United States in January 2026: the most important developments in security
In January 2026, US security news centred on federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. On 7 January an ICE agent shot and killed a woman during an operation there; the FBI took over the investigation, Mayor Jacob Frey disputed the federal claim of self-defence, and protests followed. After a second shooting involving a federal agent, Donald Trump threatened on 15 and 16 January to invoke the Insurrection Act, and the Pentagon readied 1,500 troops for possible deployment, with no decision made. In late January federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, and video reportedly contradicted the official account. A five-year-old boy and his father were among those detained in the operation; a judge ordered the boy's release. On 28 January Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was attacked with a syringe at a town hall. By 29 January Tom Homan said operations would become more targeted and a drawdown was possible. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Minnesota officials.
The second theme was Venezuela. On 3 January US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and took him to New York, where he pleaded not guilty. Reported deaths ranged between 24 and 100, and Cuba said 32 of its personnel were killed. The US then seized at least seven oil tankers linked to Venezuela, including a Russian-flagged vessel in the North Atlantic on 7 January, which Russia said violated maritime law.
Iran was the third. As protests spread there, Trump said the military was studying strong options. The US moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East, and Iran warned it would treat any attack as all-out war. Trump said on 26 January that Iran wants to talk.
Elsewhere, the US struck Islamic State targets at 35 locations in Syria on 10 January and killed an al-Qaeda-linked leader on 17 January. The US designated three Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organisations. European troops arrived in Greenland on 15 January, and Iraq announced the full withdrawal of US forces from federal territory.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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