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After days of brinkmanship, Washington and Tehran confirmed a face-to-face meeting in Muscat at 10:00 on 6 Feb 2026—their first direct negotiation since the June 2025 Israel-Iran war—to discuss limits on Iran’s nuclear programme under the shadow of a U.S. strike threat.
On 7 Feb 2026, Damascus and Riyadh inked roughly $5.3 billion in binding contracts—including a $2 billion Elaf Fund for Aleppo’s airports and a $1 billion SilkLink fiber network—marking the first large, post-sanctions capital surge into post-Assad Syria.
On 9 Feb 2026, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party captured a post-war record super-majority in the lower house, instantly driving the Nikkei above 57,000 while sending bond yields and the yen into whipsaw territory.
On 7 Feb 2026 Washington and New Delhi unveiled an “Interim Agreement” that immediately cut the US reciprocal tariff on Indian goods from 50 % to 18 % and revoked an extra 25 % oil-related penalty, in exchange for India’s pledge to halt Russian crude purchases and buy more US exports.
Polling began Sunday for the snap lower-house vote called just 16 days after dissolution, as PM Sanae Takaichi’s LDP-Innovation coalition hunts the 310-seat mark even while re-nominating 43 lawmakers tied to a 2024 slush-fund scandal.
Delhi and Putrajaya jointly confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Malaysia on 7–8 February 2026 for his first face-to-face meeting with Anwar Ibrahim since the August 2024 upgrade of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
On 5-6 Feb 2026 Bitcoin sank to about US$60,000—its weakest since Oct 2024—triggering the largest one-day fall since Nov 2022 and erasing roughly US$2 trillion in total crypto value since the market’s October 2025 peak.
On 7 Feb 2026 Washington rolled back last year’s 50 % levy on Indian exports to a flat 18 %, while New Delhi agreed to its broadest tariff cuts yet on US industrial and farm goods under a newly signed “interim” trade framework.
On 7 Feb 2026 Washington and New Delhi unveiled an ‘interim’ accord that rolls back Trump’s six-month-old 25 % levy on Indian imports to 18 %, conditioned on India curbing Russian-oil purchases and beginning reciprocal tariff cuts.
At the 4 Feb 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington, the 56-nation Minerals Security Partnership was relaunched as the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) with South Korea appointed interim chair through June.
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