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BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — The memories of Colombia’s six decades of armed conflict are still like open wounds etched on its victims’ bodies and minds.

For Blanca Nubia Monroy, it’s a black-and-white scale of justice tattooed on her forearm, identical to the one used to identify her 19-year-old son’s body after he was kidnapped and killed by Colombian soldiers in 2008.

For Sigifredo López, it’s flashbacks from the seven years he was held captive by guerrillas in the South American country’s dense jungles and the trauma of surviving after his companions were massacred in 2007.

Both have radically different views of who should win Colombia’s presidency on Sunday, with Monroy throwing her support behind peace activist Iván Cepeda and López backing Trump-endorsed Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised a scourge on crime.

But their fear is the same: Returning to a more violent past.

“It all takes a toll, both physically and emotionally,” said López. “Emotionally, there’s the fear that still simmers deep down, something you don’t openly express, the fear that everything we’ve already lived through could happen again.”

In Colombia’s most polarized presidential election in years, voters will choose between de la Espriella and Cepeda – two candidates with sharply different visions for how to find peace in a country long marked by war.

The armed struggle between Marxist guerrillas, Colombian military forces and right-wing paramilitaries has resulted in more than 10 million people — one in five Colombians — becoming victims of conflict, according to a government registry documenting killings, kidnappings, forced displacement and more.

The trauma of war and the fight for peace are embedded in Colombian politics. Despite a 2016 peace pact with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, conflict rages in many parts of the Andean nation, becoming a defining theme in Sunday’s vote.

Polarization within Colombian society over how to handle violence has “been brewing for decades,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, Bogotá-based deputy Latin America director of International Crisis Group.

“Increasingly on both sides, there’s an us and a them. That’s very dangerous in a country like Colombia with a long history of political violence. … The spark could light at any moment.”

On one side is Cepeda, who has pledged to continue Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” agenda of negotiating peace pacts with a range of criminal groups, from drug mafias to insurgent fighters. That strategy sought to rewire how Colombia deals with conflict, but has largely failed, stoking a rebuke as armed groups have taken advantage of ceasefires to grow in strength.

On the other is de la Espriella, a lawyer who has promised an all-out offensive on crime, echoing El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs. While Bukele’s crackdown has drawn attention across the region for sharply cutting homicide rates, it also fueled allegations of human rights abuses.

The 67-year-old Monroy is reminded of the civilian toll from past military offensives every time she thinks of her son, Julián Oviedo Monroy, or looks at the tattoo on her arm.

Her son, who had dreamed of joining Colombia’s military to lift his family out of poverty, disappeared in 2008 along with other poor young men on the fringes of Bogotá. Months later, his body was unearthed in a clandestine grave in the conflict-torn northeast. His body was identified by his tattoo.

“It’s like still having him here,” she said, looking down at the tattoo she got as an homage to her son and his photo that she keeps in her wallet.

Monroy’s son became one of 6,402 victims in one of the worst atrocities of Colombia’s conflict. Colombian military officers carried out extrajudicial executions against civilians in a scandal known as “false positives” carried out largely between 2002–2008 under ex-President Álvaro Uribe. Officials then falsely said the murdered civilians were enemy combatants killed in the war with FARC rebels.

Around a dozen high-ranking security officers later acknowledged they killed Monroy’s son and asked for forgiveness in a peace tribunal established after the 2016 peace pact to unearth the ugly truths of the war — a court that de la Espriella has promised to dismantle.

Monroy criticized the mounting violence under incumbent president Petro, saying Cepeda would have to come down with a heavier hand on criminal groups.

But what outweighed her criticism was fear of the military campaign promised by de la Espriella, who has vowed to wipe out “anyone who I’ve declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats.”

“God willing, this man doesn’t come to power, because ‘false positives’ will become a reality again,” she said of de la Espriella.

For López, 62, the fear is returning to the “hell” he lived in for seven years from 2002-2009 when he was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held captive in the jungles they controlled.

López was working as a local assemblyman in western Colombia at a time when the rebels had declared politicians military targets. They kidnapped him and 11 other lawmakers.

López was being held in solitary confinement in 2007 when his companions were massacred by rebels. He heard the gunshots echo over the rebel camp, a memory that haunts him. The case turned López into a symbol — a survivor of the FARC’s kidnapping of over 21,000 people over five decades of conflict.

Now in Cali, the city where he was kidnapped, he lives with a state-appointed security detail because of threats against his life. He’s watched with fear over the past four years as violence has mounted. Because of that, López, a self-declared leftist, said de la Espriella has his support.

“Colombia is being kidnapped,” López said. “I’m with Abelardo because his priority is to restore safety to Colombians. He understands ‘total peace’ isn’t won by negotiating with criminals, but by exercising the legitimate force of the state.”

Under current president Petro, armed groups have used weapons like drones to wage war, bombings have racked up a civilian toll and one presidential candidate was assassinated in June 2025. In May, the International Red Cross said the impact of armed conflict on civilians in Colombia over the past year had reached the worst point in a decade.

This week, the country’s largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announced a temporary ceasefire in order to not interfere in Colombia’s elections. Other criminal groups made no such promises.

With the wave of violence, López said, “victims are being revictimized.”

Just as Monroy fears what could come from a sharp swerve to the right, López worries about what could happen if Colombia continues on its current path.

“My fear is for the new generation, that the same thing that happened to me could happen to them if the country keeps being handed over to guerrillas and organized crime,” López said.

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MOSCOW, June 18 (Reuters) – Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said on Thursday that 16 people had been injured in a major Ukranian drone attack.

Scores of Ukrainian drones bore down on Moscow and the surrounding Moscow region, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for a second time this week.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia TeterevlevaEditing by Andrew Osborn)

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By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday welcomed the interim peace deal signed by Washington and Iran, saying it would now be involved in technical discussions to implement the agreement.

“It is good that the memorandum is there. Now the technical work starts,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters in Geneva.

“Now it is for us to sit down with our American and Iranian colleagues and start formulating concrete steps that will have to be taken.” 

The 14-point agreement signed on Wednesday evening extends a ceasefire announced in April by another 60 days, including in Lebanon, to allow the two sides to negotiate a final truce. 

Both Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have digitally signed the memorandum in English and Farsi, U.S. and Iran ​officials said, with Iran’s foreign ministry saying the agreement was already in effect as of Wednesday.

“The fact that they are mentioning that this will be under the supervision and control of the IAEA is very important, because in our conversation, what we are going to be doing is defining what we need to see, what we need to access,” Grossi said. 

He said the magnitude of the IAEA’s work will be determined by the final provisions of the agreement, and that technical talks would seek to break down the general principles.

In February Iran and the U.S. failed to reach a breakthrough in talks in Geneva aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, though the Omani mediator said progress had been made, and technical talks were due to take place the following week with the IAEA in Vienna. However 48 hours later the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran which sparked a regional war.

Grossi cautioned against being frustrated by previous failures.

“We have a chance and we need to seize it,” he said. 

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Linda Pasquini, William Maclean)

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HELSINKI, June 18 (Reuters) – Finland will buy GBU-53 SDB II glide bombs from the United States for its F-35 fighter jets, the Nordic country’s defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The purchase adds a new air-to-ground capability to NATO-member Finland’s F-35 fleet and supplements its $9.4 billion acquisition of 64 F-35 jets from Lockheed Martin.

• The GBU-53 SDB II is a precision-guided glide bomb capable of striking moving targets at medium range in adverse weather conditions, the defence ministry said in a statement.

• Its small size allows multiple SDB II munitions to be carried simultaneously on a single F-35.

• The bombs will be manufactured by Raytheon, a unit of U.S. defence contractor RTX.

• The package covers spare parts, documentation, transport, training, repair and support services.

• Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said the purchase represents a new capability that strengthens Finland’s defences “in demanding conditions.”

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)

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By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) – While a city is not a living organism, it behaves very much like one. Its metabolic processes may be manifested in growth spurts, metamorphosis over time and even decay. Researchers using satellite imagery have tracked the vital signs of six major global cities, detecting a distinctive “urban pulse” in each.

The researchers looked at Dubai, Lagos, Mexico City, Mumbai, Seattle and Shenzhen using a new way to document dynamic changes unfolding in each of these cities in near real-time.

Historically, experts have relied upon aggregated and infrequent data to document urbanization, such as a yearly census, annual economic figures or a map showing how a city’s footprint has changed over a decade – essentially using specific outcomes as metrics. But the scientists behind the new study said such an approach provides an incomplete understanding of a city and can miss the nuances as a metropolis evolves.

“We got the inspiration from the human pulse, which tells us different information about our health than weight or height,” said study lead author Zhe Zhu, a professor of remote sensing and director of the Global Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.

“The urban pulse measures the high-frequency process of development, and therefore we can spot early warning signs of economic stress or stagnation before they become full-blown crises,” Zhu said. “We compare traditional metrics to looking at a heart attack – the outcome – whereas the ‘urban pulse’ is like monitoring the daily lifestyle and vital signs leading up to that heart attack – the process.”

The biggest takeaway from the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that urbanization is not smooth and steady, the researchers said.

“Urbanization is actually ‘spiky,’ meaning that it happens in abrupt, intense bursts, or ‘cyclical,’ moving through boom-and-rest phases that don’t match annual seasons, or ‘asynchronous,’ as different neighborhoods in the exact same city develop at completely different, uncoordinated times,” said study senior author Karen Seto, a Yale University professor of geography and urbanization science.

“This is important because, for decades, researchers have characterized cities through static maps,” Seto said.

CITIES WITH DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

The researchers used dense and high-frequency satellite imagery from the U.S. space agency NASA’s Landsat and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites. They tracked physical changes in the cities such as new building construction, demolition, major infrastructure improvements and expansion into green spaces.

“We selected cities with a wide range of political-economic conditions including the state-led development of Shenzhen, the market-driven growth of Seattle, the informal expansion of Lagos and the megaprojects of Dubai,” Zhu said.

Shenzhen, formerly a small fishing village near Hong Kong that has become a megacity, exhibited the highest magnitude and intensity of growth, characterized by massive and clustered spikes reflecting rapid, state-led mobilization of capital.

Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, also showed huge growth, but its “pulse” appeared to be highly speculative, driven by isolated and capital-intensive coastal megaprojects that spiked abruptly and then paused.

In Nigeria’s largest city Lagos, the “pulse” was highly fragmented, with long periods of inactivity punctuated by brief and intense surges.

Seattle, the largest metropolis in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, reflected a market-driven pulse of redevelopment and densification.

Mumbai, India’s financial and commercial powerhouse, and Mexico City, North America’s most populous city, proved to be highly resilient and showed less disruption during global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic than the others.

“Just as a human pulse reacts to illness, our data captured the exact moment COVID-19 triggered a synchronized ‘cardiac arrest’ in development worldwide. But the recovery was entirely unequal,” Zhu said.

“Shenzhen saw a sharp, coordinated dip followed by a rapid rebound. Lagos experienced a muted pulse that transitioned into smaller, incremental changes. Meanwhile, cities like Mumbai and Mexico City showed much less of an impact. It showed us that global shocks don’t manifest the exact same way in every city’s ‘body,’” Zhu said.

The researchers see practical applications for their method.

“For urban planners and policymakers, it functions as a diagnostic tool. Instead of reacting to a crisis after the fact, they can see exactly when and where a neighborhood’s ‘pulse’ is slowing down and intervene early to prevent infrastructure collapse or economic decay. It also prevents cities from overheating their labor and material markets,” Seto said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Sam Tobin

LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) – Former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke was found not guilty of six bribery charges by a London jury on Wednesday, after a rare corruption trial of a high-profile former energy official.

The verdicts are a major blow to British authorities, who began their investigation into corruption allegations against Alison-Madueke more than a decade ago.

“This case has exposed just how tough it is to investigate and prosecute alleged corruption involving political elites,” said Zainab Saleem from campaign group Spotlight on Corruption.

Alison-Madueke, the first woman to be Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources, who served between 2010 and 2015 under then-President Goodluck Jonathan, stood trial charged with five counts of accepting bribes and a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery.

Prosecutors alleged Alison-Madueke, 65, was given “a life of luxury” in London from oil and gas industry figures seeking lucrative contracts in Nigeria, which has long grappled with mismanagement and corruption.

But the former minister, who also briefly served as president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and had long faced allegations of corruption, said she never took any bribes and had no real influence over the awarding of contracts.

EX-MINISTER SAYS ‘GRUELLING’ CASE FINALLY OVER

Alison-Madueke’s lawyers argued the spending cited by the prosecution was reimbursed, by the Nigerian state for official business or by herself for personal expenses, and she gave evidence that she was thought of as “Madame Due Process.”

Following a trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court that began in January, Alison-Madueke was acquitted after more than 46 hours of jury deliberation, after which she said her “nightmare is over.”

“For 11 long, gruelling years this case has hung over my head and has tormented me and my family,” Alison-Madueke said in a statement issued by her spokesperson.

“But today, the past decade of relentless and unjust vilification, condemnation and scrutiny has finally come to an end.”

A spokesperson for Britain’s National Crime Agency said: “We respect the decision of the jury.”

NOT-GUILTY VERDICTS FOLLOW YEARS OF ALLEGATIONS

Alison-Madueke survived multiple scandals and probes into the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation before leaving government when Jonathan lost power in 2015.

She was also a target of U.S. authorities, who  alleged the proceeds of illicitly awarded contracts were laundered through the U.S.

British prosecutors did not allege at Alison-Madueke’s trial that there was evidence she had awarded contracts to those who should not have had them; they merely sought to prove it was “improper” for her to accept benefits.

The U.S. Department of Justice, however, said in 2017 that Alison-Madueke “used her influence to steer lucrative oil contracts” to senior executives who had paid her bribes.

Also on trial was oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, who was acquitted of one count of bribery relating to Alison-Madueke and a separate count of bribery of a foreign public official.

Alison-Madueke’s brother, Doye Agama, 69, was also acquitted of conspiracy to commit bribery with his sister relating to payments made to Agama’s church.

LENGTHY TRIAL ALMOST COLLAPSED BEFORE VERDICTS

Alison-Madueke’s trial almost collapsed shortly before the jury began its deliberations, having also survived a separate attempt by the former oil minister to have the case thrown out.

Her arguments that Nigerian investigators were themselves corrupt and that British prosecutors had not chased all relevant leads were rejected before trial.

But Ayinde’s allegations that she was a “whistleblower” who reported corruption to Bola Tinubu, who became president in 2023, caused a long delay which nearly ended the trial.

Ayinde was accused of bribing the then-managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, in 2015. She said she was approached for a bribe by Kachikwu’s brother and reported it to the Nigerian authorities, whom she said told her to “play along.”

In March, Nigeria’s attorney general — who was in London accompanying Tinubu on a state visit — sent a letter on behalf of Nigeria’s Department of State Services to Ayinde’s lawyers, saying she had made a report to the authorities.

Ayinde subsequently sought to have the charge relating to Kachikwu thrown out, but the judge ruled against her. The jury subsequently cleared her of both charges.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin, Robert Harvey and Michael Holden in London; Editing by William James, Bill Berkrot and Matthew Lewis)

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PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that it would be unfair for Iran not to have ballistic missiles if other countries have them.

“I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” Trump told reporters in Paris.

“If Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion, I think it’s okay.”

Trump also said the United States would leave its military in the Gulf “for a while” after Washington struck a deal with Tehran to end its nearly four-month conflict in the region.

(Reporting by Steve Holland in Paris; Additional reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones, Jasper Ward and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Michelle Nichols)

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By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) – When U.S. and Iranian negotiators sit down in Switzerland on Friday after nearly four months of war, the stakes couldn’t be higher as they face an array of hurdles that could derail efforts to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.

While a breakthrough cannot be ruled out, most analysts are skeptical the two sides can forge a final settlement within the 60-day window laid out in a “memorandum of understanding” that President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders approved this week. 

   That interim pact kicked the hardest issues down the road to the next phase of negotiations, with no guarantee they will ever be resolved. The following are potential spoilers: 

CAN THEY CLOSE NUCLEAR GAPS?

The fate of Iran’s nuclear program – which Trump cited as his main reason for going to war  – may carry the greatest potential to unravel the talks. Trump has already touted Iran’s commitment never to develop a nuclear weapon, but that largely restates long‑standing pledges by Tehran.

Where the negotiations could falter is over what to do with Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium. Trump has said he wants it shipped out or destroyed. Iran wants neither, though it has indicated a possible willingness to dilute the material.

Another sticking point is Iran’s future uranium enrichment. The U.S. has at times demanded zero enrichment in Iran. Iran says it will not give up its right to enrich. Sources have said the two sides have previously discussed a potential moratorium of anywhere from 5 to 20 years, but compromise remains elusive.

   Also in question is whether Iran will accept the level of international inspection conducted under the nuclear deal that former President Barack Obama reached in 2015 and which Trump ditched in 2018.

COULD STRAIT OF HORMUZ COMPLICATE MATTERS?

Questions remain about the strait, which Iran effectively blocked, triggering a global energy supply shock, after the U.S. and Israel attacked on February 28. Under the MOU, the waterway, which normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil, will be reopened on Friday, but shippers remain cautious. 

The U.S. says it will be toll-free. Iran, which gained leverage with control of the channel that it lacked pre-war, insists it will retain a management role.

WHAT ABOUT SANCTIONS AND FROZEN ASSETS?

Also standing in the way: Iran wants Trump to quickly lift sanctions and unlock billions in frozen funds, while the U.S. says easing will be gradual and tied to Iranian compliance.  According to the text of the MOU read out by U.S. officials on Wednesday, Iran would immediately receive waivers to sell oil again, a conciliatory gesture that has added to criticism from Iran hawks that Trump is giving up too much.

Trump may be reluctant, however, to be seen handing over money to Iran anytime soon. The MOU is already being compared to the deal under Obama, whom he has long berated for returning some Iranian funds.

COULD ISRAEL BE A SPOILER?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who helped convince Trump to launch the war, has insisted Israel is not bound by any U.S.-Iran agreement in its fight against Iran-aligned Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Though hostilities there have abated since Trump rebuked Netanyahu this week, further escalation could threaten the talks. Iran says the deal also requires a ceasefire in Lebanon.

WILL NEGOTIATING STYLES CLASH?

The U.S. team – Vice President JD Vance, envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – and their Iranian counterparts may have a hard time reconciling disparate negotiating styles.

Trump is known to demand quick results; Iran prefers drawn-out bargaining. This posed a problem in past rounds that ended in failure and could mean a similar outcome this time. 

Trump told reporters this stage of negotiations would be “easier” than the first. Both sides are looking to wrap up the conflict. The president is under growing pressure at home over high gasoline prices, and Iran has been battered militarily and economically.

The U.S. team, however, is expected to be short on technical expertise and up against veteran negotiators with a history of dragging out talks. That means 60 days may be too tight to craft a detailed agreement. The Obama deal took around two years to finalize.   

Even if a deal is reached, there could be doubts about implementation. Trump helped broker a ceasefire last year in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza but the process has stalled since then.   

COULD DISTRUST BE A FACTOR?

Iran is deeply suspicious of Trump, who twice in the past year attacked in the middle of negotiations.

Whether or not the Iranians are willing to compromise could also hinge on their supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, considered more hardline than his father, who was killed along with the new leader’s mother, wife and son in a U.S.-Israeli strike.

The U.S. will also be distrustful, watching to see if Iran is stringing them along, as Trump aides say they have experienced before.

If they cannot overcome differences to secure a comprehensive settlement, there is still the possibility of a limited agreement or extending talks – though the risk of renewed hostilities would also loom.

OTHER WAYS TALKS COULD FALTER    

— If Trump bows to pressure from Iran hawks to resist concessions, or Iranian hardliners force their negotiators to be more intransigent;

— If already conflicting interpretations of the MOU create unrealistic expectations;

— If Trump makes the kind of harsh threats he has issued during the conflict, prompting Iran to break off negotiations.

(Reporting and writing by Matt Spetalnick; editing by Don Durfee and Sanjeev Miglani)

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By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, June 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Park Service has removed at least 51 exhibits from 38 sites to carry out President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting displays that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” a court-ordered inventory showed.

The examples revealed in a Trump administration filing on Wednesday span a variety of national parks and monuments including Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, where an exhibit describing the ownership of enslaved people by George Washington, the first U.S. president, was removed.

The administration turned over the list at the direction of Boston-based U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, who ruled on Friday that the government was engaging in an unlawful effort to “rewrite the nation’s history with a white-out pen.” 

Kelley’s ruling came in a challenge to the administration’s actions by groups representing national park conservationists, historians and scientists. They accused the administration of violating laws governing National Park Service actions.

The administration in another filing called the judge’s order requiring it to reinstall the exhibits by July 3, the day before the country marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, a “herculean and unmanageable task.” It asked for the order to be put on hold while the administration appeals her decision blocking Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s implementation of the Republican president’s March 2025 directive.

Trump’s order targeted what he called a “revisionist movement” that portrayed the United States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” and directed the Interior Department to make changes to parks nationwide.

Critics have accused Trump of trying to erase aspects of American history to fit his own false narratives about the nation.

To evaluate the administration’s request to pause her decision, Kelley said she needed more information to evaluate the scale of the exhibit changes, and ordered the production of a list of any items that were removed.

Among the sites listed on the spreadsheet were Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York, and Acadia National Park in Maine. 

At all three parks, materials describing climate change were removed, according to Friday’s court ruling. The inventory said the items were discarded because they were unrelated to the “beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the natural landscape.”

A National Park Service official in an accompanying court filing said that the inventory was likely just a partial list, and that not every item identified for removal had been taken down yet.

Kelley, who was appointed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, noted in her ruling that an internal National Park Service database leaked by anonymous civil servants in March listed more than 500 items that had been identified for review for potential removal.

The agency said as a matter of transparency, the list it filed also included six items removed from a 39th national park pursuant to a different executive order by Trump.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A senior Polish defense official said Wednesday that the United States has expressed interest in potentially establishing a permanent U.S. military base in Poland.

Cezary Tomczyk, Poland’s deputy defense minister, spoke to The Associated Press a day after the Polish government approved steps to allow such a U.S. permanent base in Poland, on NATO’s eastern flank. He said the government’s resolution about the base Tuesday is an invitation to the Americans.

“The Americans are interested in the Polish offer to place a permanent base here,” because it would be financed by both countries, Tomczyk said in an interview at the Defense Ministry in Warsaw.

When asked about the remarks, U.S. Defense Department officials in Washington said they had nothing new to announce.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poles are doing everything in their power to have such a permanent base but that “the decision will always be on the side of the Americans.”

Around 10,000 U.S. troops are typically stationed in Poland, the majority on a rotational basis.

The Polish government is hoping that thousands of U.S. troops be stationed permanently, as the U.S. rethinks its military presence in Europe, both in personnel and weaponry.

In May, the U.S. suddenly halted the deployment of 4,000 soldiers to Poland despite the Trump administration considering the country a “model ally” for reaching its NATO target for spending on defense.

U.S. President Donald Trump previously had threatened to pull troops out of Germany. That was attributed to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticizing the U.S. on Iran, but the reduction of troops in Poland caused widespread confusion on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tomczyk was part of a Polish team immediately dispatched to Washington for talks. He was still in the U.S. capital when Trump wrote on social media that U.S. would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland.

Since then, the U.S. has confirmed that it is reorganizing its troop presence in Europe but has given no further clarity about which troops are going where. However, multiple statements from Polish defense officials since then indicate they believe Poland has a chance to see an increase in permanent U.S. troops.

“Sometimes a rotating model can change into a permanent model and this is always much better,” Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz said in mid-May.

Asked whether the Polish resolution came because the U.S. side signaled clear interest in having a permanent base in Poland, Tomczyk said Poland and the U.S. are “in a working dialogue” and that “the next step, after the two sides confirmed they are interested in this, is the official offer from the Polish state.”

“We can’t tell fortune from tea leaves,” Tomczyk said. “But we are a serious state which is presenting a serious offer to the Americans, in connection with the dialogue we are having with the Americans.”

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