Analysis and news on great-power rivalry, diplomacy, sanctions and alliances, from the UN General Assembly to the Gulf, Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
The IDF says it killed Hamas commander Mahmoud Awad, accused of helping hold seven Israeli hostages in a tunnel complex in the Gaza City area.
Iranian hardliners filed an impeachment motion against FM Abbas Araghchi over his UNGA contacts with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Saudi Arabia restarted its East-West crude pipeline at reduced rates after a drone shutdown, reopening a path for Aramco to resume tanker loadings at Yanbu.
At the UN, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian rejected Trump’s “annihilate” threat, held up a photo of Ayatollah Khamenei and refused to reopen Hormuz on U.S. terms.
Poland scrambled fighter jets after a Russian Mi-8 helicopter from Kaliningrad crossed about 300 meters into Polish airspace near Braniewo for 42 seconds.
An AP investigation says IRGC advisers helped Houthi forces seize Yemen’s Red Sea coast, Iran’s most direct battlefield role in Yemen since 2014.
China’s expulsion of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli from the party and military raises new doubts about PLA cohesion and readiness for a Taiwan conflict.
Zelenskyy offered Russia a reciprocal energy ceasefire, halting refinery strikes if Moscow spares Ukraine’s grid, and urged Trump to set up talks with Putin.
Trump said envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held three hours of talks with Iran’s Abbas Araghchi at the UN; Tehran says its Hormuz terms still stand.
The G7 urged Yemen’s Houthis to stop threatening shipping and pressed Iran to end arms support, as fighting reached heights over Bab al-Mandab.
UNIFIL says nearly 30 Israeli positions, including eight fortified bases at sites such as Khiam and Maroun El Ras, now sit inside southern Lebanon.
Trump’s UNGA week packs at least 11 leader meetings, from Zelenskyy to six Gulf states, amid the Iran war and a 32% approval rating.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters Tehran can reopen Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. lifts its blockade, and Pezeshkian will not meet Trump.
Trump pulled back planned U.S. airstrikes on the Houthis with bombs already loaded, the NYT reported, after Riyadh intercepted a ballistic missile.
Trump said he would “probably be open” to meeting Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian at the UN as Tehran’s delegation arrived with a list of end-of-war conditions.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters warned the U.S. is preparing to resume strikes and vowed retaliation, as Trump said he remains in “deciding mode.”
Aramco has sold about 60 million barrels for ship-to-ship loading at Oman’s Sohar port, a workaround after pipeline damage choked Yanbu exports.
Trump told Axios he faces a “big decision” on Iran, weighing escalation or the current stalemate ahead of a UNGA meeting with six Gulf leaders.
Hundreds of thousands filled Tehran for the state-organized “Janfaday-e Iran” rally, the largest since the U.S.–Israeli campaign began in February.
Poland’s Donald Tusk warned Russia is preparing hybrid strikes on Ukraine’s allies disguised as accidents, then flew to Kyiv to discuss air defense.
Moscow’s mayor said over 350 Ukrainian drones targeted the capital overnight as Russia opened a three-day wartime Duma election that excludes anti-war parties.
The Trump administration again denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa for the UN General Assembly and extended visa curbs on PA and PLO officials.
Russia votes September 18–20 for all 450 Duma seats in its first parliamentary election since the invasion, with anti-war candidates pushed aside.
A UN-backed fact-finding mission found reasonable grounds that U.S. forces committed war crimes in Iran, citing a Minab school strike that killed over 150.
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