Early Edition: February 24, 2026 - Just Security

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

IRAN

President Trump said yesterday that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine believed that any military action ordered against Iran would be “something easily won.” However, sources said that Caine told Trump that carrying out a small or medium strike on Iran would carry a high risk of U.S. casualties and that such an operation would have a negative effect on U.S. weapon stockpiles. Caine has also said that the operations under consideration in Iran would be more difficult than the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month. Two sources told Axios that Caine was particularly concerned about becoming entangled in a prolonged conflict. Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times; Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo report.

The State Department yesterday “ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of government personnel” from the embassy in Beirut, “due to the security situation.” A similar ordered departure was imposed for Beirut and other embassies in the region shortly before Trump ordered strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last June. Matthew Lee reports for AP News.

*Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti-ship cruise missiles, *according to six sources, though no delivery date has been agreed. The supersonic missiles have a range of about 290 kilometres and are designed to evade shipborne defenses flying flow and fast. Gavin Finch, Parisa Hafezi, and John Irish report for Reuters.

*RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE *

Hungary maintained its veto yesterday on new EU sanctions on Russia and a **€***90 billion loan for Ukraine. *Lili Bayer, Krisztina Than, and Andrew Gray report for Reuters.

*ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR *

Officials working with Trump’s “Board of Peace” are exploring setting up a stablecoin for Gaza, according to five sources. Work on the idea is being led by Liran Tancman, an Israeli tech entrepreneur and former reservist, who is now working as an unpaid adviser for the board, two sources said. One source said the stablecoin was expected to be tied to the U.S. dollar. Another source said the idea behind the initiative was to “dry Gaza from cash so Hamas can’t generate any.” Some people expressed concerns that a stablecoin could be used to further detach the economies of Gaza and the West Bank. James Shotter and Neri Zilber report for the Financial Times.

WEST BANK VIOLENCE

Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked Rezeq Abu Naim and his family in the village of Al Mughayir in the occupied West Bank,** destroying their home and beating them,** according to the family, Palestinian, and Israeli sources. Both Abu Naim and his 14-year-old son were shot and wounded. Settlers have been trying to drive Abu Naim from his land for two years and have now succeeded. According to Israeli activists, seven Palestinian communities in the West Bank have been emptied by settler violence in the last week. Azam Ahmed reports for the New York Times.

Israeli settlers yesterday vandalized a mosque in the West Bank, spraying offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs. Aref Tufaha and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.

*SUDANESE CIVIL WAR *

*Chad’s government said it has closed its border with Sudan in an attempt to prevent the spread of conflict into its territory. *The announcement came after the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary attacked the border town of Tine over the weekend. The Sudanese Armed Forces said they repelled the attack and forced RSF fighters to flee into Chad. Samy Magdy and Ope Adetayo report for AP News.

*MEXICO *

*Armed groups retaliated in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states following the killing of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes by the Mexican military on Sunday. They attacked security forces, blocked highways and set fire to supermarkets, banks and vehicles. At least 62 people in total were killed. Mexican authorities said yesterday they arrested 70 people and killed 34 suspected cartel members across the country on Sunday, while 25 members of the Mexican national guard were among the dead. James Wagner reports for the New York Times. *

The CIA provided important intelligence on Osegeura’s location that led to Sunday’s operation, according to a U.S. official and other sources, with one source calling it “instrumental” in removing Oseguera. The Mexican authorities said they found Oseguera by tracking one of his romantic partners. Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said yesterday that the intelligence had come from an elite intelligence wing of the Mexican army, adding that they had also relied on “complementary information” from U.S. agencies. Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Jack Nicas report for the New York Times.

*OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS *

*Former British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in public office following revelations over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. *Mandelson was released from police custody yesterday afternoon. Andrew Macaskill, William James, and Michael Holden report for Reuters.

*The International Criminal Court yesterday began five days of hearings to determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to try Rodrigo Duterte, *the former president of the Philippines, for three charges of crimes against humanity. The ICC prosecutor has estimated that the number of civilians killed in connection with Duterte’s “war on drugs” campaign between July 2016 and March 2019 totaled between 12,000 and 30,000. Francesca Regalado and Koba Ryckewaert report for the New York Times.

The Islamic State group yesterday killed four Syrian government security personnel in Northern Syria, according to the Syrian state news agency. The attack came two days after the group declared a new phase of operations against the Syrian government. Islamic State issued no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Reuters reports.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS

*DeepSeek’s latest AI model was trained on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, *a senior Trump administration official said yesterday. The United States believes DeepSeek will remove the technical indicators that might reveal its use of U.S. AI chips, the official said, adding that the Blackwells are likely clustered at its data center in Inner Mongolia. The official declined to say how the U.S. government received this information, but emphasized that U.S. policy is: “we’re not shipping Blackwells to China.” Steve Holland and Alexander Alper report for Reuters.

*U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS *

U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner failed to show up yesterday evening after being summoned by French Foreign Affairs Minister **Jean-Noël Barrot**** over comments on social media about the death of a far-right activist in France this month,** according to a French diplomat. Barrot has now requested that Kushner be barred from direct access to members of the French government due to “this apparent misunderstanding of the basic expectations of an ambassador who has the honor of representing his country.” Victor Goury-Laffont reports for POLITICO.

Senior Trump administration officials have called around to several Arab countries in recent days following U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s claim that Israel has a right to control much of the Middle East last week. Officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau and Undersecretary of Political Affairs Allison Hooker, have explained to concerned countries that Huckabee’s assertion last week reflects his personal views, not a shift in administration policy, three sources said. Felicia Schwartz reports for POLITICO.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand yesterday announced that Canada is “preparing a plan to assist” Cuba as it faces blackouts and severe fuel shortages worsened by the U.S. oil embargo. Anand did not provide further details on the aid package. Rob Gillies reports for AP News.

The United States met a Russian delegation in Geneva yesterday and will meet a Chinese delegation today for talks about forging a potential multilateral nuclear arms control treaty, a senior State Department official said. The official said they had already conducted good bilateral talks with the United Kingdom and France, adding “taking discussions to the five permanent members of the Security Council was the next logical step.” Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.

U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS

The U.S. military yesterday killed three people in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea, according to U.S. Southern Command. Monday’s attack brought the death toll to at least 151 people since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in small vessels last September. AP News reports.

*U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS *

*Ryan Schwank, an ICE official who resigned from his job this month, came forward yesterday as a whistleblower, describing what he said was a “deficient, defective, and broken” training program. *“For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training program,” Schwank told congressional Democrats at a forum held in Washington. “Cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584-hour program – classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention, and the limits of the officers’ authority.” Senate Democrats also released dozens of pages of internal ICE records yesterday that suggest the administration has cut the agency’s basic training. Nicholas Nehamas and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.

*A federal judge in Minnesota found the Trump administration in civil contempt for transferring an immigrant to Texas and releasing him without his belongings last month. *The judge ordered the U.S. government to pay $568.29, the cost of the plane ticket home from immigration custody. The finding comes days after another Minnesota federal judge found a U.S. government lawyer in contempt for failing to return identification documents to a man released from custody. Sarah Nelson reports for the Star Tribune.

A review of federal dockets by the **New York Times**** found at least 35 instances since August in which a federal district court or magistrate judge has issued an order requiring the government to explain why it should not be held in contempt for violating court orders in immigration cases.** Mattathias Schwartz, Zach Montague, and Ernesto Londono report.

TARIFFS

Trump is implementing a new global tariff at 10 percent rather than the 15 percent rate announced at the weekend, according to a notice from the U.S. customs agency. The White House signalled that Trump was still committed to setting a global tariff of 15 percent. “It is being worked on and will come later,” an official said. James Politi, Leo Lewis, and Kathrin Hille report for the Financial Times.

The Trump administration is considering new national security tariffs on six industries under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act 1962, which gives the President broad powers to impose tariffs based on national security risks, sources said. The tariffs could cover industries such as large-scale batteries, plastic piping, industrial chemicals, and power grid and telecom equipment. Gavin Bade reports for the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

*U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has decided to stop pursuing the case against six Democratic lawmakers *who urged members of the U.S. military and intelligence communities in a social media video not to comply with unlawful orders, three sources told NBC News. Ryan J. Reilly reports.

A federal judge yesterday **blocked**** the Justice Department from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report describing Trump’s stockpiling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. **Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.

The U.S. Coast Guard has opened an internal investigation following the discovery of a hand drawn swastika at its primary recruit training center, two sources said. A Coast Guard instructor found the swastika last Thursday on a men’s bathroom wall. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday yesterday told the Washington Post that any display of a swastika will not be tolerated. The incident follows controversy last year when the service briefly labeled swastikas and nooses as “potentially divisive,” which drew public and congressional backlash before being reversed. Tara Copp and Marianne LeVine report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said yesterday that he would bring Claire Lai, the daughter of imprisoned Hong Kong pro democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, to Washington for the State of the Union address. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos yesterday dismissed Trump’s **demand**** that he fire former national security adviser Susan Rice from the Netflix board. **Riya Misra reports for POLITICO.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today in Washington to discuss how its AI technology is used in classified systems. This follows a Jan. 9 memo by Hegseth calling on AI companies to remove restrictions on their technology, which led to the two sides renegotiating their contract. “Anthropic knows this is not a get-to-know-you meeting,” a senior Defense official told Axios. “This is not a friendly meeting. This is a sh*t-or-get-off-the-pot meeting.” Julian E. Barnes and Sheera Frenkel report for the New York Times; Dave Lawler and Maria Curi report.

Elon Musk’s xAI has signed an agreement to allow the U.S. military to use its model, Grok, in classified systems, a Defense official confirmed to Axios. xAI has agreed to the Pentagon’s “all lawful purpose” standard, which Anthropic is holding out against. Up to now, Anthropic’s Claude has been the only model available for use in classified systems. Dave Lawler and Maria Curi report.

*The Pentagon told Congress in a report that it intends to spend more than $153 billion in new military funding within the year *“if that can be done without sacrificing effectiveness,” rather than over five years as originally envisioned. Megan Mineiro reports for the New York Times.

The Trump administration yesterday announced that it is expanding its efforts to dismantle the Education Department by moving its oversight of school safety grants and foreign funding for universities to other agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services is set to take over work related to school shootings and student mental health programs. The State Department will be tasked with monitoring the flow of billions of dollars in foreign gifts and contracts to higher education institutions. Juan Perez Jr. reports for POLITICO.

*TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION *

*FedEx yesterday filed a lawsuit demanding a refund from Customs and Border Protection of the U.S. tariffs that the Supreme Court ruled were unlawful last week. *Peter Eavis reports for the

New York Times.

Maryland yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to try to stop plans to convert a warehouse, bought by the Homeland Security Department for $102 million, into an immigration detention facility in Washington County. Jasmine Golden reports for the Washington Post.

A class action **lawsuit**** was filed yesterday accusing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of using surveillance technology to intimidate legal observers watching ICE officers in Maine. **The complaint details multiple incidents in which the plaintiffs said federal immigration officers scanned observers’ faces and license plates, and threatened to appear at their homes and place them on a domestic terrorist database. Alfred Ng reports for POLITICO.

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