Traci Mumford

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines.

I'm Traci Mumford.

Today's Tuesday, February 17th.

Here's what we're covering.

Today, nuclear talks between the U.S.

and Iran will kick off.

And tensions are high, as both countries have been flexing their military power.

I think they want to make a deal.

President Trump, who has sent what he's called an armada to the Middle East, has threatened airstrikes if Iran doesn't give up its nuclear ambitions.

I hope they're going to be more reasonable.

Iran, for its part, held live military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, a narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the ocean.

Analysts say it was an apparent show of force, meant to demonstrate that Iran would be willing to go as far as closing the strait, which is a key shipping lane for oil and gas, if it needed leverage.

Last year, U.S.

and Iranian officials tried to negotiate a deal around nuclear facilities, but that was unsuccessful, and the U.S.

joined an Israeli attack on Iran, sending stealth bombers to strike those nuclear sites.

This time, Iranian officials have said they're willing to discuss their nuclear program, but will not budge on some of Trump's other demands, like that they stop supporting militant groups in the region.

The Times has learned that the Trump administration secretly deported nine people to Cameroon last month, even though none of them are from the Central African country.

Several of the migrants told the Times they didn't know they were being sent there until they were chained, handcuffed, and put on a deportation flight out of Louisiana.

One man, who had lived in the U.S.

for 15 years, said they were dropped in Cameroon, quote, like UPS packages.