U.S.-Iran Talks and Regional Military Buildup

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
1) A powerful winter storm has isolated New York City and hobbled transport networks, threatening to be among its worst on record, with 41 million people across the US East Coast facing blizzard conditions. The storm shut down the vast majority of flights out of the region’s largest airports on Monday, including in the New York area and in Boston. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a state of emergency and closed streets, highways and bridges to most traffic after 9 p.m. Sunday until noon Monday. Major snowfall of as much as 30 inches is expected across the East Coast in some areas, with the heaviest set through Sunday night and into Monday morning, the National Weather Service said, making travel impossible.
2) Senior US officials said President Trump’s tariff defeat at the Supreme Court won’t unravel deals negotiated with US partners as they sought to defend the administration’s assertive trade policies. Those deals — which the administration made with partners including China, the European Union, Japan and South Korea — remain in place, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. He sought to separate those arrangements from the planned 15% global tariff Trump announced Saturday. Friction over the renewed uncertainty spilled out Sunday as the European Parliament’s trade chief said he’ll propose freezing the EU’s ratification of a trade deal with the US until the Trump administration clarifies its policy. In New Delhi, officials cited similar reasons for India postponing talks in the US this week on finalizing an interim trade deal. The US Supreme Court ruling that struck down Trump’s use of emergency authority to wield tariffs preceded his planned trip next month to China. Greer suggested that alternative US trade tools, including those involving investigations of other countries’ trade practices, would give the US leverage.
3) The US and Iran are set to resume talks Thursday in Geneva, according to Omani mediators. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expects to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff for the talks and reiterated that Iran won’t be pressured by a US military buildup in the region. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that the US-Iran negotiations “are now set for Geneva this Thursday, with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal.” After talks last week, a US official said Iran was expected to return with proposals in two weeks to bridge remaining gaps. The US has orchestrated a massive military buildup in the Middle East including two aircraft carriers as President Trump presses Tehran for a new nuclear deal. Trump said on Friday he’s considering limited strikes on Iran, risking another destabilizing conflict.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.