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President Trump Rejects Iranian Ceasefire Proposal + Report: China Provided Iran With Dual-Use Components for Missiles & Drones + Report: UAE to Host Tri-lateral Talks Between US - Russia - Ukraine Sep 25, 2026

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For review:

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit many of his favorite themes in a combative speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, including the threat Iran poses to the world and the Jewish people’s determination to stand up to antisemitism and attempts to annihilate them.

2. In a pre-recorded address played before the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas knocked US President Donald Trump’s administration for preventing him from attending the forum in person for the second year in a row.

In his roughly 22-minute speech, Abbas bitterly criticized Israel for its policies against the Palestinians, insisting that Ramallah has completed the reforms demanded by the international community and recommitted to a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel.

3. US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterm elections.

4. An Israeli official has claimed that another round of strikes against Iran is “only a matter of time,” saying Tehran is racing to reactivate and fortify its nuclear program in anticipation of a possible attack, Saudi news channel Al-Hadath reported on Thursday.

5. China has sent around 1,300 air shipments containing dual-use components for drones and missiles to Iran’s Defense Ministry this year through the end of June, The Wall Street Journal reported.

6. Saudi Arabia intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said were aimed at Taif in western Saudi Arabia and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea.

7. The United States has proposed that the United Arab Emirates host a trilateral meeting with Ukraine and Russia to discuss efforts to end their four-and-a-half-year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

8. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has lobbied U.S. defense leaders to allow the production of PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles in Germany, arguing an additional production site would help alleviate a glaring shortfall in the global supply chain for the vital air-defense weapons.

President Trump at UN: Freedom Coming to Cuba + France Ready to Contribute in Securing Saudi Energy Infrastructure + US Invites Russian President Putin to December G20 Summit in Miami Sep 23, 2026

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For review:

1. Argentine President Javier Milei attacks the UN in a speech to the world body’s General Assembly, calling it a “useless organization” filled with “arrogant parasites.”

2. President Donald Trump said Cuba was a failed state and freedom would be coming to the island nation in a UN address on Tuesday that ‌increased tensions with the Communist-run government.

3. Iran and the United States hinted on Tuesday at the prospect of reviving negotiations to end the months-old war, with a senior Iranian official suggesting that the Strait of Hormuz could soon be reopened, as the presidents of both countries were due at the UN General Assembly in New York.

4. Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa held out the possibility of peace with Israel in a speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, while sharply criticizing Israeli military activity in Syria and vowing that Damascus would not relinquish its claim to the Golan Heights.

5. Responding to Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa’s insistence that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory, Defense Minister Israel Katz says that the strategic plateau in the northeast is “an integral, eternal part of Israel,” and that the IDF will not withdraw from a buffer zone it has held in Syria since Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s ouster in 2024.

6. On Monday, the UK and France said they would provide defensive assistance to Saudi Arabia, which the Houthis have repeatedly struck during the renewed conflict.

7. US Invites Russian President Putin to December G20 Summit in Miami.

President Trump to Address UN General Assembly on Tuesday + UK RAF to Provide Air Refueling Support to Saudi Arabia + US Army Contracts Precision Strike Missile Inc 2 Sep 21, 2026

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For review:

1. President Trump to Address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

2. Houthi fighters were pushing to seize strategic heights in Yemen on Monday to cut off the Red Sea coast from remaining areas held by Saudi-backed forces, after a report that President Donald Trump had called off US strikes on the group at the last minute.

3. Prime Minister Andy Burnham says Britain has agreed to provide limited military support to Saudi Arabia to repel attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Burnham tells reporters as he flies to the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he has agreed that the Royal Air Force will provide air-to-air refueling of Saudi planes.

4. Iran’s central military command said in a statement on Sunday that it had received information that the United States, with the backing of some regional countries, was preparing to resume military actions against it, state media reported.

5. Russia has effectively "lost control" of its diesel production sector as a result of the war with Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 21, urging an end to the fighting.

6. Latvia’s government has approved the acquisition of Morana 155 mm self-propelled wheeled howitzers from Czech manufacturer Excalibur Army, reversing its earlier decision to pursue a deal with Sweden’s BAE Systems Bofors, the producer of the rival Archer artillery system.

7. The US plans to reopen a former Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up a military presence at an east coast base under an agreement to be signed by the US, Denmark and Greenland on Tuesday.

8. A Nevada Air Force Base was picked to house General Atomics’ FQ-42, a week after the U.S. Air Force dubbed the Collaborative Combat Aircraft as Vengeance.

On Friday, a new FQ-42 Vengeance aircraft was delivered to Creech Air Force Base.

9. Lockheed Martin was awarded $1.2 billion by the ground branch for work on the early operational capability munitions of PrSM Increment 2, a variant that integrates a new seeker capable of mobile targets.

President Trump Announces Security Agreement with Greenland & Denmark + Houthis Target Riyadh Airport with Missiles and Drones + Germany Receives First F-35 Fighter; Pilot Training Begins in Fall; First Warplanes to Arrive in Germany in late-2027 Sep 19, 2026

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For review:

1. Yemen’s Houthis said on Saturday that they launched strikes targeting “sensitive sites” in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and oil facilities in the kingdom’s port city of Yanbu.

2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not among the world leaders scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week, and it is unlikely the pair will have time in their itineraries to squeeze in a sit-down, a US official told The Times of Israel on Friday.

3. Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured by a Hezbollah explosive device in southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, prompting Israeli strikes on the terror group’s sites, the military said.

According to the IDF, an engineering vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah inside the military’s southern Lebanon buffer zone.

4. Denmark on Saturday hailed a “binding” deal announced by US President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese bases from the Arctic territory.

Denmark and Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — both hailed the agreement and said they would sign it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

5. German and US officials celebrated the rollout of Berlin’s first F-35 in a ceremony today, with both sides praising the moment as a sign of the close defense alignment between the two partners.

6. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says that Ankara and Washington were working on “creative ideas” to lift US sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems.

President Trump Weighs Decision on Further Iran Attacks + Report: Iranian Reconstruction on Parchin Complex; Activity at the Taleghan 2 Facility + US Representatives Meet With Houthis in Muscat Sep 17, 2026

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For review:

1. US officials met representatives of Yemen’s Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday, days after the Iran-backed militia seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in a sweeping offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces.

2. China has privately asked Tehran to help rein in Yemen’s Houthis after an appeal to Beijing by Saudi Arabia following the Iran-backed group’s military blitz in the past week, according to three Iranian sources familiar with the matter.

3. Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has turned to regional and Western allies for assistance as its standoff with Houthi rebels in Yemen drags on, two regional officials said Wednesday.

The regional officials said the Saudis have asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air-defense support to the region to help defend against missiles and drones fired by Houthis and other Iran-backed groups.

4. Democratic and Republican US senators asked President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday to declassify and release all information about a proposed agreement with Saudi Arabia on civil nuclear energy, including two classified “side letters” reached with Riyadh.

5. The US State Department has cleared the potential sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia, fulfilling a commitment of President Donald Trump despite security concerns over transferring the highly advanced stealth jet to the Gulf kingdom.

6. Iran is rapidly advancing the reconstruction of a nuclear facility that was previously bombed by Israel, according to satellite images cited in a report Thursday by the Institute for Science and International Security.

7. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was approaching a major decision on whether to resume large-scale attacks on Iran, as Washington weighs how to bring the months-long war to an end.

8. Fourteen Russian spy satellites flew above a US military base in Saudi Arabia in March, just days before a major Iranian strike during the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, according to CNN.

9. The US has approved visas for an Iranian delegation headed by its President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi to attend next week’s UN General Assembly in New York, an official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Thursday.

10. The Board of Peace will hold a briefing for representatives from dozens of countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week to update them on efforts to implement US President Donald Trump’s plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip.

11. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy says a Togo-flagged oil tanker was struck while attempting to make an “illegal passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media says.

President Trump Voices Support for Irish Unification + US CENTCOM Commander Hosts Middle East Military Chiefs in Germany; Discussed Opportunities for Security Cooperation + IDF Kills Rafah Brigade Commander in Gaza Strike Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland called Monday for the British government to "prepare for, plan and facilitate" constitutional change that could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom, with the remarks coming days after President Trump said he would "love to see" Irish reunification.

2. Apparent Houthi attacks early Tuesday morning triggered warnings in six Saudi cities, including Yanbu, the kingdom’s main Red Sea oil port, and Riyadh warned it would react “firmly” to the Iran-backed rebels’ ongoing missile and drone attacks.

3. The military chiefs of Israel, the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt held a meeting in Germany last week about the war with Iran and regional tensions, two Israeli officials told the Axios news site.

The private meeting at a secluded ski resort, organized by US CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper and confirmed by CENTCOM to Axios, was the first such gathering since the US and Israel launched their joint campaign against Iran in February, according to the report.

4. US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to sell to Israel a munitions package worth $2.8 billion, which will include tens of thousands of highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs, according to a US official familiar with the sale.

5. The IDF and Shin Bet confirm killing the commander of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip this evening.

6. Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced today that for the first time it is “integrating its SPICE 1000 air-to-surface munition on the F-35 fighter aircraft,” a move it sees as a “significant step” in allowing other F-35 users to use the munition.

SPICE stands for Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective and refers to a line of munitions meant to provide a stand-off strike capability of more than 75 miles (120km).

7. According to a CBO report, combat operations in Iran have cost the Defense Department around $38 billion as of August 1.

Report: Chinese Assets Assisted Iran With Target Information for Strike on US Base in Jordan + Report: US - Cuba Energy Deal Collapsed After Negotiations + Poland to Develop Starlink-Type Military Satellite System Sep 13, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Report: The Trump administration secretly explored an energy deal with Cuba earlier this year that would have provided US oil and investment to the island in exchange for major economic and political changes, according to media reports.

Miami Herald: "The deal with Cuba, while much smaller in its scale would have sent shockwaves throughout the Cuban government establishment, as it was also tied to a demand that the country's handpicked president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, seen as an incompetent figurehead by Trump administration officials, leave power."

2. Houthi fighters on Sunday said they used drones and missiles to attack a military base in southern Saudi Arabia.

The attack at the southern Sharurah base targeted “weapons depots and command and control centers that are managing the aggression against our nation and people,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X.

The date of the operation was not specified.

3. Chinese entities supplied Iran with high-quality satellite imagery of a US Air Force base in Jordan both before and after Tehran launched a deadly ballistic missile attack on the facility on July 17, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

4. Moscow is now striking targets indiscriminately across Ukraine in response to Kyiv's intensified attacks on Russian territory, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Sept. 13.

Peskov claimed Russia had previously avoided indiscriminate strikes but changed its approach after Ukraine began targeting Russian economic and strategic infrastructure.

5. Canada and Ukraine have signed a long-term defense agreement to jointly produce uncrewed technologies, counter-drone systems, and munitions.

During a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Calgary, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Thursday a series of deals to support the war-torn country as part of a “100-year partnership.”

6. Finnish space company ICEYE and Poland’s state-run defense giant PGZ have signed a letter of intent to jointly develop a military satellite communications system.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the project will pave the way for the launch of a Starlink-like system for the nation.

In a statement, PGZ said that the program is to be implemented from 2026 to 2030.

IDF Destroys Subterranean Complex Beneath Ali Taher Ridge + Houthis Seize Key Islands in Bab el-Mandeb Strait + IAEA Reports Construction Activity at Iran's Pickaxe Mountain Sep 11, 2026

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For review:

1. Using 1,100 tons of explosives, the Israeli military said on Thursday that it had demolished a “strategic” underground facility belonging to the Hezbollah terror group beneath a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon.

2. An airstrike late Thursday in the southern Gaza Strip killed the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, the Israeli military and the terror group said on Friday morning.

3. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis seized several strategic Red Sea islands on Friday after capturing territory along the coast, sealing their takeover of a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia.

4. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly called US President Trump twice Thursday and urged him to launch strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Axios outlet reported, citing two US officials.

5. The Saudi Foreign Ministry offers additional details on what led it to temporarily halt operations of its East-West oil pipeline, saying it was attacked by drones that originated from Iraq.

6. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed regional developments and recent attacks targeting Saudi Arabia in a call with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, a Turkish diplomatic source says.

Last month, NATO member Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement that includes a mutual defense clause similar to NATO’s Article 5.

7. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday that the agency has observed construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, which Western intelligence has flagged as a site likely used to store nuclear material.

8. US Vice President JD Vance reportedly sought direct insight from American generals on the war against Iran, seeking to bypass the Pentagon amid his skepticism of the extended military conflict.

US Destroys Five More Iranian Tankers + Iran Claims Capture of US Navy Underwater Drone + IDF to Create Fourth Branch: Unmanned Systems & Artificial Intelligence Branch Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. A group of eight Muslim-majority countries, including Israel’s ally the United Arab Emirates, praised the United Kingdom on Wednesday for announcing that it will impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and called on other countries to do the same.

2. Iran’s Guards said on Wednesday that a new “prohibited zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz would cover parts of the Gulf of Oman and beyond, adding that they would announce the exact coordinates later.

3. Iran Claims Capture of US Navy Underwater Drone.

4. The US military on Tuesday said it destroyed five oil tankers in Iran’s so-called shadow fleet following a pair of attempted Iranian ballistic missile attacks targeting an American warship the previous day.

5. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir announced on Tuesday that the military would soon inaugurate a new “unmanned systems and artificial intelligence” branch.

Currently, the Israel Defense Forces has three branches — the Ground Forces, Air Force, and Navy. The existing branches are each headed by a major general. A new fourth branch would be an unprecedented move for the military.

6. Presidnet Trump told Russian President Putin that a swift resolution to the Ukraine war could pave the way for the countries to fully restore trade and economic ties, according to a Kremlin readout of a call between the two leaders.

US Envoys Witkoff / Kushner Travel to Moscow & Kyiv + Iran to Announce a "Prohibited Zone" Outside the Strait of Hormuz + Sweden to Procure US-Made M142 HIMARS; Croatia to Procure S. Korean-made K239 Chunmoo Systems Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1, The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Sunday said Tehran plans to announce a “prohibited zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

2. The Israel Defense Forces struck Hezbollah terror group targets in Lebanon overnight Sunday-Monday, reportedly killing eleven people, after the Iranian proxy fired two explosive drones at troops, the army said.

The IDF said that no injuries were caused to troops in the Hezbollah attack, the third such incident in a week.

3. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes around the country, including the deadly bombardment of a prison, as the rebels pressed an offensive to seize territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

4. A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace said on Monday that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution “impossible.”

5. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan on Sunday issued a joint condemnation of remarks by Defense Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling for plans to facilitate the emigration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

6. Britain is set to announce wide-ranging economic restrictions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, including a ban on trade in goods produced in the settlements, reports said Monday, in what would mark a significant escalation in London’s pressure on Israel and possibly prompt similar measures by other countries.

7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following talks with Donald Trump's top envoys in Kyiv.

The discussions finished without an announcement of a major breakthrough, after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Ukraine for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion.

The previous day, the pair had held talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

8. Sweden to Procure US-Made M142 HIMARS; Croatia to Procure S. Korean-made K239 Chunmoo Systems.

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