Talks to end the war in Ukraine have made "a lot of progress" and are "down to one issue" between Kyiv and Moscow, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday ahead of a trip to Russia.

"I think we've got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it's solvable. So if both sides want to solve this, we're going to get it solved," Witkoff said at a Ukrainian event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday scrapped the tariffs that he threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, pulling a dramatic reversal shortly after insisting he wanted to get the island "including right, title and ownership."

In a post on his social media site, Trump said he had agreed with the head of NATO on a "framework of a future deal" on Arctic security, potentially defusing tension that had far-reaching geopolitical implications.

Iran offered its first government-issued death toll Wednesday following a crackdown on nationwide protests, giving a far lower figure than activists abroad as the country's theocracy tries to reassert control after unrest recalling the chaos surrounding its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

State television carried statements by the Interior Ministry and the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, an official body providing services to families of those killed in wars, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 were civilians and security forces. It did not elaborate on the rest. Iran's government in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday proclaimed his country was the world's "economic engine," and slammed Europe as "not heading in the right direction," as Washington's allies push back against its bid to seize Greenland.

"The USA is the economic engine on the planet. And when America booms, the entire world booms. It's been the history," he said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the Greenland crisis has dominated talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump's government has asked countries to pay up to $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.

The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.

Iran's foreign minister issued the most direct threat yet Wednesday against the United States after Tehran's bloody crackdown on protesters, warning the Islamic Republic will be "firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack."

The comments by Abbas Araghchi, who saw his invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos rescinded over the killings, comes as an American aircraft carrier group moves westward toward the Middle East from Asia. American fighter jets and other equipment appears to be moving in the Mideast after a major U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean saw troops seize Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.

Russia's interior minister has met with top leaders of ally Cuba in Havana, a show of solidarity after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the island's longtime communist government "is ready to fall."

Trump this month told Havana to "make a deal," the nature of which he did not divulge, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted by U.S. forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.

Sudan's army has received and is considering a new proposal from the United States and Saudi Arabia for a truce with its rival paramilitary, a government source told AFP on Wednesday.

The Security and Defense Council -- a high-level body that includes officials from the army and the allied government -- "is holding a meeting today to discuss the U.S.-Saudi initiative for a humanitarian truce and a ceasefire", the source said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said America's relations with Europe remain strong and urged trading partners to "take a deep breath" and let tensions driven by the Trump administration's new tariff threats over Greenland "play out."

"I think our relations have never been closer," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

French President Emmanuel Macron has sent his U.S. counterpart a message offering to host a G7 summit and invite Russia on the sidelines, the French leader's entourage confirmed on Tuesday.

Macron also proposes inviting Ukraine to the meeting in Paris on Thursday, as well as Denmark to discuss European-U.S. disagreements over Greenland.