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What you need to know

Trump and Netanyahu discuss Iran as Tehran hardens “Pickaxe Mountain”

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a closed-door meeting at the White House from 10:53 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, with no immediate joint appearance and no detailed official readout. In his first public comments afterwards, Trump described it as “a very good meeting” but said “there was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated”, framing continued talks as his preferred course while leaving open the prospect of a harder line if diplomacy fails. Reports before and after the meeting suggested Netanyahu argued for a wider U.S. approach that would also cover Iran’s ballistic missiles and regional proxies, which would expand any discussions beyond the nuclear file.

Meanwhile, high-resolution satellite imagery taken on 10 February shows Iran carrying out fresh hardening work at the large tunnel complex at Kolang-Gaz La Mountain, a site analysts have dubbed “Pickaxe Mountain”, with construction concentrated on strengthening two tunnel entrances against attack. The Institute for Science and International Security said concrete was being poured atop an extension at the western entrance, while at an eastern portal crews had pushed back and leveled rock and soil above the entrance. Over the past month, it added, a concrete-reinforced headworks structure was installed to support extra overburden, such as additional rock, soil, or concrete. The imagery shows heavy equipment and vehicles across the site, including dump trucks, cement mixers, backhoes, and truck-mounted cranes, as well as piles of construction materials near the eastern portals. The institute assessed the facility is probably not operational, but noted the recent appearance of smaller, closed-roof vehicles near the entrances, which may point to early work to fit out the interior. Iran has previously linked the project to rebuilding an advanced centrifuge assembly plant, but the scale of the excavation and the protection afforded by the mountain have revived concerns that the complex could support other sensitive activity, including uranium enrichment.

Move fast and break things

El Paso’s airspace shutdown exposes a counter-drone coordination gap

Early on Wednesday, 11 February, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed an unusually broad temporary flight restriction over El Paso, Texas, designating the area “national defense airspace” and halting most flying, including at El Paso International Airport. The notice was drafted as if it could last up to ten days. The FAA lifted the restriction later that morning, 11 February, saying there was no longer a threat to commercial aviation.

At the center of the episode was a dispute over counter-drone operations near Fort Bliss, which sits beside the airport. Multiple outlets report that federal agencies were using, or preparing to use, a directed-energy counter-drone system, described by officials as a laser, amid concerns about drones linked to Mexican cartels along the border.

In the days before the shutdown, the system was reportedly used to bring down an object that officials later described as a party balloon rather than a drone. The FAA’s decision to close the airspace appears to have reflected safety concerns about operating high-powered directed-energy equipment near civilian flight paths, compounded by a breakdown in inter-agency coordination over how and when the system would be used.

The Trump administration initially stressed cartel drone activity as the reason for the closure. Subsequent reporting, citing officials familiar with the episode, focused more on the mechanics of the counter-drone response and the confusion that followed the mistaken engagement, including which agency had control of the equipment and whether the right aviation safeguards were in place.

The result was several hours of grounded flights, a burst of speculation, and renewed scrutiny of how quickly U.S. agencies can deploy counter-drone tools in crowded civilian airspace.

DHS nears a funding lapse

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is due to expire on Friday, 13 February 2026. Unless Congress passes a stopgap or a full-year bill in time, the department would enter a funding lapse early Saturday.

That would not mean DHS closes entirely: essential functions would continue, many employees would be furloughed, and others, including frontline security staff, could be required to keep working without pay until funding is restored.

The odds of a longer disruption rise because both chambers are scheduled to be out next week for the Presidents’ Day recess, unless leaders cancel the break or recall members.

House votes to scrap Trump’s Canada tariffs

In a rare rebuke to President Donald Trump, the House of Representatives on 11 February voted to terminate the national-emergency declaration that underpins his tariffs on Canadian goods.

The resolution passed 219-211, with six Republicans joining almost all Democrats: Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Dan Newhouse, Kevin Kiley, Jeff Hurd, and Don Bacon.

The measure targets tariffs that Trump imposed under emergency authorities. Supporters argue that Canada does not meet the threshold of a national-security threat, and that Congress, not the White House, should set trade policy.

The vote looks more like a warning shot than a final reversal: ending the tariffs would still require Senate approval and would almost certainly draw a presidential veto, which the House does not have the numbers to override.

Gallup exits the presidential approval business

Gallup says it will stop publishing its long-running U.S. presidential job-approval series, ending a tradition that has run for decades.

The firm presents the move as a change in priorities. Rather than regularly rating individual politicians, it plans to focus more of its public polling on issue-based measures and broader social indicators.

The practical effect is not that presidential approval will go unmeasured (since many other pollsters will continue to run such surveys) it is that one of the best-known benchmark time series will no longer be updated, which may alter what journalists and analysts cite when describing the political mood.

How the SAVE America Act goes further than the earlier SAVE Act

The “SAVE America Act” (H.R. 7296), passed by the House yesterday, goes beyond the earlier “SAVE Act” by pairing a documentary proof-of-citizenship regime for federal voter registration with a new federal photo-ID requirement for voting, plus tougher enforcement and data-sharing.

H.R. 7296 would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require proof of U.S. citizenship for every method of registering for federal elections, including the federal mail form, and would generally force mail registrants to present proof in person by the state deadline (or at the polling place where same-day or early-registration exists).

It defines acceptable proof through a specified list, ranging from certain REAL ID-compliant documents and U.S. passports to military IDs or government photo IDs tied to birth records, naturalization, or other listed documents.

Separately, it would mandate tangible (non-digital) photo identification to vote in federal elections, requiring in-person presentation at the polls and requiring absentee voters to include copies with both the ballot request and the returned ballot. The bill also presses states to run ongoing citizenship checks, explicitly pointing to DHS’s SAVE system and other sources, requires federal agencies to provide eligibility data to state election officials within 24 hours (including batched requests), and directs DHS to notify states when someone naturalizes. It also broadens liability by expanding NVRA private lawsuits where officials register applicants without documentary proof and by adding criminal-penalty language aimed at both officials and executive-branch assistance to non-citizens seeking to register or vote.

It’s the U.S. vs China, everyone needs to pick a side

Australia widens foreign-interference case in Canberra

Australia has charged two Chinese nationals in Canberra with “reckless foreign interference”, alleging they acted under the direction of a Public Security Bureau in China to covertly collect information on the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta, a Buddhist association. The pair, a 25-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, were arrested on 11 February and were due to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court the same day. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

The case builds on an alleged plot that first came to light last year, when a Chinese woman was arrested in August 2025 after searches in the ACT linked to Operation Autumn-Shield. The investigation, launched in March 2025 by the Australian Federal Police as part of the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, followed information from ASIO. Police allege the newly charged pair worked with the woman, who is already before the courts.

Officials describe the arrests as part of a broader contest over diaspora intimidation and political influence. AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt warned that foreign interference “undermines democracy and social cohesion” and disproportionately targets culturally diverse communities. Mike Burgess, the director-general of ASIO, has also warned that multiple foreign regimes monitor and harass diaspora groups inside Australia.

Beijing urged Canberra to handle the matter “prudently” while denying knowledge of the specifics, according to remarks carried by China’s foreign ministry.

Birthplace of civilization

America’s footprint in Syria shrinks

U.S. forces have reportedly withdrawn from the Al Tanf garrison at Syria’s tri-border with Iraq and Jordan, a small but strategically placed outpost that helped track movement across the desert and supported partner forces in counter-ISIS operations.

Washington’s presence will now be concentrated in northeast Syria, where residual troops are said to be clustered around Qasrak in Hasakah province and in positions on the outskirts of al-Hasakah city.

Local reporting also points to recent departures from other sites, including al-Shaddadi, and to claims that U.S. units left the Rmeilan area about a fortnight ago, though those details are not consistently corroborated.

Should the remaining bases be vacated within roughly a month, as some local reports suggest, the effects would be immediate: a thinner U.S. reach into Syria’s central desert, heavier reliance on local actors to contain ISIS networks and secure detention facilities, less leverage for the Syrian Democratic Forces in talks with Damascus, and sharper competition among regional and regime-aligned players to shape the security order in the east.

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