Alexei Navalny was killed by Russia with dart frog toxin, 5 European countries say
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a rally in support of political prisoners in Prospekt Sakharova Street in Moscow, Russia on September 29, 2019. (Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a rare lethal toxin found in poison dart frogs from South America, according to a joint statement from the UK, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.
The European partners said they are confident in their determination based on analyses of samples from Navalny which confirmed the presence of the lethal toxin, Epibatidine.
“Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” the statement read.
Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a social media post she “was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon.”
Navalnaya said she is grateful to the countries who have worked on the investigation.
“Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes,” she said.
Russian officials did not immediately comment on the report.
In this handout photo released by the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Feb. 6, 2026, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner meet ahead of the US-Iran talks, in Muscat, the capital of Oman. (Photo by Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Negotiating teams from the United States and Iran are expected to meet on Friday in Oman, marking a reopening of nuclear talks following weeks of tensions and threats, as leaders in Tehran oversaw a deadly crackdown on widespread protests.
The U.S. side will be led by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to the White House.
“The President has obviously been quite clear in his demands of the Iranian regime,” Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday during a press briefing. “Zero nuclear capability is something he’s been very explicit about.”
Iranian state-run media published photos and videos early on Friday of Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the Omani capital, where he met with his local counterpart.
“Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year. We engage in good faith and stand firm on our rights,” Araghchi said on social media on Friday.
The talks, which were expected to begin at 10 a.m. local time, followed weeks of escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran, fueled in part by massive protests that have roiled Iran.
Those protests began in Tehran in late December in response to the collapse of the Iranian currency and the worsening of economic conditions, and then quickly took on a political character — with crowds on the streets openly calling for regime change.
Iranian authorities responded by launching a brutal crackdown on protests, according to observers. At least 6,495 protesters, along with hundreds of members of the state’s security forces, have been killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, an activist group. The group said it was reviewing thousands of other cases of possible deaths. ABC News cannot independently verify those figures.
As those protests escalated in January, Trump voiced concern for the protesters, saying, “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Trump later in January said a “massive Armada” was heading toward the region. He warned Tehran to make a nuclear deal, saying another U.S. attack would be “far worse” than the U.S. strike on nuclear sites within Iran in June of last year.
The Iranian foreign minister responded by saying the country’s military had “their fingers on the trigger.”
Those tensions had to some extent begun to thaw by last week, when Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said he had instructed Araghchi to pursue “fair and equitable” talks with Washington. The White House had sought help from regional allies, who assisted in bringing Iran back to the negotiating table, according to both countries.
Araghchi said on Friday that any commitments made between the two countries “need to be honored,” adding, “Equal standing, mutual respect and mutual interest are not rhetoric — they are a must and the pillars of a durable agreement.”
Members of the Trump administration last held a series of nuclear talks with Iran in April and May 2025 in Oman. A round of those talks planned for June was scuttled after Israel launched aerial strikes on Iran, an attack that the U.S. later joined.
Senior U.S. officials have continued publicly voicing concerns about the Iranian leadership in the days since the latest round of talks were announced.
“The Iranian regime does not reflect the people of Iran, nor their culture rooted within a deep history,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday. “I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there.”
The virtual U.S. Embassy in Iran posted on Thursday a security alert again calling for all U.S. citizens to depart Iran, provided it’s safe for them to do so.
“If you cannot leave, find a secure location within your residence or another safe building,” the alert said.
Leavitt on Thursday said Trump was seeking a deal with Iran, but, she added, “I would remind the Iranian regime that the President has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world.”
A Police forensic team carry out investigations at a location near to the scene after four Hatzola ambulances were set on fire overnight next to Machzike Hadath Synagogue, on March 23, 2026 in the Golders Green area of London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Two men who were arrested as part of an investigation into an arson attack on a Jewish charity’s ambulances in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green have been released on bail, British police said on Thursday.
The men, both British nationals, were taken into custody Wednesday morning at separate addresses in northwest and central London.
They were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both were taken to a London police station before being released on bail, according to London’s Metropolitan Police Service.
Four ambulances used by Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service in north London, were set on fire at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, police said. Three masked or hooded individuals were seen setting the fires, police said. Investigators said that they were combing through hours of CCTV footage related to the case, in part to “trace the suspects’ movements.”
Police said on Thursday that the investigation was ongoing and searches were carried out at both the addresses in northwest and central London, as well as at two other addresses in northwest London on Wednesday.
Cmdr. Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is leading the investigation, said they are continuing “to work to try and identify all of those involved in this appalling attack and the investigation team is working around the clock to do this.”
“Although the two men have been released from police custody, there are strict bail conditions in place while we continue to investigate their suspected involvement in this incident,” she added. “I can reassure the public that we will be closely monitoring these while we carry out further enquiries.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in northwest London, said “an enhanced, bespoke policing plan and activity, which is particularly focused around vulnerable areas right across London, will continue over coming days and weeks.”
“This includes specialist officers and capability being deployed alongside local officers to help protect certain locations and will also involve highly visible armed police patrols to serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking to cause our communities harm,” Williams noted. “I must stress that these are precautionary and not in response to any specific threat, and we continue to work alongside our colleagues in Counter Terrorism policing to support their investigation. We will also continue to work closely with local communities and our partners to listen to their concerns and respond to these.”
President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, March 26, 2026 in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Israel Defense Forces need “a few more weeks” to fully degrade Iranian military capabilities, such as missile-launchers, a senior Israeli security official told ABC News.
The Israeli security official poured cold water on the idea that a substantive deal between the United States and Iran could be reached within President Donald Trump’s earlier deadline of this weekend. Trump said Thursday that he was postponing plans to target Iran’s power plants until April 6 citing ongoing talks.
The Iranians “are very well-trained negotiators,” the security official said. “They won’t agree in a few days to end all the actions.”
The senior Israeli security official, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said he was worried that U.S.-Iran talks could lead to a deal which does not extract significant enough concessions from the Iranians.
The Israeli security official said that if he were advising U.S. negotiators he would ask “to see actions [from the Iranians] that can be measured.”
“For example, giving [up] all the 400 kilograms of enriched uranium,” he added.
Iran has previously denied U.S. and Israeli accusations that it was enriching uranium to near weapons-grade level, with an ultimate aim of producing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli official spoke to ABC News on Tuesday, the day after Trump posted on his social media platform that there had been “very good and productive conversations” between the U.S. and Iran “regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”
Iranian officials have denied — at least publicly — that negotiations with the U.S. are taking place. On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, told Indian TV that there were “no talks or negotiations” between Iran and the United States.
“No one can trust U.S. diplomacy,” Baqaei added.
However, on Thursday a Reuters report quoted an Iranian official as saying that a U.S. proposal for ending the war was “one-sided and unfair.”
The White House said in a statement that the U.S. military had been “decimating Iran’s military capabilities with overwhelming firepower, skill, lethality, and force.”
“The United States is winning very decisively and way ahead of schedule,” a White House official said.
“We have taken major strides towards completing our military objectives, to the point that we are close to completing them,” the White House added.
On Thursday, Trump announced a further pause in plans to hit Iran’s power plants, again citing talks that he said were “going very well.”
An Israeli military official who was authorized to speak with journalists told reporters during a briefing Wednesday that the Israeli Air Force had conducted 8,500 strikes in Iran since the end of February and had destroyed some 400 Iranian ballistic missiles and 335 missile-launchers, which equated, he said, to about 70% of Iran’s overall arsenal of missile-launchers.
However, when the military official was pressed by reporters on the extent to which the IDF’s military operations and goals were outstanding in the war, he declined to give details, stressing that the U.S. and Israeli militaries were “well-coordinated” and working “shoulder-to-shoulder.”
“We are achieving more and more of our objectives,” said the military official , who is part of the IDF division that coordinates operations deep inside enemy territory.
“War is not a one bang and it’s over. It’s an ongoing machine,” he added.
The senior Israeli security official who spoke anonymously to ABC News said the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, was leading the talks with the Trump administration.
Ghalibaf’s apparent leading role in negotiations, which has not been confirmed by the U.S. or Iran, was first reported by Axios.
On Monday, Trump refused to confirm which senior Iranian official the U.S. was in talks with, telling reporters, “I don’t want him to be killed” and referring to the Iranian lead negotiator as “a top person.”
The senior Israeli security official described Ghalibaf, who is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Air Force, as “an extremist” and “not Mother Teresa” and told ABC News that Israel would refrain from attempting to kill Ghalibaf while the talks continue.
“He has this kind of insurance [policy] as long as he talks,” the official said, adding, “no one is secure in Iran.”
Asked by a reporter if the IDF was holding off on any attempts to kill Ghalibaf, the military official did not comment directly about Ghalibaf but stressed that, in terms of its list of targets, the IDF would accept and follow any political decisions.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration sent a 15-point plan to Iran end the war, via Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator, two sources familiar with the plan told ABC News Tuesday.
Those sources said the plan addresses Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs as well as maritime routes but would not provide any other details including which Iranian officials the proposal was sent to. It is also unclear whether Israel has signed onto the proposal.
While diplomatic efforts continue, the Pentagon is preparing to deploy as many as 5,000 additional troops to the Middle East, with some of those forces already in transit.
The troops are a mix of U.S. Army paratroopers and Marines.
However, exactly when the troops will arrive or where they will land is not clear.
Trump has indicated that the negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials have, in part, been focused on Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s stranglehold over that narrow waterway, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes, has caused a spike in energy prices and volatility in trading on financial markets.
The senior Israeli security official who spoke anonymously with ABC News said Israel was working on the assumption that Iran had laid naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Israeli official stressed that locating naval mines and disarming them is a “complicated” task.
“If one big oil tanker were exploded by a few naval mines, it would play havoc with markets, as well as the insurance for shipping companies, and would send the price of oil skyrocketing,” the Israeli official said.
“If Iran says they have mined the Strait of Hormuz then the basic assumption we must have as commanders … is that they have mined the Strait of Hormuz,” said the Israeli military official who briefed reporters.
In possible talks Israel wants the U.S. to press Iran to give up what remains of its enriched uranium and rein in its proxies in the region, the senior Israeli security official stressed.
That Israeli official suggested that it would not be possible to seize Iran’s enriched uranium by military force.
The two U.S. Marine Expeditionary Units which are being deployed to the Middle East, “don’t have the engineering tools” to conduct an operation to “pull out” Iran’s remaining enriched uranium from underground sites, he said.
Asked about this issue on the briefing with reporters, the military official declined to comment.
The Pentagon declined to comment about the senior Israeli official’s assessment of remaining objectives in the war and the U.S. military’s capabilities.
The White House said the war on Iran was “a conditions-based operation” and said it would conclude when the president “determines that our objectives are met.”
