Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at escalating tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland, Venezuela’s crackdown on political dissent, and sweeping protests in Iran.
The Fight Over Greenland
The leaders of seven NATO members issued a joint statement on Tuesday pushing back against U.S. ambitions to annex Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark.
“The Kingdom of Denmark — including Greenland — is part of NATO. Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,” wrote the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” they added. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
The rebuke echoes some of the strongest statements yet made by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who told local broadcasters on Monday that NATO must take Trump’s annexation threats seriously or else risk the alliance’s very survival.
“If the United States were to choose to attack another NATO country, then everything would come to an end,” Frederiksen said. “The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance—all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another.”
Trump has long expressed interest in acquiring Greenland. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. The island is known for its vast critical mineral deposits and its strategic location in the Arctic.
Throughout 2025, the White House exerted a pressure campaign on both Greenland and Denmark to pursue its goals. In March, a high-level U.S. delegation traveled to the island to showcase Trump’s eagerness to acquire the territory. In August, Danish media reported that individuals with ties to Washington appeared to be attempting to “infiltrate Greenlandic society” to try to weaken its relationship with Denmark. And last month, Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a MAGA loyalist, to be a special envoy to Greenland.
Under a 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark, Washington already has expansive access to the territory, including the presence of a U.S. military base on the island.
Still, though, the Trump administration has refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to achieve its aims. And with the United States deposing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday and threatening intervention in several other countries, many NATO members are concerned that Trump is pushing a new world order that would allow the United States to seize foreign territory and resources—while only being beholden to the whims of its own national interests.
“We live in a world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” U.S. deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN on Monday. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
That appears to directly contradict Tuesday’s joint statement, in which NATO members demanded that Washington uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter. “These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them,” the leaders wrote.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Crushing dissent. Tensions appear to be escalating in Venezuela following the U.S. capture of Maduro over the weekend. Under interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s No. 2, government authorities published a decree expanding the presidency’s powers and ordering security forces to detain “any person involved in the promotion or support” of the U.S. operation.
Across the country, Rodríguez has deployed police officers, military troops, and pro-Maduro armed groups known as “colectivos” to execute the government crackdown, including with armed checkpoints and forced searches. Already, at least 14 journalists working inside or near the country’s National Assembly in Caracas have been temporarily detained—eliciting condemnation from rights activists and media professionals.
“Delcy Rodriguez … is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking,” Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado said in an interview with Fox News on Monday, calling the crackdown “really alarming.” Machado has vowed to return to Venezuela as soon as possible to help establish free and fair elections.
Machado went into hiding—and eventually, self-imposed exile—after being barred from running in the 2024 presidential election; independent vote monitors argue that her ally Edmundo González rightfully won that contest.
Deadly protests in Tehran. Iranian protesters clashed with security forces on Tuesday over the country’s ailing economy. Demonstrations first erupted on Dec. 28, 2025, at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar after inflation rates soared and the country’s currency plummeted; on Tuesday, the rial hit a record low of 1.46 million to the U.S. dollar. In an effort to appease Iranians, Tehran announced plans on Monday to give most citizens a monthly stipend equivalent to roughly $7.
At least 36 people have been killed since the demonstrations began, and more than 1,200 others have been detained. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the government on Tuesday to investigate one protest incident but has otherwise appeared to imply that the situation was progressing out of his control. “We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone,” Pezeshkian said. “The government simply does not have that capacity.”
On Friday, Trump threatened U.S. intervention in Iran if government authorities used force against the demonstrators. “If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social. Iranian officials have denounced any U.S. involvement.
Seeking security guarantees. Ukraine’s Western allies convened in Paris on Tuesday to propose binding security guarantees for Kyiv. According to a statement prepared ahead of the session, “these commitments may include the use of military capabilities, intelligence and logistical support, diplomatic initiatives, adoption of additional sanctions.”
The draft text exhibits a shift in the focus of the coalition of the willing, a group of more than 30 nations committed to Ukraine’s security. Whereas past meetings have prioritized military aid pledges, many European leaders are now arguing that greater importance should be placed on security guarantees, as these will be necessary to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine in the future or expanding its aggression farther into the continent.
France has tried to paint the presence of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at Tuesday’s session as a sign of U.S. support for the coalition’s plans. However, the White House’s often temperamental attitude toward Ukraine suggests that it may take more for the United States to fully sign off.
Odds and Ends
New year, new prices. Beginning Jan. 1, Chinese authorities imposed a value-added tax to contraceptive drugs and devices, including condoms, in an effort to reverse low birthrates that are threatening to slow the country’s already sluggish economy. The 13 percent levy is the first of its kind in more than 30 years. And it adds to a series of other government measures aimed at countering population decline caused by Beijing’s decades-long one-child policy. That’s one way of doing it, pun intended.
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