Report: President Trump Orders Second Carrier Strike Group to Prepare for Deployment + Iran State TV Broadcasts Hit List of Israeli Leaders + Possible US - Russia - Ukraine Talks 17-18 Feb

For review:

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that US President Donald Trump believes the Iranians could be forced to accept “a good deal,” though the premier clarified that he is skeptical of the possibility.

2. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday derided a report by the Israel Hayom newspaper that the Islamic Republic had secretly executed thousands of people who participated in protests after telling Washington it would not do so.

3. An Iranian state-run TV channel on Thursday broadcast a hit list of seven Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appearing to threaten their assassination.

4. Wall Street Journal Report: President Trump Orders Second Carrier Strike Group to Prepare for Deployment.

“The order to deploy could be issued in a matter of hours,” the WSJ posited, citing anonymous officials. However, the order hasn’t been given and plans can change, it added.

5. Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by U.S. troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The al-Tanf base sits on a strategic location close to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. 

In a statement, the Syrian Defense Ministry said the handover of the base took place in coordination with the U.S. military and Syrian forces are now “securing the base and its perimeters.”

6. Ukraine's partners pledged nearly $38 billion in new military aid at the 33rd meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format on Feb. 12, Ukraine Defense Minister Fedorov said.

He added that most of the funding will go toward strengthening Ukraine's air defense systems and expanding its drone capabilities.

7. Russia may have lost about twice as many soldiers in Ukraine in December 2025 as the Soviet Union lost during the Soviet-Afghan War, a former British intelligence chief Sir Richard Moore (MI6) said on Feb. 10.

8. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 11 that Ukraine has accepted the U.S. invitation to hold a new round of peace talks next week.

"The American side has proposed a meeting in America, in Miami, next week. And we immediately confirmed it," President Zelenskyy said.

President Zelenskyy initially told Bloomberg that the negotiations would be hosted by the U.S. and will occur on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18. He later said there was a chance the meeting could be held in Abu Dhabi, and that Ukraine was willing to attend talks in any location.

The talks, however, depend on Russia's agreement to participate, something that Ukraine and the U.S. have not yet received.