Situation Reports

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Feb. 4, The National reported the same day.

Alex Saab, a close ally and frontman of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was arrested in Caracas on Feb. 4 as a result of a joint U.S.-Venezuelan operation, El Pais reported the same day.

Iran accepted U.S. demands that talks in Oman on Feb. 6 be direct face-to-face and cover Iran's support of regional armed groups and its missile program, the New York Times reported Feb. 4, citing three Iranian officials and an Arab official.

Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. officials began a second round of U.S.-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, just a day after Russia carried out its largest missile and drone strike of the winter against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Reuters reported Feb. 4.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed a joint declaration establishing a strategic partnership during Tokayev's state visit to Islamabad, Akorda reported Feb. 4.

Negotiators for blocs within the European Parliament agreed to restart the ratification process for the EU-U.S. tariff framework agreement, which had been frozen in January following U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats linked to the Greenland dispute, Politico reported Feb. 4.

During the Feb. 4 Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by the U.S. State Department, U.S. Vice President JD Vance proposed creating a "preferential trade zone" for critical raw materials among allies to counter Chinese dominance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Feb. 3 trip to Saudi Arabia yielded multiple agreements, including a deal for Saudi companies to build solar plants in Turkey.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, Deutsche Welle reported Feb. 4.

U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos announced that the Quad, which regroups the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, had agreed on a peace document acceptable to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan Tribune reported Feb. 4.