There’s more to unpack in the high-stakes Anthropic-Pentagon standoff, which will come to a head late this afternoon, though the company has already made clear it is rejecting the Trump administration’s terms.

There are two issues at the center of the dispute: autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Anthropic says it wants concrete assurances that the military would never use Claude AI for either purpose. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the military doesn’t want to do either of those things — though it appears the administration is reluctant to put that in writing. 

Without a last-minute deal, it’s likely the Pentagon will soon cut ties with Anthropic and begin what is expected to be a complex process of pulling Claude AI out of U.S. military infrastructure.

Simmering tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated into open conflict, according to Pakistan’s defense minister, amid a series of strikes that have left major world powers scrambling to intervene and prevent a major war in South Asia.

Russia pressed leadership in both countries to cease hostilities and to come to a diplomatic solution. As of midmorning, there had been no official comment from the Trump administration, other than an alert from the U.S. Mission to Afghanistan saying it was dangerous to travel in or out of the country. 

Tensions have been high between the neighbors for months, with border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militant groups that then stage attacks across the border and also of allying with its archrival India.

Late Thursday, Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country, responded with airstrikes in multiple Afghan regions, including in the capital of Kabul.

“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said on social media.

Could President Trump meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un again, as he did three times during his first term? There are signs Mr. Kim is open to the idea, but with one major precondition.

Asia Editor Andrew Salmon breaks down the comments this week from the North Korean leader, who said he is willing to reopen negotiations with the U.S. on the condition that it “withdraws its hostile policy” toward the nuclear-armed dictatorship.

Mr. Kim said negotiations could restart only if the U.S. respects “the present position of our state specified in the Constitution … and withdraws its hostile policy.” In other words, North Korea wants the U.S. to recognize and accept that it is a nuclear power. Pyongyang enshrined the possession of nuclear arms in a 2023 amendment to its constitution.

Such a move by the U.S. is difficult to envision right now, especially given the hard line the Trump administration is taking in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

Foreign Affairs Correspondent Vaughn Cockayne is tracking every development in those high-stakes U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, which continued Thursday in Geneva against the backdrop of a massive American military presence in the Middle East and a red line drawn by Mr. Trump this week.

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, who mediated the talks, said the two sides made “significant progress.” But neither side confirmed anything close to a deal. The Trump administration wants to put new limits on Iran’s nuclear program — despite still insisting that the program was obliterated by airstrikes last year.

The Trump administration also wants to curb Iran’s ballistic missile program and cut the country’s support for violent proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, but Iran has rejected including those matters in the discussions.

Even in the face of potential American military attacks, Iran is showing defiance. Iranian officials said they intend to continue enriching uranium.

The hardline Islamic regime in Tehran is clearly unable to govern the nation effectively and care for its citizens. For those reasons, and many others, it has lost its legitimacy.

That’s the argument from Joseph R. DeTrani, who makes the case in a new op-ed for The Washington Times that the Iranian regime has failed on multiple fronts. Not only has it failed its people economically and socially, he argues, but it also has spent much of its time, energy and money sowing chaos across the region. Mr. DeTrani, a former associate director of national intelligence, is a Threat Status contributor.

“Iran’s theocracy has failed the people. It has consistently treated them inhumanely while fomenting instability throughout the Middle East,” Mr. DeTrani writes. “Iran, a country with a civilization extending more than 6,000 years, has devolved into a pariah state. Indeed, its people deserve new leadership.”

• March 2 — China’s Great Tech Leap Forward and the Implications for the United States, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• March 3 — A Strategic Response to Sino-Russian Cooperation: Perspectives from Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Hudson Institute 

• March 3 — U.S. Senate Hearing on the National Defense Strategy, Senate Armed Services Committee

• March 3 — Holding Enablers Accountable: The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Role in Russia’s Drone War, Atlantic Council

• March 3 — North Korea’s Ninth Party Congress: Domestic and Global Implications, Stimson Center

• March 4 — Surveying Foreign Influence in AI Tools, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• March 4 — Securing America’s Critical Mineral Supply Chain: A Conversation with Rep. Rob Wittman, Virginia Republican, Hudson Institute