• US President Donald Trump has rejected a news report claiming his administration offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds. Trump called the story a hoax on social media.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has held further indirect talks with the US through Qatari mediators in New York, with Washington’s formal response expected by Tuesday, “hopefully”.

Iranian rial falls to record low to US dollar as war punishes economy

Iran’s currency fell to a new record low on Tuesday with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the US dollar in a stark reflection of how the US-Israeli war has steadily eroded its economy.

The latest decline came just 27 days after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on September 2. The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.

Before the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran the dollar traded at about 1.7 million rials to the US greenback on the open market.

Tehran tries to use Hormuz as leverage in mediation

Tehran is trying to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage because it is not the only party suffering economic consequences. Other countries like Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait – all oil exporters in the region – were in this together.

They are losing altogether, and Iran made sure that while it bore the cost of this conflict, the diplomatic and economic standoff spread to neighbouring countries so that the issue, which Tehran called a regional issue, could be sorted out regionally.

Tehran used mediators to navigate the crisis… Tehran saw the negotiations differed significantly compared to the United States. Officials talked about the same steps, but where to begin takeoff remained the major disagreement.

Iran needed to solve the problem given its worsening economic situation. Authorities acknowledged the reality, but they tried to use the leverage they had on hand as much as possible.

Trump dismisses Iran remarks on potential deal

Donald Trump said over the weekend he didn’t care what Iran had to say about the possibility of a deal.

But what is clear is that Americans are talking to mediators believed to be the Qataris, and the Iranians are doing that as well. So, no face-to-face talks, but at least they’re in discussions and testing positions.

Certainly, the United States said that Donald Trump wants the Iran nuclear issue to be at the top of the agenda. And once that is the case, they can look at moving on from these discussions.

They’re talking about how the United States intends to continue the economic pressure on Iran by keeping the blockade in place. They say that the number of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz is increasing as well.

Donald Trump believes that economic pressure could lead to people on the streets turning against the government, forcing regime change – something he talked about on the first day of the war, which is now entering its eighth month.

They say that Donald Trump has a great deal of patience. That may suggest that the options he is considering, including keeping the economic embargo in place, possible military action, or pursuing diplomatic measures, can wait until after the midterm elections in about 35 days.

One of the key things in the statement says that while Iran cannot be trusted – because, in the American view, they broke the memorandum of understanding – this is all about sequencing: Who does what first, who commits to what first.

So once that happens, then perhaps there is the possibility that there may be some diplomatic movement, but it seems unlikely before those midterm elections.

The latest on the indirect talks between US and Iran

• US and Iranian officials held separate talks with mediators on Monday in a renewed effort to end seven months of hostilities.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions were with Qatari mediators. “They presented ideas, and we held a discussion that they will also raise with the American side; the final response from the US side will be conveyed to us subsequently, hopefully by tomorrow [Tuesday],” Araghchi said.
• Trump confirmed to reporters at the White House that US officials separately spoke with mediators on Monday, without giving further details. He also said: “We’re going to win, as far as I’m concerned, it’s going to be one way or the other. It’s going to go pretty quickly.”
• The US president has, however, denied earlier reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds in return for nuclear concessions.
• “This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING,” he wrote on Truth Social.
• Any further talks are likely to focus on an amended version of a seven-day proposal that Iran presented on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) last week, according to Reuters.
• Tehran’s plan included ending all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets, ending oil sanctions, and lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports. In return, Tehran would allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear programme and enriched uranium.

Rubio warns Iran with nuclear weapon would ‘blackmail the world’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told US media that the Strait of Hormuz is open and, with the exception of Iranian oil, there is almost as much oil flowing through as there was before the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.

He said, however, that if Tehran had a nuclear weapon, it would use it to “blackmail the world and to kill people”.

“It would control the straits, charge a toll, and decide who got energy and who did not,” Rubio said during an interview with Fox News, adding that such a scenario represented “an unacceptable risk”.

He said Iran’s governance was problematic.

“Who calls the shots in Iran are radical Shia clerics with an apocalyptic vision of the future. They believe that it is a religious calling to trigger about the last days of the world, the apocalypse,” he said.

Rubio said Iran used money received through sanctions relief or economic selling to build weapons and “export the revolution” rather than to “improve the lives of the Iranian people”.

“They use the money to fund Hezbollah, they use the money to fund Hamas, they use the money to fund Shia militias in Iraq… they use the money to sponsor terrorism and assassination plots,” he said.

This is fear monger language. The Israelis have proven during the six-day in June 1967 that they are willing to use nuclear weapons.

US senator slams Trump over prolonged Iran war

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has criticized Trump over the duration of the war on Iran, saying it has entered its eighth month despite initial promises.

“Remember when Trump said his war in Iran would last only four to five weeks?” Schumer wrote on X.

“We’re now in month eight, and the American people and our troops are paying the price.”

Schumer said that Senate Republicans had a chance last week to vote to end the conflict, but instead voted to keep it going.

“They are complicit,” he added.

Iran looking to mediator, not Washington, for US response

Hadi Afqahi, a former Iranian diplomat, says Tehran is looking to a mediator, not to statements from Washington, for the US response to its seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Afqahi said that Iran’s expectations do not hinge on remarks by Trump or Rubio. “There is a mediator,” he said, describing this intermediary as “the reference point for the decisions, positions, responses and movements” of the Iranian delegation in New York.

“The statements say one thing, but behind the scenes, there are still intensive efforts to persuade both sides to continue bridging this gap,” he said, adding that the aim is to ensure the negotiations “do not collapse but are postponed to a later date”.

He said the talks could shift from New York to Arab or European capitals, which he described as “at least what Tehran hopes for”, adding that it “remains firm in its positions and demands”.

FM Araghchi says Iran expects US response to Hormuz proposal on Tuesday

Iran expects an official US response today to its proposal for the reopening of the critical Strait of Hormuz, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says.

“There are conditions that have been emphasized by the [supreme] leader, and these conditions must be implemented for the Strait of Hormuz to open,” Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

“If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a peaceful solution, we have introduced this solution.”

Araghchi met Qatari and Pakistani mediators on Monday and said discussions had become “more serious” since Iran presented its plan.

Qatari intermediaries “presented ideas and we discussed them. They are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us”, Araghchi said late Monday.

“If there is a response, the Qataris will convey it to us and a decision will be made in Tehran on that basis. The Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow,” said Iran’s top diplomat.

“The current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz, and the reopening of the strait is contingent upon the fulfillment of certain conditions that we have communicated to the other side.”

US and Iran holding ‘really serious talks’ despite Trump ‘bluster’

Paul Musgrave of Georgetown University in Qatar says there were “really serious talks” during the UN General Assembly on ending the war on Iran despite public rhetoric from the US president.

“I think people need to discount bluster and Trumpian statements. Continually, through mediators in Pakistan and Qatar, we have seen a lot of engagement,” he said.

Musgrave said discussions appeared to focus on “sanctions, lifting the freeze on Iran’s assets”, and “continuing to talk on the nuclear issue while reopening the Strait of Hormuz”.

Negotiations are taking place “in the shadow of the memorandum of understanding which collapsed”, however, there appears to be “some belief on both sides that a deal could be made”, he added.

The question really comes down to whether it will be before or after the midterms, said Musgrave.

Iran says it hopes negotiations might be ‘more serious’ this time

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a press conference while negotiations – via the Pakistanis and the Qataris – haven taken a long time in the past, right now he seems to believe the talks are “more serious” after Iran submitted its latest peace proposal.

The fact these negotiations are ongoing after the US president rejected them means the Iranians are still ready perhaps to make concessions, or at least continue to talk to the Americans

So there is hope, according to Araghchi, negotiations this time around might be more serious, might take less time, while the Iranians are waiting for a final response from the United States.

At the same time, rhetoric of force is still being used by Iran’s parliament speaker Ghalibaf, by the supreme leader, and even by Araghchi himself, saying Iran is not budging or being fazed by the presence of American troops, and it is ready to defend itself militarily.

Imbalance in US-Iran negotiations favors Tehran to a degree

Talha Abdulrazaq, a Middle East strategy and security affairs specialist, said that the US and Iran are approaching diplomacy on different timelines.

“The Americans want some solid concessions on the nuclear component of negotiations, and the Iranians say, well, okay, we don’t have an issue with that necessarily, but first of all, we need to see some good faith from the American side, which is unfreezing of assets, sanctions relief, and the lifting of the naval blockade,” he said.

“This is a non-starter for the US,” said Abdulrazaq, arguing that Washington, as the dominant power, would need to change the strategic picture significantly for any deal to be seen as a victory at home. Iran’s bar is lower, he said: “All the Iranians have to do is survive with their regime intact.”

Abdulrazaq said that the imbalance favors Tehran to a degree, but does not mean Iran is spared the pressure. “They’re feeling the severe economic pinch and the political isolation that the Americans have imposed upon them,” he said.

Abdulrazaq said the US midterms are also constraining Washington. Afterwards, he said, “the Americans are going to have more leeway to perhaps either escalate the conflict or maybe even de-escalate” and return to something similar to the MoU.

US Vice President Vance says ‘there is a universe where we can strike a deal with Iran’

US Vice President JD Vance has said there is still room for a deal with Iran if the country’s leaders honor their commitments to the US.

Speaking in an interview with journalist Vince Coglianese, Vance said Trump has been clear that “there is a universe where we can strike a deal with Iran, but that requires the Iranians to behave”.

“That requires the Iranians to honour their commitments to the United States, and that basic principle – negotiate, but only negotiate around actions and not words – is going to inform how we do this for the next couple of months,” he said.

Vance says Iranian leadership system ‘confused, ‘supreme leader’ detached

More from JD Vance’s interview with journalist Vince Coglianese.

Asked who is in charge within Iran, the US vice president said, “It’s a very confused system”.

“I could give you an answer. It would be at best a guess because you have a number of different constituencies. You have the hardliners, you have the conservatives, you have the moderates, you have the clerics and all of these people are involved in the decision-making process,” said Vance.

“And then of course you have the new supreme leader, who is very detached,” added Vance. “He’s not involved day-to-day; he’s not going on American Sunday shows and talking about these negotiations.”

‘They didn’t behave’: Vance blames Iranian leaders for failed MoU

Continuing in his interview with journalist Vince Coglianese, Vance blamed Iranian leaders for the failed memorandum of understanding, saying they “screwed up” by deciding to target commercial ships in regional waters.

“I think the Iranians recognize that they screwed up, that they signed a deal with us, we had a ceasefire, we had energy prices that had come down and we had the possibility … that if the Iranians behaved, they would get a lot out of a better relationship with the United States,” said the US vice president.

“But what happened? They didn’t behave. They started shooting at commercial shipping,” he added.

It is Trump who reignited the war by continuously making his own interpretation of the MoU and ultimately ended the second ceasefire in July 2026. The Trump administration didn't behave.

Vance says US believes Iran’s supreme leader is still alive, but not engaged in day-to-day affairs

Continuing his comments on Iran’s supreme leader, Vance said the US doesn’t know for sure if he’s alive, but that evidence suggests he is.

“We think that he’s alive. We don’t know, of course,” said Vance. “I’ve never seen him. I haven’t seen him on camera recently. The best evidence we have suggests that he is alive.”

Trump says he does not know if Iran will ‘give up yet’

US President Donald Trump has said Iran is doing “very poorly” in the war with the US and does not know “if they are going to give up yet”, while speaking to reporters outside the White House following a meeting with AI executives.

Trump repeated the claim that the US navy has facilitated passage for the largest number of ships through the Strait of Hormuz “at any point in history” in recent days, adding “including long before we had the war to stop the nuclear weapon”.

Oil prices climb to $106 a barrel

Oil prices are rising for a second successive session, with Brent crude futures gaining 63 cents, or 0.6 percent, to reach $105.91 a barrel as of 00:30 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up 72 cents, or 0.8 percent, to trade at $93.32.

The gains came as lingering concerns over Middle East supply disruptions brought about by the US war on Iran outweighed signs of recovering crude exports from the region, Reuters reported.

Brent crude climbs past $106 as supply disruption fears persist

Oil prices are continuing their upward trajectory, with Brent crude futures gaining $1.49, or 1.4 percent, to reach $106.77 a barrel as of 03:26 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up $1.34, or 1.5 percent, to trade at $93.94.

According to Reuters, the increases were driven by ongoing worries over Middle East supply disruptions from the US-Iran conflict, which overshadowed indications of a rebound in regional crude exports.

Both benchmarks closed the previous session nearly $1 a barrel higher.

EU Energy Commissioner: Energy crisis caused by price surge, not resource shortages

European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has told Al Jazeera that Europe’s energy crisis, caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure, is more about rising prices than resource shortages.

The EU’s oil reserves are designed to withstand crises, according to Jorgensen. He made the comments a little over a week after French President Emmanuel Macron urged the commission to temporarily relax some EU fuel-quality specifications to give refineries more production capacity.

Energy prices in EU countries are harming local companies and citizens who are struggling to pay their bills, Jorgensen said.

He added that relations with Washington have grown complicated due to trade disputes and unpredictable policies.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, also took part in the meetings. He acknowledged the “challenging situation Europe faces for several fuels” and called for “strong cooperation on energy security”.

Saudi Arabia resumes Yanbu oil loading after pipeline restart

Saudi Arabia has resumed oil ‌loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting operations on the East-West ⁠Pipeline following an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels earlier this month.

The resumption of loading at Yanbu is set to bolster crude exports from the Middle East, where the US-Israeli war on Iran has throttled shipments through the Strait of Hormuz – the ‌conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the conflict.

European Space Agency satellite imagery “captured over the Red Sea on September 27 shows Saudi Arabia loading nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz”, vessel-tracking firm TankerTrackers.com wrote in a post on X. Al Muajjiz is a terminal south of Yanbu.

Two unnamed trade sources ⁠separately estimated crude loadings from Yanbu at about two million barrels per ⁠day since last week, Reuters news agency reported.

Ship-tracking firm Kpler estimates current throughput on the pipeline at about 2.65 million bpd and expects it to climb to between 3 million and 4 million bpd in the coming days.

A full return to the pre-attack ⁠rate of roughly 5.5 million bpd could still take another month, it said in a note on Monday.

Oil through Hormuz climbs closer to pre-war levels

Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz averaged about 13.2 million barrels a day over the past week – roughly 77 percent of their prewar level – even as Iran claims to have stepped up attacks on vessels trying to cross the waterway, according to Kpler.

Daily confirmed oil flows varied sharply from September 24-27, ranging from about 6.5 million to 12.6 million barrels. The figures for the most recent days are preliminary and may rise as more shipments are confirmed.

The increased movement of oil comes during ongoing talks to fully reopen the strait within seven days, a plan proposed by Iran.

Iranian army confirms passage of ‘small number’ of foreign tankers in Strait of Hormuz

An Iranian army spokesperson has said a small number of unspecified foreign vessels and oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Mohammad Akraminia said the passage of the ships through the critical waterway was negligible compared with the number that passed through before the US war in Iran.

Trump says Iran conflict to end ‘very soon’

The US president has said the conflict with Iran will be over “very soon,” causing oil prices to plummet.

Trump made the comments during a speech in Washington, DC, unveilling a new AI-powered federal platform.

Trump said Iran is “failing very badly” and reiterated his claim that the country will “not have a nuclear weapon”.

“That’ll be over with very soon,” said the US president, referring to the conflict with Iran. “They will not have a nuclear weapon, and oil prices are going to be tumbling down just like they were before I had to make that little excursion to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Trump ‘trapped in a quagmire’, Iran’s national security council chief says

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, has said Iran has communicated its conditions to the US for ending the war, but that Trump has been unable to make a decision.

Speaking during a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Rezaei said the US president is “trapped in a quagmire where he can neither negotiate nor wage war”, Iran’s IRIB broadcaster reported.

Rezaie said Trump, out of desperation, has resorted to what he called an “air blockade” of Iran.

US sanctions on Iranian airlines have shut those airlines out of much of the world’s airspace.

Qatar urges diplomacy to address Hormuz crisis

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari says diplomatic efforts to end the US-Iran war remain underway, but there were no tangible results to announce yet.

During his weekly media briefing, al-Ansari said the world cannot afford to ignore the consequences of the conflict, with disruptions affecting energy supplies, food security, industry and global supply chains.

“The officials in Iran need to make a decision to distance our countries from this war and take a clear path of non-aggression towards their neighbors,” al-Ansari said.

Al-Ansari added that Qatar was working towards a diplomatic resolution that restores full freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s FM vows pursuit of justice for US, Israeli ‘war crimes’

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi has told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran will not abandon its pursuit of justice against the orchestrators of “war crimes”, referring specifically to the US and Israel.

“The Iranian nation will never give up on demanding justice, holding accountable, and punishing the orchestrators and perpetrators of war crimes by the US and the Zionist regime,” Araghchi told Guterres in a meeting on Monday, according to the Tasnim report.

Guterres urged both Tehran and Washington to continue diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and achieve peace. However, Araghchi said the US has betrayed diplomacy multiple times over the past decade.

‘No reason for 800 military bases’: Revolutionary Guard addresses American people

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson is giving a press conference and directly addressing the American public.

Here are some of Brigadier-General Hossein Mohebbi’s comments:

• Americans don’t know our region and we need to create a platform to talk with them. We are ready to communicate with American citizens, and they can communicate with us.
  There is no reason to have 800 American bases around the world.
• The Iranian armed forces’ annual budget represents 1 percent of the American armed forces’ budget.
• The rulers of the United States do not think of their their people; there are 39 million Americans who live under the poverty line.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has no intention of building a nuclear weapon.

“Iran has never sought to obtain a nuclear weapon and it’s committed to that,” said IRGC spokesman spokesman Mohebbi in a speech directed at the American people.

Mohebbi called on US citizens to ask their government why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is designated as a “terrorist organization”.

The Revolutionary Guard is designated as a “terrorist” group because it prevents “plunder” in Iran and the region, said Mohebbi.

American citizens are unaware of what he described as “crimes” committed by the US military, including the bombing of schools, hospitals, universities, mosques, and churches, he added.

Mohebbi questioned whether it’s time for the US leadership to change its foreign policy. He argued if the US government spent 10 percent of what it spends on military attacks on aid to poor countries around the world, “the US would become a popular country”.

We have always maintain and continue to maintain the view that:

A terrorist is someone who either has the intention or plans to carry out or carry out an attack, and must reside in the country where he wants to act. His target must be any property, any member of the system on which the country is ruled and administered and or public spaces in that country.

An entity of a country that wants to carry out an act against the entity of another country, while remaining in its own country, the first entity carries out an operative act and is not a terrorist.

The idea that Iran is a "terrorist organization" is based on how "terrorism," "terrorist," and "terrorist organizations" is defined in the politically driven glossary of terms compiled and used by the US State Department.

Iran’s IRGC appeals directly to Americans in long letter

From Mohamed Vall, Tehran.

This letter is still being read and it consists of dozens of pages so it’s going to take time to know everything in the statement.

We know so far it’s a direct attempt to talk to the American people, saying they have to focus on what’s going on around them, what the US government is doing, what their military is doing, the “crimes” that the American military is committing.

Many US citizens, according to this letter, are not aware of these “crimes”, IRGC Brigadier-General Hossein Mohebbi said at a press conference.

The IRGC believes the situation is affecting the United States’ image around the world, and it is why the American has this problem with the Iranians, Mohebbi said.

So this is a call to the American people to have a platform of dialogue directly with the Iranian people.

War on Iran aims to ‘fragment’ it; nothing to do with nuclear arms: IRGC

The Revolutionary Guard says the US war on Iran has nothing to do with its nuclear program.

“United States aims to loot our people and divide our homeland,” said IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi. “Our letter to the American people aims to spread the truth and not influence the American elections.”

The IRGC general told US citizens the attack on Iran by the Trump administration had nothing to do with nuclear weapons.

“Their issue is plundering the Iranian people and the wealth of the Iranian people. Their issue is the fragmentation of Iran. Their issue is turning Iran back into a colonial state under their control. They themselves know that Iran has not been seeking nuclear weapons,” Mohebbi said.

If we look at the fragmentation, they are:

• Military force
• Naval blockade
• Financial blockade
• Trade ban
• Flight ban

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard calls President Trump a ‘big liar’

Iran’s IRGC spokesperson says US President Donald Trump ⁠is a “big liar”.

“The American people need to be ⁠told the truth,” ⁠Hossein Mohebbi said, adding the ⁠United States ⁠failed in ⁠its military campaign against Iran and should ‌leave the Middle East.

He also said:

• Iran is continuously designing new weapons, upgrading existing equipment and mass-producing defensive systems using “all the technologies available in the world” to protect the country and its people.
• Iran will “bring new weapons to the field” if the war “takes a different form”.
• US military bases in the region “could not even defend themselves” during the war, most “are completely unusable” and it’s “not economically viable for the US to rebuild them”.
• The US can never block “communication routes and longstanding ties” between Iran and its neighbours, who have realized US bases on their soil “cause insecurity”.
• The US has backed armed groups in Iran’s northwestern and southeastern border areas and “this too ended in failure.”
• “America has no option but to admit defeat and leave the region, and our campaign will end with this result.”

Parliament speaker Ghalibaf warns no regional infrastructure will be safe if Iran’s security is not guaranteed

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said no infrastructure in the region will be safe if Iran’s security was not guaranteed, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB has reported.

“In a region where Iran cannot sell oil, no one else will sell oil either,” Ghalibaf said, according to IRIB.

Ghalibaf warned the United States and other countries that Iran would respond to any threat or “adventurism” with a swift and severe response. He also said US efforts to impose a maritime blockade, close air corridors and pressure Iran’s trade routes would fail, according to the broadcaster.

Ghalibaf was responding to remarks by US President Donald Trump on the Strait of Hormuz, IRIB said. He said Iran’s position remained that no infrastructure would be safe if its security were not guaranteed.

Qatar rejects Iranian threats to Middle East infrastructure if US strikes

Qatar has condemned any targeting of infrastructure “by any party” after being asked about Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s threat to hit Gulf neighbors if attacked again by the US.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said such strikes work against the interests of regional stability. “With respect to infrastructure and institutions, any threat is a violation of international law and good neighborliness,” he said.

Al-Ansari said Qatar continues to work with other mediators to pass messages between Iran and the United States and to build common ground. “Every mediation is a Herculean effort,” he said.

Gulf states did not choose to be part of the war, and Iran needs to stop aggression against regional countries. Qatar, he said, is “not giving up on peace” despite having been targeted.

Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s chief negotiator, said earlier if Iran’s security is not guaranteed, no infrastructure in the region is safe from attack. He added if Iran cannot freely sell its oil, no nation in the Gulf will be able to sell theirs.

Top Iranian official says US ‘will inevitably leave this region’

Iran MP Ebrahim Azizi has said the US and Israel will eventually be pushed out of the region, while Iran will remain.

“The US will inevitably leave this region, and the Zionist (Israel) regime’s days are numbered,” said Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission.

“Ultimately, it is we and our neighbors who remain here, face to face,” he added. “That day will be a day of regret.”

Iran dismisses UAE statements at UN over disputed strategic islands near Strait of Hormuz

Iranian diplomat Kazem Gharibabadi has rejected statements made at the United Nations General Assembly by the United Arab Emirates over three disputed islands, reiterating Tehran’s stance that its sovereignty over the strategic landmasses is nonnegotiable.

Writing on X, Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said repeating claims from the UN rostrum “does not alter the reality” that Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb remain “inseparable parts of Iran’s territory”.

“Emirati officials should, instead of repeating unfounded claims, adhere to the requirements of good neighborliness and the historical and legal realities of the region,” Gharibabadi said.

The dispute over the three islands near the Strait of Hormuz dates back to 1971. Iranian forces took control of the islands shortly before Britain withdrew from the region and the UAE was formally established as a federation.

Abu Dhabi has consistently challenged Iran’s control, arguing the islands were seized unlawfully, and routinely calls at international forums for direct negotiations or a resolution through the International Court of Justice.

Trump wants to avoid ‘the bleeding the Republican Party is going through’

President Trump was being disingenuous when stating he doesn’t think about the fallout of the ongoing war on Iran ahead of the US midterm elections, an analyst says.

“I think it would be ridiculous to assume that President Trump is not worried about the electoral effects of the war. I think he is clearly interested in them and he’s trying to find ways to get out of the bleeding that the Republican Party is going through,” said Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar.

“So he’s trying to make sure that those costs are mitigated because that’s really what he cares about politically.”

Musgrave said that the Iranians have “a pretty sophisticated view of US politics”.

“They’ve been operating with this since 1979, since President Carter’s reelection bid, which was of course doomed in part by high gasoline prices and a standoff with Iran,” he said.

“So they probably have a sense that President Trump’s interests in preventing a wipeout defeat by the Democrats is something of value to them, and I think they believe they can get a better deal.”

IRGC issues open letter to US voters urging Trump administration ‘must be changed’

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has made a direct appeal to Americans, saying the United States government under President Donald Trump “must be changed”.

In a lengthy open letter (PDF) released on Tuesday, the IRGC tells Americans to “wake up” and “wrest control back from corrupt politicians”.

The message comes five weeks before the midterm elections in the US and one day after the US-Israel war against Iran hit its seven-month mark.

“Now is the time, as the American political system is at its weakest,” the IRGC said.

Iran warns of winter energy shortages after US-Israeli attacks on gas facilities

Iran’s government spokesperson, Fatemeh Mohajerani, says attacks on the country’s energy sector by the US cost about 230 million cubic meters of production capacity, reports state media IRIN.

Asked about gas supplies as the cold season begins, she said efforts are under way to restore roughly 100 million cubic meters of that lost capacity.

Mohajerani said the US-Israeli attacks came on top of an existing energy supply imbalance the government faced since taking office, which it managed to get through over several winters and summers with public cooperation.

As a result, she said, northern Iran is likely to face issues this winter. “Based on the pattern of past years, we will probably have problems in the northern provinces,” she said, adding the Interior Ministry has warned governors and measures have been taken to protect people’s daily lives.

The government would try – through the Supreme Energy Council – to keep industry running while ensuring households do not suffer, she added. Mohajerani said she hoped the country could get through the winter “with minimal blackouts and minimal problems”.

US highlights $15m reward for information disrupting IRGC’s ‘financial mechanisms’

US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott has highlighted a $15m reward the US government is offering for information that disrupts the financial mechanisms of the IRGC, as the US continues to ramp up economic pressure against the Iranian government.

The US has previously offered this same award and other multimillion-dollar rewards for Iran-related information, including saying in August it would pay $10m for information leading to the identification of five senior IRGC commanders.

In a statement today, Pigott also said the US had imposed sanctions on eight new entities and five new individuals for alleged involvement in procuring and proliferating weapons or weapons components for Iran. It was unclear whether these were distinct from the 10 individuals and entities that the US Treasury Department earlier said it had sanctioned for the same reason.

“We will continue working with partners to disrupt Iran’s proliferation networks and deny the Iranian regime access to the goods, technology, financing and services that contribute to these activities,” said Pigott.

Russia urges Iran to remain in nuclear non-proliferation agreement

Moscow does not want Tehran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and expects it to remain a signatory, the Kremlin says.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was responding to comments by Iranian officials about a possible pullout of the global nuclear agreement. Under the treaty, Iran is committed to neither developing or acquiring nuclear weapons.

Russia and Iran have close ties under a strategic cooperation treaty.

Vessel struck by suspected projectile in Strait of Hormuz: UKMTO

A vessel was struck by a suspected projectile while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, causing a fire, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said in a report dated 05:30 GMT on Tuesday.

UKMTO said the fire had been extinguished, the crew were safe and the vessel was continuing its journey. No environmental impact had been reported, and the extent of any damage had yet to be assessed.

The agency said it received the account from a third party and advised other vessels to transit with caution while authorities investigate.

US sanctions 10 individuals, entities over alleged Iran weapons procurement

The US Treasury says it has imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and entities it alleges have procured weapons or weapons components for Iran’s Defence Ministry.

The sanctioned individuals include a China-based representative of the Iranian Defence Ministry and representatives of several firms, based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan, that allegedly procure components used for Iranian weapons development, according to the US Treasury.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US “will continue to target and disrupt those who provide material, technological or financial support that allows the Iranian regime to sustain its terrorist enterprise”.

“Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s enablers,” he added in a statement published by the US Treasury.

US Treasury Secretary says economic action against Iran to continue

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that economic measures against Iran will continue and those providing financial support to Iran will be targeted.

“Under Operation Economic Outcast, Treasury will continue to target and disrupt those who provide material, technological or financial support that allows the Iranian regime to sustain its terrorist enterprise,” Bessent said in a Treasury Department statement.

“Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose and isolate Iran’s enablers.”

His statement comes as the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 10 individuals and entities in five countries on Tuesday. They are accused of procuring weapons and weapons components for Iran’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), the entity responsible for weapons research, production and purchasing for Iran’s armed forces.

MODAFL also oversees organisations engaged in the development of Iran’s ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

“Today’s action further degrades the Iranian regime’s ability to reconstitute its weapons programs and increases the costs for those who choose to aid Tehran’s military procurement efforts,” Treasury said in a statement.

RAF Airbase Fairford, England

US suspects ‘foreign actor’ in UK airbase alleged bomb plot

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a suspected bomb plot near a UK airbase used by the US was “a very serious situation” involving a “foreign actor”.

Speaking to Fox News, Rubio suggested that additional information about suspected foreign involvement could come out in the coming days.

“There’s some things I cannot say on the air for a lot of different reasons,” he said.

Rubio said he acknowledged that some people were “disturbed” by the news that the five male suspects, arrested near the RAF Fairford airbase on Sunday, had been released on bail.

He said Washington was engaging with UK investigators.

He thanked UK authorities for their cooperation and help in breaking up the alleged plot.

Citing Iran’s threats against US interests as an example, Rubio said there would be repercussions for an attack or attempted attack.

“What happened this weekend could have been – and was, I think – a very serious threat,” he said.

Iran denies role in alleged plot on UK base

UK police say five people have been released on bail after they were arrested for suspected terrorism and explosives offences near an airbase in western England. They say the suspects remain part of an ongoing investigation.

The head of the UK’s national counterterrorism force says they will look into whether a foreign state may be involved. Iran has strongly denied any involvement.

Iran’s link to RAF Fairford airbase incident remains ‘speculation’

Adam Ereli, former US ambassador to Bahrain, says Iran is capable of a major incident like the one at the UK’s Fairford airbase, as Tehran has made threats before against any site used by the US military.

“Iran has the capability of doing this … they have, clearly, the motivation. They’ve been attacking US and allied military facilities in the region for some time and have been expanding the scope of those attacks in terms of geography and strategic relevance for some time,” he said.

“So it doesn’t require a huge stretch of the imagination to write a scenario where Iran is a big player in this [the Fairford incident].”

However, Ereli said commentary on the incident at this stage was “speculation”.

Bail for RAF base suspects suggests no evidence of ‘terror’, say analysts

As army explosives experts examined the vehicles and counterterrorism detectives began questioning the suspects, US President Donald Trump, some 5,800km (3,600 miles) away, was already hailing the arrests.

“We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” he told reporters on Sunday.

But Westminster was more cautious, with United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging people “not to speculate”.

Iran’s embassy in London said it “categorically rejects” any link, adding that such speculation would only “fuel Iranophobia propaganda in the UK”.

The swift succession of arrests, claims and subsequent release has left a confused picture, raising questions about whether British authorities were indeed tracking the suspects – as Trump claimed – and whether the case is thinner than Washington suggests, say analysts.

But many analysts are saying that the manner in which the suspects were released suggests that the UK government had little evidence, at least at this point, that the men were plotting a major attack.

UK police defend bail decision in RAF Fairford case, counter US narrative of Iran link

British police have searched a number of properties in London and they have been winding down their investigation here near RAF Fairford and by Wednesday, expect the area to go fully back to normal.

A police presence does remain in the area right now and there is also a cordon. They went on to defend their decision to grant bail to those five suspects who were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning, saying that decision was grounded in experience and careful consideration of policing powers

A legal expert said that the police do have the powers and do use those powers to keep terrorist suspects in police custody without charge for up to 48 hours, and that can be extended by up to 14 days.

So the fact that these men were released at the 36 hour mark speaks to the level of risk that police believe these men pose, but the police then seeming to downplay this risk certainly does fly in the face of the U.S. narrative which was to emphasize a potential link with Iran.

The Iranian embassy in London has strenuously denied any involvement in this incident on Sunday.