political prisoners, a key opposition demand. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil stated the reopening is part of a joint schedule to 'deal with and resolve existing differences through diplomatic dialogue.' Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a Maduro loyalist, said earlier in January that reopening the US embassy would give Venezuela's government a way to oversee the treatment of the deposed president, who is now jailed in the US.

The diplomatic restoration represents a significant shift in US-Venezuela relations after years of antagonism. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez announced the prisoner amnesty just one day before Dogu's arrival, signaling potential cooperation between the two nations. Dogu, who previously served as ambassador in Nicaragua and Honduras, posted that her team is 'ready to work' upon landing at Maiquetia airport.

Iran is set to conduct live fire naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend, even as President Trump announced that Iran is in 'serious discussions' with the US. The strait, just 33 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, carries about a fifth of the world's traded oil. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that any US attack would spark a regional conflict, stating 'the Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things.'

The US has deployed significant military forces to the region, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which US Central Command confirmed is operating in the Arabian Sea. Trump said Thursday that to avoid US military action, Iran must agree to two conditions: no nuclear weapons and stopping the killing of protesters. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded that 'the US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf.'

The standoff comes amid ongoing civil unrest in Iran. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed more than 6,300 deaths since late December protests began, with another 17,000 reported deaths under investigation. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group warns the final toll could exceed 25,000. On Saturday, two explosions in Iran heightened tensions, with local authorities blaming gas leaks for blasts in Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz that killed at least five people and injured over a dozen others.

District Court Judge Katherine Menendez on Saturday denied Minnesota's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the Trump administration's deployment of 3,000 federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. While acknowledging the operation 'has had, and will likely continue to have, profound and even heartbreaking, consequences,' the judge ruled that state officials had not proved the surge was unlawful. The decision came hours before a partial federal government shutdown began at midnight.

In her ruling, Judge Menendez noted 'there is evidence that ICE and CBP agents have engaged in racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other harmful actions.' However, she said state officials 'have provided no metric by which to determine when lawful law enforcement becomes unlawful commandeering.' Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had argued the deployment violated the state's constitutional sovereignty under the 10th Amendment.

The ruling follows nationwide protests on Friday in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC over the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal agents. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was shot by an ICE agent on January 7, and Renee Good was killed days later. Border tsar Tom Homan suggested Thursday the administration could 'draw down' federal forces if local officials cooperate, saying 'we are not surrendering our mission at all, we're just doing it smarter.' Minneapolis Mayor Frey called the operation 'an invasion' that 'has brought the opposite' of public safety.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is privately urging President Trump to conduct maximalist military strikes aimed at regime change in Iran, according to the BBC. This week, Israel's military intelligence chief Shlomi Binder met with US intelligence agencies in Washington to discuss possible targets in Iran. Despite intense global speculation about potential US military action, Israeli leaders have remained unusually silent in public about their superpower ally confronting their biggest enemy.

Former Israeli Defense Intelligence officials say Netanyahu views this as a 'golden moment' that he 'cannot forgo.' Danny Citrinowicz, who served 25 years in Israel's Defense Intelligence, told the BBC that when Netanyahu reportedly urged Trump to hold back earlier this month, it was because he viewed the planned US attack as 'too small.' Israeli lawmakers argue that limited strikes or a new deal leaving Iran's regime intact could pose greater security risks than attempting to remove it entirely.

For Netanyahu, regime change in Tehran would end the threat from Iran's ballistic missiles and any nuclear weapons program, while further weakening proxy militias like Hezbollah, which Israel's Alma research institute says still has up to 25,000 missiles and rockets in Lebanon. However, analysts warn that Iran has been rebuilding its missile stocks in the six months since the 12-day war last June, and Tehran's heightened sense of vulnerability could lead to more intense retaliation. Some Iranian missiles penetrated Israeli air defenses during that conflict, and Iran has since adapted its tactics.

The US federal government entered a partial shutdown at midnight Saturday despite the Senate approving a last-minute funding deal hours earlier. The bill funds most agencies until September but includes just two weeks of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement. The House of Representatives, which is out of session until Monday, has yet to approve the measure, though the shutdown is expected to be brief.

President Trump struck the funding deal with Democrats after they refused additional immigration enforcement funding following the fatal shooting of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis. The White House has directed several agencies, including the departments of transportation, education and defense, to execute shutdown plans. A White House memo stated employees should 'report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities,' adding 'it is our hope that this lapse will be short.'

This marks the second such shutdown in the past year, coming just 11 weeks after the end of a previous 43-day funding impasse that lasted from October 1 to November 14, 2025—the longest in US history. That shutdown had widespread impacts on essential government services including air travel and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay for weeks. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats want the two-week DHS funding period used to negotiate policies requiring oversight and judicial warrants for immigration agents, stating 'we need to rein in ICE and end the violence.'

President Trump announced Saturday that the US is 'starting to talk to Cuba' as his administration intensifies pressure on the communist-run island by cutting off key oil supplies. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump made the comment following his recent moves to halt oil shipments from Venezuela and Mexico through tariffs on countries that provide oil to Cuba. He did not provide details about what level of outreach has occurred or when discussions began.

This week, Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on goods from any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The move put particular pressure on Mexico, which Cuba became dependent on for oil after Trump halted Venezuelan shipments following Nicolás Maduro's ouster in early January. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned the policy could cause a humanitarian crisis and said Friday she would seek alternatives to continue helping Cuba.

Trump predicted the Cuban government is ready to fall and said cutting oil supplies would force the island to the negotiating table. 'It doesn't have to be a humanitarian crisis. I think they probably would come to us and want to make a deal,' Trump said. 'So Cuba would be free again.' He added that he thinks 'we'll be kind' in any deal with Cuba. Trump's goals with Cuba remain unclear, but the president has turned more attention toward the island after his administration's actions in Venezuela.