Five days without a recorded violation ended with Russia refusing an extension it had already called a one-off, while its own spokesman treated the pause as a standard regrouping window for both armies. The next morning, 26 people died at an aid distribution point in Zaporizhzhia.
In Atlanta the secretary of state said Washington did not facilitate Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure. Hours later the president said the decision to let him in was his and that the senator can stay as long as he wants, while the Brazilian files describe an exfiltration assembled before the runoff.
Four Quad ministers in Atlanta recorded grave concern about economic coercion, arbitrary export restrictions and non-market policies that generate overcapacity, and left the country those words describe unnamed. In the same city on the same weekend, the G20 ended without a common declaration and without an official photograph, because European officials refused to stand beside Sergei Lavrov.
The United States suspended consular services in Brazil citing “security concerns” without describing the risk, and Australia closed its embassy soon after. Brazil’s Federal Police executed two searches and found nothing that confirmed the plan; the content of the threat surfaced in reporting on the intelligence that issued it.
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met on September 24, 2026, in the Oval Office and emerged with a two-month extension of the Busan trade truce, through January 10, 2027. Taiwan, artificial intelligence (AI) and the war against Iran remain unresolved — and the “strategic stability” Beijing formulated still amounts more to vocabulary than to a concrete deal.
31 Democratic lawmakers accuse Donald Trump of using tariffs, sanctions and visa restrictions to tilt Brazil’s Oct. 4, 2026, election toward Flávio Bolsonaro and demand that Marco Rubio sign a formal commitment to respect the vote by Oct. 1. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign says the game has already started on the platforms too.
The vote dominates the news, but what changes the ground happens far from the ballot boxes: demolitions, detentions, strikes in Lebanon and 255 buildings condemned in Gaza. Europe has found the sentence — it has not yet found the instrument.
Special forces were preparing to board a Chinese ship on the strength of a report a chatbot fabricated. The answer under negotiation between Washington and Beijing is a mechanism to warn before acting: a telephone rather than a rule about where AI may sit.
35 agreements, 410 million dollars promised and a federal court saying on Friday, 18 September 2026, that the policy is illegal. The American government built a removal architecture that pays governments and United Nations (UN) agencies, and the result so far is cost without policy.
Macron received Carney on a French archipelago next to Canada and spoke of Canadian gas for Europe. The association with the European Union comes through the door of article 217, and the instrument is trade, energy and critical minerals.
Why the Gulf prefers to deal with whoever decides alone — and what that does to multilateral diplomacy.
Commonwealth leaders meeting in Antigua said the UK has signed up to “structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith” talks addressing the “historical harms” of the transatlantic slave trade. The paragraph appears in the summit’s 18-page final communiqué, in which leaders “welcome the agreement of the Government of the United Kingdom” to join the dialogue. Prime Minister Andy Burnham opened the door to a formal apology on behalf of the UK, while ruling out direct reparations. The timeframe for the talks will be agreed at a later date, though Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has suggested they are likely to conclude in around a year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded US First Lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, First Class. The decree cited her “significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine” and active human rights and charitable work. Melania last month announced a localized truce between Ukrainian and Russian forces to allow residents of Oleshky, on the southern front, to leave, and said nearly 800 people were evacuated. Ukraine this week accused Russia of taking advantage of the truce to strengthen its military position there, while the Kremlin called adjusting positions during a ceasefire “standard practice” — according to the White House, Melania independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and secured the ceasefire.
A growing number of Iranian clerics and officials are pressing the country's leaders to reverse their pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons, according to The New York Times, in a report cited by The Jerusalem Post. Specialist Mohammad Ghaderi told the paper that advocating leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), once a minority view, has become the majority position in Tehran, and analyst Mohammad Ali Shabani said the religious taboo on the weapon is gone — “the question is whether a strategic or political shift will follow”. President Masoud Pezeshkian and former President Hassan Rouhani still back a peaceful nuclear doctrine, according to the paper.
United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu several months ago to end approximately US$ 4 billion in annual US military aid to Israel by December 2026 — according to Trump, Netanyahu proposed ending the aid. The current agreement guarantees Israel US$ 3.8 billion per year through fiscal year 2028, with implementation of the cut still undefined, and beyond 2028 the country would need about US$ 10 billion to pay for outstanding orders, according to a State Department document sent to Congress and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. El-Sayed said Trump is right on this policy and argued for ending sales of weaponry to Israel, in an interview with NPR.
Ethiopia expelled six staff members of Sudan's consulate in Assosa, a western city near the Sudanese border, and ordered the mission closed, according to officials from both countries. Sudan's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that drones used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the country's electricity infrastructure were supplied by the United Arab Emirates and launched from Ethiopia, and that it had filed formal complaints against Addis Ababa at the UN Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council. Sudan accuses Ethiopia of backing the RSF, while Addis Ababa accuses Khartoum of supporting rebels in Tigray; Ethiopia denies backing the RSF and Sudan denies backing the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Amjad Farid, political and foreign affairs adviser to Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, said the government remains committed to its right to defend its territory but is making every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia. Ethiopia withdrew three diplomats from its consulate in the eastern Sudanese city of El Gedaref, and reports suggested Sudanese authorities ordered the Ethiopian diplomats there to leave in retaliation; neither foreign ministry issued an official statement on the mutual expulsions, according to the Sudan Tribune. Sudan's civil war, which began in April 2023, has displaced more than 14 million people, according to UN figures, in a Reuters text republished by the Straits Times.
The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expired at midnight on Saturday, after the Security Council failed on Friday to agree on its future: a US draft was vetoed by Russia and a rival Russian text failed to win the nine votes needed. Secretary-General António Guterres said the departure of the mission “does not abrogate” the Sahrawi people's “inalienable right to self-determination”, in a statement delivered by his spokesperson. Russia vetoed the US draft despite support from 11 of the 15 Council members, including France and the United Kingdom; the US text would have extended the mission for a year, removed “referendum” from its name and made Morocco's autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks. When the mandate ended, the mission was headquartered in Laayoune, with nine team sites — four west of the sand wall and five east of it — and a liaison office in Tindouf, with about 200 civilian staff, military observers and staff officers from over 35 countries. Morocco's royal palace said that Rabat's “voluntary commitment” to the ceasefire would not change with the end of the mission, following a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI with the prime minister, a royal adviser and the army chief — according to Reuters, in a text republished by Yahoo News Malaysia. The same statement called the fact that the mission was not renewed a “significant development” that withdraws the issue from the Security Council's consideration. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told state media that Rabat's next step would be to remove Western Sahara from the UN's decolonization committee, saying Rabat had the support of two-thirds of UN member states.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine, the United States and Russia are preparing a trilateral format at the team level to take place in less than a week, after a detailed, hour-and-a-half-long conversation with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Witkoff said the United States would mediate the working-level talks, scheduled for November 10-11 in Abu Dhabi. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the talks may be held in Abu Dhabi around November 10. Zelensky said air defense remains a key priority and that Ukraine needs interceptors for Patriot systems.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded US first lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, first class, an honor for women who have made exceptional contributions in science, education, culture and charitable work, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Investing.com. The presidential decree, dated November 2, cited her “significant personal contribution” to humanitarian support for Ukraine and her work to help Ukrainian children, including those deported or forcibly moved from Russian-occupied territory. Ukrainian officials have said she played a pivotal role in organizing the six-day ceasefire to evacuate civilians from Oleshky, which concluded on Sunday, the longest local pause in fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Nearly 800 people were evacuated, Melania Trump said. Russian and Ukrainian delegations — made up of ombudsmen involved in the evacuation mission and senior officials — are due to meet at the White House on Thursday at her invitation. The White House said Melania Trump had “independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire.”
In the annual enlargement report presented on November 4, Ukraine remains in the leading group of ten candidates alongside Montenegro, Albania and Moldova, and the European Commission (EC) avoided giving a timeline. Under pressure from member states, which did not want to tie their hands with an accession calendar, the European executive scaled back its ambitions and presented only “indicative” roadmaps for the four countries closest to the European Union (EU). Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had announced in September that new dates would accompany the report, and resistance from capitals meant that did not happen. Ireland, which leads the negotiations on behalf of the EU, aims to close all chapters with Montenegro by December 15.
Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Madrid on his fifth visit to Spain, with air defense as his absolute priority, and is due to meet Pedro Sánchez and other leaders on Thursday on the sidelines of an Ibero-American summit. He announced that the death toll from the Russian attack on Komyshuvakha had risen to 40, with searches on the third day, and lamented that there are “very few reactions in the world”. The trip comes ahead of new talks on the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel said after meeting UN envoy María Ángela Holguín that the search for an agreement on the basis of a federation came to an end at Crans-Montana in 2017. He said UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ visit to Cyprus on July 27–29, 2026 had demonstrated the absence of common ground for launching formal negotiations, because there are two separate peoples and states on the island, and called on the international community, particularly the United Nations, to acknowledge the reality of two states.
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov said the Collective Security Council may consider invoking Article 25 of the organization’s charter against Armenia if a corresponding agenda is approved. The article provides that, if a member state fails to fulfill its obligations to repay its debt to the organization’s budget within two years, the Council shall adopt a resolution on retaining the right to propose that state’s citizens for quota positions and on depriving it of voting rights in the organization’s bodies until full repayment.
A meeting of technical delegations from the European Commission, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine and the World Bank in Brussels ended without practical results on a possible settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, according to a diplomatic source who spoke to TASS. In its final statement, the European Commission said participants had discussed “Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction and development.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the meeting was expected to extend into Thursday and that previous talks had focused only on what Ukraine should give away. The Brussels talks come ahead of a new round of US-brokered peace negotiations next week.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing is maintaining contact with the relevant parties regarding a meeting between the leaders of China, Russia and the United States. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is set to take place in Shenzhen on November 18-19. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the agenda of a possible meeting of the leaders in China is being coordinated with the Chinese and US sides: “It is being agreed upon now.” Peskov ruled out, for now, continuing the talks at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Miami: “No, this is out of the question yet.”
Ethiopia has ordered six Sudanese diplomatic staff members to leave the country within 48 hours, according to a senior Ethiopian official cited by Reuters, in a text republished by Addis Standard. The six were ordered to leave Sudan’s consulate in Assosa, the administrative center of the Benishangul-Gumuz region. The decision comes days after Sudan’s army-aligned government lodged complaints against Ethiopia with the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, accusing Addis Ababa of allowing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to use Ethiopian territory to launch drone attacks. Addis Ababa accuses Khartoum of backing Tigrayan rebels, and both sides deny the allegations against them. On October 1, Ethiopia had already closed its embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, ordering them to leave within 48 hours.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Riyadh on an official visit on Wednesday and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Al-Yamamah Palace, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Ministers and senior officials from both countries attended the meeting. It is al-Sharaa’s sixth visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office in January 2025. The talks addressed bilateral relations and ways to develop and strengthen cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
The European Commission said in its annual enlargement report that Ukraine remains committed to EU membership despite the challenges caused by Russia’s war of aggression and that Kyiv has opened four of the six negotiation clusters.
First Lady Melania Trump will bring representatives of Russia and Ukraine together at the White House, an event the White House described as an extraordinary moment in American history. Melania was praised for helping broker a localized ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia that lasted from 3 a.m. on October 27 until late on November 1, local time, in Oleshky, in the Kherson region. The first lady called the ceasefire a “success” and said “nearly 800 people” had been evacuated, but neither Ukraine nor Russia publicly confirmed exactly how many people left or where they relocated. Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, who is expected at the meeting, was sanctioned by the United States in 2022, making her ineligible to enter the country without a special waiver from the State Department. Separately, the Kremlin confirmed three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi from November 10 to 11, with Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow’s chief negotiator. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin hopes to finalize plans in the coming days for a meeting between the leaders of Russia, the United States and China.
A first convoy of Algerian soldiers was seen in northern Niger this weekend, a week after Algeria’s Parliament approved the deployment of troops to the neighboring country. According to RFI, about sixty Algerian tankers transporting fuel and secured by Algerian soldiers crossed the border with Niger, where they were welcomed by members of the Niger Armed Forces. Algeria’s Parliament approved the deployment on October 25, paving the way for the country’s first military mission abroad since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Reports diverge on the convoy’s destination: RFI mentions the city of Agadez, while the Soufan Center says the convoy reportedly reached Arlit on October 30. Algerian Senator Belkacem Boulghiti said the troops would protect economic infrastructure and oil facilities belonging to Algerian companies, and that Algeria is “not sending our soldiers to wage war in Niger.” Algeria’s national energy company Sonatrach, the Nigerien government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation are jointly developing a 4,000-km pipeline to carry Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria and onwards to Europe. Morocco is promoting a rival pipeline along an Atlantic route drawing on the same Nigerian gas reserves, and the United Arab Emirates has agreed to support the project financially and technically.
China's foreign ministry said that Beijing is in communication with the relevant parties about a summit between Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19. Spokesperson Mao Ning gave no details on the possible meeting, according to EFE, in a text republished by ABC Color. The Kremlin said on October 21 that the meeting was being prepared; according to the Financial Times, officials from the three countries had been holding serious talks for days about arranging the first trilateral meeting of the heads of state, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that work is under way on organizing it.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro that the bilateral relationship faces “malicious interference” by Filipino politicians and that Manila should be “cautious in words and deeds” on the South China Sea; Lazaro called the Tuesday-night call “frank and constructive,” with both sides defending diplomatic dialogue and managing differences on the basis of mutual respect, in a conversation that followed the Philippine defense secretary calling China a “troublemaker” and the Chinese ambassador in Manila replying that Beijing would not choose force — including, according to a Philippine official, a possible resumption of talks on joint oil and gas exploration in Reed Bank.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says, in a Reuters text republished by Investing.com, that two power stations in Ukraine’s regions of Kyiv and Zhytomyr were hit, in strikes that also targeted a cargo vessel at sea near Odesa and follow Tuesday’s missile and drone bombardments that knocked out power to swaths of Ukraine. US envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the US will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11 to discuss post-war security agreements, de-escalation and ending the war.
The Chinese Embassy in Papua New Guinea said that an object intercepted at a Port Moresby facility and reported as a suspected military artillery shell was in fact a shell-shaped wine bottle, citing information from the company involved and an on-site verification. The embassy said that smuggling an illegal military-grade artillery shell from China to Papua New Guinea was virtually impossible given China’s firearm control laws. China rejects the claim and says the object poses no danger, according to the South China Morning Post.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Donald Trump said he was optimistic that Ukraine-Russia peace talks were making ground, according to TASS, which carried the interview. According to the quote published by the agency, Trump said: “I think they’re both at the point of saying, ‘Let’s make a deal.’”
The United States-mediated peace talks are scheduled for November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi. According to Zelenskiy, Russia launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight against power plants and substations from Odesa to Rivne. Friedrich Merz said in Berlin that the talks are the right step and that Europe must take part in the process, urging Russia to engage in serious ceasefire negotiations and saying he has seen no sign of that so far. Moscow said it hit Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and in two other settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, with up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen killed.
Qatar says it is working toward an interim deal between the United States and Iran to prevent renewed fighting, as diplomats try to bridge differences between the two sides. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that both countries remained committed to negotiations and were reviewing proposals from mediators, including Qatar. Al-Ansari warned that further escalation could complicate negotiations, after fresh U.S. strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Tuesday.
The administration of Donald Trump is negotiating an agreement with Venezuela that would allow a long-term US military presence in the country, according to The New York Times, in a TASS report. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading efforts to conclude the military pact, a status of forces agreement (SOFA), and details on the long-term presence and the locations where troops will be stationed will be left to subsequent agreements. The newspaper does not say whether the United States intends to build and maintain its own bases in the country or to station troops at existing Venezuelan bases. An unnamed State Department official said Washington hopes to expand security cooperation with Venezuela and that no discussions regarding bases are currently taking place.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denied the FBI’s accusation that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in crypto assets from Binance and said she sees “no need” for dialogue with Washington. In a statement published by the official KCNA on Wednesday, the ruling-party director said the accusation showed “US hostile policy” toward North Korea. The rejection comes amid speculation about a possible summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un later this month. Trump said in August that he wanted to meet the North Korean leader later this year, and Pyongyang had not responded to the offer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hopes the upcoming US-mediated talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi will lead to a three-way meeting of leaders that includes Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks are scheduled for November 10-11, and, according to the Northeast Times, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Russia has yet to engage seriously.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that President Donald Trump has not made a decision on resuming military action against Iran, and said Trump wants to solve the Iran war “peacefully”.
Israeli opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot said on Tuesday that the phaseout of US aid announced by US President Donald Trump shows that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be replaced. For him, the fact that Israel’s defense establishment is learning of a shift in the strategic relationship through the media, at the same time as the Israeli public, shows “how dangerous Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct is” and that he “can no longer be trusted”.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone call with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, made at her request, that relations between the two countries are facing “malicious interference”. Wang said a “handful” of Philippine politicians have attacked and smeared China out of political bias and self-interest and have crossed Beijing’s “red lines”. Lazaro said the Philippines attaches great importance to its relations with China, remains committed to the one-China policy and is willing to handle maritime issues through dialogue and consultation.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Shatrujeet Kapur said Indian and Chinese troops confronted each other at several locations along the de facto border in Arunachal Pradesh and that the standoff continues, in remarks to reporters last month. “In the past few days, a situation arose where a face-off happened” with Chinese troops at various locations in Arunachal, he said. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu acknowledged the transgressions but downplayed the episode, saying such incidents were not new and the situation along the border was normal. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal attributed the incidents to Chinese actions.
UK funding for the Commonwealth nations that previously had bilateral aid programs will be cut from £546m in 2024-25 to £131m in 2028-29. Of that total, £68m will go to Nigeria, leaving £63m for other countries. Sierra Leone will see its aid cut from nearly £30m to £5m, Rwanda from nearly £30m to £5m and Tanzania from £60m in 2025-26 to £5m in 2028-29. At least 26 Commonwealth countries have been prevented from receiving funds under the longstanding Darwin funding stream, worth about £40m a year for nature projects.
A Russian delegation will travel to Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 for trilateral talks with Ukraine and the United States (US), Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed: “Yes, I can confirm that date.” Negotiator Vladimir Medinsky will again lead the delegation, as in the previous round, interrupted after the conflict between Iran, on one side, and the US and Israel, on the other. It will be the first trilateral meeting since February. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had seen no sign that Russia wanted to negotiate seriously: “I have not seen any sign of that so far.” Merz also promised more aid and help with energy supplies for Ukraine going into winter and said Russia risked further escalation and a global food crisis through attacks in the Black Sea, according to Reuters, in a text republished by StreetInsider. Zelensky defended a ceasefire in the Black Sea, where attacks have intensified in recent months.
At the opening of the Commonwealth summit, King Charles III called the transatlantic slave trade “a monstrous injustice”. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is holding talks with leaders of the bloc about a formal apology but ruled out paying the financial reparations demanded by some Caribbean countries, saying over the weekend that he was open to saying sorry. Britain will allocate £40 million for Caribbean infrastructure and is pursuing a debt relief plan for the poorest Commonwealth countries.
Oman and China signed a currency swap agreement between the two countries’ central banks, along with 23 investment and strategic partnership deals and 14 cooperation documents, in Beijing during Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s state visit. The yuan–rial swap was set at 30 billion yuan (1.5 billion Omani rials), with a five-year term, in a ceremony witnessed by the leaders of both countries. Xi Jinping told the sultan that the Gulf region, in the Middle East, should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, which said special envoy Zhai Jun would visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia this month.
No official English text of the Iranian seven-condition plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has been published: the circulating list is reconstructed from statements by officials, according to the Tehran Times, based on remarks by Araghchi, Qalibaf, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei and Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. In that reconstruction, the conditions include a full ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, an end to the naval blockade, a license to export oil, the release of at least $12 billion in frozen assets, cancellation of post-June unilateral sanctions, an end to strikes and acceptance of the Iran-Oman safe navigation route.
Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi formally accepted the credentials of ambassador Michael Lotem at a ceremony in Hargeisa, the territory’s capital, where officials also laid the cornerstone for an Israeli embassy. Israel is the only state in the world to have recognized Somaliland, which also enjoys substantial economic ties to the United Arab Emirates. The mutual recognition between the two countries was signed on December 26, 2025. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the appointment of ambassadors is another important step in deepening the ties between the two countries. Abdullahi said during the ceremony that it was the first time a Somaliland president had received the credentials of an ambassador from a UN member state recognizing its independence.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, ruled out telephone talks with Russia, saying Moscow would use the conversation as a pretext to avoid further meetings; he spoke at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. In the German capital, Zelensky ruled out inviting Vladimir Putin to Kyiv and said no Ukrainian intends to go to Moscow. The president confirmed that Ukrainian, Russian and US officials will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, and that Kyiv wants a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, safe passage for grain shipments through the Black Sea and further prisoner exchanges. Merz said he does not see Russia seriously engaging in ceasefire negotiations and that Europe needs a voice on sanctions and post-war security.
The European Commission said representatives from Ukraine, the United States (US), France, Germany, Britain, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the World Bank will meet in Brussels on Wednesday, on the eve of the resumption of US-mediated talks, according to spokesperson Paula Pinho. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington will also mediate working-level talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a Russian delegation will travel to the United Arab Emirates and that presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead the team. Peskov ruled out the European Union joining the Abu Dhabi talks because the agreed format is trilateral, between Russia and Ukraine with US mediation.
The office of US first lady Melania Trump announced that she will convene Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday and deliver remarks about the temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine’s Kherson region, which she helped negotiate. The White House credited Melania Trump with independently initiating discussions between the two countries and securing the localized truce, which allowed humanitarian aid to reach civilians and residents to evacuate. The announcement did not specify who will attend the meeting or provide details about the agenda.
The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Ali Abdollahi, presented a plan with five conditions for lasting security, including an end to hostilities on all fronts, the complete lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian assets and the payment of war reparations, according to the Tasnim news agency. The plan also calls for recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and a guarantee against future aggression under a regional security framework for West Asia. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said a Qatari delegation met Iranian officials in Tehran for more than three hours on Monday and that both sides are now reviewing Qatar’s proposal. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it downed two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm and destroyed an MQ-9 east of the strait, while the Revolutionary Guard navy told Brasil de Fato that the two MQM-170s were captured intact by electronic warfare without being destroyed. Iran’s Parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran’s military response to any miscalculation by the enemy will be unpredictable.
China has pledged to work with Pakistan to advance “high-level security cooperation” and ensure the security of the two countries’ joint infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), according to the South China Morning Post. The messages were conveyed by Liu Haixing, head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, in separate meetings with Pakistan’s top military leader Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday, on his first official visit to the country since taking office just over a year ago. In his meeting with Munir, Liu said Beijing stands ready to deepen exchanges with Islamabad and pursue the “2.0” version of the corridor, according to a statement from the department released on Monday.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country remains in a “state of war”, with its forces mobilized and prepared for any scenario, in remarks to the Tasnim agency carried by Opera Mundi. According to him, Iran neither started nor sought the war, but will respond firmly to any new aggression. Tehran demands an end to the US naval blockade of its ports, the suspension of new economic sanctions and guarantees for selling its oil before fully restoring circulation in the Hormuz region, with the measures implemented within 48 hours, according to the same source. According to Russian agency Sputnik, the United States has no intention of escalating attacks on Iran after the strike on Qeshm Island, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. A US official cited by Reuters said the Qeshm operation was defensive in nature and hit anti-aircraft missile systems used against US forces. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that Iran’s military and strategic response to any miscalculation by the enemy would be unpredictable.
An Iranian military spokesperson warned that any renewed attack by the United States (US) will be met with a harder and broader response than Tehran's past retaliations. According to him, a new war would not remain limited to West Asia, and US facilities, equipment, personnel and interests in any location within Iran's reach could become targets. On the diplomatic track, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said that efforts to bring the US and Iran closer are ongoing and that both countries are studying proposals.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan drew up a cooperation blueprint in Seoul covering areas from nuclear energy, the defense industry and infrastructure to advanced technologies, biotechnology and energy. “Today, our two countries drew up a blueprint for mutual prosperity across diverse areas,” Lee said. Erdogan called the bilateral relationship a “blood alliance,” recalling Turkey's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War. The two countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations in 2027.
Lebanon's Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar, who was appointed by Hezbollah, visited Syria on Monday with three other Lebanese ministers, the first time a member of the group has been formally welcomed in Damascus since the fall of the Assad regime. The delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, discussed refugee returns, border security, education and bilateral cooperation. Haidar said the trip is ministerial work with no partisan link.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Financial Times that “work is under way” on organizing a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for Shenzhen, China, on November 18-19. China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was “in communication with relevant parties” about a possible meeting between the Chinese and Russian heads of state, but omitted any mention of Trump. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said there is no final decision or confirmation yet on the trilateral meeting.
The United States will mediate technical-level talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, special envoy Steve Witkoff announced. According to Witkoff, discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace. The US delegation is expected to include Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to Reuters. The Kremlin said presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky will remain Russia’s chief negotiator in the new round, according to Sputnik.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that Iran delivered a “firm and rational” response to the US, that Washington must decide whether to prevent another war and that a new American strategic mistake would open a new battlefield, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the revised seven-stage diplomatic proposal could be fully implemented within two days, conditioning security in the Strait of Hormuz on an end to the American naval blockade and measures such as sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets — according to Sputnik, Iran’s Armed Forces are at the highest level of defensive readiness.
Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia are ongoing, with the aim of reaching new regional security arrangements without foreign military involvement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday in a post on X. Araqchi also said Iran harbors no hostility toward the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Devdiscourse.
Iran conditions the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the end of the US naval blockade and on meeting Tehran's demands. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot reopen unless the blockade ends and Iran's demands are met”, an Iranian spokesperson said, according to Brasil 247.
The UN General Assembly's First Committee approved on Monday, November 2, by 180 votes in favor, two against and no abstentions, a draft resolution on conventional arms control at the regional and subregional levels. India and Israel were the only countries to vote against the text in the 193-member body. An Indian representative argued that “this assumes that the security concerns of States politely stop at their regional borders. They do not”.
US Vice President JD Vance said Washington had held a number of good conversations with the Iranians and that he and Donald Trump felt optimistic about a negotiated settlement, with some progress already made and more work ahead.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang received Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tarik during a two-day state visit that began on November 1, the first by an Omani head of state to China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1978. Li said China wants to deepen cooperation across the entire oil and gas industry chain and carry out more high-quality clean energy projects.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco in Washington on Monday to discuss the country’s political future, nearly a year after US forces seized former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. The State Department reaffirmed Donald Trump’s three-phase plan for Venezuela — stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition.
US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to represent the US in talks with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11, 2026, according to a US official cited by Reuters, while American negotiators meet this week in Brussels with France, Germany, the UK, the EU and NATO to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe's future security framework and economic support for Ukraine's reconstruction.
Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday that contacts with the US on ending the eight-month war are continuing, after days of talks with Qatari mediators ended with altered proposals but no breakthrough, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Investing.com, adding that the basis of the dialogue remains Iran's seven-step proposal, now condensed for implementation within two days.
US Vice President JD Vance said Washington has made progress in talks with Iran and that he and President Donald Trump feel optimistic about a negotiated settlement. Asked whether Iran had been given a deadline before strikes resume, he said: “No, we haven’t set deadlines.” Vance tied a deal to a firm and verifiable commitment that Iran does not rebuild its nuclear program. Trump said Iran wants a settlement as soon as possible and that it could happen.
The United States, Russia and Ukraine will hold peace talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11, 2026, according to Axios. Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps toward peace. Kushner and Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation. Lower-level U.S. officials will meet this week in Brussels with representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States is not going to attack Iran after the midterms, one day ahead of the election. Asked by a reporter in Washington whether he was considering striking the country again, he answered “no” and said that “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!”
The Caribbean Community (Caricom) reaffirmed at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda, which opened on Sunday, its demand that the United Kingdom take institutional responsibility for slavery and pay compensation. Saint Lucia’s prime minister and Caricom’s chair pro tempore, Philip J. Pierre, said in a statement that moral reparations and economic compensation cannot be left out of the negotiations or replaced by a symbolic apology, and Buckingham Palace said King Charles III will not apologize on behalf of the country.
Qatari mediators and Iranian officials held two rounds of talks last week, and diplomatic efforts have made progress toward a framework in which Iran would cease its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in return for the United States lifting its blockade on Iran's ports, according to two officials. On Sunday, Iranian negotiators were in Doha for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at reaching a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to an official briefed on the discussions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio received Venezuela's foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, in Washington on Monday in the first meeting between the two countries' top diplomats since the US military attack on the South American country on January 3. The meeting took place two weeks after Venezuelan authorities and the opposition agreed on a blueprint to reform the country's electoral process that would allow free and fair elections at some point in 2027, and the Trump administration has stepped up pressure on the interim government and opposition groups to move quickly on election preparations.
The UK is open to a formal apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade but rejects reparations. In a Guardian article ahead of a Commonwealth leaders’ summit where the subject is expected to dominate, Andy Burnham went further than any previous prime minister toward offering a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, but rejected demands from Caribbean countries and campaigners for financial reparations, maintaining the position of successive governments that British people today cannot be held liable for the past.
Oil prices plunged nearly 7% on Monday after Washington and Tehran both signaled they would give diplomacy a chance. Brent traded at $105.60 per barrel, down $7.85, and WTI fell $7.20 to $96.92. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the Supreme Leader had granted the government “certain authorities” over the peace talks and that Tehran “will try to resolve the problem with dialogue,” state media reported.
China will send its Middle East envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia later this month for shuttle diplomacy visits aimed at promoting peace talks and easing tensions, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. The announcement followed separate meetings in Beijing between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and between Wang Yi and Saudi national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council head, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Iranian state media reported. Both sides stressed the importance of continuing strategic cooperation in accordance with the roadmap outlined by the two countries' leaders.
Iran says, according to Sputnik, that it is not discussing the removal of its highly enriched uranium to third countries. A reported preliminary draft calls for transferring the country’s enriched uranium stockpile to an agreed third country or lowering its enrichment level, with China potentially acting as guarantor.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has ended its operations after its mandate expired at midnight on Saturday, and a liquidation period began on Sunday, November 1. Secretary-General António Guterres said the mission’s departure “does not abrogate” the people of the territory’s “inalienable right to self-determination” and that the UN continues to seek a political solution through his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura. He recognized MINURSO’s central role since 1991 and paid tribute to the 20 mission personnel who died during its 35 years in the territory. Meanwhile, Sahrawi refugees cling to hopes of return.
Israel’s first ambassador to Somaliland presented his credentials to the president of the breakaway territory, who formally accepted them at a ceremony in Hargeisa, where officials also laid the cornerstone for an Israeli embassy.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that all parties in the West Asia conflict should focus on political solutions rather than resorting to arms and that China supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty and security, according to The Hindu.
In a joint statement, Beijing and Muscat urged the United States and Iran to resume dialogue and reach a “comprehensive agreement that includes the nuclear issue”. China's Foreign Ministry said the country's special envoy for Middle East affairs will visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia this month, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Mehr News.
US President Donald Trump is weighing blaming his defense and military chiefs for the handling of the war on Iran, according to a Sunday report by The Atlantic, in a text republished by the Times of Israel, while considering resuming attacks after Tuesday’s midterm elections. In a conversation described by sources as tough and direct, Netanyahu pushed Trump to restart the campaign, while Trump wanted to allow more time for negotiations, according to Axios, in a text republished by the Times of Israel.
Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday after three consecutive days of consultations with Qatari mediators on a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Arab News. An official briefed on the talks told the agency on Monday that the departure was not due to difficulties in the discussions. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it is weighing a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the US meets its conditions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Ashgabat on Monday to meet with high-ranking officials of Turkmenistan, according to Mehr News.
The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, said that pressure and attempts to discredit his country's cooperation with Russia will not change its course, in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS. According to him, the course is based on real security and development needs, not on momentary considerations.
The US backs a rapid resumption of Russian natural gas exports to Europe via pipelines crossing Ukraine, as part of talks aimed at securing an energy ceasefire before winter, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Arab News. The idea, raised by envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff during trips to Moscow and Kyiv in September, would involve selling Russian gas via a US intermediary to circumvent European sanctions, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump prefers to resolve the war with Iran diplomatically, without resorting to military force, amid reports that both sides are preparing for new strikes after the midterm elections. In parallel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump for new strikes against Iran after the elections, while Trump seeks a deal to restart negotiations with Tehran and keeps preparations underway for a possible return to major combat operations, according to the Times of India, citing Axios.
A diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue that the country hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the US, according to Middle East Eye.
In a new turn in the standoff between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian Army said that any new war with the United States could last longer than the previous conflict, according to Arab News. Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said the American president would not dictate the timing or the conditions of its end, and a Revolutionary Guard spokesperson said that in a conflict with the United States there are no geographical limitations for inflicting damage upon the enemy, according to Iranian state television in a France 24 piece. In the same piece, Donald Trump said one or two sites still remained to be hit in Iran and that it would take 10 minutes, according to the same outlet.
United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after a meeting with Group of Twenty (G20) foreign ministers in Atlanta that President Donald Trump remains open to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but no meeting has been scheduled. North Korea denounced the combined South Korea–US Iron Mace exercise, which integrates South Korean conventional and US nuclear capabilities. The exercise was a tabletop simulation at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters in Seoul, from September 29 to October 2, to deter North Korean threats. Pyongyang said its nuclear deterrence will grow stronger at an ever faster pace.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the risk of an escalation of hostilities in Western Sahara after the end of a 35-year peacekeeping mission, Al Jazeera reported. The departure of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “does not abrogate” the people’s “inalienable right to self-determination”, the UN said. At the Security Council, Russia vetoed the resolution despite support from 11 of the 15 members, including permanent members France and the United Kingdom.
Gulf leaders met in Qatar in an effort to stave off a new escalation in the US-Iran war, according to NPR. Qatar has led intense mediation over the past 72 hours to prevent a new round of possible US attacks on Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections, and the uncertainty has the entire Gulf region on edge.
US President Donald Trump is prioritizing diplomatic engagement with Tehran despite pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch military strikes immediately after Tuesday's US midterm elections, according to Axios, in an article published by TRT World.
Lawmaker Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran's parliament will unanimously vote to reconsider the country's continued membership in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) if asked, and that the decision rests with the Commander-in-Chief, the Leader. Mottaki, a former foreign minister, spoke to national TV on Sunday night.
Iran says it could revise its nuclear doctrine but insists that no official decision has been taken. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that “so far, no official decision has been taken by the government or the Supreme National Security Council to change the nuclear doctrine”, according to Opera Mundi. Rezaei also confirmed that a new message, relayed by US intermediaries, reached Iran's Foreign Ministry, with a tone different from that of previous communications. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he hoped Washington would choose “diplomacy over other paths” and that Iran was ready for both defense and diplomacy, according to the Hindustan Times. The indirect talks are mediated by Qatar and Pakistan and cover Iran's nuclear program, sanctions imposed by Washington and the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
British officials initially insisted that discussions of reparations for slavery should not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Antigua and Barbuda, according to the Guardian. Currently, slavery reparations are not on the official agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) summit, which begins on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Saturday about when and whether to ramp up combat operations against Iran, US media reported. Netanyahu pressed the president to launch strikes on Iran immediately after the US midterm elections, while Trump was eager to let negotiations play out. An Israeli source described the call as “tough” and an American source called it “direct,” according to Axios. Al Arabiya confirmed the Axios report on the call and the split between striking and negotiating. On Saturday, October 31, 2026, Trump told reporters that negotiations with Iran to end the war were “going fine” and that there were still one or two targets to “take care” of.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry designated MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, as a hostile group and the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF) as terrorist organizations, as a reciprocal measure against the British, according to the Tehran Times. The ministry said the decision was adopted in response to British actions over the past year, including the country’s involvement in the US-Israeli war against Iran through the provision of military bases, facilities and logistical support.
Pope Leo XIV said he hopes the humanitarian mission in Alyoshki will be followed by other peace initiatives and will strengthen dialogue between the sides, according to the Russian state agency TASS. Evacuees from the city, in the Kherson Region, were accommodated at a health resort in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region, the agency reported.
The United Arab Emirates is hoping for a “breakthrough” that could end the conflict with Iran, its Al-Ain outlet reported, according to the Jerusalem Post. In the same report, Gargash said that “the security of the Gulf states is interconnected and what affects any of them affects the UAE”, and that “trust with Iran has been shaken”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday in Atlanta that the Trump administration did not facilitate Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure from Brazil to the United States. Rubio said the government had word that Bolsonaro had arrived in the country, that he had previously held a visa and that the president decided to allow him to enter, adding that Washington was not “involved directly in any of the moves that were made.”
Iranian negotiators were in Doha on Sunday for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators, Reuters reported, according to Mehr News. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed in an interview the previous night that his assistant had been sent to Doha for the talks, according to Mehr News. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday, October 31, 2026, that Trump has not decided whether to launch new strikes against Iran, but would prefer to resolve the conflict diplomatically, according to The Hindu.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Russian President Vladimir Putin would take a call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said the Russian leader has never refused to talk, according to G1.
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera told TASS in an interview that relations with Russia are based on the principle of full partnership in security, the economy, and personnel training.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said the first rounds of talks on Ukraine should take place in a trilateral format involving the US, Russia and Ukraine. According to him, European representatives may also be at the table, but the process must begin in the trilateral format, given working-level contacts with the Americans. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Europeans must be at the table, but not with their current approach, which he said demands Russia’s defeat and rules out dialogue. Ushakov also said Putin would take a call from Zelensky and has never refused to talk, according to Interfax, in a G1 report.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described US Vice President JD Vance’s letter on resuming talks as a “positive step,” in comments to Al Jazeera on Friday, according to the Jerusalem Post. Iran has no plans to meet with US officials, he said, calling reports of such a meeting “merely media speculation”. Araghchi’s listed conditions include lifting the sanctions imposed following the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing all frozen Iranian funds.
Turkey moved Abdullah Ocalan to a newly built part of the Imrali island prison where he has been incarcerated since 1999, according to senior Kurdish official Mithat Sancar, in an Associated Press (AP) text republished by WRAL. Improving prison conditions for Ocalan, who heads the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been a key Kurdish demand in the push to end the 42-year conflict between the group and Turkish authorities. Sancar, a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, called for the peace process to be sped up and said it had been on “a pause” for the last two months.
Pakistan warned Afghanistan that it reserves the right to take all necessary measures to eliminate cross-border terror threats and said terrorism is a “red line”. Pakistan’s information ministry accused the Afghan Taliban of a “persistent refusal to address terrorism” and warned Kabul that it reserves the right to take “all necessary measures” to eliminate threats to its security “wherever they originate”, according to The Hindu and Independent Pakistan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump’s administration did not help Brazil’s defeated presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro flee to the United States after he lost a run-off to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. “We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio told reporters on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, where diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies were gathered. Trump said Bolsonaro “got treated very shabbily, very shabbily” and “can stay here as long as he wants”, speaking to reporters at his Florida residence on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within two days if Washington agrees to a set of conditions, including formal recognition of the new shipping route designated by Iran and Oman in the strait. In an interview with Al Jazeera, according to Middle East Eye, Araghchi also cited lifting the sanctions the United States imposed on Iran after the collapse of the Islamabad memorandum in July, reducing the US military presence in the region, reinstating the oil waivers granted in June as part of the memorandum and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar.
Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday that it had designated the UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as “terrorist organizations”, according to the Hindustan Times, which cited Iran International. The ministry also classified MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, as a “hostile group”. The statement characterized the move as a reciprocal step to Washington’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
The foreign ministers of the US and Iran said that a diplomatic end to the war is still possible, with no direct US-Iran talks planned. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would decide whether talks are direct or indirect only after Washington accepted its conditions. The statements came after more than 12 hours of discussions between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran on Friday, according to Reuters, in a text republished by CGTN.
A two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) ended in Atlanta on Saturday without a joint communique, CGTN reported, as participants failed to reach consensus on major geopolitical and economic issues. Chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the meeting addressed geopolitical tensions, energy security and supply chains. Participants remained divided over the Ukraine crisis, the US-Iran conflict and US tariffs.
The United Nations Security Council did not adopt a resolution extending the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), whose mandate expires on October 31, 2026. A draft tabled by the United States received 11 votes in favor, 1 veto from Russia and 3 abstentions, according to the United Nations. The US draft would also have rebranded the force from MINURSO to MINUSO, dropping the R that stands for a referendum on the territory’s self-determination, according to Deutsche Welle.
Foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) voiced “grave concerns” over the use of trade restrictions and other measures they view as economically coercive, without naming the country, and committed to providing over $85 million in technical and financial assistance to improve access to trusted artificial intelligence across the Indo-Pacific, according to Kyodo News. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group was not “an anti-China or anti-anybody coalition” and that the joint statement addressed behaviors and activities that, he said, were “coming repetitively from one country”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that he spoke on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) talks in Atlanta with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the possibility of Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin interacting at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. “We didn’t have a meeting. We spoke,” Rubio said at a press conference after the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. The conversation dealt “just briefly” with the opportunity for the leaders of the two countries to interact at APEC, according to TASS. Le Monde’s live coverage noted that Trump and Putin could meet in mid-November, according to the top US diplomat.
US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, after discussing with military commanders options for restarting major combat operations, according to The Wall Street Journal, in a Jerusalem Post report. In Atlanta, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran, amid stalled peace talks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz include lifting the sanctions imposed after the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar. Araghchi said talks are under way with Qatari mediators on a plan to reopen the Strait within two days if the United States meets those conditions, according to Al Jazeera.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Russia and Ukraine to stop targeting civilian ships in the Black Sea and agreed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to work on a new grain corridor through the sea, according to Al Jazeera. The two spoke at a joint news conference in Istanbul on Saturday. “It is clear that attacks against civilian vessels and actions that further escalate tensions in the Black Sea serve no one’s interests,” Erdogan said. He added that the attacks are unacceptable “regardless of who carries them out or what justification is offered.”
Russia’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, said in an interview with the TASS news agency that Denmark is mobilizing resources and working to undermine Russia’s positions in the post-Soviet space and in Global South countries.
Iranian negotiators met in Doha on Saturday with Qatari mediators to discuss paths out of the war in the Gulf, according to Reuters, which cited a source briefed on the negotiations. The meeting comes as diplomats try to avert new fighting after this week’s US midterm elections.
Ambassador Celso Amorim, international adviser to the president of Brazil, told UOL that Brazil and Argentina are experiencing the worst moment in the history of their relations and that Javier Milei’s government “broke the minimum protocol for diplomatic relations”. In the interview with UOL, Amorim said there would be no “shouting match” with Milei and that the downgrading of Brazil’s diplomatic representation in Buenos Aires, and vice versa, should not be reversed in the short term. “Look, it is all unprecedented and terrible. It is the worst moment in the Argentina-Brazil relationship, but not because of us. We did not commit any aggression against Argentina,” he said.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Saturday at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that discussions are under way to evaluate Syria’s entry into the Mecca alliance, according to Al Jazeera. The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan in the Saudi city of Mecca in August and states that an attack on one country is to be considered an attack on all three. Arab News also heard from the Syrian foreign minister that Damascus was considering whether to join the defense alliance binding Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said he has studied the US vice president's letter and has not yet replied to it. According to him, no serious decision has been made about a change in the country's nuclear doctrine, though the debate continues, Mehr News, Iran's state media, reported.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb defended the phone call he and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre made to Vladimir Putin this week, after criticism from some anti-Moscow hawks in Europe, according to RT. Stubb said it was important to hear firsthand the Russian leader's view of the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and described the direct exchange of opinions as a turning point. According to him, the channel was reopened at Kyiv's request, with messages from Zelensky relayed to Putin.
G20 foreign ministers ended two days of talks in Atlanta without consensus on key issues, including Russia's war against Ukraine, and without a joint communiqué, according to the South China Morning Post. The group relied on a chairman's statement summarizing the discussions and listing priorities such as energy, food security and freedom of navigation, released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meetings closed. Rubio said he would not pretend that countries were close to universally accepted solutions to these problems, but that some governments are working together on supply chains and critical minerals.
Iran’s Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei told state media on Saturday that the country is debating whether to maintain its longstanding ban on nuclear weapons if hostilities resume, and that no decision has been taken on any change, according to Middle East Eye. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has no plans to hold talks with US officials and dismissed reports suggesting otherwise as unfounded. Araghchi also said Iran had carefully examined a message sent by US Vice President JD Vance to senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei, and that the matter remains under review by the relevant authorities, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke briefly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Atlanta about the possibility of the two countries’ leaders meeting on the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) next month, according to TASS. “We spoke just briefly about the opportunity for our leaders to potentially interact at APEC next month,” Rubio said at a press conference following the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. He said there was no meeting, only a conversation.
National Citizen Party (NCP) convener Nahid Islam accused Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government at a rally in Dhaka of seeking to facilitate an Indian transit corridor through the country and threatened fresh protests if the Ganges water-sharing agreement is not renewed on terms that protect Bangladesh’s share, according to The Hindu, citing the newspapers Prothom Alo and bdnews24. Signed on December 12, 1996, the 30-year treaty expires on December 12 and governs the sharing of the Ganges waters at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal during the lean season, from January to May.
The traditional family photo opening the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting was canceled in the US after countries including Australia and the UK refused to appear beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Guardian. About one-third of the countries signaled they would not appear beside Russian representatives, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug on the photo. “In no case will there be a family photo with European partners and Mr Lavrov together because there is no normality with Russia,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday in Atlanta, at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, that President Donald Trump has not decided whether to strike Iran. “He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement to make in that regard today, nor do we take any of it lightly,” he told reporters.
Iranian legislator Mahmoud Nabavian called on Saturday for Iran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to change its nuclear doctrine, according to Al Jazeera, adding to similar demands from other lawmakers and public figures. Lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said 10 proposals to withdraw from the treaty had been registered in parliament and that withdrawal was under consideration, according to the Fars news agency.
Top diplomats from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) met in Atlanta on Saturday to finalize preparations for next month’s summit in the Philippines, the first in two years, according to the South China Morning Post. Without naming China, the ministers expressed “grave concerns” about overcapacity disrupting global supply chains in critical industries.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered commanders to update the country’s target list to include “all types of tangible and intangible assets belonging to the American-Zionist enemy”, according to France 24. At the meeting with top military commanders, he said that “any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a G20 press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, that Trump has not yet decided on new attacks: “We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn’t made a decision. I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “currently, there are no plans for meetings with American officials.”
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described a US effort to open dialogue with Tehran as “a positive step” in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday. He said that, in high-level meetings, Iran had studied a letter sent by US Vice President JD Vance, and that Tehran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain clear, with mediators continuing consultations on them. Iran has no plans for direct meetings with US officials, according to TASS.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that Tehran agreed to shorten to two days the timeframe for implementing its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. He said Iran demands recognition of the shipping route it discussed with Oman and the closure of the others. An Iranian delegation arrived in Qatar to discuss mediators’ proposals on the nuclear program, and the minister said there are no plans for a meeting with US officials for now.
Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less reliable partner, in his first significant political intervention since leaving office. According to the Evening Standard, he said the change is permanent and not an aberration of the Trump presidency, and that things will not go back to the way they were before.
Syria’s Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, said on Saturday that Damascus is weighing whether to join the Makkah defense pact, which binds Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, according to Dawn; TRT World also reported his remarks. At the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, he said: “Discussions are currently underway to evaluate Syria’s entry into the Makkah alliance.” The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, signed on Aug. 7, empowers the three members to consider an armed attack on one of them an attack on all.
Turkey has officially nominated a former foreign minister and yearslong ambassador to the UN for the next UN secretary-general, state-run media reported, AP said on Saturday. Broadcaster NTV identified the nominee as Feridun Sinirlioglu, the current secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is “open” to the possibility of the UK formally apologizing for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, but has ruled out financial reparations, the BBC reported. In a Guardian piece, he writes that listening to calls for a formal apology on behalf of the British state will form an important part of the process and that he does not see financial reparations as the right answer.
The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) completes its two-year mandate on October 31, after more than three decades of UN political missions in the country, UN News reported. The closure ends three decades of political engagement, Al Jazeera reported.
Hundreds of residents of Oleshky, a city occupied by Russia, were evacuated after a humanitarian ceasefire mediated by US First Lady Melania Trump, and planes carrying evacuees landed in Gomel, in Belarus, on Saturday morning, according to Russian and Ukrainian authorities cited by the BBC. The local ceasefire began on Tuesday and is due to last through Sunday, as the operation races to deliver food and medicine to the roughly 2,000 residents still in the city, according to AP.
United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met on Friday in Atlanta, where both are taking part in a meeting of Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers. According to people familiar with the matter, they agreed to meet again in the coming weeks, after President Donald Trump’s decision to grant refuge to the country’s defeated right-wing candidate inflamed tensions.
Iranian diplomat Nasser Kanaani criticized what he termed an attempt by colonialists to strip nations of their powers, in response to the UK prime minister’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News.
Foreign ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) are expected to wrap up two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday without consensus on critical global security issues, The Hindu reported. Instead of a joint communiqué, the group will rely on a presidency statement summarizing the talks, to be released by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the conclusion of the meeting, according to diplomats who attended the meetings, AP News reported.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, criticized German Chancellor Merz for backing Israeli and US strikes on Iran and warned of a devastating response to anyone who dares harm the Iranian people, according to Mehr News. In a post on his X account late on Friday, Araghchi wrote that Merz hailed the Israeli and US bombings of Iran when they began last year.
Brazil's foreign ministry asked Argentina for explanations on Thursday afternoon after the defeated presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro passed through the country on his way to Miami, according to a diplomatic source who requested anonymity as they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly. João Marcelo, the ministry's director of the South America department, received Argentina's chargé d'affaires, María Emilia Cortés, in a brief meeting.
The Kremlin said that about 150 documents were signed at the Russia-Africa summit, according to the Sputnik news agency. According to AFP, in a text republished by BSS News, delegations from 48 African countries took part in the meeting, 22 of them represented by their leaders.
India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Atlanta on Friday to review the progress of bilateral cooperation, according to the Times of India. In a post on X, Jaishankar said he thanked Rubio for his hospitality in Atlanta for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting and took stock of bilateral cooperation.
Qatari mediators held more than 12 hours of talks in Tehran on Friday to restart direct negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran, Hindustan Times reported. The negotiations are to continue in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday as regional powers seek a diplomatic breakthrough. An official briefed on the talks told Reuters that Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the US and Iran.
The UN Security Council held its seventh straw poll on Friday on candidates to become the next secretary-general, Xinhua reported. According to leaked results cited by the agency, Rebeca Grynspan led with 11 encouraged votes and four discouraged, followed by Rafael Grossi with nine encouraged, four discouraged and two with no opinion expressed. The round followed the entry on October 21 of Lana Nusseibeh, a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the country’s former permanent representative to the UN, and the withdrawal of former Senegalese President Macky Sall, announced on October 17.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Friday called for a rapid ceasefire in the Black Sea that would allow safe passage for grain shipments from both Ukraine and Russia. “I spoke in favor of doing something quickly because the people of the Global South need this grain,” he told reporters during a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Atlanta.
The United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearisation” of North Korea at a meeting on Friday on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers’ gathering in Atlanta. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi pledged full implementation of Security Council resolutions, according to the US State Department.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Friday in Atlanta on the sidelines of a G20 meeting, and Motegi demanded the immediate release of a Japanese national detained in Russia's Sakhalin region, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Japan Times. According to TASS, the last time the two countries' foreign ministers held direct face-to-face talks was in September 2021.
Türkiye is preparing to nominate Feridun Sinirlioglu as its candidate for UN secretary-general in the coming days, Turkish sources told Türkiye Today; he is secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and a former foreign minister. TRT World also announced the nomination. The race for the UN’s top job has Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan leading the informal polls.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that Iran wants to talk and keeps talking, and that Tehran is struggling to meet its financial obligations to security personnel: “There are talks. They want to talk. They keep talking. They’re not paying their soldiers. They’re not paying their police. They’re in a lot of trouble.” Earlier Friday, Trump told Kansas City radio station KCMO that the military confrontation with Iran was approaching its conclusion, though he did not provide a timetable or explain how an agreement might be reached, Israel National News reported.
The traditional family photo that opens the G20 foreign ministers' meeting was canceled in the United States after Australia, the UK and several countries refused to appear beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, The Guardian reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled the plug after European delegations, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the ceremonial snapshot. European diplomats refused to stand for an official photo with Lavrov, leading the American hosts to cancel the planned picture, the BBC reported.
North Korea denounced a joint statement by a group of countries monitoring sanctions enforcement against Pyongyang as a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty,” saying it was born out of hostility by the US and the West, the state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. “Sanctions and pressure may work on the weak but never on us,” an unnamed foreign ministry spokesperson told KCNA, saying “the stereotyped sanctions racket of the US and the West” could not influence the position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a nuclear weapons state.
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar criticized at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta the disruptions in global oil supplies caused by sanctions and chokepoints, saying that deliberate attacks on energy trade and infrastructure were a calculated strategy to hold prices hostage. He said the world faces an energy crisis marked by unpredictability, unaffordable costs and access challenges, rather than a lack of production, according to the Hindustan Times.
At a press conference after the first day of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russia-US diesel deal irritates US lawmakers and that Moscow is well aware of it, according to TASS. Lavrov said the sanctions imposed under former US President Joe Biden remain in place and that the current administration has added sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft.
Stephen Hubbard, 74, a retired Michigan teacher, said on Friday that he only believed he would be freed when he was given new clothes and led to the prison exit, in his first public remarks since his release. He said he had been told many times that he would be released but never trusted what he heard. Trump, who hosted him in the Oval Office, said he had asked Vladimir Putin to free Hubbard and that the United States did not have to release anyone in return. Hubbard was held for more than four years on charges that he fought as a mercenary in Ukraine; his legal team denies the accusations and says he was not involved in any military activity. Putin decided to release him as a gesture of goodwill, according to TASS.
Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader, Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, described calls to review Iran’s nuclear doctrine as a growing national demand rooted in the Iranian people’s experience of Western conduct and in the need to strengthen the country’s deterrence, according to the Tehran Times. He cited previous surveys in which more than 70 percent of respondents supported reviewing the doctrine. The cleric said the final decision rests with the Leader and urged universities and experts to prepare studies and proposals.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for reiterating territorial claims over Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb, according to the Tehran Times. He called the UAE’s claims “brazen and interventionist” and criticised Canada for endorsing them in a joint statement. Baqaei said “the islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb are inseparable and eternal parts of Iran’s territorial domain” and that the repetition of “baseless and unfounded” claims will not change “the established geographical, historical and legal realities.”
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said at the G20 foreign ministers’ plenary in Atlanta that military solutions will not work in the face of global challenges and that diplomacy must be given a chance, in a post on X, according to the Hindustan Times. He also stressed the need to preserve freedom of navigation and to ensure the cessation of attacks on seafarers within the framework of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi demanded on Friday the immediate release of a Japanese national detained in Sakhalin Oblast, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a meeting of about 30 minutes with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, which began at 1:35 p.m. local time. According to Reuters, in a text republished by the WQXC website, Russia said this month it had detained a Japanese journalist in its far eastern Sakhalin region on suspicion of espionage.
Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan extended her lead in the race for United Nations (UN) secretary-general with 11 votes in favor and 4 against in the 15-member Security Council, her strongest showing in seven closed-door ballots held in recent months to replace António Guterres, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Internazionale. Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, who entered the race, received 7 votes in favor, 6 against and 2 marked as no opinion in the first ballot she took part in.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met in the same room at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta on Friday, the first time they shared a setting since Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the United States, where the former presidential candidate investigated for corruption went after losing Brazil’s election, according to EFE, in a text republished by Infobae. Rubio and Vieira shared the table at the foreign ministers’ meeting, hosted by the United States, but held no bilateral meeting. According to Brazilian government interlocutors, no bilateral meeting between the two was scheduled, in principle, as UOL reported.
Argentina's foreign minister denied that Brazil had formally requested explanations over the escape of Flávio Bolsonaro, according to Carta Capital. Brazil's foreign ministry, for its part, summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Argentine embassy in Brasília, Maria Emília Cortés, to explain her government's role in the escape, two Brazilian government sources confirmed to Reuters, in a report republished by UOL.
Democratic lawmakers in the US pressed Trump to recognize the result of Brazil’s election and criticized his remarks about the vote, in a statement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) signed by Greg Casar, Ilhan Omar and Jesús García, according to G1. “The partnership between Trump and Bolsonaro to contest the election result must end immediately,” the text says, demanding that the US join the rest of the world in recognizing the result.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has not changed its position during the talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates, according to TASS. In the same statement, Lavrov said a compromise cannot extend to fundamental principles upon which a state's existence depends, least of all when the lives of millions hang in the balance.
The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia met on Friday on the fringes of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, according to Kyodo News. It was their first full-fledged talks in five years, according to TASS.
The United States ordered non-emergency government employees and their family members to leave Saudi Arabia, effective October 23, citing security risks, according to The Jerusalem Post. The order cites Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure.
Pakistan’s army said it is cautiously optimistic about mediation between Iran and the United States, according to Al Jazeera. Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday, alongside Saudi and Turkish officials, Al Jazeera reported.
The European Union (EU) and Canada have agreed to deepen their strategic partnership and announced a series of initiatives on trade, technology and security, TRT World reported. The outlet said US President Donald Trump's policies are straining Washington's relations with traditional allies. Canada will join the EU's $103 billion (€90 billion) support loan for Ukraine, initially contributing $558 million (€500 million), while the two sides expand cooperation across several strategic sectors.
The American hosts canceled the official family photo at the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers’ meeting in the United States (US) after European diplomats refused to stand next to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the BBC reported. According to the Times of India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled the traditional group photo after several European officials threatened to boycott or walk out over Russia’s participation.
Brazil’s foreign ministry summoned on Thursday (October 29) Argentina’s chargé d’affaires in Brasília, minister-counselor Emilia Cortés, to demand explanations about the possible involvement of Javier Milei’s government in Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s flight to the United States (US), with a stopover on Argentine territory. The diplomat was received on the afternoon of the same Thursday by the head of the ministry’s Mercosur Department, João Marcelo Galvão de Queiroz, in Brasília, according to G1. The route began on the night of Tuesday (27), when Flávio and his family entered Argentina after crossing the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, which links Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraná state, to Puerto Iguazú, in Argentina’s Misiones province.
Chinese President Xi Jinping received German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Beijing on Friday and, according to Xinhua, China is ready to work with Germany to open a new chapter in the China-Germany all-round strategic partnership. Xi said history and reality have repeatedly shown that for China and the European Union (EU), cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences.
US Vice President JD Vance sent a personal letter last week to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in which he expressed willingness to meet with him personally to discuss ending the war through negotiations, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to officials cited by Foreign Policy, the letter stressed that the central US interest “is in ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon” and described Iran's interest as “rebuilding [its] war- and sanctions-ravaged economy” and “preserving its national sovereignty.” If the two sides agree to meet, Istanbul or the Qatari capital, Doha, would be the most likely locations.
Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin that Moscow and Washington have begun coordinating the exact date for trilateral talks between Russia, the United States (US) and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi and confirmed the meeting will take place in November, TASS reported. Only mid-November had been mentioned before, with no specific dates stated, he added.
Brazil’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday (30), according to G1. It will be the first high-level meeting between Brazil and the United States since Sunday’s elections and since Senator Flávio Bolsonaro fled to the US, and Washington has not yet recognized the result of the Brazilian election, the outlet reported.
Senator Chris Murphy said he was briefed on the United States (US) plan to restart the war on Iran and called the proposal “insane,” saying it would lead to a “devastating escalation,” according to Middle East Eye. Murphy said the plan developed will lead, in his view, to a prolongation and an escalation of the war that will be devastating for the country’s security interests.
A group of Democratic lawmakers in the United States (US) Congress questioned, in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the role the Trump administration played in the flight of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) from Brazil, including the issuance of a visa for him and his family, according to G1. At least 25 Democratic Party lawmakers signed the letter, according to CartaCapital.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Türkiye for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Russia’s war against Ukraine and Black Sea security, according to TRT World. The Istanbul meeting will focus on strengthening bilateral ties and regional developments, the broadcaster said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that preparations for trilateral talks on Ukraine do not imply any commitment to limiting hostilities, according to Sputnik. Peskov told reporters that Russia is against a ceasefire that would give the Ukrainians a respite.
Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) recorded official statements and greetings from at least 107 countries regarding the second round of the Brazilian election, held on Sunday the 25th, according to the court's panel, as reported by Carta Capital. The panel also records formal recognition from 11 major multilateral bodies and blocs of the Brazilian election. China, Russia, India, South Africa, Iran, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom are among the countries that sent statements of recognition and congratulations, according to Opera Mundi.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday for talks with North Korean officials and the formal reopening of Switzerland's diplomatic office there, according to the Korea Herald. The office, which resumed operations on October 19, is Switzerland's first political and diplomatic presence in Pyongyang since the two countries established relations in 1974. North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed Cassis's arrival, greeted by foreign ministry officials and the North's ambassador to Switzerland, according to Yonhap.
United States (US) President Donald Trump said in an interview with KCMO radio that the conflict between the US and Iran will end very soon, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua. Trump said in the same interview that there must be a guarantee that there will never be a nuclear weapon, according to Al Arabiya.
Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo invited Russian companies to invest in the country’s economic development and build sustainable partnerships, speaking at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit, according to the Russian state agency TASS. According to 360 Mozambique, Chapo listed mechanized agriculture, industry, infrastructure, transport, logistics, energy, tourism, digital transformation and the blue economy among the priority areas for cooperation.
Deep rifts over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to derail unified actions and statements at the two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the world’s 20 largest economies in Atlanta, according to Reuters, in a text republished by US News. The US has not invited South Africa to the ministerial, which takes place from October 30 to 31.
The Texas government announced it has taken control of nine islands on the river border with Mexico, along the Rio Grande between Laredo and McAllen, according to El País. Mexico’s foreign ministry says ownership of the islands is the remit of the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China supports South Africa in continuing its participation in G20-related activities, TRT World reported. The spokesperson said South Africa is “an important member of the G20” and that Beijing “supports its continued participation in the activities carried out under the group,” according to EFE, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira arrived in Atlanta on Friday for the G20 foreign ministers' summit, whose meetings will be chaired by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Brasil 247.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will not attend Friday's Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit in Ankara, despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's personal invitation in an October 21 phone call, according to Azerbaijani media cited by Turkish Minute. The absence follows the departure of Erdogan's chief presidential adviser, Oktay Saral, amid a dispute over Azerbaijan's restrictions on headscarves in schools, Turkish Minute reported.
Seoul is seeking a way out of its diplomatic dispute with Kyiv, which began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed in his September 23 address to the United Nations General Assembly the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, a transfer Seoul says it had asked to keep confidential. A senior presidential official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government did not believe it was desirable for the issue to drag on and that discussions were under way to find a way out, according to the Korea Herald. The official also denied that Seoul was tilting toward Moscow, saying relations with Russia operate under international sanctions and restrictions and that the country continues to take part in international efforts to support Ukraine.
The foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States (US) and Japan will meet in the US on Friday to discuss Korean Peninsula issues, economic security cooperation and the response to Pyongyang, officials cited by Yonhap said — the discussion covers the North's latest missile launches and closer Pyongyang-Beijing ties following Kim Jong-un's recent visit to China. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun will meet in Atlanta on Friday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, the Korea Herald reported, as Seoul seeks to manage sensitive issues in its alliance with Washington.
In Atlanta, Marco Rubio will cross paths with Sergei Lavrov, already in Atlanta, according to Russian state media, and talks will address energy and supply-chain challenges, according to a US official cited by France 24; French diplomatic sources say no joint declaration is expected, reflecting divisions among members, according to The National.
Members of the Sudanese diaspora and international human rights monitors denounced the candidacy of Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh for the top UN job, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is fueling the war in Sudan by supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the Guardian; Nusseibeh has the unanimous support of Gulf states but is accused of covering up backing for the RSF, accused of genocide.
Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the US and Iran, an official told Reuters, in a text published by Middle East Eye.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen argued Thursday in Montreal for making Canada the bloc’s first “associate member” and building a broader alliance open to other countries, warning against economic coercion in Trump’s trade war, according to the Associated Press (AP). Trump suggested the arrangement could be a “hostile act” and threatened tariffs on Europe — von der Leyen said Canada cannot become a full member because of geography, but both sides want to bring the relationship to the highest level possible.
A letter from US Vice President JD Vance to the head of Iran’s National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, was sent in a bid to revive peace negotiations, according to Reuters, in an article published by CGTN, which cited the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. President Donald Trump told reporters the matter was “help with medical supplies and various things” and that Vance asked him what he thought, and he answered: “if you want to do that, that’s okay”.
A Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Atlanta, in the United States, for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, according to TASS. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov would head the delegation at the G20 ministers’ meeting, according to EFE, in a text republished by swissinfo.ch. The meeting is scheduled for October 30-31 and is a preparatory step for the G20 leaders’ summit in Miami on December 14-15, according to TASS.
María Corina Machado thanked Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for opening a “floodgate to freedom” with the January 3 action, at a news conference in Caracas, according to Al Jazeera. She said Rubio set out a sequence of events pointing to presidential elections in 2027, according to the BBC. Shortly before her remarks on Thursday, Delcy Rodríguez said elections would be held “with the world as witness,” without setting a date, according to Al Jazeera.
US President Donald Trump said Morocco had named the highway between Tiznit and Dakhla after him, a 1,055 km road in operation since January after a decade of construction; Rabat has not commented on the tribute, according to Al Jazeera. The road links southern Morocco with Mauritania and crosses Western Sahara, a territory the UN classes as non-self-governing, which Rabat calls its southern provinces and which the Polisario Front disputes, according to Le Monde.
President Vladimir Putin will hold more than 10 bilateral meetings with the leaders of African states after the Russia-Africa summit, according to TASS. The summit brought together delegations from 48 African countries, 22 of them headed by their leaders, and Putin said Russia was “prepared to further expand the geographical reach of our agricultural product shipments”, according to Africanews.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready for a war with Europe but “does not want” a conflict, and that Moscow “supports any steps” toward restoring relations with European countries, according to TASS, in a text republished by RBC Ukraine.
United States Vice President JD Vance said Donald Trump will not let the conflict with Iran become a “forever war” and that the US has been involved with Iran “in some form for seven months,” dealing with the country for 47 years. Vance rejected fears of an endless war and said Trump will finish the mission.
Iranian Parliament speaker and negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said progress in negotiations with the United States depends on Washington accepting Tehran’s seven conditions, rejecting the carrot-and-stick approach. According to Middle East Eye, he said the conditions “have been repeatedly and clearly stated to the mediators” and that progress can only be achieved once Iran’s seven conditions have been agreed upon.
US envoy Tom Barrack told CNN the sides are “very close” to an agreement on a process aimed at securing a temporary pause in hostilities with Iran, Middle East Eye reported. Qatar, Pakistan and other US allies had brought the sides to that point, and President Donald Trump and his administration were seriously considering “kinetic action”; asked about a possible “short, sharp” military operation against Iran, Barrack said the option remains on the table. Saudi Arabia has asked the Trump administration to “give diplomacy a chance” before a final decision on a strike, two regional sources told the Jerusalem Post, and Riyadh fears the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could retaliate against Saudi water, electricity and oil and energy infrastructure.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that there had been no progress on the central issues in talks with Israel — a ceasefire, withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), border demarcation in southern Lebanon and prisoner releases — a week after the latest round of US-mediated talks, according to the Times of Israel.
The third Russia–Africa Summit, in the Kremlin, adopted the Declaration of the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit, the declaration on cooperation in the civilian application of artificial intelligence technologies and the partnership forum action plan for 2027–2029, according to the Kremlin. The joint declaration provides for energy sovereignty and security, reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to reflect current geopolitical realities and wider use of national currencies in mutual payments, according to Sputnik Africa.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the European Union and Canada continue to explore Canada becoming the bloc’s first “associate member,” a term so divisive among member countries that it does not appear in the joint declaration, according to Reuters, in a text published by the South China Morning Post. In a speech at a Canada-EU summit in Montreal, von der Leyen said the two sides aim to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence, climate, energy and security. Deeper ties to Europe are part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s strategy to reduce reliance on the US amid strained relations under Trump, according to the newspaper. The term, which Germany and several other EU countries oppose, has no legal meaning.
Prime Minister Mark Carney launched The Plan for a Stronger Canada on Thursday, the country’s first national security strategy in more than two decades, according to the Chinese agency Xinhua. According to the release cited by the agency, the strategy outlines five main priorities, including strengthening economic security and resilience by transforming strategic industries and securing supply chains, advancing a disciplined foreign policy to diversify partnerships, and rebuilding and strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces. The Globe and Mail reported that under the new strategy the government will beef up Canada’s intelligence-gathering capabilities and prepare for all contingencies, up to and including war.
Trump met at the White House on Thursday with the top US military commander to review options for attacking Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal, in reporting by G1. Senator Chris Murphy said he had been briefed on the US plan to restart the war on Iran and called the proposal insane, saying it would lead to a devastating escalation, according to the Middle East Eye. He spoke after US media reported on Wednesday that the United States had warned several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military offensive against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections.
Iran received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance and has not yet responded to it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Thursday, according to Middle East Eye. The letter was sent to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei, as The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, in a bid to revive peace negotiations. Tehran insists that its seven conditions be met by the United States and says that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable,” the agency added.
Russia and Ukraine began a localized ceasefire on Tuesday to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town on the left bank of the Dnipro in southern Ukraine, according to DW. Both sides confirmed the truce took effect at 3 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), after an agreement brokered by US first lady Melania Trump. Around 2,000 people, including up to 50 children, remain trapped in the town, according to Ukrainian and US estimates.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Thursday that Britain was “doing everything we can” to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, amid the impact of the Iran war, according to Middle East Eye.
Turkey is hosting a summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara on Thursday and Friday under the theme “Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Deed,” with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as host, according to TRT World. The heads of state are expected to adopt the Ankara Declaration along with decisions and documents aimed at deepening cooperation and strengthening the bloc's institutional framework.
South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul met on Thursday with his Singaporean and Vietnamese counterparts to discuss expanding defense cooperation, his ministry said, according to the Korea Herald. The ministers agreed to expand cooperation in personnel exchanges, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
A Kremlin spokesperson told Al Jazeera that Moscow is ready to mediate between Iran and the United States if requested, according to Middle East Eye. The same spokesperson said Russia is willing to receive Iran's enriched uranium if the material remains a sticking point in negotiations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he hopes the period after the formation of a new Israeli government will create an opportunity to resume serious political dialogue, according to Xinhua, which cited the Palestinian news agency.
Qatar denied interference in Israel’s elections and called the accusations ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure. “Qatar should not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians,” the country’s statement said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is hosting European Union leaders in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, a two-day summit that will be closely watched for details on how Canada and the European bloc deepen their ties, according to the BBC. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed last month “opening the door” to Canada for what she called “associate membership,” a status that does not currently exist, and Germany and other nations lobbied to remove mention of the term from a draft statement, opting instead for softer language referencing an “ever closer association,” the BBC reported.
South Korea and Germany agreed Thursday to upgrade their bilateral ties to an Enhanced Strategic Partnership, under which the two countries will deepen cooperation in security and future technology, according to Yonhap.
Vladimir Putin is expected to hold more than 20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit, attended by representatives from 48 African countries, according to Sputnik. Putin said Russia-Ethiopia trade topped $1.3 billion in January-September, more than double the whole of 2025.
Libya’s eastern-based parliament in Tobruk reversed years of opposition and approved the 2019 maritime agreement between Tripoli and Türkiye, which Greece says disregards the rights of its islands, including Crete, and Turkiye hosted talks between Libya’s eastern and western administrations with the ultimate goal of reunifying them, with no agreement so far.
Vice President Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei to discuss the prospect of a peace deal with Iran, and Brent fell 1.1% to $114.10 while WTI dropped 1.3% to $101.45, according to Reuters.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted by 130 votes to 17, with 25 abstentions, on Wednesday, a resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, according to the Hindustan Times. India voted in favor and said it hopes the embargo will be lifted at the earliest so that Cubans can participate more fully in international cooperation, according to the same outlet.
Trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, with representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States, will take place after November 4, and the exact date has yet to be determined, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters, according to the TASS news agency. The Kremlin is ready to resume the format after November 4, when Russia celebrates National Unity Day, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Donald Trump said he intends to rename the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait, at a Republican rally in Ohio, in the United States, ahead of the midterms, according to TASS. He compared the idea to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and said the new name would come “at some point”.
The 1996 treaty governing dry-season water sharing of the Ganges at India's Farakka Barrage, 20 km upstream of Bangladesh, expires on December 12, according to AFP. Bangladesh needs a new deal based on “mutual benefit and respect”, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, a prime ministerial adviser who heads a technical committee on water-sharing, told AFP.
Canada and the EU will craft a “new chapter” in their alliance at a Montreal summit that opens Thursday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Canada and the EU have dropped the associate membership plan in a bid to deepen ties, according to France 24.
Regional mediators led by Qatar are working to convince Iran to allow UN inspectors to return to its bombed nuclear sites in return for some sanctions relief from the US, according to Axios. The mediators are trying to reach a diplomatic deal to restart negotiations between the US and Iran and prevent the resumption of war after the US midterm elections, according to TASS.
Volodymyr Zelensky called the ceasefire in force since Tuesday morning in Oleshky, in Kherson Oblast an “immense success,” according to Le Monde, and called for a meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in November. The local ceasefire has passed 30 hours without a single incident, according to The Guardian.
The United States (US) State Department ordered the departure of non-essential staff and family members from the embassy in Riyadh, amid intensifying Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. The move was attributed to growing hostilities by the Iranian-supported Houthis, including attacks on civilian airports and critical infrastructure causing casualties and travel disruptions, according to spokesman Tommy Pigott.
Australia returned two stone sculptures to China that had been abroad for more than 30 years, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. The statues, showing the heads of a military official and a civil servant, had been given to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra by a private collector and date back to the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). China's National Cultural Heritage Administration received the heads on Wednesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Qatar presented Iran with a proposal that, according to reports, would give United Nations (UN) inspectors access to Iranian nuclear sites bombed in previous rounds of fighting in exchange for some US sanctions relief, according to The Times of Israel. A senior Iranian official told Reuters, cited by Middle East Eye, that his country could not work with what had been presented and that Tehran would show no flexibility on the nuclear issue.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected on Wednesday calls to disarm the Lebanese group under the June framework agreement brokered by the United States with Israel, according to Middle East Eye. “The resistance continues and will confront any aggression against it; there is no room for discussion regarding the surrender of its weapons,” Qassem said in a statement, according to the outlet.
US Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaee, in an effort to restart peace talks, according to US officials and people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal and were cited by Middle East Eye. Rezaee is a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards. According to LaPresse, which also relays the WSJ report, the letter was sent at the behest of President Donald Trump, who was aware of the initiative.
Iran will remain in close contact with mediators to examine ideas that could facilitate the implementation of the seven-day plan, even within a period shorter than one week, Araghchi said, according to Mehr News.
Trade between Russia and African nations has grown 1.5 times since 2022 and passed 27 billion dollars, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to TASS. The Russia–Africa summit in Moscow gathered delegations from 48 countries, with 22 leaders attending, to discuss trade, security, arms and grain, according to France 24. Putin said Russia had supplied 13 million metric tons of agricultural products to Africa in the first nine months of the year.
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meet on Friday (30) and Saturday (31) in Atlanta, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting chaired this year by the United States, according to G1. The State Department has said it will grant visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the country, after he left Brazil following his defeat in the presidential election.
Security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine will be discussed in Abu Dhabi at a trilateral meeting in November, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS. Peskov said the security guarantees should be mutual.
The UN General Assembly votes on Wednesday (28) on the resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, the 34th time the text has been taken up since 1992, according to Brasil de Fato. Last year the resolution passed with 165 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. Cuba's president wrote on social media that majority international support for Cuba “became evident in the condemnation of the blockade”, according to Opera Mundi.
At the plenary session of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Vladimir Putin said that vile and cynical means of every kind are used, including tariff wars, illegitimate sanctions, economic diktat, blackmail and interference in internal affairs, according to Sputnik. Russia exported 13 million metric tons of agricultural products to African countries in the first nine months of this year, according to TASS, citing Putin. Sputnik also reported that Putin said Russia–Africa trade exceeded US$ 27 billion last year.
Qatari mediators presented Iran with a new draft deal on Sunday to end the war with the US and Israel, and Tehran is expected to send a response by the end of the week, an official briefed on the negotiations said on Wednesday, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Al Arabiya English. The draft sets a seven-day timeline addressing both Tehran’s and Washington’s concerns and lays out daily confidence-building steps that each side must take, the official said.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, held separate phone calls on Tuesday with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan, and with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, the Egyptian ministry said on Wednesday. The Egyptian and Saudi ministers agreed to continue coordination through the four-way mechanism, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, according to the ministry.
The General Assembly’s First Committee backed Japan’s nuclear-disarmament resolution by 150 votes to 7, with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea among those voting against, according to the Japan Times. It was the 33rd straight year such a resolution was approved, according to the paper, and the text says North Korea cannot be recognized as a nuclear-weapon state, urging a return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
Indian officials have been more direct than ever in recent weeks in criticizing the Trump administration, amid setbacks to bilateral ties, according to Al Jazeera — far from endorsing Trump ahead of the US midterm elections.
Libyan Presidential Council Chairman Mohammad Al-Manfi told Vladimir Putin he expects to develop a strategic partnership with Moscow, according to Sputnik. Al-Manfi said expanding cooperation with Russia remains important for Libya despite Western pressure, and voiced hope that Russian oil companies will return to the country.
Canada hosts the EU in Montreal this week for a summit expected to announce new agreements on trade, security and technology, according to the CBC. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen surprised many last month when she announced the EU would begin the process of making Canada its first “associate member,” a status that does not exist within the bloc. EU officials say the 27 countries want the closest possible association with Canada, even as details and the exact title remain under internal debate.
King Charles III began a nine-day Caribbean tour in the Bahamas, including Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, and a Commonwealth summit, according to France 24, met by protesters with placards demanding reparations, and confirmed he will discuss the legacy of slavery with Commonwealth leaders, according to The Guardian.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said the Holy See will continue to firmly support a two-state solution in the Middle East, according to TRT World, saying the formula retains substantial international backing, although its immediate implementation is unlikely.
Parliamentary leaders from the BRICS nations expressed “deep concern” about the escalating tension and hostilities in West Asia and slammed the “unilateral coercive measures” and “unilateral economic sanctions” imposed in the region as contrary to international law, according to The Hindu. The joint declaration called for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and asserted the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, freedom and an independent, sovereign state.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told Channel One that Vladimir Putin has emphasized countless times that Volodymyr Zelensky can come to Moscow if he wants a one-on-one, where he will be provided with “all necessary precautions”, according to TASS. According to Ushakov, Zelensky’s surname was mentioned in light of the Ukrainian president’s insistent desire to talk directly with Putin.
The 2027 US defence bill, covering more than US$1 trillion in proposed defence spending, will be one of the most closely watched pieces of legislation when Congress returns after the midterm elections, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The House of Representatives passed its version, the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), in July. The bill faces a tougher path in the Senate, where a July procedural vote to begin consideration failed after Democrats objected to US President Donald Trump’s military actions involving Iran.
A ceasefire that began with the aim of getting food and medicine to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky has been extended across the wider southern region of Kherson, according to sources cited by the BBC. Under the deal, the ceasefire will be followed by deliveries of humanitarian aid to Oleshky and then evacuations, planned for Friday, for anyone wishing to leave. David Arakhamia, a key official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s parliamentary party, said it would continue until 22:59 Ukrainian time on Sunday, November 1, and described the truce as the “largest de-escalation since 2022”.
Libya’s eastern parliament, the House of Representatives aligned with Haftar in Benghazi, ratified the 2019 maritime deal with Turkey on October 20, and the country’s two rival governments now recognize the boundary that runs between Crete and Cyprus, according to OilPrice. The line leaves Greek islands in the area with no sea beyond their territorial waters, and Ankara is pursuing the same kind of deal with Damascus.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Vladimir Putin that Iran, Russia and other countries in the region can resolve local problems without US interference, according to TASS. According to TRT World, Pezeshkian said trade between the two countries is growing “day by day” and that US actions in the region make it easier to strengthen cooperation with countries subject to unilateral US sanctions: “Our trade is expanding and growing day by day.” Russia is meeting all its commitments on projects in Iran and construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is under way, according to Mehr News.
Argentina’s government said on Tuesday that it will issue no recognition of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in the second round of Brazil’s election, according to Opera Mundi. In response, the government argued that when Javier Milei was elected in 2023, “there was no gesture from President Lula to congratulate him personally or anything”, and that, for now, “there is no statement we are going to make,” according to Carta Capital. The government also said trade and Mercosur should not be affected: “They are two brotherly peoples, they trade, they work in Mercosur, it should not be affected.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Moscow for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, according to the Russian state agency TASS.
A local ceasefire in Oleshky, a southern Ukrainian city under Russian occupation, appeared to be holding on Tuesday, with both sides ceasing drone attacks ahead of an apparent evacuation of about 2,000 trapped civilians, the Guardian reported. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Russian President Vladimir Putin told Finland's president, Alexander Stubb, and Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that Zelensky could come to Moscow for direct talks.
Saudi Arabia reportedly offered a $1 billion financial package to the Houthis in an Iran-brokered deal to secure a ceasefire and halt attacks on the kingdom, according to the Hindustan Times, citing a report. The proposal was reportedly discussed during a surprise visit by Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to Tehran, where Iran offered to act as a regional diplomatic mediator, according to NDTV.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the Trump administration told Venezuela's interim authorities “weeks and weeks ago” that opposition leader María Corina Machado should be allowed to return as the country moves ahead with preparing for elections next year, according to AP, in a text published by the Orlando Sentinel. Rubio told reporters on a call that the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez replied to the US that Machado was free to enter the country. Machado returned to Venezuela over the weekend.
Finland's president and Norway's prime minister on Tuesday held a “frank and substantive” call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about efforts to end the war in Ukraine, according to Le Monde. A statement from the two Nordic leaders said the call was held in consultation with Ukraine and followed an October 20 meeting in Oslo between Støre, Stubb, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Qatar’s emir met with Iran’s president to review the current state of relations between Tehran and Doha, according to Mehr News. The two sides stressed the importance of expanding political and economic relations and of using existing capacities to raise the level of bilateral cooperation, the agency reported.
British officials have begun discussions with the EU about a long-term relationship that could include a return to free movement, the business secretary said, according to the Guardian. The focus of the negotiations is the EU summit in November, to seal an agreement easing some trading restrictions and a youth mobility deal, the newspaper reported. The Independent says the UK is already holding talks about a possible return to freedom of movement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping extended congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday on his re-election as Brazil’s president, according to Xinhua. G1 reported the congratulation the same day.
The third Russia-Africa Summit will take place in Moscow on October 28-29, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and AU chair Évariste Ndayishimiye, president of Burundi, according to the Kremlin. Representatives of almost 50 African countries will take part, including heads of state and government and leaders of the continent’s integration associations, the Kremlin said. Russia’s foreign ministry says the summit will lead to major decisions and outcomes, according to Sputnik.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the Eighth Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Moscow, according to TASS — five bilateral meetings are expected during the day, including with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkiye and Pakistan agreed to continue talks for regional peace and security, in a joint statement issued late on Monday, according to Al Jazeera — Riyadh sent Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan sent Army chief Asim Munir and Turkiye sent intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin.
Donald Trump described the summer ceasefire with Iran as a waste of time, according to TASS. On Monday he declared that past ceasefires with Iran were ineffective, brushing aside previous efforts to de-escalate tensions. The US-Iran ceasefire took effect in April and was later formalized and extended under the 60-day Islamabad Memorandum signed in June, before collapsing in July.
Javier Milei is the only South American president who did not recognize Lula’s victory over Flávio Bolsonaro, according to G1. Presidents of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela spoke about the result of last Sunday’s election. Right-wing governments in South America recognized Lula’s reelection despite political differences, according to UOL.
A localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine took effect early Tuesday ahead of a humanitarian mission in Oleshky brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, according to AP. The local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine later this week. According to the UN, up to 2,000 people are stranded in Oleshky with dwindling food and medicine and are unable to leave because of explosive mines and drone attacks in the area. In a Telegram statement, Russia’s defence ministry said it had stopped firing toward the Ukrainian city of Kherson at 04:00 Moscow time (01:00 GMT) in preparation for the humanitarian operation, the BBC reported.
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met with Iran in Tehran on Monday in an attempt to stop the Middle East war from reigniting, France 24 reported. It was the first joint visit to Tehran by the three countries since they formed a defense alliance in Mecca in August. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, told state television the talks were “very good”.
Sudan's permanent mission to the UN said it had fundamental questions about Lana Nusseibeh's independence, impartiality and credibility as a contender for the UN's top job, in a statement given exclusively to Middle East Eye. Sudan decries the candidacy as an attempt to ‘whitewash’ the United Arab Emirates' role in the civil war in Sudan, according to the outlet.
The Student List, which won Sunday's parliamentary election in Serbia with 52.73 percent of the vote in preliminary results, will not impose sanctions on Russia, its representative Jovo Bakic told RT Balkan. According to him, the new government will keep its longstanding ties with Moscow despite EU pressure.
Qatar is working on an agreement between the United States and Iran under which both sides would make mutual concessions within five days, according to The New York Times, cited by Sputnik, which heard from diplomatic sources. Under the outline, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and the United States would reportedly lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports. The main obstacle is deciding exactly when each side makes its concessions.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz kicked off a five-day tour of Asia on Monday, travelling to Singapore before scheduled visits to Japan and South Korea, DW reported. Merz is accompanied by 30 senior businesspeople from industry, technology, defense and energy, and is expected to meet Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for “regional unity” at a meeting in Tehran on Monday with representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, which recently signed the Makkah defence pact, Dawn reported. Iran’s state broadcaster said the quadrilateral meeting discussed regional cooperation, the US-Israeli aggression against Iran and its consequences, among other topics. The talks also included Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkiye’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said President Vladimir Putin will hold 24 bilateral meetings during the week of the Russia-Africa summit, five of them on Tuesday, October 27, Sputnik reported. Ushakov said Putin will meet the Egyptian president, the Ethiopian prime minister and the president of the Republic of Congo on Wednesday.
High-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities, in an attempt to avert renewed fighting between Iran, Israel and the United States, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by the Times Herald. Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, were to meet Iran’s top security officials and negotiators to push for a deal between Tehran and Washington. The war in Yemen and strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia were also topics of the talks, according to AP, in a text republished by Bay News 9.
Former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda died of heart failure at a hospital in Tokyo on October 22 at the age of 90, according to Xinhua, which cited local media. China expressed condolences, and a spokesperson described Fukuda as an old friend of the Chinese people who contributed to the improvement and development of bilateral relations, according to NHK.
Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, recognized Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s victory in the Brazilian elections and defended maintaining cooperation between the two countries despite political and ideological differences, according to Brasil 247. “In the Colombian presidential campaign, President Lula openly backed Iván Cepeda and I won. In the Brazilian campaign, I backed Bolsonaro and Lula won. Neither does Lula decide for Colombians nor do I decide for Brazilians. THE PEOPLE DECIDE!”, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on his victory in the presidential election in a message published by the Kremlin's press service on Monday, according to Brasil de Fato. In the letter, which addresses the Brazilian as “dear friend”, Putin praised Lula's efforts to protect Brazilian sovereignty and its “legitimate interests on the global stage”. The Russian president also said Moscow and Brasília will keep working closely to strengthen bilateral cooperation in all areas and constructive interaction within the United Nations (UN), BRICS, the G20 and other multilateral bodies.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's army chief, and Turkey's intelligence chief arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials, according to Mehr News. Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said officials from the countries that signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement will hold regional security talks in Tehran on Monday, according to Sputnik. In an interview with state broadcaster IRIB, he said Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will take part in the joint meeting.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian travels to Russia tonight to attend the Gas Exporting Countries Forum summit, with bilateral meetings with some of the attending leaders also planned, according to Mehr News. IRNA reported that Iran, one of the world’s largest holders of gas reserves, will be represented by Pezeshkian at the forum.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the American side is not serious about negotiations, speaking at his weekly news conference, according to TRT World, which cited the state-run IRNA news agency.
Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo arrived in Moscow on Monday to attend the Russia-Africa summit, according to Sputnik; she will lead Uganda’s delegation to the Third Russia-Africa Summit scheduled for October 28–29 in Moscow, a top foreign affairs official said on Friday, according to New Vision.
Pyongyang has sent a letter to the UN Security Council accusing Seoul of fabricating a landmine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers, according to North Korea’s state Korean Central News Agency, as cited by Al Jazeera. The letter was delivered on Sunday by the country’s permanent representative to the UN and describes the incident as “a sinister obstructive move to brand as a ‘military invasion’”, saying that South Korea’s claims are a “farce to evade the responsibility for the ever-escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula”. Last week, South Korea’s foreign ministry had sent a letter to the Security Council president calling on the North to take responsibility for the landmine blast in the Demilitarized Zone, the Korea Herald reported. Seoul blames a September 21 explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on North Korean mines.
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are set to meet their Iranian counterparts in Tehran on Monday to discuss regional coordination, the Jerusalem Post reported. Saudi Arabia will be represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, and Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Reuters. It will be the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the three-nation bloc since Saudi Arabia came under escalating attacks, the Middle East Eye reported.
The US government is weighing backing former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán as a candidate for UN secretary-general, with officials approaching Orbán with the proposal and encouraging him to enter the race, amid interest expressed by him and no final decision, according to The Jerusalem Post, citing sources from three countries.
US President Donald Trump endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening, days ahead of the Israeli election. In the message, Trump wrote: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister; we have to finish the job that we started!” He also tied the relationship with the United States to the outcome: “If Israel has the wrong leader, meaning anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this job itself, and I'm not inclined to do that,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a trilateral meeting between Kyiv, Washington and Moscow will take place in November to restart stalled peace negotiations, TRT World reported. Moscow and Kyiv confirmed the trilateral round between Russia, Ukraine and the United States is planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as cited by Al Jazeera.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday that trilateral talks on Ukraine are going to be happening “some pretty soon”, according to the Sputnik news agency. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told Russian media that “the next deadline is November 4 — a major holiday for us” and that Russia would be ready to resume negotiations after that.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, October 25, that Moscow would support the appointment of an EU diplomatic envoy to take part in negotiations, provided the designated representative shows a genuine commitment to a peaceful settlement. Speaking to Russian state news agency TASS, Peskov said Moscow remains open to European diplomatic engagement but accused Brussels of failing to adopt a constructive approach to resolving the conflict in Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Post.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that Moscow, Beijing and Washington are, basically, prepared for a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and that preparations for it have already begun, according to Sputnik. The summit will be held in Shenzhen, China, on November 18 and 19, according to the agency.
Two Iranian officials, one of them a Revolutionary Guards member, confirmed to The New York Times on Saturday that the Islamic Republic is preparing to target US diplomats and personnel, according to The Times of Israel. Neither official was identified by the newspaper.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Sunday that a potential resumption of war with Israel and the United States would not change his country's positions.
Kim Jong-un toured the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea on Saturday during his visit to the Chinese city of Dandong, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), cited by Kyodo News. On the same trip, Kim met with Wang Huning, China's No. 4 official, who serves as the country's top political adviser, according to the same agency.
United States (US) President Donald Trump said Washington will do business with Ukraine and with Russia after this war ends, according to TRT World.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that France, Germany and the United Kingdom, known as the E3, and Middle Eastern foreign ministers must examine the root causes of military conflict in the region, according to the Middle East Eye. He condemned what he called the E3’s double standards over their inaction in the face of US and Israeli military aggression against Iran, their comprehensive support for Israel and their destructive approach to Iran’s nuclear issue.
United States (US) President Donald Trump said there is a possibility of another attack on Iran, perhaps "tomorrow", and also a possibility of a "nice, big, beautiful agreement", when asked by reporters about the matter, according to the Hindustan Times. He said his goal is to permanently prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon, and that an earlier operation involving B-2 bombers would not have guaranteed a lasting outcome — "I've got to make it permanent" —, according to TRT World. Iran, for its part, denied offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the US lifting its naval blockade, and the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Tehran has made no fresh proposal to Pakistani mediators, according to the Times of India.
Kim Jong-un returned to North Korea overland on Saturday after visiting a Korean War memorial in Dandong, on the border with China, and crossed a newly inaugurated bridge between the two countries, a gesture seen as symbolizing Beijing's and Pyongyang's effort to expand bilateral trade ties, according to G1. North Korean state media described the bond as “unbreakable”, and Kim thanked the Chinese people, who helped “our revolution with blood”, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Iran has proposed to the United States reopening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports, according to Al Arabiya, as reported by TASS.
Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government to stop militants from carrying out cross-border attacks, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Moscow on Tuesday, October 27, for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit, according to Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, who spoke to RIA Novosti. The main topics will be economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, including the North-South Corridor, energy security, food security and trade, as well as geopolitical issues between the two presidents.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a more just and inclusive structure for the United Nations Security Council that can meet the expectations of the international community, in a message released by the government's Communications Directorate. He cited the deaths of more than 74,000 people in Gaza in what he described as genocide and urged countries to strengthen their commitment to the UN Charter and support reforms, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided that Israel should support Argentina on the Falkland Islands issue, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph, as reported by Ynetnews. The decision was prompted by sanctions Britain imposed about a month ago on Israeli settlements, and the newspaper stressed that the move amounts to support for negotiations, without formal recognition of Argentina’s sovereignty.
Kim Jong-un met with Wang Huning, China’s number four, in the border city of Dandong, according to the Xinhua agency, as cited by Kyodo News.
The White House said US First Lady Melania Trump “successfully secured” a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, the BBC reported. According to the statement, the truce in the “front-line war city on the brink of disaster” would begin on October 29, though Ukraine and Russia have so far not commented. Oleshky, in the Kherson region, was seized by Russian forces in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Iran and 11 other countries warned that attacks against nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards must never be accepted as normal, according to Press TV. “Nuclear facilities shall never, under any circumstances, be subjected to attack or threat of attack,” the countries said in a joint statement delivered at the First Committee of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Friday. The statement was signed by Belarus, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossed into China on Saturday over the new Yalu River bridge, entering the border city of Dandong on an unannounced visit confirmed by South Korea's Unification Ministry, according to the Korea Herald. It is Kim's first trip to China since September 2025, when he attended a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported his arrival in Dandong over the new bridge, according to Kyodo News.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain is “redoubling” efforts to find diplomatic solutions to the Iran war because the conflict is “driving up bills for families in Britain”, Middle East Eye reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Moscow next week for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum summit on October 27 and is expected to meet Vladimir Putin, Iranian media reported, citing Iran’s envoy to Russia, Kazem Jalali, in a Middle East Eye report.
Cuba mocked the United States' (US) appeal for Cubans to work with the CIA, saying the country's coastline has beautiful beaches and also razor-sharp limestone spikes, an inhospitable environment for those who arrive with hostile purposes, according to Le Monde. The text mentions a “lust for domination” among those trying to reach Cuban shores.
A memo dated October 23 from the Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Iran has substantially increased its attempts to target American diplomats and officials, in the Middle East and beyond, according to the Hindustan Times. Some of the suspected plots involving potential loss of life have reached advanced stages, according to the document obtained by Axios. A US official confirmed that Washington directed several diplomatic missions to reduce staffing on Friday, cutting personnel at embassies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan.
Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia condemned the Houthi attacks on the kingdom, including strikes against civilians, infrastructure and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to TASS. The four countries called on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions, threats and attacks and return to the political process. They also said the Israeli occupation is the main source of instability in the region and beyond.
The United States is accelerating the evacuation of diplomats and their families from its missions across the Middle East amid concerns over a possible regional escalation and renewed strikes on Iran, according to the Jerusalem Post. The State Department ordered nonessential personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia and quietly reduced staffing levels at US embassies in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged those who want positive change in Cuba to seek a discreet partnership with the CIA, according to Le Monde. “For those who want to bring positive change to Cuba: it is now or never,” he wrote. “Faced with the disappointment caused by unfulfilled promises, corruption and the privileged lifestyle of a handful of people, seize this opportunity to create the change you want through a discreet partnership with the CIA.” The Trump administration has imposed a de facto oil blockade on the island, issued new sanctions against Cuban companies and officials, and indicted former president Raul Castro.
Pakistan has completed the ratification processes for the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told a news conference, according to TRT World. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have already completed their ratification processes, while Türkiye is undertaking the requisite procedures “in accordance with its domestic legal framework,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to hold a trilateral meeting with the United States and Russia next month in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, according to Xinhua, citing the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. The meeting at the negotiating-team level is planned for the first half of November and depends on the Russian side, he said in an online address to the Hudson Institute. The Kyiv Independent reported that negotiation teams from the three countries will meet in Abu Dhabi in November to begin peace talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Beijing has “influence” over Moscow that it should use to stop the war in Ukraine, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
US President Donald Trump said the country will take care of Cuba after dealing with Iran and that he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio to finalize the agreement. At a rally in Florida, according to G1, Trump said: “We will take care of Cuba after Iran... then we will send Marco Rubio to finalize the agreement.”
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said a strike on Iran this weekend is possible. “Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely,” he said in an interview with Mario Nawfal’s podcast, according to the Times of Israel. The envoy, who does not have a direct role on Iran, said the consequence would not be regime change: “If you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be a consequence. The consequence won’t be regime change.” President Donald Trump said that if that is the case he knows nothing about it: “Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know anything about it,” he said, according to TASS. In Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said everyone agrees a new attack on Iran would expand the war in the region: “A military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution. Nobody approves this at the moment,” he told a press conference, according to the Jerusalem Post. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said after Friday’s meetings that renewed escalation between Iran and the United States would only have losers and raise oil prices.
Russia's Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, announced that the Russian army is ceasing fire in the Kherson direction and introducing a “regime of silence” starting at 4am Moscow time (1am GMT) on October 27, for a humanitarian operation in the Aliochki area, according to Sputnik. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that trilateral talks involving Russia, the US and Ukraine are scheduled for November in Abu Dhabi, to discuss a solution to the war, according to The Cradle. The Russian announcement comes after the White House said first lady Melania Trump had brokered a ceasefire in the city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians.
Ministers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the E3 group, met in Istanbul on Friday, October 23, with counterparts from the R4 – Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt – along with Italy, and urged diplomacy between the US and Iran instead of new attacks, according to Al Jazeera. One of the ministers present said that “a military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution” and that “nobody approves this at the moment”, according to Middle East Eye. A European minister warned that a further escalation between Iran and the US “would create nothing but losers” and would have very serious consequences for hydrocarbon prices.
Iran's mission to the Vienna-based UN organizations criticized what it described as the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) continued failure to condemn attacks by the United States and the “Zionist regime” on its nuclear facilities, according to the Iranian agency Mehr News.
Austria's foreign ministry said on Friday it was expelling four Vienna-based Russian diplomats over “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status”, a term that, according to the Jerusalem Post, is usually used for spying. Three of them worked at Russia's embassy to Austria and one at the Russian delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on military security and arms control, the ministry said. The move brings to 18 the number of Russian diplomats Austria has expelled since 2020.
The White House said First Lady Melania Trump “secured a ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky. Neither Russia nor Ukraine immediately confirmed Friday's statement. According to the White House statement, her representatives worked directly with “Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the localized ceasefire”, and civilian leaders from both countries will work together to grant humanitarian access to civilians in the city.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday (October 22) that Beijing opposes using a “Cold War mentality” to fuel conflicts in the Arctic, according to Opera Mundi. The statement came after the EU voiced concern over China-Russia cooperation in the region. “The Arctic affects the common interests of the international community. The right and freedom of countries to conduct activities in the Arctic, in accordance with the law, must be fully respected,” Mao said, in response to a question from RT. The spokeswoman also criticized the formation of geopolitical blocs in the region: “Dividing countries into blocs, with a Cold War mentality, and inciting geopolitical confrontations does not promote peace, stability or development in the Arctic region.” The 31st meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Mishustin, in St Petersburg, attended by President Vladimir Putin, reaffirmed the commitment to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
A book excerpted by Vanity Fair says Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had access during Trump’s first term to secret bank accounts holding some $2 billion provided by United Arab Emirates (UAE) leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi royal Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Times of Israel. One of the accounts, in Israel’s central bank, was reportedly overseen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kushner denied all the allegations, as did former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who reportedly helped facilitate the arrangement.
Russia reaffirmed its readiness to resume trilateral peace talks on the war in Ukraine, with the negotiations set to focus on ways to ensure postwar security for both sides, according to TRT World. Ushakov said Putin told Steve Witkoff that Moscow was, in principle, prepared to resume the talks around November 10.
South Korea proposed military talks with North Korea to verify the location of the demarcation line and avoid accidental clashes, according to Kyodo News. The proposal includes confirming the military demarcation line, restoring communication lines and discussing measures against border clashes, after landmine blasts injured three South Korean soldiers, according to the AP, which adds that the South is also open to three-way talks involving the US-led United Nations Command.
The Indian Embassy in Yemen said it had reached out to different parties to establish the circumstances and facts of an incident off the Yemeni coast involving a yacht with Indian nationals on board, according to The Hindu. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed, according to Arab media cited by the paper, that Saudi forces targeted the Indian yacht near Yuqar Island, in the Red Sea.
Canada and Türkiye upgraded relations to a strategic partnership during the first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister, according to The Jerusalem Post, with Mark Carney seeking new trade partners to reduce reliance on the US. The two sides expect to raise bilateral trade from 3 billion dollars first to 5 billion and then to 10 billion. Carney and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the first round of negotiations for a free trade agreement and signed the expanded air transport agreement between the two countries, according to the Canadian prime minister’s office.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Constant-Serge Bounda, Minister of Foreign Affairs, La Francophonie and Congolese Abroad of the Republic of the Congo, on Thursday in Beijing, according to the Xinhua news agency. Wang said the Republic of the Congo is the first African country to join China in signing the Early Harvest Arrangement for the Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Development, the Chinese state news agency reported.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) nominated diplomat Lana Nusseibeh for United Nations (UN) secretary-general, according to France 24. Human rights defenders warn that choosing a diplomat from the Emirates, accused of backing forces linked to massacre in Sudan, would be a catastrophe for the UN.
South Korea sent a letter to the president of the United Nations (UN) Security Council over last month’s land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border that injured three South Korean soldiers, according to Yonhap. The letter says the explosion was caused by a land mine planted by North Korean troops and violated the Korean War Armistice Agreement, also according to Yonhap.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee questioned whether the Board of Peace would have enough staff to carry out Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza without additional planning and resources from the US government, according to a cable obtained by Politico and cited by The Jerusalem Post. Huckabee wrote that the embassy in Jerusalem is not currently staffed to assume the Gaza coordination center roles without defined human, financial and logistical resources.
Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, October 22, that Russia is ready to resume three-way talks with Ukraine and the United States, but on the security parameters of a final peace deal, rather than a “short” ceasefire. Putin said the goal of the discussions is to address security for both Ukraine and Russia within the framework of a final agreement, rather than after a short pause in fighting.
Beijing criticised what it called irresponsible remarks by Britain after a UK half-yearly report said Hong Kong’s national security law had further diminished the openness that underpinned the city’s success, according to the South China Morning Post. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was deeply concerned and disturbed by the continued imprisonment of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, jailed for 20 years over national security offences.
China said on Thursday that its activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting the region's peaceful, stable and sustainable development and are in accordance with international law, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, according to The Cradle. Mao Ning also said that using Cold War mentality to create factions and incite geopolitical confrontation does not help the region's development. The remarks answered European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas, who said the Arctic has become a front line of global power competition, and followed Brussels' presentation of a plan to expand Arctic surveillance and grow the European Union's icebreaker fleet.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday (10/22) that trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine could take place in Abu Dhabi, according to Opera Mundi. Peskov told reporters that Abu Dhabi is now being considered as the venue for the talks, according to TASS.
The US State Department ordered on Wednesday (10/21) the departure of non-essential government employees and their families from US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, according to Opera Mundi. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott justified the move by saying the Houthis had intensified hostilities against Riyadh, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure that caused casualties and disrupted air travel.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the memorandum signed between Turkey and the government in eastern Libya led by Khalifa Haftar “is null and void, carries no legal effect, and that its ratification by the Libyan House of Representatives entails no legal consequences whatsoever for Egypt”. On Tuesday, Libya’s eastern government approved the agreement with Turkey establishing a maritime boundary between the two countries despite the presence of Greek islands, particularly Crete, between their coastlines. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan rejected the criticism from Egypt, Greece and Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron began on Monday, October 19, a Gulf tour aimed at securing oil and diesel supplies in an effort to bring down prices, after a weekend of violent protests sparked by soaring living costs, according to Le Monde. Macron acknowledged security and intelligence failures but refused his interior minister’s resignation, after more than 2,500 people were arrested in some of France’s worst violence in years, with town halls and shops looted and set on fire, according to RFI.
Russia agreed on Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations next month with Washington and Kyiv, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin official cited by The Associated Press (AP). It could be the first such talks since February. The same day, US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss the conflict in Ukraine, as US President Donald Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to reach a deal that stops the fighting.
The US Embassy in Ottawa accused Canadian officials of election meddling ahead of the November midterms, an accusation Doug Ford rejected saying he had “no interest” in interfering in US elections. In a fact sheet, the embassy says the Canadian government brushes off concerns about interference while ministers and premiers describe plans to influence American politics, according to the text cited by Al Jazeera.
Israel condemned on Wednesday a decision by the eastern-based parliament of divided Libya to ratify a memorandum of understanding with Turkey on maritime demarcations in the Mediterranean, the Times of Israel reported. Israel’s foreign ministry said the agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of its close allies in the region and that, once again, Turkey is working to destabilize the eastern Mediterranean. Egypt reaffirmed that the memorandum “is null” and “possesses no legal effect”.
South Korea’s defence ministry urged North Korea to hold urgent military talks to ease frontier tension and prevent accidental military clashes, shortly after Pyongyang severed the cross-border military hotline and declared it will no longer seek dialogue or unification with its foe, TRT World reported. Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said propaganda loudspeakers aimed at the South will be ready to restart within days along the entire border, according to the Guardian. TRT World reported that she also said “our new counter means will get into the alert for duty at all the southern border line” and that the loudspeakers “will be on standby in a matter of days”.
Ireland’s lower house of parliament approved by 79 votes to 71 a bill that scraps the requirement for UN approval before Irish troops can be deployed abroad, France 24 reported. Currently, three steps — dubbed a “triple lock” — must be taken before more than 12 members of the Irish defence forces can be sent on any mission: approval from the government, from parliament and from the UN, the last of which is now set to be scrapped. The legislation also raises from 12 to 50 the number of soldiers that could be deployed without parliamentary approval. Opposition parties warned that the move threatens the country’s longstanding military neutrality.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu called in Pakistan for an early convening of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, according to The Times of India. The Maldives and Pakistan signed 20 memoranda in areas including health, education, defence and maritime cooperation, according to the Presidency of the Maldives.
Qatar and France called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza under the agreed ceasefire arrangements and an end to settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, according to TRT World. The two countries reaffirmed the need to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz without constraints or fees, according to a joint statement from the Élysée Palace. Macron and Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani backed full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire and a diplomatic way out of tensions with Iran, according to Al Jazeera.
Missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, after an evening attack that injured six people and damaged homes, a petrol station and transport equipment, according to Reuters in a text republished by France 24. US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks this week with Zelensky and Putin to mediate an end to the war, also according to Reuters in a text republished by France 24. The Kremlin said new peace proposals lack substance after the Witkoff-Putin meeting in Russia, according to The Guardian.
Lviv’s regional council decided on Tuesday to organize “cultural, memorial, scientific, and mass media events”, exhibitions and national-patriotic rallies to mark the 120th anniversary of Roman Shukhevych’s birth and 85 years since the creation of the militant group that, according to RT, perpetrated mass killings of ethnic Poles, Jews and Russians. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk branded the move a “suicidal tactic” on Ukraine’s part, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called it “unacceptable”, and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for the resolution’s key sponsor, Lviv regional lawmaker Svyatoslav Sheremet, to be placed on Poland’s travel ban list, according to RT.
The US State Department ordered the departure of “non-emergency US government employees and their family members in Saudi Arabia only” amid attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on civilian targets in the country, according to spokesman Tommy Pigott. US officials told Reuters, in reporting cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), that the department also plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is prepared to give diplomacy another chance if it sees “strong evidence” of a sincere US desire to build trust and reach a just solution, in a post on his X account. “But if US chooses war over diplomacy, it’ll certainly result in an even greater strategic failure,” he added.
Russia has released retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday. Putin told Witkoff that Hubbard was at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport after the release, AP reported. The Guardian reported the release order on the same day Putin met Trump’s envoy for talks on Ukraine.
The China Coast Guard said the Philippines delivered supplies to its warship BRP Sierra Madre, grounded at the Second Thomas Shoal, on Wednesday, “with permission from the Chinese side”, according to the South China Morning Post. Spokesman Jiang Lue said the coast guard carried out confirmation checks and maintained “full supervision” throughout the operation, and that it would keep patrolling and enforcing the law in the area.
Senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat Lana Nusseibeh entered the race to become the next UN secretary-general on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Diplomatic sources in New York expect an official announcement soon that the UAE has put her forward, they told The Jerusalem Post. Guterres completes his second five-year term on December 31, and the selection will determine the 10th UN secretary-general.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of threatening countries with tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures to change their votes on the annual resolution against the embargo on the island, Al Jazeera reported. Rodríguez said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, were personally leading a campaign he said had been going on for months, and that the US had asked countries to abstain or skip the vote. The nonbinding resolution is expected to be put to a vote on October 27 or 28, according to Al Jazeera.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to resume trilateral talks between the United States, Ukraine and Russia next month, after President Vladimir Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff, according to France 24.
The State Department is preparing to order some employees and their family members to leave American embassies in the Gulf region, according to Reuters, in a report republished by G1. Two officials told the agency that the measure responds to the possibility of renewed conflict in the region, with concern focused on attacks by Yemen's Houthis, who are aligned with Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise “solidarity” visit to Riyadh and became the first Western leader to land in Saudi Arabia since the Houthis intensified their attacks this month, Al Jazeera reported. The trip comes as Saudi Arabia agreed to supply extra diesel to France “for as many months as necessary”, the Elysee Palace told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.
The Russian-Slovak inter-governmental commission for economic, science and technical cooperation will hold a session in Moscow on October 26, the Slovak Foreign Ministry said late on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The restart of consultations follows repeated trips to Moscow by Prime Minister Robert Fico, including in May this year.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt’s military support for Saudi Arabia would be limited to defending the kingdom’s territory and borders and would not include an attack on Yemen, the presidency said on Wednesday, according to the Jerusalem Post. His comments came as Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Uzbekistan announced investment deals across a variety of economic sectors potentially worth $12 billion during the Samarkand events. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took part in a business forum in the Uzbek city on October 19 and, the same day, met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states in the C5+1 format, OilPrice reported.
Argentine President Javier Milei called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a “dictator” during a visit to Madrid on Wednesday and urged voters to oust the Socialist leader in upcoming elections, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Spain’s foreign ministry “strongly” condemned Milei’s insults and alleged defamatory remarks against Sánchez, Spain and its citizens, according to TRT World.
Azerbaijan has barred 31 Turkish citizens from entering the country over social media remarks that authorities allege threatened the country’s national security and advocated the forcible overthrow of the government in Baku, according to the Middle East Eye. The decision deepens the dispute that began last month, when Azerbaijan banned headscarves in primary and high schools. The move sparked protests in Turkey and turned into a diplomatic crisis, according to the outlet.
Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives unanimously approved on Tuesday the memorandum of understanding signed on November 27, 2019, with Turkey that delimits the two countries’ maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean, according to TRT World. The memorandum was signed by Libya’s then internationally recognised Government of National Accord. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the decision on Wednesday. “I hope this important decision will be beneficial,” he said, according to TRT World.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that Moscow is willing to help resolve the conflict between Iran and the United States, according to Mehr News, an Iranian state outlet. Putin pointed to Russia’s special, trust-based relationship with Iran and said Moscow would be pleased to take any steps to help resolve the crisis. Mehr describes the moment as the escalation in West Asia after the “war of aggression” by the United States and Israel on Iran.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Wednesday for freezing the front line in the war against Russia as a first step toward ceasefire talks, according to France 24. “Right now we have to freeze, and I think this is the real way to end this war,” he said. Zelensky said any peace talks must include Ukraine. “I always said that we are open to negotiate in any format, any topics. But don’t speak about us without us, please.”
A new round of trilateral talks on Ukraine may take place in Abu Dhabi around mid-November, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media, according to Sputnik. “We’re aiming for Abu Dhabi… It was agreed that this would happen somewhere around the middle of November, in the first ten days or so of the month,” he said. According to Ushakov, Vladimir Putin will decide who will be part of Russia’s delegation to the talks.
Putin agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks with Washington and Kyiv after November 10, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. According to Ushakov, cited by PBS News, the Russian president agreed to resume the negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. Sputnik, for its part, attributed to Putin himself the readiness to resume the talks in November, also based on Ushakov’s account.
Turkey will submit to parliament a mandate allowing military personnel to be deployed to Saudi Arabia under its joint defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, an agreement signed in August in Mecca and submitted to parliament for ratification on Tuesday, according to the Jerusalem Post. According to the newspaper, no Turkish troops deployed to other countries under the pact would take part in offensive operations, and technical personnel and experts would be sent initially to help with air defenses.
Steve Witkoff, the US envoy, met with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to discuss Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and thanked Putin for lifting Russia's ban on diesel exports, AP News reported in a text republished by France24. According to the agency, Witkoff said the move would help lower prices for US farmers and truckers and that he hoped to discuss the resumption of trilateral talks involving the US, Russia and Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin announced the release of US national Stephen Hubbard during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, DW reported. Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024, the BBC reported. The US State Department had classified him as “wrongfully detained”, and on Tuesday President Donald Trump said he had raised the case with Putin.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei told Pakistani army chief Asim Munir that no enriched nuclear material will leave the country, as it is national wealth for domestic use, according to state TV cited by The Hindu. Tehran maintains that it will not hand over to any country material enriched to 60%, close to the 90% bomb threshold, but has hinted at diluting it inside Iranian borders, according to the Korea Herald.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s position on a possible “energy ceasefire” with Ukraine remains unchanged, with Moscow seeking peace rather than a truce, and that a full settlement is impossible without Kiev’s participation, according to TASS. Aide Yury Ushakov said that US envoy Jared Kushner will miss the meeting with President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff due to illness, according to TASS. The meeting was agreed days ago, will include special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and has the Ukraine settlement on the agenda, according to Sputnik.
After talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as positive by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday after the Oslo talks, according to France 24. Rubio said Witkoff will take the ideas gathered in Oslo to the Russian side, the outlet Axios, cited by France 24, reports that he will present Putin with an updated proposal to end the war, and Zelensky thanked Washington for the resumption of US intelligence on Russian strikes.
The Ukrainian delegation led by Volodymyr Zelensky met US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on October 20, according to TASS. After the meeting, Finnish President Alexander Stubb did not give Zelensky an opportunity to answer reporters’ questions during a press conference.
US President Donald Trump said in Washington that the US and India are “pretty close” to making a trade deal that will be “much different” from the earlier pacts, according to The Hindu. The remarks came while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting India and discussed trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed ways to strengthen economic, investment and defence cooperation at Lusail Palace in Doha, according to TRT World. The French tour of the Gulf from October 19 to 21 aims, according to the French presidency, to consolidate strategic and economic partnerships with Gulf states and to support multilateral initiatives to restore regional stability and safeguard freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed on Tuesday that he visited US troops in Israel and spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Middle East Eye. Hegseth told reporters he would not discuss the nature of the private conversation and said they had been good partners and that he appreciated that.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said only a small number of items remain to close the bilateral trade agreement between India and the US, according to The Hindu, and expressed hope it will be sealed shortly. Rubio urged India to scale up energy trade with the US and increase purchases of American technologies and systems, according to the paper. Both sides welcomed progress in the negotiations and reaffirmed their commitment to working toward an early conclusion, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) cited in the report.
Kaja Kallas accused US negotiators of trying for about a year and a half to push Ukraine into surrender on Putin's terms. “American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for already almost two years, one and a half years now,” she told the European Parliament on Tuesday, according to Euronews. Kallas said Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin's terms because Europe has kept supporting the country. She called for Europe's involvement in peace talks, tougher pressure on Moscow and a just, lasting settlement, according to the Kyiv Post.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said France has been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam” after weekend protests over economic conditions degenerated into riots, according to the Times of Israel. In an interview with i24News, he said, according to the interpreter's translation, that French leaders “did not prepare in time” and “succumbed to the invasion of extremist Islam”. Netanyahu also said he told French President Emmanuel Macron after the October 7, 2023 attack that “if we do not eliminate them here, you will have them in Paris”, according to the Hindustan Times.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney travels to Ankara and Istanbul from October 21 to 24, the first bilateral visit to Türkiye by a Canadian prime minister, according to the prime minister's office. During the visit, Canada and Turkey are expected to sign a joint declaration to deepen bilateral cooperation in four areas, including defence and energy, Reuters reported.
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei told visiting Pakistani army chief Asim Munir on Tuesday that Tehran will not allow nuclear material to leave the country, according to Iranian state TV, as cited by the Times of Israel. “Not even a tiny bit of enriched nuclear material will leave Iran. Such materials constitute a major asset and national wealth for the Iranian people, intended for use within the country,” Rezaei said. Iran International also reported the statement at the meeting with Munir.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has not received a response from Saudi Arabia or Yemen's Houthis to its offer to help broker talks to end the fighting between them, in a television interview aired on Tuesday, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Libya's eastern parliament approved a maritime boundaries deal with Turkey on Tuesday, drawing swift condemnation from Greece, which called it a violation of international law, Reuters reported in a text republished by ThePrint. Athens said the deal “remains illegal, null and void, contravenes international law of the sea, and infringes upon the sovereign rights of states in the region.” In the same report, Turkey's foreign ministry welcomed the Libyan parliament's decision, saying the agreement respected the mutual rights and interests of both countries under international law and the principles of equity.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia on Wednesday after meeting in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Norway and Finland, Reuters reported in a text republished by Investing.com. According to the agency, Witkoff will fly to Saint Petersburg, where he will meet with the Russian leadership and exchange ideas from that meeting and from proposals worked on by European and American colleagues. In the same report, US President Donald Trump called on Ukraine to make a deal to settle the war with Russia and said Moscow wanted to get it done. “Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Russia and 17 other countries called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to review the rules of the mechanism for investigating possible uses of chemical and biological weapons, according to a joint statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website on Tuesday and reported by Sputnik. The text calls on Guterres to organize a review of the mechanism’s existing rules and procedures, set out in UN General Assembly document A/44/561 of Oct. 4, 1989.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with US President Donald Trump on Sunday the need to topple Iran’s regime. According to Netanyahu, dismantling the Iranian government is key to preventing the country from rebuilding its nuclear programme and the so-called Axis of Resistance.
US intelligence sharing for early warnings of Russian attacks is working again, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday in Oslo. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said US envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to St. Petersburg to present Russia’s leadership with proposals drawn up during the Oslo talks. The Kremlin said it hopes Witkoff will brief President Vladimir Putin on those talks in the coming days.
The Turkish government submitted the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement to parliament on October 20, binding Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to mutual defense indefinitely, according to The Cradle. The text treats aggression from abroad against one member as aggression against all and obliges the others to immediately assist the attacked party, with the scale of support still to be defined, including military means.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed mediation efforts and regional developments with Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran, according to Nournews, cited by The Jerusalem Post. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, told Munir that “not even a particle of enriched uranium will leave Iran”, according to Mehr News. Rezaei also said Tehran will not negotiate until its conditions are met, according to The Jerusalem Post.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Tuesday that there are “serious tensions” in relations with Ukraine, at a press conference during his visit to India and after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, President Donald Trump is “angry and frustrated” with the lack of progress in peace negotiations, as well as with accusations that Washington refuses to provide intelligence to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Oslo on Tuesday for talks with US envoys, where he is meeting special envoy Steve Witkoff. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected as scandalous accusations that Ukrainians were dying because the US was withholding intelligence from Kyiv, according to the BBC.
Iran's envoy said Iraq agreed to expel the anti-Iran adversary group, Mehr News reported. Tehran and Baghdad agreed on the expulsion of “anti-Iran separatist terrorists”, according to the official Iranian agency IRNA. Iran says Iraq has agreed to expel Iranian Kurdish opposition groups from the Kurdistan region, according to The National.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three junta-ruled Sahel states, on Saturday resumed dialogue with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc they withdrew from more than 18 months ago, according to France 24. The two sides agreed to establish one joint working group that will develop a cooperation framework agreement to guide future relations between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), according to the BBC. The first session of the ministerial meeting of the dialogue on cooperation between ECOWAS and the AES Confederation took place in Dakar, Senegal, on 17 October 2026, according to the final communiqué published by the bloc.
Russia launched another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least seven people, officials said Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky scrambled to ensure more American and European help during his visit to Norway. In the Kyiv region, four people were killed and 27 others wounded, including children, in Russian missile and drone attacks over the past day, regional police said. In Oslo, US envoy Steve Witkoff, who along with Jared Kushner has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement, was also in the city, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb were also due to meet with Zelensky.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Mumbai that the trade deal with India is “very, very close” to being executed and that a small number of items remain to wrap up, he told reporters on Tuesday. Rubio held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the city to deepen energy cooperation and move closer to finalizing the agreement. Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50% on most Indian goods in August 2025 and, under a framework agreed in February 2026, the rate was reduced to 18%, but negotiations have stalled since. Rubio said the US will discuss refining Venezuelan crude with Reliance and that India made “substantial progress” in diversifying its energy supplies, according to The Hindu.
Libya's Parliament reversed course and unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean signed with Türkiye, according to TRT World. House spokesperson Abdullah Bliheg announced that the chamber also voted unanimously to repeal Resolution No. 1 of 2020, which refused to ratify the two memoranda with Türkiye, and Resolution No. 6 of 2020, which called for severing political ties with Turkey, according to Alwasat News. The memorandum was signed between the former Government of National Accord (GNA) and Türkiye.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly held a secret meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, according to the Axios news outlet, cited by The Times of Israel, which spoke to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. The meeting took place at the Ovda airbase in southern Israel, where US fighter jets and refuelers are stationed, the sources said.
Ukraine did not receive a warning from the US about an impending Russian missile attack on Sunday evening, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, reviving concerns that Washington is withholding intelligence to bully Kyiv into capitulating to Moscow, The Guardian reported. Yuri Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, said on television that Ukraine had not received a warning before a Russian missile barrage hit power plants in Kyiv. Speaking in the early hours of Monday on a trip to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “If it happened last night, I don't know exactly. I know a few nights ago there was a software problem involving their early warning system.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that Russia and Iran have “never” worked so closely, as Moscow seeks to play a mediating role in the Middle East war, The Times of Israel reported. Araghchi hosted his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Iran on Monday, in his first visit to the country since the outbreak of the conflict.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday with a delegation of Pakistani officials to meet senior Iranian officials, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, cited by The Jerusalem Post.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in India on Tuesday on his second official visit to the country this year, an Asian tour blending diplomacy and trade, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Speaking in Samarkand, Rubio said Washington and New Delhi were “very close” to an agreement, but a deal during his visit appears unlikely, the agency reported.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will fly to Oslo on Tuesday to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff, trying to repair ties with Washington that have deteriorated sharply over the past two weeks, Reuters reported in a text republished by The Straits Times. On Monday, US President Donald Trump said “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine” and “Zelensky is not helping matters much”, and called on Kyiv to find “somebody else to negotiate”.
Lebanon rejects US-backed proposals for its troops to co-ordinate directly with the Israeli army, according to The National, ahead of Tuesday's round in Florida — Lebanese officials describe the talks as technical, to repeat the demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from the south, according to the same outlet.
Iran's envoy to the UN, Gholamhossein Darzi, wrote to the secretary-general and the Security Council against what he called the “arrogant threats” of US President Donald Trump and Israel, according to Mehr News — the letter cites reports that the White House and the Pentagon prepared military options including the possible use of the GBU-43/B bomb and says Israeli minister Yisrael Katz announced on October 18 he was ready to attack Iran and target all energy facilities, according to the same agency, and Iran requested an emergency Council meeting, condemnation and full reparation, according to Press TV.
South Korea's foreign ministry said it will withdraw some staff from its embassy in Ukraine amid the dispute over North Korean prisoners of war, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a text republished by Arab News — the announcement came more than a week after the South Korean ambassador returned home following President Volodymyr Zelensky's disclosure of the transfer, and President Lee Jae Myung has demanded an official apology, according to the same agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called US President Donald Trump “by far, the greatest friend Israel has ever had”, in footage shared a day after Trump endorsed him ahead of Israel's elections — after Trump praised him on Sunday as a “great warrior prime minister” and a partner for peace, crediting him with joining the strikes on Iran in February, according to the Middle East Eye.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks in Tehran with President Masoud Pezeshkian, focusing on bilateral cooperation and regional developments — with Pezeshkian urging faster energy, transport and trade deals — and also with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei, according to TRT World.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, and of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, discussed regional issues and the latest international developments by phone, according to Mehr News.
US Vice President JD Vance said he endorses American candidates and will not get involved in Israel's elections, according to TRT World. “I endorse American candidates, and that's where I'm focused on the midterms, so I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections,” he replied. The remarks stand in contrast to Donald Trump's endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, ahead of Israel's October 27 parliamentary elections.
Up to 500 Moroccan personnel have undergone training in Morocco to join the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, a Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel on Monday. According to the official, the training began in late August and was conducted by the US-led force, which he could not confirm had been fully completed. Morocco committed in February to sending police officers and military personnel to postwar Gaza, becoming the first Arab country to do so publicly, and is slated to be the first to deploy personnel, ahead of Albania, Kazakhstan and Kosovo, according to the newspaper.
Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said consultations between President Masoud Pezeshkian and President Vladimir Putin will continue at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum summit in Moscow, according to Mehr News.
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are set to travel to Norway this week for the next round of negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, according to three people familiar with the matter. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the schedule is tentative and could change.
A Hamburg court found two men guilty of plotting to kill two leaders of Jewish organizations at Tehran’s behest and, after that, Iran summoned Germany’s ambassador, Axel Dittmann, according to Al Jazeera. The Dane, partially identified as Ali Hassan S, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years; the Afghan recruited as his accomplice, for four-and-a-half years. Tehran rejects the accusations as “baseless political claims” and says that attempting to give them a judicial face undermines the standing of the German judiciary itself.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, eight days before Israeli elections. The visit was not announced and was reported by Axios, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The Pentagon and the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment, while the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Middle East Eye.
Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed envoy to Pakistan, Rajeh Tami Albugamy, met Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday in Rawalpindi to discuss matters of mutual interest and regional security dynamics, the army said. Both sides expressed satisfaction over progress under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement and underscored the importance of strengthening defense collaboration. Munir will travel to Tehran on Tuesday for consultations with Iranian officials, according to Mehr News.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was open to a three-way meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to China next month, with nuclear weapons on the agenda. “We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation,” he told reporters outside the White House. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it.”
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that someone other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should negotiate on Kyiv’s behalf as it seeks to end the war with Russia. Trump also told reporters that Russia has been “fine” with regards to Ukraine. “They haven’t been doing much,” he said.
Iran summoned German Ambassador Axel Dittmann to the Foreign Ministry on Monday in protest over repeated allegations by German officials that Tehran considers baseless. On the same day, Germany’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador over allegations of an attempted attack against a leader of one of the country’s Jewish communities, according to Mehr News.
The US State Department added the “D” risk indicator for wrongful detention to its China travel advisory, while keeping the country’s overall advisory level at Level 2, according to the South China Morning Post.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tehran to speed up the implementation of agreements between the two countries, citing energy, transport, trade and power generation as priority areas, according to the Tehran Times. Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s intention to expand cooperation in oil and gas, energy, transport, communications, media, culture, science and higher education. According to Brasil de Fato, the Russian minister discussed the crisis in Ukraine in Tehran and reinforced the partnership with Iran.
In Samarkand, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wants to be “a strong partner” in Central Asia, leading a delegation of almost 300 American businesses, and the State Department announced more than 50 contracts with Uzbekistan worth a combined $12 billion, according to AFP. The deals cover technology, industrial modernization, transport and energy. Tajikistan and the United States discussed regional security and stability in Central Asia, according to Tajik state media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the United States and Israel for insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that “the war imposed by the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel), combined with the economic blockade, constitutes the principal source of insecurity in our region”, at a press conference in Tehran on Monday alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. According to TRT World, Lavrov is on his first visit to Iran since the outbreak of the Middle East war, and Moscow is seeking to play a mediating role.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Tehran on 19 October to discuss de-escalation steps in the Persian Gulf region with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to Russian outlet TASS, in a report by The Cradle. The visit coincides with mounting US threats against Iran and a vow by the Islamic Republic to retaliate much more forcefully to any new attack, according to the same publication.
US President Donald Trump defended his decision to waive sweeping sanctions planned against Russia as an effort to keep Moscow at the negotiating table, OilPrice reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that easing sanctions would embolden Moscow as Russian attacks on Ukraine continued.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a three-day visit to India on Monday in the finance hub of Mumbai, before heading to Jamnagar, DW reported. The Jamnagar refinery, which can process 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, is a valuable exporter of diesel fuel for global markets.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Monday urged companies and individuals not to submit bids for the E1 settlement project in the West Bank, the Jerusalem Post reported. The British government says it has created new powers allowing it to sanction individuals and companies involved in the construction of illegal settlements such as E1.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed accusations of Russian involvement in unrest in Europe, calling them “absurd” and saying that nobody takes such accusations seriously anymore, “not even in Europe itself,” in remarks to Zvezda News on Monday, TRT World reported.
The Philippines has summoned China’s ambassador to Manila after he said Beijing could “easily win” a conflict between the two countries, TRT World reported. Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro conveyed Manila’s “serious concern and strong objection” to Ambassador Jing Quan over his public remarks on October 15, according to the outlet. The ambassador said the Philippines should feel fortunate to have China as a neighbor and that Beijing would not choose force: “If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not choose force, and we love peace,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the possibility of a meeting between President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam is being discussed and that Trump has made it clear he wants to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, according to TASS.
Türkiye closely coordinates with Russia on security of navigation in the Black Sea amid threats to civil sea traffic and regional trade, at a time of more frequent Ukrainian attacks on civilian facilities and vessels in recent weeks, a Turkish government source told Sputnik.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country has unfinished business with Israel in a social media post responding to rhetoric from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mehr News reported. Araghchi wrote that Netanyahu “is driving America into another war to stay out of jail, whatever the consequences for Israel”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a summit next month with US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the four-year-old war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. The Kremlin suggested holding the trilateral dialogue on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, set for November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, Reuters reported, in text republished by WHBL. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the Journal that there were discussions about a possible meeting, but said there is still no clear understanding about the meeting itself or its agenda. A senior US official said Trump had not agreed to such a summit.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will present to Iran the steps Moscow says it is taking to reduce regional tensions created by the United States and Israel and brief Tehran on the outcome of his meetings with officials from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states in Manama, according to TASS. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will receive the Russian diplomat during the working visit to Iran.
US diplomats visited a Christian Palestinian village in the West Bank on Sunday, following attacks by Israeli settlers on European diplomats and an American photojournalist in recent days. The European Union said Sunday that it “strongly condemns” an attack by a group of Israeli settlers on visiting European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, and urged full accountability and effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, and of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty, held a telephone conversation on Sunday evening, according to Mehr News. In the call, they reviewed the latest regional developments and discussed diplomatic efforts and initiatives aimed at reducing tensions and maintaining stability in the region.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he spoke with the American president’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and said the war with Russia must be brought to an end and that his country is preparing for the “next steps” of diplomacy to end the conflict. Amid his spat with President Donald Trump, Zelensky said in a conversation with the envoys that “a lot depends on America”, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats, a French mayor and the archbishop of Cambrai in Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday, injuring three people and damaging a car, according to the Tehran Times. Belgium’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, condemned the violence against Palestinians, foreign diplomats and journalists and said his country would continue to push for European Union sanctions on settlers.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will pay a working visit to Tehran on October 19, where he will be received by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The situation in the Middle East is on the brink of a large-scale war, although the Islamabad memorandum between the United States and Iran has everything to bring the situation in the Strait of Hormuz back to the diplomatic track, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to TASS.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, expressed concern over tensions in the southern Arabian Peninsula and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait during talks in Bahrain, according to the Anadolu Agency. The two stressed the importance of maritime safety and the unimpeded passage of vessels through international waterways, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry. Both sides also highlighted the importance of continued cooperation within the OPEC+ framework.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a ministerial meeting that Russia supports the peace efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), aimed at preventing a full-scale war in the Middle East, according to TASS.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened if the United States accepts Iran’s conditions, according to Mehr News. Cited by the Hindustan Times, the foreign minister said the strait could reopen within six days if Washington accepts the conditions, with negotiations resuming on the seventh day. Iran’s demands include lifting the US blockade on its ports, removing sanctions on Iranian oil exports and ending hostilities across all regional fronts, according to the Times of India. Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, warned that the United States and its allies will suffer enormous damage if Washington resumes military action against Tehran, according to Sputnik.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh on Sunday urged Indian nationals in Saudi Arabia to follow updated safety directives issued by the Saudi authorities for people receiving emergency alerts through the National Early Warning Platform for Emergencies. The instructions, shared on social media, advise people to remain calm, follow official directions and move to the nearest safe place inside a building, preferably an interior room away from windows, until the danger has passed, according to The Hindu.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made a ritual offering to the Yasukuni shrine, while four of her Cabinet colleagues, including Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, visited the site, according to China Daily. Beijing lodged formal protests with Tokyo and described the shrine as “a spiritual tool and symbol of Japanese militarism”. The South China Morning Post reported that China criticized Takaichi over the offering and warned of “remilitarisation”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks on Monday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai, India’s financial hub, and will then visit an oil refinery in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat, according to a statement from the US Department of State. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal appeared to confirm the agenda, saying the Mumbai talks would cover energy, trade and investment, defense, and critical and emerging technologies. Rubio is arriving from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he has been meeting with five Central Asian states at the C5+1 summit.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for deeper cooperation with Uzbekistan in areas such as minerals and artificial intelligence, as Beijing vies with Washington for influence in Central Asia, according to the South China Morning Post. Li told Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Saturday that Beijing was ready to strengthen strategic communication and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Uzbekistan.
Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, told French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot that, if extending the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) proves impossible, the country welcomes any arrangement that ensures an international presence in the south, prevents a vacuum and avoids placing the Lebanese army in direct contact with the Israeli army, according to The Times of Israel. Barrot’s two-day visit to Beirut was aimed at discussing mechanisms for an international presence in the south, the scene of repeated conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his government on Friday (October 16) protested remarks by China’s ambassador to Manila, Jing Quan, calling them “a thinly veiled threat of the use of force”, the latest flare-up in the two countries’ longstanding territorial dispute in the South China Sea, according to The Hindu. Jing said the characterization was “nonsense” and added that the Philippines should feel fortunate to have China as a neighbor: “If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not choose force and we love peace”.
Iran’s foreign minister voiced support for Lebanon’s right to defend its sovereignty and national security against Israeli aggression during a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart in Baghdad, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency.
Lebanon will send a military delegation to a US-backed trilateral meeting with Israel in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, President Joseph Aoun said on Saturday. In a statement from the presidency, Aoun said the delegation would present Lebanon’s demands for an end to Israeli escalation and push for outcomes in line with the US-brokered framework agreement reached in June. Aoun also called for the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Unifil, to be extended through 2027.
For the first time in 20 years, Cuba was not mentioned in a Venezuelan representative’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, according to G1. Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, told Bloomberg that Venezuela is “a friendly country” and that “ally is a very strong word”, according to G1.
The Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union announced on Thursday (October 15) that their summit scheduled for October 24 in Riyadh had been pushed to a later date, according to The Hindu; a statement by the council cited recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia for the decision.
Masked Israeli settlers attacked a delegation of European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, assaulting a French mayor and damaging cars, according to the BBC. The delegation also included officials from Belgium and Poland, according to Al Jazeera. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot demanded that Israel crack down on criminal violence after a French mayor was beaten by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and top US diplomat Marco Rubio said the United States is very disturbed by footage of the assault and urged Israeli authorities to crack down on violence across the territory, according to TRT World.
The director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Postnikov, said ideas of a shortcut to “nuclear zero” are counterproductive, as they imply an immediate abandonment of nuclear weapons and declaring them illegal, according to TASS. According to the diplomat, real progress may be achieved only through carefully balanced, step-by-step measures that do not jeopardize anyone’s security and help reinforce global stability.
Belgium condemned on Saturday an attack by Israeli settlers on a convoy of European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, during which a visiting French mayor was beaten. Witnesses told the Middle East Eye that diplomats from the French, Belgian and Polish missions had driven to Taybeh, a largely Christian village in the occupied West Bank, when settlers arrived to stop Palestinians from picking their olives. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also condemned the attack, calling it “rioter” violence.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for an emergency parliamentary session on Saturday to approve any Saudi requests for defense assistance if Egypt receives one from Riyadh, according to Ahram Online. Sisi said his country is prepared to take any measures requested by Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom’s security and sovereignty, according to state-run Nile TV.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Baghdad on Saturday that Tehran supports a “political process” to resolve the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis, according to The Hindu. Araghchi repeated Iran’s offer to mediate between the two sides; Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh previously said Riyadh had not responded to Iran’s overture. On Friday, Iran denied involvement in the Houthi attacks after Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of encouraging the group’s escalation.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Israel to halt and reverse the establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the Palestinian issue “the greatest historical injustice of this century”, according to Russian state broadcaster RT. Wang said the immediate priority is to fully open access to Gaza, where two million civilians must not be left struggling to survive or exposed to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. According to RT, he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Israeli settlers attacked a diplomatic delegation that included the French consul in the occupied West Bank village of Taybeh, according to Middle East Eye. The village’s mayor, Suleiman Khourieh, told Al Jazeera that the settlers launched the attack on Saturday afternoon, the outlet reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Baghdad on the sidelines of the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to Mehr News. The two foreign ministers exchanged views on bilateral ties, the latest developments in the region and issues of mutual interest.
Iran’s Drug Control Headquarters put forward six proposals to strengthen cooperation among Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states in combating illicit drugs and related crimes, according to the Tehran Times. The proposals include strengthening the regional early warning system on synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances and cooperation in countering chemical precursors used in the illicit manufacturing of narcotic drugs.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said his country is prepared to take any measures requested by Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom’s security and sovereignty, according to the state-run Nile TV, in a Xinhua report. Sisi said the measure requires parliamentary approval and called on parliament to convene an emergency session to authorize action should it be asked to intervene: “I am not talking about waging war against anyone; I am speaking strictly in terms of defense”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi met with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, in Baghdad on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to the Iranian agency Mehr News.
Many delegations, including members of the European Union (EU), walked out when Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, started to speak at the steering committee meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which heard two sources in the room. A second official present said nearly a dozen delegates left, among them those from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
South Korea said it is deeply disappointed over Takaichi’s ritual offering to the Yasukuni shrine, according to Kyodo News.
India rebutted allegations by UN special rapporteur Gina Romero that young people in the country face retaliation or stigmatization, according to the Hindustan Times. Six US Democratic lawmakers urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise concerns with India over alleged excessive use of force against student protesters. The lawmakers' letter mentions, according to the Telegraph India, a pattern of repression, wrongful detention and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s stance a “parody” of the peace negotiations and criticized US President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, while welcoming the prospect of European allies stepping up their role in the talks, according to the Daily Star. In a speech at the European Union (EU) summit in Brussels, he warned the deal directs funds straight into Putin’s pocket, according to The Independent.
Israel said Thursday that the British Consulate in east Jerusalem has “ceased to function” in that capacity and that 20 staffers will leave the country, in what the Associated Press (AP) describes as the biggest diplomatic rift between the two close allies in decades. The dispute began last month, when the United Kingdom banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN and much of the international community consider illegal. A sign outside the consulate was taken down, but Britain said the building remains open and a core staff will continue to deliver “vital services” and work with Palestinians.
All seven candidates to succeed António Guterres at the UN received vetoes from permanent members of the Security Council on Friday (16), G1 reported. Candidate Rebeca Grynspan received the most support but also five opposing votes, two of them from permanent members. The result opens room for new contenders.
Italy's defence minister said it is “a complete mistake, a major mistake” for the US to limit Ukraine's access to satellite systems and intelligence used to defend itself against Russian attacks, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The relationship between US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky is close to breaking down, according to TASS, which cites The New York Times.
The EU plans to launch an Arctic surveillance program in 2027 to improve regional ties and counter growing US and Russian ambitions, according to the bloc’s new Arctic strategy cited by Bloomberg and reported by TASS. The document is set for release next week, and the program is expected to use the Copernicus and Galileo satellite systems to detect Arctic threats across land and sea.
Paraguay’s technology minister, Gustavo Villate, said on Thursday that sanctions imposed by Beijing would only accelerate joint projects with Taiwan and wrote in a social media post that the relationship with Taipei would “never be on the negotiating table”. On Monday, China sanctioned Villate and Belize’s foreign minister over the two countries’ ties with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.
Pope Leo XIV called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine, the Vatican said. According to the Vatican, the pontiff asked Putin to pause attacks to allow food and supplies to enter and residents to leave voluntarily from areas under crossfire, and expressed grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in Armenia that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons and described the destructive propaganda against the country as lies, according to Middle East Eye. “We have always been ready to talk; they think they can make us surrender, but we will not give in to force,” he said.
The United States is in talks with Russia and China on a path to denuclearisation, President Donald Trump said. Trump said the US and Russia each have more than 4,000 warheads and that China, with about 620, could catch up within five years.
European leaders expressed support for Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels on Friday, at a moment of great tension between Kyiv and US President Donald Trump, according to G1. European Council President António Costa said it was not the time to withdraw support for Ukraine or to ease sanctions on Russia. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “Starlink is really needed for Ukraine” and admitted Europe cannot replace the system in the short term.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, according to Mehr News — Pezeshkian arrived in Armenia to take part in the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17).
Aoun assured Rubio that Lebanese security forces are fully carrying out their duties in confiscating illicit arms in the country, according to Al Jazeera. In the Thursday call, the matter at hand was a truck carrying 780kg of explosives intercepted on the highway between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, a shipment Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah acknowledged as linked to the group and said was intended for operations against Israel.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday put forward four principles for the constructive participation of all parties in the settlement of hotspot issues in Africa, according to Xinhua. The first principle is Africa-led leadership, with the African people at the center of regional affairs, and Xi said wars and unilateral sanctions cannot fundamentally resolve conflicts between countries.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Israel to halt and reverse settlements in the West Bank during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku, on the sidelines of the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). Wang said the Palestinian question is the greatest historical injustice of the 21st century and that the two-state solution is the right path to resolving it, and called for the full opening of access routes into Gaza to prevent a worsening humanitarian disaster. China’s foreign ministry said Wang called on Israel to stop and reverse its “forced establishment” of West Bank settlements.
Min Aung Hlaing received a red carpet welcome, complete with an honour guard, in Kuala Lumpur last week, according to Al Jazeera. Anwar pledged to help reintegrate Myanmar into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the bloc that has barred Min Aung Hlaing from its high-level meetings for refusing to carry out its peace plan.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused the United Kingdom of reversing the roles of aggressor and victim after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he discussed ending Iranian aggression, including in the Strait of Hormuz, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Middle East Eye. In a post on X, Baqaei said the regional turmoil stemmed from unlawful interventions, including those backed or supported by Britain.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington is holding talks with Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearizing the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post. In an interview with Newsmax, Trump said he expects China to catch up with the US within the next five years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Thursday that he spoke with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and claimed he stopped last year’s massacres of Druze in Syria. According to Netanyahu, the conversation was very short and very sharp, and the massacre stopped.
Former US President Barack Obama said in Belfast that Israel took land from Palestinians and was excessive, and that those people understandably said that this was injustice and that they wanted their land back. Elsewhere, Obama said that, if the attitude of Israel is that, now that it is the strongest and the most technologically advanced in the region, its security will depend on simply doing whatever it needs.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to speak up for the Palestinian cause and told his Palestinian counterpart, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, in Baku, that the Palestinian issue should not be marginalized, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post. He also urged “all peace-loving countries” to back a two-state solution.
Iraqi Kurds have proposed a peace process between Iran and the Iranian Kurdish opposition, a proposal discussed extensively with Iranian officials in Tehran that Talabani said will be a lengthy process, in a report by Middle East Eye. Iranian Kurdish parties contacted by Middle East Eye said they were not aware of new talks with Iran, or refused to comment. Since the withdrawal, Iran has targeted the Iranian Kurdish parties with drones three times, including during the Meri forum in Koya.
South Korea will continue supporting Ukraine “as a responsible member of the international community,” despite a diplomatic dispute, according to the South China Morning Post. The dispute involves Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public disclosure of the transfer of North Korean prisoners during his UN General Assembly speech on September 23.
The third round of talks between Venezuela’s government and opposition has begun, according to TASS; the United States (US) State Department said the delegations held two rounds of talks in Caracas in August and September, with another scheduled to begin on October 14 and focused on finalizing the Supreme Court selection process.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog traveled to Azerbaijan on Wednesday for the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where he met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani in Baku. Herzog and Aliyev discussed ways to deepen the strategic relationship between the two countries, the President’s Office confirmed. Herzog’s meeting with al-Zayani focused on the necessity of strengthening the Abraham Accords and expanding peace and cooperation.
Colombia opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, becoming the 10th country to do so, as new President Abelardo de la Espriella reversed his predecessor’s break with Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post. On Tuesday, the free trade agreement that was terminated by Petro was reinstated. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and his Colombian counterpart, Omar Bula Escobar, attended the inauguration, according to Middle East Eye. Former president Gustavo Petro had broken diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024 over its actions in Gaza and had heavily criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Senior American diplomats, administration officials and Indo-Pacific military commanders met in Tokyo earlier this month, in a gathering one source called unusual, ahead of President Donald Trump's planned visit to China in November. According to the Chosun Ilbo, observers suggest the meeting aimed to review US strategies toward China and North Korea. On the 8th, senior State Department officials and 10 US ambassadors to Asian countries visited Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they met Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Cairo will host on Wednesday and Thursday talks involving Palestinian groups, including the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, on internal divisions, unity and elections, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, in text republished by Middle East Eye. Fatah spokesman Abdel Fattah Dawla told Anadolu that the meetings would prepare for broader dialogue and build consensus among the factions, in text republished by Middle East Eye.
US officials and representatives of the Board of Peace are preparing a field survey and mapping operation in Gaza to identify locations where Hamas members would hand over weapons under Trump's 20-point plan, according to Walla, in text republished by The Jerusalem Post. Israel approved the entry into Gaza of an American company, under the Board of Peace, to identify Hamas arms handover sites, according to the public broadcaster Kan, in text republished by The Times of Israel.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India and Canada together contribute to a “more stable and prosperous world”, after a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to conclude negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) at the “earliest opportunity” and to double two-way trade, at about $23 billion in 2025, by 2030.
More than 100 British soldiers and local reservists trained for six days in the Falkland Islands in early October, in an exercise that included an approximately 32-kilometer night march and an amphibious assault operation, with troops landing from the sea, according to the British newspaper The Times, in a text published by G1. Argentine President Javier Milei again said the territory is under “illegal foreign occupation” and threatened to take measures to advance the dispute.
The White House asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, and she left the post on Tuesday, after allegations of bribery, corruption and other misconduct, according to ABC News, in a report by The Jerusalem Post. Spokesperson Zacharia confirmed the request: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” she said. Guilfoyle denies the allegations, calling them false, and says she will defend her name, her reputation and her integrity.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Kiev regime, under the formal pretext of concern for global food security, wants a protected maritime channel to send weapons to Ukraine’s armed forces and to create yet another mechanism of political and economic pressure on Russia, according to TASS. Zakharova also said the Black Sea artery supplying Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is “very important for its sponsors”.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he recognizes the breakaway republic of Somaliland as “a totally different country”, according to Middle East Eye.
Iran summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over “accusations” linking the country to a suspected plot against Fairford air base in the United Kingdom, Iran’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday, according to the Middle East Eye. The ministry demanded that the British government provide “as soon as possible” the documents and evidence supporting its accusations and said that otherwise the Islamic Republic of Iran “will seriously reconsider its bilateral relations.”
The White House asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, according to the Jerusalem Post. White House press secretary Katie Zacharia confirmed the request at a briefing on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said it has seen only in the press The Washington Post’s report about the United States and Europe moving toward a joint peace proposal on Ukraine and said it has received no information about it, according to TASS. The Kremlin said there is no connection between the diesel agreement with the United States and Russia’s position on Ukraine, and described it as a mutually beneficial example of Russian-US cooperation. It also said European Union sanctions and other unilateral actions could hamper the implementation of the fuel deal between Russia and the United States.
The United States and Europe are working on a four-point proposal to settle the Ukraine conflict, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote, citing sources, according to TASS. Ukraine's reconstruction would be the first pillar, and negotiators asked Kiev for detailed cost estimates. A third pillar would be economic integration of Russia, Ukraine and Europe through an energy deal that could include a pipeline carrying Russian oil and gas to Europe, with Ukraine and Russia splitting the profits.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are visiting Ceuta months after more than 70,000 migrants arrived from Morocco, France24 reported. The visit has divided residents and risks reigniting diplomatic tensions with Morocco, which claims sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.
Badr Abdelatty of Egypt urged Iran's Abbas Araghchi to help ease regional tensions and demanded that attacks on Saudi Arabia stop immediately, according to Middle East Eye. Egypt's Foreign Ministry said Abdelatty described the attacks as “unacceptable” and said there was “no justification for these attacks”. Abdelatty also urged Tehran and Washington to resume talks, saying diplomacy was the only route to settling their disputes and averting further instability.
US President Donald Trump said the US “might have gone too far” in targeting Iran's leadership, according to The Jerusalem Post, adding that Washington struggles to know whom to negotiate with, and repeated in Ohio that Washington is “having a hard time figuring out who to deal with”, according to the Middle East Eye.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he does not believe China and Russia are helping Iran “at all” and that Moscow and Beijing have “too much to lose,” according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Jerusalem Post.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn will discuss energy and food security, prospects for strategic partnership and efforts to address emerging challenges in the Asia-Pacific region at talks in Moscow, according to TASS. Kao Kim Hourn is visiting Russia from October 12 to 15 and will meet with senior officials from Russian ministries, including the Ministry of Energy.
Envoys of US President Donald Trump told Ukrainian officials on Friday that a deal to allow Russian diesel exports is part of a bid to draw Russia back to negotiations after the failure of previous efforts to launch sustained talks to end the war, three people familiar with the meeting told Reuters. The warring sides have not confirmed the energy ceasefire Trump announced on Sunday, and Russia struck energy targets inside Ukraine on Monday. Under the deal, Russia will supply more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel to US and global markets, and Trump defended it on Monday as “the right choice for the American people.” The Jerusalem Post reported that Trump said on Monday that Putin wants a deal more than Zelensky and insisted that the ceasefire was agreed because he said so: “They agreed because I said they agreed.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered to help facilitate talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in a call with his Saudi counterpart amid deadly attacks, according to The Jerusalem Post. Xinhua reported that Iran voiced readiness to provide any kind of assistance to help initiate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a suspected plot against Royal Air Force (RAF) base Fairford was almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Al Jazeera. The British government summoned the ambassador and announced sanctions against two individuals, according to DW.
Saudi Arabia rejected an Israeli offer to join the Saudi forces in Yemen, according to Middle East Eye, which cites a diplomatic source heard by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The same account says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting, through US mediation, to persuade Riyadh to allow Israel to intervene in Yemen, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remains uninterested.
Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev said in Beijing that expanding natural resource extraction requires Russia and China to jointly safeguard maritime shipping, according to TASS. Patrushev said the two countries can reshape the global geo-economic map and better protect maritime trade against external risks, including military escalation, piracy and sanctions. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that strategic mutual trust between the two countries has become even stronger, cooperation in all areas is more stable and multilateral cooperation is closer.
Russia hit at least six energy targets during a night and morning of deadly airstrikes across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, according to Reuters, adding this showed Moscow had no interest in an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump. Trump declared over the weekend, blindsiding Kyiv and its European allies, that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to hit each other’s energy systems. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks were ongoing about a possible energy ceasefire and that further information would be revealed in due course, but he rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal for a full 60-day truce.
Sixty countries supported a declaration on Monday (12) committing to work to preserve freedom of navigation and opposing the introduction of tolls in straits used for international navigation, according to G1. The document was signed by EU members, Australia, Japan and the UK, among others. Since the start of the war between the United States and Iran, the charging of fees for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has been speculated about.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament it is highly likely the threats against RAF Fairford were coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Burnham said the UK would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the IRGC as a result, with more information to follow in an update from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Five men from London drove to Whelford, a village next to a base used by the US air force, in three white vans shortly after midnight on 27 September. They were released on police bail a day later after no bombs or explosives were found. A week later, the US withdrew 12 B-1 bombers from the base, amid reports of concern about a possible drone attack on a base used to attack Iran during the Middle East war in the spring and summer.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that relations between Russia and Iran are based on mutual trust, including on the Iranian nuclear program, according to TASS. According to the agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump that the proposal to transfer enriched Iranian uranium to Russian territory remained on the table.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran is “deeply concerned” about developments in the Arabian Peninsula and declared it ready “to help facilitate dialogue between the parties,” according to The Hindu. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that he discussed the ongoing conflict between Riyadh and the Houthis with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan and said, according to Sputnik, that the region’s crises have no military solution and that Iran is ready to provide any form of assistance to initiate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and reach a political settlement.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Pakistan and Qatar continue to serve as intermediaries between Iran and the United States and that Tehran and Washington continue to exchange communications, according to TASS. He said Iran is reviewing US proposals for a seven-day plan to restore security in the Strait of Hormuz.
The diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Anwar Gargash, said on Monday that targeting Saudi Arabia undermines the security of the UAE and all Gulf states, amid repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia during the past week, according to the Khaleej Times. Gargash called for revitalising joint Gulf action, particularly in its security and defence dimensions, and said Gulf security is indivisible and that all are targets.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Türkiye, as the R4 Group, condemned on Sunday the ongoing Houthi attacks on the Kingdom, including those launched against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which killed and injured civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure, calling them a “blatant violation of international law” and a “flagrant violation” of Saudi sovereignty and territorial integrity, according to Arab News. The group reaffirmed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, with full support for all “legitimate measures and steps” the country takes to respond to the attacks, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Lufkin Daily News.
Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov has arrived in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to discuss cooperation in disaster prevention and management, according to TASS. A delegation from Russia's emergency ministry visited Pyongyang to discuss ways to expand cooperation in disaster management, North Korea's state media reported on Monday. The two ministries plan to sign a joint action plan for 2027-2029, according to TASS.
Witkoff and Kushner put their planned trip to Moscow on hold until there is clarity on whether Ukraine and the Europeans are ready to agree to a new unified proposal, according to Axios, cited by TASS. The US, Ukraine, the E3 (United Kingdom, France and Germany), the European Commission and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held talks in Miami on October 9, according to the same report.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister spoke with his Iranian counterpart about the recent escalation of the regional conflict and efforts to lower tensions, the officials’ first publicly reported contact since Iran-aligned Houthis intensified strikes on the kingdom, according to the Saudi state news agency, in a Reuters report republished by the Jerusalem Post.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, the same day US President Donald Trump suggested the Ukrainian leader should be replaced for refusing to reach a settlement with Moscow, according to RT. Earlier on Saturday, Trump accused Zelenskyy of seeking to “make problems for the world” through continued attacks on the Russian energy infrastructure, including refineries. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” he said.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said that Tehran continues to demand changes to Washington’s response before agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks, according to the Middle East Eye. Rezaei wrote on X that the United States (US) has agreed to some of Iran’s seven conditions, but that Tehran considers its response inadequate.
Iran’s foreign minister said the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to provide any assistance to help start dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and reach a political solution, according to Mehr News. The minister also expressed concern about the escalation of tensions and said that insisting on a military approach and ignoring a political solution will complicate the current situation.
Iran’s Supreme Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tehran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts Iran’s seven-point plan for a peaceful resolution, conveyed through Qatar in September, according to Sputnik Globe. According to Rezaei, the United States responded to the conditions and accepted some of them, but its response to the rest was vague. He called the US response “insufficient” and said Iran is no longer responding to the Americans, according to The Jerusalem Post.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging improper and possibly illegal conduct, according to The Guardian. A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by the reported conduct and will likely decide what action to take this week, after Monday’s Columbus Day holiday, according to the Associated Press. The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay a $100,000 credit card bill shortly before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials.
European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius called for no longer expecting any US help in settling the Ukrainian crisis, according to TASS. He argued that the European Union (EU) and Ukraine should draw up and implement an independent peace strategy.
The Council for a Secure America ranked Kuwait as the Middle Eastern country most likely to join the Abraham Accords, followed by Lebanon and Syria, according to the Jerusalem Post, in a Media Line text. The “Expansion Opportunities: Middle East Analysis” report of October 8 assessed nine Muslim-majority countries without formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Lebanon placed second after signing a US-brokered “Trilateral Framework” in June; Syria placed third after talks accelerated post-Assad.
US President Donald Trump called on Saturday for Ukraine to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the Ukrainian criticized Washington’s easing of Russian diesel, according to France24. Trump also railed against Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, according to Reuters.
The Houthis renewed their warning on Sunday to airlines, workers and travelers not to use airports in Saudi Arabia and said the warning should be taken seriously, after the attack on Riyadh’s international airport. According to Saudi authorities, cited by The Jerusalem Post, Saturday’s attack left 12 dead and more than 300 wounded. Saudi civil aviation extended the closure of King Khalid airport until 5 p.m. (UTC-4) on Sunday, under a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). India condemned the attack, cited the 12 dead and more than 300 wounded and called attacks on civilians completely unacceptable.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday (October 10, 2026) that Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to reach a deal on the war in Ukraine, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of resisting a compromise, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Hindu. Trump said Putin told him he wanted a settlement, “strongly,” in their phone call on Friday (October 9, 2026). In another statement, Trump said Zelenskyy, for various reasons, does not want to pursue a peaceful settlement, according to Mehr News.
The US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on October 8, downgraded Hong Kong to Tier 3 from the Tier 2 Watch List, according to the Times of India. Hong Kong rejected the assessment, calling it “entirely unfounded” and accusing Washington of double standards. According to the report, Hong Kong authorities investigated 11 human trafficking cases in 2025, all involving forced labour, compared with seven in 2024.
US President Donald Trump said it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s criticism of the US diesel deal with Russia, according to the BBC. Trump told reporters on Saturday that he suggests they get a new leader who can make a deal, and that it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, according to Axios. Zelensky called the diesel deal not fair and not honest, a sign of weakness by Trump and a birthday gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Axios.
US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Moscow within the next two weeks, a source told TASS. The presidents of Russia and the United States held a phone call on October 9 discussing Russian diesel supplies, according to TASS.
Lula's special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, said that the “Shield of the Americas” launched by President Donald Trump seeks to impose a “siege” and “absolute domination” on Brazil under the “false” argument of fighting organized crime, according to G1. The coalition brings together presidents of Latin American countries most aligned with Trump, such as Javier Milei, of Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella, of Colombia, and Nayib Bukele, of El Salvador, according to G1. Aides close to Lula say the measure was “very serious” and represents a “gateway” to military actions in the region, as happened in Venezuela and Colombia, according to G1.
The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed to US President Donald Trump, in a phone call on Friday, Iran's stance on a potential agreement to end the war, according to Mehr News. According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, cited by RIA Novosti, Putin conveyed to Trump the Iranian side's views on a possible settlement of the conflict, in coordination with the Iranian president. This week, Putin met with Iran's president on the sidelines of a regional summit in Turkmenistan, where he offered to mediate an agreement to end the war.
Drones attributed to Ethiopian government forces struck Eritrean troops, vehicles and ammunition near the northern Ethiopian town of Adigrat between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to The Media Line, in a text published by the Jerusalem Post. In an October 8 letter to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of invading Ethiopian territory and demanded that its troops withdraw. Eritrea on Saturday asked the council to condemn Ethiopia’s “declaration of war”, warning it could destabilise the region, according to AFP, in a text published by LBC.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Saturday cancelling the November 28, 2026 legislative elections and setting simultaneous presidential and legislative elections for September 11, 2027, according to the Wafa news agency. The decree followed a decision by the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and consultations with Palestinian factions and political forces, which produced a national consensus on obstacles posed by Israeli measures, the Middle East Eye reported.
Vladimir Putin conveyed to Donald Trump, in coordination with the Iranian president, Iran’s vision on a possible conflict resolution, according to Sputnik, citing the Kremlin.
Jared Kushner marked one year since an agreement was reached on Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza, saying significant progress had been made in implementing it over the past year, according to the Jerusalem Post. Among the milestones he cited were the return of the 20 living hostages to Israel in October 2025, the return of the remains of the final hostage in January 2026 and the formation of a technocratic Palestinian administration for Gaza. Kushner said humanitarian aid to Gaza has increased significantly since the ceasefire and that Hamas signed in July a phased disarmament framework that has not been fully implemented.
US, Ukrainian and European officials met in Miami on Friday in a renewed diplomatic push to end Russia's war in Ukraine, as Washington seeks a way out of the dangerous stalemate. US envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks tackled potential avenues to de-escalate and conclude the war before winter, toward a durable peace; according to him, the meeting included the E3, the European Commission, Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and covered energy resilience, grain, security guarantees and reconstruction. The meeting follows the announcement that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, with another 500,000 tons in November, and that the US Treasury would issue a temporary license to allow Russian diesel to flow to global markets.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian proposed a new “Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) + Iran” format in his first appearance as a special guest at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Turkmenistan, pitching Iran as Central Asia's natural route to open waters. Pezeshkian said Iran's southern ports, notably Chabahar, could link the region to South Asia, Africa and Europe. According to Mehr News Agency, Pezeshkian said regional diplomacy should not be limited merely to holding meetings and must serve as a genuine tool for crisis management, dialogue, preventing escalation and practical cooperation.
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded to remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying he will kneel before the Iranians. Rubio had said on Wednesday that Iran has lost complete control of the waterway, pointing to the recovery in Gulf oil exports in September.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held a phone call lasting an hour and a half, described as substantive and friendly, according to Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov. In the same call, Putin told Trump that Russia’s position on the goals and objectives of its special military operation remains unchanged, according to the aide.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump that Moscow’s proposal to transfer Iran’s highly enriched uranium to Russia remains in force as a possible way out of the impasse, according to TASS. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump welcomed Moscow’s involvement in resolving the situation surrounding Tehran, according to TASS.
President Donald Trump announced that Russia will supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons shortly after, according to DW. The US Treasury Department issued a temporary license allowing Russian diesel to reach global markets through April 2027, DW reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said gifts to Russian President Vladimir Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world and that Russia will “repay” the diesel with further terror and perfidy, according to DW. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that by launching a massive drone attack on Moscow, other cities and polling stations on the main voting day, Kyiv disrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process, according to Reuters, in a text republished by SRN News.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with his Turkmen counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit, according to Mehr News. The two sides discussed ways to develop political, economic and trade ties and stressed the need to accelerate agreed projects. They also discussed regional cooperation and Caspian Sea-related issues, emphasizing stronger cooperation among Caspian littoral states and protection of the sea's environment.
The United States (US) is leading a fresh round of Ukraine peace talks with meetings in Miami, according to AFP. US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are set to present new proposals aimed at restarting negotiations during two days of talks, after receiving directives from Trump on October 8, according to Axios, in a text published by Hromadske.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said talks with the country can only succeed without pressure and threats, according to The Hindu. He made the remarks at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan, according to Al-Monitor. Pezeshkian said negotiation conducted in the shadow of force is imposition and coercion.
The government of Nikol Pashinyan suspended a nuclear cooperation deal with the US and committed to having Rosatom build Armenia’s next-generation reactor, according to Eurasianet, in a text published by OilPrice. According to Eurasianet, a Rosatom contract would complicate TRIPP, the US-backed transit route at the center of Armenia’s peace process with Azerbaijan, which both Russia and Iran oppose.
Rubio said in Lisbon that the war in Ukraine has hit a stalemate that usually ends in negotiation or escalation, and he called escalation “very dangerous”, including possible Russian sabotage or strikes in neighboring NATO countries that could rapidly widen the conflict, according to OilPrice.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL), and invited him to visit the country, Netanyahu’s office said on Friday. In the statement, the office said that “the two intend to renew the deep friendship between the two countries… as part of the ongoing transformation in Israel’s relations with South American countries.” According to the Times of Israel, the office confirmed the call took place the night before.
Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war of aggression on Friday, as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war, according to France 24, in a text with AFP. A foreign security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP they estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were present in Tigray. Witnesses told AFP that the rebels had lost two other cities in the region, Shire and Adigrat.
Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh has informed France that a Palestinian legislative election planned for November 28 will be postponed for several months, according to Reuters. The reason cited in a letter seen by Reuters would be worsening conditions throughout the Palestinian territories.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that trade between Russia and the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) exceeded 110 billion dollars in 2025 and grew 19% in the first half, according to Sputnik. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Russian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Turkmenistan on the sidelines of a CIS meeting, according to Mehr News.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Vladimir Putin that Tehran will not walk away from the negotiating table despite US attacks, in a meeting on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States summit and the Caspian environmental summit in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, according to Mehr News. Putin arrived at the convention center in the Awaza national tourist zone, where the summits are taking place, according to TASS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Russia will do everything to help end the war on Iran, according to Al Jazeera. The two leaders met in Turkmenistan on Thursday, ahead of the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Envoys of US President Donald Trump will meet Ukrainian negotiators and European officials in Miami on Friday to discuss new peace proposals, two US sources told AFP. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the Ukrainian team is due to meet Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in the US, in a two-day meeting, and is counting on European participation. The American negotiators also invited national security advisers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as well as officials from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, to discuss security guarantees and a post-war prosperity plan.
Reuters reported that Syria is considering providing military assistance to Saudi Arabia, including defensive aid or sending forces to fight the Houthis alongside Riyadh-backed Yemeni troops. Ahmad Zaidan, media adviser to Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, denied the reports and called any Saudi request for Syrian forces in Saudi Arabia or Yemen “lies”. Syria’s foreign ministry condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi civilian installations, including Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport, which killed three people and injured 36.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Zelensky’s confrontational statements demonstrate Ukraine’s unwillingness to pursue peace, according to TASS. Peskov said Zelensky’s earlier threats of a 40-day operation against Russia are now backfiring on Ukraine itself.
David Milstein, a senior advisor to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, used his position to quash reports on Israeli activities in the West Bank and present the Netanyahu government in a favorable light to Washington, according to the New York Times, in a report published by the Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The report is based on 12 anonymous sources who work or interact with Milstein in both Jerusalem and Washington. Huckabee refuted the report and criticized the absence of any named source.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) accused the Turkish state on Thursday of doing little to pursue the peace process that began in 2024, despite the Kurdish group having withdrawn all its combat forces from Turkiye, according to AFP, in a text published by The Hindu. The movement said it has withdrawn all its armed forces, both within and outside of Turkiye, that could be considered near the border.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, said inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of Iranian nuclear facilities attacked by US forces or threatened with strikes are ruled out. Eslami said cooperation with the IAEA is prohibited by law and that the agency “jeopardizes the security of the country and its specialists,” according to TASS.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the time of containment in the face of hostile acts against the State of Israel is over on Thursday. Israel has removed British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, terminated British training activities for Palestinian Authority forces and barred 12 British elected officials and other British citizens accused by Israel of antisemitic or anti-Israel activity, according to The Jerusalem Post.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the war in Ukraine is at a dangerous stalemate, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Internazionale. Rubio warned the escalation could become a sabotage campaign in neighboring countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In an interview, he said he does not believe the war can be settled through negotiations at this time, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey will not send troops to Yemen to fight Houthi forces, despite its defence agreement with Saudi Arabia, according to Firstpost. Fidan said the deal is defensive and does not authorise attacks on another country's territory. The Mecca Agreement, signed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in August, commits the three to mutual defence, with an armed attack on one member treated as an attack on all three.
The United Kingdom announced it is closing its consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and downgrading the building to the status of a mission. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK does not accept that the Government of Israel has the legal right to close the consulate and that it will try to rebuild its diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the British consulate is ending its operations today and the sign has been removed.
South Korea said it will recall its ambassador to Ukraine, stepping up its protest against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent revelation of a supposedly secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, The Associated Press reported. South Korea has accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement on their transfer in mid-September, but Kyiv has denied agreeing to such a deal.
US President Donald Trump urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to repair ties with Japan and lift Beijing’s export curbs on Tokyo during their September talks in Washington, according to Kyodo News, citing the South China Morning Post. Trump said China’s export restrictions on Japan-bound items, including rare earths, pose a “threat to American industries reliant on Japanese suppliers,” and described the move as “an indirect violation of the US-China trade truce” reached in South Korea in October last year. Xi was “not particularly receptive,” saying Beijing’s dispute with Tokyo should be kept separate from the relationship with Washington, and warned of “the growing risks of Japanese militarism.”
In Beijing, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday that the bloc’s trade deficit with China was “unsustainable,” as he opened two days of talks to avert a trade war. Sefcovic wrote on X that the goal of day one was to begin rebalancing the bloc’s unsustainable trade deficit. According to European figures, last year China exported to the EU around €1 billion a day more in goods and services than went the other way.
China nominated Song Li, a maternal and child health specialist, to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, a move that could expand Beijing’s influence over the international body after the United States quit it this year, according to CNA. Song Li heads the Department of Women and Child Health at China’s National Health Commission and has a 21-year career, according to the WHO. She will run against candidates put forward by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Spain, Indonesia and Botswana, including three men and three women.
The British consulate-general building in East Jerusalem will not close and will be known as a UK mission, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said, according to The Guardian. Israel says 20 diplomats and the Consul General will leave the country, while a seven-person task force may remain in the building with a very limited scope of activity, according to the BBC.
Reuters journalists saw workers remove the “British Consulate General” plaque from the consulate building in East Jerusalem, along with another sign for its consular section, on Thursday, according to the agency, in a text republished by Al Jazeera.
The Trump administration began direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post, in a reversal of the isolation policy adopted after the 2021 coup. Michael Vance met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on September 15 and 16. The US Department of State said it engages with all groups in Myanmar on issues affecting American interests — and that violence must cease and political prisoners must be released.
The Kremlin said Moscow and Washington have not yet agreed on a phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and that it is unclear when it will take place. The day before, on Putin's birthday, Trump said his call with the Russian president had been arranged. Since the beginning of the year, the two presidents have held five phone calls, the most recent on September 8, according to TASS.
Israel will close the UK consulate in East Jerusalem on October 8, but will not expel British diplomats or their families, according to the Times, in a text republished by TASS — the consulate will lose its diplomatic status, and its nearly 30 diplomats will be able to continue working at the UK embassy in Tel Aviv.
Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran had clearly and firmly set out its conditions for ending the imposed war and would respond to US proposals through mediators.
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has arrived in Beijing for talks on the European Union’s (EU) growing trade deficit with China. He will meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday after months of discussions over a deficit of more than €1bn a day and Chinese restrictions on rare earths, according to Al Jazeera. Sefcovic travels to Beijing on October 8 for what he called “a super crucial meeting” with Wang Wentao, seeking results to present to EU leaders on October 15 and 16, according to Politico.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), a candidate for Brazil’s presidency, said he intends to join the Shield of the Americas in a future government. The initiative, articulated by Donald Trump’s government, brings together Latin American countries in a security cooperation front. In a letter sent on Tuesday, 12 US Democratic lawmakers accused Donald Trump’s government of trying to influence Brazil’s election. In the document, the lawmakers cite the revocation of the Brazilian ambassador’s visa and plans to send 2 authorities to question the Brazilian system.
An Iranian official cited by Western media said there are no nuclear negotiations under way between Washington and Tehran, according to Mehr News. The source set US recognition of Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment as a red line and said there would be no flexibility on it. The statement responds to US Vice-President JD Vance, who said on 5 October that Tehran must make a significant reduction in nuclear enrichment.
The French foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador on Wednesday over a disinformation campaign targeting France’s student protest movement, according to France24. Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the misleading content disseminated by official Iranian ministry accounts was absolutely unacceptable and that the provocations had to stop. On Tuesday, Tehran had summoned France’s envoy in Tehran over what it called the violent treatment of demonstrators, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post.
Iran’s president told Vladimir Putin that a ceasefire with the United States is not out of reach, according to Opera Mundi.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington understood and acknowledged Moscow’s position on a possible trilateral meeting on Ukraine, after Kiev’s attempts to disrupt the State Duma elections, according to TASS. On another front, European Union ambassadors agreed to resume the technical stage of EU accession talks for Ukraine and Moldova, stalled by Hungary since the summer, with the possible opening of two clusters, according to TASS, citing the Rapporteur report.
Donald Trump said that, for now, the parties are in very deep discussions, according to the BBC. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no phone call had been scheduled and that Russia’s reporting of the death to the World Health Organization (WHO) was in line with standard practice. The WHO director-general said that timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.
The European Parliament approved a tougher stance on China, describing it as a decisive enabler of Russia and calling for continuous naval presence and joint exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait, according to the South China Morning Post. The report urges swift action to counter Beijing’s industrial policy, which it describes as an existential threat to the European Union. The vote saw 454 lawmakers in favour, 86 against and 110 abstentions.
Marco Rubio will speak on Wednesday near the Acropolis and call for a renewal of the Western spirit, an inheritance stretching from Athens and Rome to the founding of the American Republic, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by The Hindu. In Athens to discuss economic, energy and security cooperation with Greece.
The Trump administration declined to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to the 2026 midterm elections, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) — the first time since 2002, when the organization began observing US federal elections. The OSCE called the decision regrettable and not in line with US commitments; Senator Jeanne Shaheen called the refusal unprecedented.
Qatar, as mediator, says the United States and Iran remain engaged in indirect talks aimed at ending the conflict, despite an apparent deadlock, according to the Middle East Eye, citing the Qatari foreign ministry.
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Brazil will not leave BRICS after the elections, because the association benefits all its members and its leadership should understand this, according to TASS.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said continued dialogue and cooperation with neighbours is Iran’s chosen path toward a safer and more stable region, according to Mehr News. The two sides reviewed relations between Tehran and Yerevan and ways to deepen cooperation in economy, trade, transport and energy, according to Mehr News. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman received Germany’s new envoy in Tehran on Tuesday and described the conversation as frank and useful, according to Mehr News.
United States Vice President J. D. Vance said in an interview with Reuters that Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to meet United States demands and end the seven-month war, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu. Any agreement would require Iran to reduce enrichment capacity rather than merely promise future cuts, Vance said after a campaign trip in Alaska, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Al-Monitor. President Donald Trump said he was weighing ending the conflict with Iran “the nice way,” according to TASS.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has a call scheduled with Putin to discuss a possible case of pneumonic plague in Russia. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he would be talking with Putin about the case “very soon”, after the death of an employee at an anti-plague institute attributed to pneumonia with an unknown cause, which health authorities are investigating.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a working visit to Turkmenistan on October 8-9 for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said. On October 9, Putin holds a bilateral meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, RIA Novosti reported. The agenda includes bilateral cooperation and the crisis situation in the Middle East, Ushakov said. Lavrov arrived in Turkmenistan for the CIS Ministerial Council, according to TASS.
Thursday marks 30 days since Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's order to close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, a retaliatory move against the UK's wave of sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements, according to Al Jazeera. Former British consul Vincent Fean told Al Jazeera that Israel acts unlawfully and has no right to interfere in the diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the State of Palestine. Reports cited by Al Jazeera claimed the UK could expel 27 Israeli diplomats if the consulate closure goes ahead.
Qatar has put forward a new set of proposals on the regional situation as it continues mediating between Iran and the United States, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said after talks in Doha, according to Sputnik. Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani presented assessments and proposals for Momeni to convey to the Iranian president upon his return to Tehran.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is not currently being discussed, because Washington is focused on resolving the Ukrainian conflict. Asked by a journalist whether Ukraine should be a NATO member, Rubio said “there's no yes or no answer”, according to TASS.
Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said that preventing the Falkland Islands from exploiting their offshore oil is part of a strategy to recover sovereignty peacefully, in a speech to an audience that included the British ambassador. Quirno accused the UK of refusing to negotiate and of advancing the Sea Lion project in the North Falkland Basin. On 28 September, Milei gave the UK a two-week deadline to stop the oil project or face arbitration and a binding decision under annex VII of the UN convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS).
Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia issued a joint declaration after meeting in Egypt's New Alamein, affirming “the principle of freedom of navigation” and saying that “the governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of the littoral states”. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed renewed his call for access to the Red Sea, saying his landlocked country will work to secure an outlet to the sea.
The US and nine countries across the Americas condemned in a joint statement what they called Iran’s “terrorist actions”, in a text endorsed by Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago, according to the Middle East Eye.
Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia in the next few days, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday, October 6, according to CNA. Talks are expected to focus on Malaysia’s plan, announced in July, to return about 5,000 Myanmar nationals. The first group of nearly 1,500 returnees arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, although Malaysia has not said how many Rohingya were among them.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for a three-day official visit, from October 6 to 8, according to Arab News Pakistan. The agenda includes Pakistan’s role in mediation between Washington and Tehran in the conflict between the United States and Iran, and Guterres is due to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Asim Munir.
US envoy Massad Boulos met on Saturday, October 4, with Sudanese General Abdel-Fattah Burhan at a luncheon hosted by the Egyptian president, according to the AP in a text republished by The Hindu, and said the efforts aim to restore security and stability and begin reconstruction and development through an inclusive Sudanese-owned national dialogue.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, said US Coast Guardsmen came under fire in a border area. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico asked the United States for all the evidence because it has none. Some 500 US troops, along with helicopters, drones and anti-drone equipment, have been sent to the border since the alleged shooting. The Washington Post reported that the two countries deployed hundreds of troops to a border area where US officials said members of the US Coast Guard came under fire.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed insisted that his landlocked country must have access to the Red Sea, despite a conflict in the north. In Parliament, he said that, based on the principle of give and take, Ethiopia will work diligently to ensure an outlet to the sea. Four of the five countries bordering the Red Sea — Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia — met on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera.
The UK threatened to expel one Israeli diplomat for each of the 27 British diplomats whose diplomatic status at the consulate would be terminated if Israel closes the British consulate in East Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera. Israel ordered the consulate’s closure by 8 October, in retaliation for British sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Foreign Office did not deny the Ynet report and said it would not comment on speculation, according to The Guardian.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that negotiations have no meaning with an enemy that resorts to assassination, sanctions, pressure and threats and breaches its commitments, in a statement made on Monday during a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Tehran, according to the Tehran Times. Pezeshkian criticized the United States for launching attacks on Iran and then calling for negotiations, and said Iran had been attacked three times after engaging in talks.
US Vice President JD Vance said he has confidence that Iran was behind the incident at the base in Fairford, in the United Kingdom, and linked the withdrawal of the B-1 bombers to the episode, saying it was out of an abundance of caution to protect the troops, according to TASS. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not directly tie the removal of the B-1s to the incident, according to Al Jazeera. Five British nationals were arrested near the base on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and released on bail; a sixth man, a dual UK-Iranian national, was also released on bail, according to Al Jazeera.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that Tokyo's “unfriendly attacks” will not remain without proportionate countermeasures and that Russia will respond to Japan's new anti-Russian steps, according to Sputnik. Last week, Japan imposed new restrictions against Russia, according to the outlet.
Participants in the Moscow Format called on Kabul and Islamabad to refrain from military action, according to TASS, and said they were ready to help find political and diplomatic solutions. The October 5 meeting is expected to bring together Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Pakistan's special representative for Afghanistan, with Russia ready to mediate, according to Ariana News.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the country will stay the course of resolving the territorial issue and concluding a peace treaty with Russia despite the difficult state of bilateral relations, according to TASS.
Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei said that Iran will not back down from its seven conditions to end the war and that the United States (US) must submit to its diplomats or to Iranian missiles, according to the lawmaker himself.
Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that a United States (US) proposal was conveyed to Tehran through the Qatari mediator, according to the lawmaker himself. The Iranian government confirmed it had received the US response to the Qatari-mediated proposal, without disclosing its content, according to spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Norway’s ambassador in Tehran to deliver an official protest over Norway’s continued inaction on unauthorized Starlink activities in Iranian territory, according to Mehr News. Tehran says the United States and what it calls the Zionist regime are using Starlink satellite internet systems to advance interventionist actions against Iran.
The United States is expected to deploy more troops and aircraft to Israel in the coming weeks, according to the Israeli news website Walla, cited in a Middle East Eye live blog. The report presents the move as part of preparations for an escalation in the Middle East.
Araghchi said all Iranian diplomats left New York as scheduled except one who had departed earlier, after the UN General Assembly session, according to Türkiye Today; a US official said, in text citing AFP, that two members of the Iranian delegation were found still in New York well after the session ended, and that the State Department had instructed Araghchi and his delegation to leave the country by Monday.
Nicaragua announced it is withdrawing from the Central American Parliament, furthering its international isolation, according to Reuters. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had denounced the 1987 treaty that established the six-country parliament in the full exercise of its sovereignty. According to Al Jazeera, the six-country body was established to help promote human rights and democracy in Central America.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Sunday that Lebanon wants a new chapter in relations with Iran based on mutual respect and non-interference, according to Middle East Eye. Salam said he had accepted a meeting requested by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and that he prefers Iran to name a new ambassador.
The eighth meeting of the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan takes place on Monday in the Russian capital, and attendees will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and around it, including the conflict between Kabul and Islamabad, according to TASS.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to hold trilateral talks with the United States and Russia this month, according to Al Jazeera. He confirmed that the United Arab Emirates, which has hosted previous talks, could again host the meeting.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that if the enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, they will receive a stronger response than before, according to the Tehran Times. Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said that the viewpoints received from Washington on Iran's seven-day proposal for the Strait of Hormuz are under study in Tehran, according to Mehr News.
Turkey said the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Mecca defence pact, which includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, will meet in Riyadh on Monday, according to Middle East Eye. The meeting will address recent developments in the region and the stage reached in the Alliance's institutionalisation efforts, the Turkish ministry statement said. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Riyadh with the defence minister and the chief of staff for the committee meeting of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, an alliance founded in August with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to the Anadolu Agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Turkmenistan next week for a summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State will take place on October 9, with Turkmenistan holding the 2026 rotating presidency, according to Sputnik.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the United States that there is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions to the conflict between the two countries, according to The Hindu. Araghchi warned that, if the enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, Iran's response will be stronger than before, according to France24, in an AFP report. Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei characterised the latest US counterproposal as being in line with previous US proposals concerning nuclear issues.
The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said Iranian elites are holding serious discussions on the possibility of the country withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), TASS reported. According to him, Tehran continues to fulfill all its obligations under the treaty for the time being, and the ministry will abide by the decision of the competent authorities. Iranian lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing a fast-tracked motion calling for the country's withdrawal from the treaty, according to Tasnim News Agency.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, October 4, for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Kyiv Post. Merz said he traveled to Ukraine because the country needs support and that, if Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later turn against the West. He was joined by Economy Minister Katherina Reiche and executives from the defense and energy sectors, France 24 reported.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the United States are met, according to The Hindu. Qalibaf said Iran's position is clear and firm and cited the Islamabad Memorandum, according to Nournews.
US President Donald Trump said he is confident that Iran has abandoned all plans to acquire nuclear weapons, according to TASS. Trump added that he still has to make a decision on Iran, without giving details, and said the country has been defeated and that the conflict could end either well or badly.
The United States expelled two members of the Iranian delegation who attended the UN General Assembly after they ignored an order to leave the country, the State Department said on Saturday, according to Middle East Eye. US media reported that the department had told Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation to leave the country on Monday and that it resorted to expelling the two members. The Iranian mission to the UN disputed Washington’s account of the delegation’s departure and said its members left in accordance with a schedule, according to RT News.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry congratulated the Iraqi government and people on Saturday on the exit of US and other foreign forces from Iraq, according to Middle East Eye. In a statement posted on its Telegram channel, the ministry said the withdrawal is “a very important and necessary step” towards consolidating Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. The ministry accused the United States of causing “irreparable consequences” for Iraq and the region since the 2003 invasion, which it said was launched under the false pretext of “weapons of mass destruction”, and called for the US government to be held accountable for crimes committed during the occupation.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Iranian broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) that Ukraine will need to embrace a neutral, non-nuclear status, reject its nationalist policy course and recognize the four new Russian regions for a lasting political settlement, according to TASS. Medvedev said Russia and Iran are developing joint activities in defense and attach great importance to this, and that Iran plays a key role in ensuring security in the Strait of Hormuz in terms of geography and international law.
The director of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said on Saturday that flights operated by Iranian and Iraqi airlines between the two countries will resume on Sunday, according to Mehr News. The Iraqi government had said on Friday that it reached an agreement allowing Iranian airlines, except Mahan Air, to operate 40 daily flights to and from Najaf, after Baghdad secured a US exemption, according to Mehr News.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on international affairs, advised the United Arab Emirates (UAE) not to challenge Iran’s sovereignty over its three islands in the Persian Gulf, according to Mehr News. He dismissed recent UAE claims at the UN General Assembly regarding sovereignty over Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa, saying the three islands will remain Iran’s forever.
India summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires to protest the “continued facilitation of illegal cross-border infiltration” and rejected as unfounded Pakistan’s accusations over the October 2 incident in the Ferozepur sector, according to NDTV, citing a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. Pakistan summoned India’s chargé d’affaires to protest the killing of two Pakistani civilians by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in the Bedian sector along the international border, according to Dawn. The two countries summoned each other’s diplomats over Friday’s incident, in which New Delhi rejects Islamabad’s account of the killing of two unarmed Pakistani civilians, according to Al Jazeera.
China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Sun Lei, told the General Assembly that Iran must honour its commitment not to develop nuclear weapons and that its legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy must be respected, according to RT News. China and Russia blocked a resolution submitted by the United States to extend the mandate of a UN sanctions watchdog panel on Iran, according to RT News.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine is ready to consider India’s proposal for a ceasefire in energy and the Black Sea, but only in that combination, and that it is the broadest of the four proposals received. The initiatives came from India, Turkiye, Egypt and the United States, Sybiha said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Indian Prime Minister Modi has “very good ideas” aimed at finding mutually acceptable solutions.
Russia proposed that Moldova conduct a joint investigation into drone incidents, rather than levelling baseless accusations, according to TASS. Russia’s ambassador-designate to Chișinău, Oleg Ozerov, said Moldova blames Russia for all its troubles, following the European Union’s lead, without providing any evidence. Moldova handed a note of protest to Ozerov after three drones violated the country’s airspace on September 30, two of them exploding on Moldovan territory, according to Radio Moldova.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow will continue large-scale retaliatory strikes against military targets in Ukraine, in response to what it calls Kiev’s terror against Russians, according to Sputnik. The ministry reiterated its warning to foreign nationals, including diplomatic mission staff, against staying in Ukraine or travelling to its territory.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned India’s chargé d’affaires to protest the killing of two Pakistani civilians by Indian border troops, according to Al Jazeera. Islamabad urged India to conduct an “immediate, transparent and credible” investigation, with disciplinary and legal action against those responsible. The Indian side says the Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead two suspected Pakistani infiltrators in Tarn Taran, in Punjab, on Friday, according to officials cited by ETV Bharat.
Russia’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mikhail Ulyanov, dismissed the US call for Iran to abandon its nuclear program, according to Mehr News Agency. Ulyanov said Iran is not obliged to abandon the program, which is the country’s inalienable right.
President Trump's top cabinet members huddled for hours at Camp David on Friday to discuss next steps in the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen, according to three U.S. officials who spoke to Axios. Vice President JD Vance chaired the meeting, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA director John Ratcliffe and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. The meeting was not announced by the Trump administration.
The Flydubai co-pilot who attacked the captain has been identified as 29-year-old Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, according to ABC News, cited by TASS. A source close to the United Arab Emirates government accused Israel of exploiting the incident for political purposes and delaying the restoration of Flydubai service, and claimed that, according to Emirati officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to connect the attack to Iran for political reasons ahead of Israel's election, according to Middle East Eye, which cites Ynet.
Australia’s ambassador to Brazil, Sophie Davies, said the Australian embassy would also close on Friday, citing the US alert, and advised Australians to avoid US diplomatic facilities. The US embassy said in a statement on Thursday that it would suspend consular services starting on Friday and advised American citizens seeking assistance not to visit its embassy, consulates or other diplomatic facilities. Police said the operation followed cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies and that investigators had found no evidence corroborating the initially reported threat, nor identified any suspects linked to criminal organizations.
For the first time, Latin America considers China's influence in the region more positive than that of the United States, according to the Latinobarómetro 2026 survey released this Friday (2), in a report by G1. Positive assessment of Chinese influence rose from 48% in 2020 to 65% this year, while positive assessment of US influence fell from 60% to 57% over the same period.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is open to dialogue on ensuring security in the Black Sea for all countries, but that no specific negotiations on bilateral agreements are currently underway, according to Sputnik Globe.
The Brazilian government is investigating the “possible threat” cited by the United States as the reason to suspend service at the US embassy in Brasília, according to G1. According to government interlocutors, the United States informed Brazil about the indications of a threat, and Brazilian authorities were already investigating the case before the disclosure of the statement about the closure.
Pyongyang said it will not discuss military sovereignty issues with Seoul, ruled out talks on the demarcation of the borderline and once again rejected South Korea’s demand that it apologize for a recent incident where a landmine exploded, according to TASS. On October 2, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young proposed talks on the situation in the demilitarized zone and the division line.
Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will hold an emergency meeting of the strategic political defence committee under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Riyadh next week, according to The Times of India. The agenda includes the Houthi attacks and pursuing political engagement with the Houthis instead of kinetic action, according to The Times of India. Under the pact, an armed attack on any one of the three countries is to be treated as an attack on all three. Pakistan’s foreign minister said that more than six other countries want to join the agreement, according to Middle East Eye.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “very good ideas” for a settlement in Ukraine and raises the issue at “every meeting”, according to The Hindu, in remarks made on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, according to TASS cited by the paper.
Eritrea severed all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia in retaliation, saying it had no option but to reciprocate in kind. The move came after Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata. The break comes as renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia raises fears of a wider regional conflict, according to the BBC.
Iran called on Iraq to lift the remaining flight restrictions and fully restore normal air travel between the two countries, according to Al Jazeera, with the Iranian foreign minister condemning Washington efforts to disrupt the country trade and air transport as “illegal and inhumane”.
China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Fu Cong, delivered a joint statement on behalf of 28 member states on Thursday at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, according to CGTN. The statement says unilateral coercive measures are a major source of international turbulence and disorder and that developing countries and their peoples continue to bear the brunt, according to Xinhua.
US President Donald Trump said Washington could resume large-scale strikes on Iran after the November midterm elections and rejected Tehran’s latest ceasefire proposal as insufficient, according to CGTN. Asked whether the US might intensify its bombing campaign against Iran after the midterms, Trump replied “possible” and declined to reveal potential targets. According to the Middle East Eye, he threatened severe consequences without a deal with Iran, saying Tehran “won’t be around very long”: “Either they’ll do something very proper and smart, or they won’t be around very long. Frankly, I hate to see that, but they won’t be around very long.”
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung threatened to take unspecified further action if Ukraine does not issue a public apology for revealing that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to the South, according to the BBC. The South Korean president expressed anger at Ukraine over comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a speech at the UN that appeared to reveal a secret deal, according to Al Jazeera. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the situation as a “diplomatic misunderstanding” and said Kyiv was working to resolve it, according to the BBC.
The United States suspended in-person services at its embassy and consulates in Brazil on Friday (2) for security reasons, according to G1. In a statement, the embassy advised US citizens who need emergency assistance not to come to its diplomatic facilities.
The treaty signed by Britain and Mauritius on May 22, 2025 provides for Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, with British rights over the Diego Garcia military base for an initial 99-year period, according to Al Jazeera. The deal has yet to enter into force amid opposition from US President Donald Trump and a legislative stall in Britain. Between 1968 and 1973, Britain removed an estimated 1,400 to 1,700 Chagossians from the islands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out a ceasefire on long-range strikes with Ukraine, as Moscow steps up its campaign of aerial attacks on Kyiv, Al Jazeera reported. Putin said Ukraine had “partially achieved its objectives” with those strikes and that attacks on Russian oil refineries had cost the country 1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). He added that Russia would prefer to end the conflict through talks and wanted Ukraine to be a neutral country after the end of hostilities.
Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, according to ChimpReports. On Thursday, Eritrea said it was breaking diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, in response to the earlier expulsion of its diplomats from Addis Ababa, according to AFP, in a text published by Ahram Online. Eritrea's foreign ministry said it had no option but to reciprocate and sever all diplomatic ties: “Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails,” the ministry said in a statement on X.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the offer to transfer part of Iran's enriched uranium to Russia remains on the table and that everyone had initially agreed, according to TASS. Putin also said he hopes the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and sanctions on Iran will be lifted, according to the agency.
A closed-door meeting of the US-led Board of Peace for Gaza descended into a shouting match between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Israeli representative Michael Eisenberg, according to Israeli Channel 13, cited by Middle East Eye. The report, which cites no sources, says the altercation began when Fidan accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and that Jared Kushner had to step in.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador in Tehran over accusations by the British prime minister that it considers baseless, according to the Iranian agency Mehr News. Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi met Hugo Shorter at the ministry on Thursday to convey the protest, and Tehran rejected as “baseless and unfounded” the British claims linking the country to an alleged sabotage plot at Fairford military base, demanding an official explanation.
Iran has received an official US response to its latest proposal to end the seven-month war, according to Iranian officials cited by the Hindustan Times. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, according to government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, who spoke to the state-run IRNA news agency. Araghchi proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the US suspended its blockade of Iranian ports, released frozen Iranian assets and waived sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, told TASS that Tehran is grateful to Moscow for the remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN General Assembly. Jalali called Lavrov's speech excellent and cited Russia's firm stance on Iran.
The US-led coalition ended its more than decade-long mission in Iraq on Wednesday, a mission that began in 2014 when the Islamic State seized large territories in Iraq and Syria, according to Middle East Eye. The final contingent was of roughly 1,500 troops at Erbil Air Base, down from about 2,500 personnel across Iraq before the withdrawal. The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said Iraqi Kurdistan has endured more than a thousand drone and ballistic missile attacks since 28 February, when Israel and the US launched the war on Iran. The prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, said the threat is real and that the Kurds are vulnerable and under attack.
Indonesia's president, Prabowo, named career diplomat Arrmanatha Nasir as foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle, according to Reuters. Nasir was the ministry's former permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York. The outgoing foreign minister, Sugiono, was appointed human development minister. It is the second change to a top post in his cabinet in less than three weeks.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) congratulated Iraq on the full withdrawal of American forces, calling it a historic victory and the dawn of West Asia’s liberation from the yoke of the “Great Satan,” and said the expulsion resulted from the Iraqi people’s steadfastness for independence, according to Mehr News Agency.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, spoke by phone on Wednesday with US President Donald Trump in their first conversation since US legislation allowing tariffs of up to 100 per cent, and said they reviewed cooperation on trade, defense, energy and critical technologies, according to The Tribune.
Iran's mission to the United Nations said the Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, in accordance with a schedule communicated in advance to the US Department of State on September 17. The statement contrasts with the account of two US officials who said Secretary of State Marco Rubio lost patience and told the Iranians on Monday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation had to leave New York immediately.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded on Monday that the Iranian delegation to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly leave the country immediately after bilateral settlement negotiations stalled, according to Axios, in text republished by TASS — the delegation, including Araghchi, left for the airport hours later and boarded a flight from New York to Doha at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to Axios.
Kim Jong Un said in a telegram to Chinese President Xi Jinping that he intends to take relations between North Korea and China to a new strategic level, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), in text republished by TASS — the message was sent on the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and cites Kim’s meetings with Xi last year and this year, according to TASS.
Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi discussed humanitarian issues in the Ukraine war in talks with Russian officials and visited Ukrainian prisoners of war, Russia's Foreign Ministry said, according to Reuters, in a text republished by KFGO. Zuppi met Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and addressed prospects for a settlement, prisoner exchanges and displaced children. This was his third visit to Moscow since 2023, and he told TASS his primary mission is to help find solutions to humanitarian issues.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday, and the two reviewed the two countries' strategic defense relations and discussed joint efforts to address regional issues, according to the Saudi Gazette.
The United States (US) formally notified on Monday its withdrawal from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body, according to The Guardian. The State Department confirmed the move and said that US participation, which requires an annual monetary contribution, “does not provide tangible benefits to US national security”, according to the Associated Press. [Only Russia and Belarus had left GRECO before], according to the Associated Press. The State Department also said that “the era of writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over”.
The Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demanded compensation from the United States (US) for the damage caused by the occupation of Iraq and called on Iraqis to file legal complaints, in a statement on Wednesday, the deadline for American forces to end their 12-year presence in the country. In the same statement he hailed the “independence of Iraq”, according to Middle East Eye, and said the US and “neighbouring countries” must refrain from interfering in Iraqi affairs.
Iran’s conditions for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz [include an end to US military and economic pressure, the release of frozen or restricted assets and agreement on a safe shipping route], according to the Anadolu Agency. The proposal was conveyed to Washington through Qatar, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has received the US response, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani confirmed on Wednesday. President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is making every possible effort to ensure the success of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, and Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will not fully reopen until its conditions are met and US commitments implemented. According to the Hindustan Times, the government of Donald Trump had publicly rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war, which the outlet describes as being in its seventh month.
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin on Wednesday described his contacts with the leadership of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as good, Sputnik reported. CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow on August 25 and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the trip was related to contacts between the intelligence services. Since his appointment in January 2025, Ratcliffe has maintained regular contact with his Russian counterpart, SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin, The Moscow Times reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi received in Doha, via Qatari mediators, the US feedback on the seven-day trust-building plan, according to Arab News. The main disagreement is over sequencing of the plan, which seeks a return to an enhanced version of a memorandum of understanding signed in June, according to Arab News. Iran’s Defence Ministry spokesperson says Tehran seeks peace while defending its rights, security and interests, according to Mehr News.
US President Donald Trump called Kim Jong-un a friend and played down North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, according to Al Jazeera. The remarks came in Washington on Tuesday in reply to a question about why North Korea could have nuclear weapons but Iran could not, according to Al Jazeera.
A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed safely at Tabuk Airport in Saudi Arabia after an incident en route, with all passengers safe, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli officials told local media the diversion followed a physical fight between the pilots, ruling out a hijacking — the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no hijack scare. The plane was carrying around 150 people, most of them Israeli, according to the BBC.
Deputy Defense Ministers Ryo Chol-un of North Korea and Nguyen Truong Thang of Vietnam discussed in Hanoi the further expansion of military cooperation, the TASS news agency reported, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). According to the agency, the negotiations took place on September 24 at the headquarters of Vietnam’s Ministry of Defense.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned on Tuesday the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to Iran International. The UAE confirmed that Netanyahu was in the country on Sunday and met President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. According to Israel National News, Netanyahu and his wife visited the UAE on Sunday at the invitation of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, and the visit focused on strengthening bilateral relations and addressing regional challenges.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korean land mines were the highly likely cause of the September 21 explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which injured three soldiers, according to The Korea Times. North Korea denied the claim on Wednesday, accused Seoul of fabricating the findings and warned of “immediate and merciless” retaliation if its troops are fired upon, according to The Korea Herald.
Pro-Palestine protests have spread across Moroccan cities demanding an end to diplomatic normalization with Israel as Rabat deepens ties with Tel Aviv, according to Al Jazeera. The demonstrations followed the September 16 announcement that Morocco and Israel would elevate their missions to full embassies and appoint ambassadors. In Tangier, authorities banned the planned September 27 demonstration and security forces dispersed hundreds of participants, with more than 12 detained, according to the outlet, citing its own sources.
The United States (US) Senate blocked by 47 votes to 51 the resolution requiring the State Department to report within 30 days on deaths and human rights conditions in the West Bank, according to The Guardian. The text, led by Democrat Chris Van Hollen, cited nine American citizens killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in the occupied West Bank since 2022. Democrat John Fetterman voted with Republicans against the measure, while Republican Rand Paul voted in favor.
The departure of United States (US) forces from Iraq, celebrated by Tehran and its allies as a victory, raises fears of a security vacuum, emboldened Iranian-backed militias and a regrouping Islamic State, according to France 24. A commander of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq described the withdrawal as a “historic victory” and a “crushing defeat for the American project”, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu.
Qatar’s prime minister said, in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, that whoever is responsible for the situation in Gaza is a “war criminal” and that nothing justifies the acts, according to Al Jazeera. He said that more than 1,400 Gazans have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect. He further conditioned ending the war with Iran on agreement on Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear power with removal of sanctions, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz under international law and reform of regional security arrangements.
A senior Saudi official denied on Wednesday reports of a meeting taking place between representatives from Saudi Arabia and Israeli officials, according to Middle East Eye. The denial responds to Israeli media reports that representatives from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya, Qatar and Morocco were also present at the meeting.
Indirect talks between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the seven-month war continue with Qatar as mediator, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and Iran's proposal makes the start of wider peace talks, including discussions of its nuclear programme, conditional on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera.
The United States has announced the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq, 23 years after the invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein, according to Middle East Eye. US forces are set to complete their withdrawal from their last military bases in Iraq by September 30, ending more than two decades of US military involvement, according to Deutsche Welle (DW), in a text published by Newscord. Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, said October 1 will be a new day in the course of the Iraqi state, with the country free of any foreign military presence and the completion of national sovereignty over its territory.
United States (US) Vice President JD Vance said there is still scope for a deal with Iran if its leaders honour their commitments to Washington, and described Tehran’s political decision-making system as “very confused”, according to Middle East Eye. In an interview with journalist Vince Coglianese, Vance said President Donald Trump had made clear that “there is a universe where we can strike a deal with Iran, but that requires the Iranians to behave”.
The spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al-Ansari, said the prolongation of the armed conflict between the United States and Iran in the Middle East and regional instability carry grave consequences for the international economy, according to TASS. Al-Ansari added that the region provides the world with energy products and also with items important to international food security, such as urea, and to industry, such as helium, petrochemicals and aluminium.
The Kremlin said it would not want Iran to leave the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and hopes the country remains an important and responsible party to the treaty, which it called the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime, according to TASS. Ali Nikzad, vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, said Tehran is considering withdrawing from the NPT, the agency reported.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband confirmed the United Kingdom is considering defying the Israeli order to close the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, saying the government does not want that to happen, according to Middle East Eye. The Israeli government ordered the closure in retaliation for British sanctions on illegal settlements, setting a deadline of 8 October, the same outlet reported. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve advised the UK Foreign Office that Israel has no legal right to act on its plan to close the consulate in East Jerusalem, according to The Guardian.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expects a formal answer on Tuesday from the United States (US) to Tehran’s proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, according to France 24, citing Iranian state media. Araghchi said the current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz and the reopening depends on conditions communicated to the other side. US President Donald Trump called reports of an offer to Iran untrue and a hoax and said he offered nothing, according to the Hindustan Times.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Washington on September 28 to discuss regional security, including shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Yemen, according to Al Jazeera. Rubio said they also discussed Iran, Gaza and Sudan, while the Saudi state agency SPA reported that the two discussed political and security developments in the region and the situation in Yemen.
Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in New York that cross-border terrorism from the neighboring country is one of Indiaʼs primary concerns and that partnersʼ failure to appreciate this affects bilateral ties, according to The Hindu. He spoke at an Asia Society conversation at the end of the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on September 28, and said there is a broad understanding on a trade agreement with the US, but changes in American tariff policy complicate when to conclude it.
Argentina's president, Milei, has threatened to launch a legal challenge against the British government unless oil exploration off the coast of the Falkland Islands is halted, the BBC reported. Milei said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom for what he called the illegal sacking of resources through the Sea Lion Project in the North Falklands Basin, France 24 reported. The project's companies, Israel's Navitas and Britain's Rockhopper, shrugged off Argentina's threats, insisting they have valid exploration licenses issued by the United Kingdom.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to TASS, citing the UN chief’s press service. Guterres welcomed the diplomatic efforts undertaken during the High-level Week of the General Assembly aimed at bringing the conflict in the Middle East to an end, according to the same source. The UN chief called on the parties to continue negotiating to resolve the outstanding differences, also according to TASS.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Washington on Monday for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Reuters. Rubio and Faisal met at the State Department as Saudi Arabia seeks US backing for its military campaign against the Houthis, according to Al-Monitor. The visit comes two days after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted multiple Houthi drones and ballistic missiles, also according to Al-Monitor.
US and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators on Monday in a renewed effort to end seven months of war, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu. Iran’s seven-day plan envisages an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon and the unfreezing of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets, according to the same text. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had rejected Iran’s proposal, saying Iran wanted a swift agreement because of the crippling economic pressure.
China declared it will firmly support Cuba in defending its sovereignty and resisting outside interference, according to the South China Morning Post. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun made the announcement on Monday, as Beijing and Havana marked 66 years of diplomatic relations. The announcement came after US President Donald Trump said Havana “will fall”, according to RT.
Pope Leo XIV urged Russia and Ukraine to sit at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict, according to TASS. According to the agency, the pope said the Church has a responsibility to continually invite leaders, such as those of Russia and Ukraine, to dialogue. Reuters reported that the appeal was made on Monday and that the pontiff urged the two countries to discuss how to end their four-year war.
Saudi Arabia’s defence minister invited UAE Vice President Mansour bin Zayed to the kingdom for a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday, according to Saudi state media. In July, top officials and ministers in both countries posted messages about friendship and unity on social media, signalling a rapprochement months after a public fallout over Yemen, according to Middle East Eye.
US President Donald Trump denied offering Iran sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions. On Truth Social, he said he offered nothing and called the Axios report a hoax, Middle East Eye reported. The account Trump is rebutting came from journalist Barak Ravid, who wrote on X that the president was ready to ease sanctions and unfreeze Iranian assets in exchange for Tehran meeting US demands on its nuclear program, citing an unnamed US official, according to TASS.
The Netherlands said Monday it regretted Israel's decision to revoke the accreditation of Dutch diplomats based in the West Bank, according to AFP, in a text republished by France 24. Israel retaliated after Dutch authorities began implementing a ban on imports of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Dutch Foreign Minister Berendsen said the decision stems from the obligation, under international law, not to contribute to the illegal settlements.
Iraqi Airways has resumed commercial flights between the central province of Najaf and Iranian airports, according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency. The flights restarted on Monday after Najaf and three other Iraqi airports temporarily suspended flights over fears of secondary sanctions by the United States. Earlier in the day, Iran filed a formal complaint with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over US aviation sanctions, according to the official IRNA news agency.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, according to Al Jazeera. The official WAM news agency said the two sides discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to strengthen and develop them.
The government of Donald Trump revoked the visas of 27 current and former Latin American officials and their family members from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, according to G1. According to the American State Department, the measures involve officials from those countries and are part of an offensive against corruption and drug trafficking. The Associated Press reported that the US revoked the visas of Bolivia's chief prosecutor and other Latin American officials, in a text republished by Gate News.
Iran filed a formal protest with the UN over the remarks by US President Donald Trump at the 81st General Assembly, the Tehran Times reported. The letter was addressed to Secretary-General António Guterres and the president of the Security Council, signed by Iran’s chargé d’affaires, Gholamhossein Darzi, according to the WANA news agency. At the Assembly, Trump said Iran faced a “big decision”: make a deal or be annihilated, ABC News reported.
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the United States would be forced to leave West Asia after suffering “painful blows”, in a statement carried by state television, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Hindu. In a written statement attributed to him, Khamenei said that “today, having suffered painful blows at the hands of valiant fighters and the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, they [the enemies] do not venture beyond the Arabian Sea”, according to The Hindu. Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war in late February, made the remarks despite attempts to revive talks aimed at ending the fighting, Middle East Eye noted.
Qatari mediators are likely to hold talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York and separately with the US side on Monday or Tuesday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, in a text republished by The Business Standard. The semiofficial ISNA news agency later confirmed that Araghchi would meet the mediators on Monday morning, New York time, also in The Business Standard report. The talks are expected to focus on an amended version of a seven-day proposal Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Reuters.
South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo lodged a formal complaint with Ukraine’s acting ambassador, Andrii Vieshkin, and expressed “strong regret” that President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers, which Seoul says was supposed to be a secret, according to the BBC. Seoul summoned the diplomat after Zelensky announced last week that his government had transferred the two soldiers to Seoul, according to the BBC.
Israel has said it intends to shut the British consulate in East Jerusalem on 8 October, in response to the sweeping ban on trade with goods from Israeli settlements announced this month by the British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, according to The Guardian. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve assessed that Israel has no legal right to close the consulate. The British mission in Jerusalem dates from 1838, more than 100 years before the creation of the state of Israel, and is separate from the embassy in Tel Aviv.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said at the Zócalo that Mexicans do not want interference, interventionism or violation of our territoriality. On the eve of the 2027 midterm elections, she delivered a speech steeped in historical references to Mexico’s struggles for independence and sovereignty, with an allusion to growing pressures from the United States under the guise of fighting “narcoterrorism”. “No foreign power, no economic or political elite has the right to dictate the present and future of our homeland. That belongs only to the people of Mexico,” she told thousands of supporters gathered in the capital’s main square, according to Xinhua, in text republished by Mexico News Net.
The US ambassador to China, David Perdue, said on “Fox News Sunday” that President Donald Trump asked Xi whether he would like to buy American weapons. According to Perdue, Trump kept saying that “we sell arms to other people around the world” while discussing Xi’s state visit to Washington last week. He did not elaborate on whether the offer came during that visit, during Trump’s trip to Beijing in May or another time, and did not mention whether Xi responded. The ambassador also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future US weapons sales to Taiwan.
South Korea demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine for revealing the transfer of the two North Korean prisoners, expressing “strong regret” over the unilateral disclosure, according to Al Jazeera. Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed at the UN General Assembly that Kyiv transferred the two prisoners, captured in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025.
Iran's UN delegation has no plans for negotiations, even as US President Donald Trump says he expects talks to resume soon, according to The Hindu. Trump told Axios on Sunday that he expected talks to resume soon, a day after he rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.
The EU began drawing up staged accession plans for Albania, Moldova, Ukraine and Montenegro, according to TASS, citing Politico. The new plans could for the first time provide clear guarantees and deadlines for completing accession talks, still according to TASS, citing Politico.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he and President Masoud Pezeshkian came to New York to forge peace, in a post on X. Araghchi also said that Iran remains steadfast in the face of any aggression, even if it comes to an apocalyptic war, according to the Mehr News Agency.
The US ambassador to Beijing, David Perdue, said in a Fox News interview that President Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping whether he wanted to buy American weapons. The remark came while answering about the administration’s stance on Taiwan’s independence, according to the Daily Beast. Trump and Xi agreed to meet again at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen in November and at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Miami in December, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is ready to help facilitate an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, according to The Diplomatic Insight. In remarks to Al Jazeera, he denied Iranian involvement in the conflict and said that what is happening in Yemen is not linked to Iran, according to the Times of India.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN amid worsening ties and fresh security tensions, according to DW. Lavrov made clear that Russia will veto any attempt by Germany and Japan to obtain permanent seats on the Security Council, according to AP.
A source close to Iran’s delegation to the United Nations (UN) said there is no plan for a new round of negotiations with the United States in New York, according to the Mehr News, citing IRNA. The source said Iran’s positions were conveyed to the United States last Tuesday through the Qatari mediator and that Tehran is awaiting the American side’s response. US President Donald Trump told Axios he expects more talks with Iran as soon as this week and that Tehran wants a deal, according to RT. Trump also confirmed that the resumption of full-scale hostilities with Iran remains on the table.
South Korea’s presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine for disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, according to the Hindustan Times, in a text from the Reuters feed. Seoul says Ukraine repeatedly asked for secrecy through various channels about the operation. The presidential office said Ukraine’s denial that any confidentiality agreement existed was false and had damaged trust between the two governments, according to Nikkei Asia, citing Reuters.
Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made an unannounced visit to the United Arab Emirates to meet with the country’s leader, according to the Middle East Eye. TV channels 12 and KAN and the newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post said it was a one-day visit to meet President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Two sources confirmed that Netanyahu flew to Abu Dhabi on a private plane Sunday morning and returned to Israel that evening, according to the World Israel News, citing Channel 12. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to disclose further details about the meeting.
Israel revoked the credentials of Dutch diplomats in Ramallah in response to the Netherlands’ ban on goods from Israeli settlements, according to the Middle East Eye. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the diplomats must return their Israeli-issued diplomatic documentation within seven days. The Netherlands began enforcing a national ban on 22 September on the import, purchase and sale of goods from Israeli settlements, according to the Middle East Eye. Israel’s foreign ministry said it revoked the diplomatic status of the Dutch at the Netherlands’ Representative Office in Ramallah, in response to the Dutch government’s ban on imports of products originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to the Khaleej Times.
US President Donald Trump said he expected more talks with Iran this week, according to Business Upturn, citing Axios. Trump also said Iran “overplayed their hand”. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had received an initial US reaction and was still waiting for mediators to convey Washington’s definitive position.
Strikes exchanged between Russia and Ukraine overnight and on Sunday killed at least six people in Ukraine and one in Russia, according to officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck twice at a data centre in Kyiv on Sunday morning, wounding two children and an adult. On the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov brushed off on Saturday what is believed to have been the first face-to-face meeting with his German counterpart since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Iran stood firm on Sunday on the conditions of its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump's rejection of the proposal. The plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in West Asia, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a return to the conditions of the ceasefire deal that fell apart a few months ago. Trump said in an interview with Axios that the United States will hold another round of talks with Iran next week. Araghchi said the country is fully prepared for the war to be resumed, including an apocalyptic war, and at the same time ready for diplomacy.
US Central Command denied the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claim to have captured an American underwater drone in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Middle East Eye. Spokesperson Tim Hawkins said the US maintains “positive control of all of our operational drone assets” and called the claim “clearly desperate”. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is prepared for a renewed conflict with the US while keeping the door open for diplomacy, after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to Sputnik Globe. Araghchi wrote that “our conditions are clear, and any measure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz depends on their fulfilment” and that “only a negotiated solution can pull the parties out of this impasse”, according to G1. Trump told Axios he expects American negotiators to hold more talks with Iran this week, according to Middle East Eye. In Bandar Abbas, Basij forces and residents held a parade of the Janfada drill to show preparedness against potential enemy aggression, according to Mehr News.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met and held talks in New York late on Saturday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, according to Mehr News. The two discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments, the Iranian account says, and Araghchi told Fidan that the current situation, including insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz, is a direct result of US and Israeli aggression that began on February 28 and has continued in various forms.
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng urged the United Nations General Assembly to respect the sovereignty and security of countries in the Middle East, including the Gulf and called on the “relevant country” to immediately stop threatening Cuba with force and immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions against the island. The speech did not name the United States, in contrast with Xi Jinping’s reception at the White House days earlier.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the first meeting between the two countries’ top diplomats since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to Anadolu Agency. The meeting took place at Germany’s request, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran and United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres advocated diplomacy at a meeting on the sidelines of the 81st General Assembly on Friday. According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, Pezeshkian rejected as an illusion and slander the allegations that Tehran seeks nuclear weapons and said Iran seeks peaceful nuclear knowledge and technology and rejects nuclear weapons. Guterres said Iran had proposed solutions in recent weeks and expressed hope they would produce results soon. The meeting at UN headquarters on September 25 was captured in a photograph by AP.
On the night of Friday, September 25, 2026, India exercised its Right of Reply at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the podium. Indian diplomat Petal Gahlot accused Islamabad of pursuing a policy of cross-border terrorism and warned that such acts will have consequences. According to India Today, Gahlot called Pakistan a “puppet” regime and accused it of spreading “falsehoods” and “deceit”.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met in New York with Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Also according to the Iranian agency Mehr News, Araghchi met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy, with Palestine and Israeli aggressions on the agenda, and called for stronger regional trust and dialogue between Iran and Arab countries.
Iran treated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the implementation of a memorandum of understanding already signed with Washington. According to the Russian agency TASS, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS that the resumption of normal shipping through Hormuz should follow the memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington and that Iran remains committed to the text and willing to implement it. According to Sputnik Globe, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has sent Washington, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the strait and restart negotiations if the United States fulfills the agreed conditions, and under the plan the strait would reopen on day six and talks on a final agreement would begin on day seven. Also according to TASS, Pezeshkian conditioned a meeting with Donald Trump on the United States showing that it does not intend to overthrow the Iranian government. On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the foreign ministers of Oman and Iran discussed efforts to ensure safe navigation through Hormuz.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the country will allow United Nations (UN) nuclear inspectors to return, according to Middle East Eye. The statement is part of Iran’s proposal on the Strait of Hormuz, according to CBS News.
Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, Francois Wu, said on Saturday that providing weapons to Taiwan to protect its freedom and provide semiconductors to the world is in the United States’ national interest, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times. Xi Jinping told Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday that he hoped the United States would adhere to the “correct position” of opposing Taiwan independence. The United States ambassador to China, David Perdue, told CNBC on Friday that there has been no change in Trump’s Taiwan policy, including the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which mandates arms sales to the island.
Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear programme in seven days is conditioned on the United States lifting its naval blockade, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observing a ceasefire that would include Lebanon, according to The Hindu. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the proposal on September 24 at a private gathering on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, according to one attendee. Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar on September 25; Qatar has served as a mediator, including during hours of indirect Iranian-U.S. talks at the U.N. this week.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the United Nations General Assembly that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war, according to Dawn. Sharif credited Donald Trump with brokering the ceasefire between the two countries in May 2025 and praised his “resolute and visionary leadership”, saying it saved “hundreds of millions of lives”. Pakistan’s state radio reported that Sharif thanked Trump for his timely intervention, which he said came at a decisive juncture, when two nuclear-armed neighbours stood at the brink of an all-out war.
Russia is ready to assist developing countries in strengthening their national capacity and ensuring economic sovereignty, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin. The statement was made at a high-level event at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of China’s launch of the Global Development Initiative (GDI).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita the further development of bilateral relations and the resolution of regional crises on the basis of the UN Charter, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The meeting took place in New York during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly. The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining effective foreign policy coordination on pressing issues on the regional agenda, including with a view to resolving the issue of Western Sahara and other ongoing conflicts through political and diplomatic means.
Bloomberg reported, in a text republished by RT, that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). According to people familiar with the conversation cited by Bloomberg, Zelensky rejected the idea, which reportedly upset Trump. The Ukrainian Presidential Office told Ukrainska Pravda the report was “false information”.
The United States is holding positive, constructive discussions with Iran through mediators, including nuclear issues, according to a U.S. official cited by Middle East Eye. A White House official told CNN that the administration was holding “positive and constructive discussions through the mediators”, according to Al Jazeera. The statements respond to the seven-day plan Tehran presented, which foresees an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Gaza and Lebanon, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the final day, according to Al Jazeera, citing The New York Times.
Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti, Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, gave the war against Yemen’s Houthis an explicit religious framing: he addressed troops on the front line telling them to be ready to sacrifice their lives, citing Quranic verses and sayings of the prophet Muhammad on sacrifice, and prayed for the group’s “complete defeat,” Ynet News reports, which also notes that Saudi state television aired footage of what authorities described as a Houthi attack on a mosque in the kingdom’s south. Riyadh accuses the group of attempting to strike Mecca, and the Houthis reject the accusation.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended their Washington summit on Friday, September 25, 2026, with ceremony but no progress on core issues, the Hindustan Times reported. The two sides extended their trade truce until January 10, 2027, according to Daijiworld, stretching relief that had been set to expire on November 10.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Friday, 25 September 2026, that two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will be sent to the Atlanta zoo in the coming days, according to CNBC. Xi called the panda an “envoy of friendship” between Chinese and Americans, a goodwill gesture during his summit with Donald Trump, according to The Washington Post.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the United States accepts its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for lifting the naval blockade on Iranian ports, in a report carried by Middle East Eye. The same official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the waterway would remain closed until “all of Iran’s conditions” are met by Washington.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country has no aggressive intentions toward Europe and is ready to restore relations with European countries, according to the Anadolu Agency: “I want to state once again: Russia has no aggressive intentions toward Europe or European countries,” he said. “There are simply no grounds for this whatsoever.”
African leaders returned to the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly to demand a Security Council reform that would grant the continent permanent seats, PBS News reports. From the podium, Kenya’s presidency put the contradiction bluntly: “every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter, yet on the gravest question of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not,” according to PBS News. The New York Times also recorded the appeal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday, 25 September 2026, that he expects two more meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump this year — one at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, and the other at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in the United States. Xi invited Trump and the first lady to visit China for the APEC summit, according to Sputnik, and Trump said he would attend, confirming the trip to China in November for the APEC summit, according to Sputnik.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian attacks on Russian and foreign-flagged merchant vessels and tankers — including ships linked to the United States and Turkish merchant vessels hit by drones — prompted Russia’s retaliatory actions, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Peskov also said Moscow is in no hurry to name new ambassadors to the United Kingdom and France, because normal bilateral relations with both countries are missing, according to TASS.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that his country will not be an “arena for the conflicts of others” or a bargaining chip, and called for a ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal and all weapons to be held by the Lebanese state, according to Al Jazeera. In New York, Salam’s meetings have so far failed to secure Lebanon’s request for a six-month extension of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mandate, and Beirut has been pushing for an international force to fill the gap after the mission ends, according to Ya Libnan. In the same session, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih Al-Zaidi called for a sovereign Palestinian state and said there can be no stability in the Middle East without a just solution to the Palestinian issue, according to Al Jazeera.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it will take “the necessary measures” to safeguard its national interests in response to what it called Colombia’s unjustified and hostile approach, according to Sputnik. The reaction follows Bogotá’s severing of diplomatic relations with Tehran, in force since 19 September 2026, according to Sputnik, which cited Colombian national security concerns, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s obstruction of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
China’s President Xi Jinping said as his state visit to Washington ended that China and the United States must keep to “the line of no conflict and no confrontation” between them, and the two presidents signalled they intend to cooperate toward a “shared future,” according to G1.
The United Nations (UN) condemned the continued cross-border attacks by Houthi forces against Saudi Arabia, including an attempt to strike Riyadh, as well as attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure in the kingdom, according to spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, cited by UN News. Members of the UN Security Council condemned the ongoing Houthi attacks, including strikes that damaged civilians and energy infrastructure, and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and support for its right to self-defence, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Pope Leo XIV opened a four-day visit to France in Paris on Friday, September 25, 2026, with a warning that a “paradise of machines” risks undermining what it means to be human. At the Élysée Palace, before President Emmanuel Macron and diplomats, the pope raised existential questions about the meaning of the human in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to nuclear weapons, according to the Associated Press, via The Hindu. The schedule includes a vigil with young people, vespers at Notre-Dame and a Mass on the Place de la Concorde under Olympics-level security, with as many as a million people expected, the Associated Press reports.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, scheduled for November 18 and 19, should adopt a substantial package of documents setting the region’s future course, including a joint declaration by the bloc’s leaders, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, cited by TASS. The package will also include statements on connectivity, the digital economy and artificial intelligence (AI), with intense negotiations under way, TASS reports.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Moscow expects the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to approve Russia’s bid to chair the forum in 2035, and that China and Vietnam already back the request officially, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Rudenko said similar assurances came in contacts between Russian officials and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and that a number of other delegations had reacted positively.
Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo international airports are now open for nighttime flights after Israel quietly lifted its block on the activation of navigation equipment, Middle East Eye reports, citing regional officials. A regional official told the outlet that the Israeli government had threatened to shoot down the small aircraft carrying out the calibration flights.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev is expected to meet U.S. officials in New York to discuss Washington’s latest proposals for de-escalating the war against Ukraine, the Kyiv Post reports. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the possibility of a trilateral meeting was discussed in a phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, with no details settled, according to TASS.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News that his country rejects the nuclear bomb on religious grounds, DW reports. Pezeshkian brought a diplomatic tone to New York during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and Tehran presented Washington with a proposal to resume negotiations, while the White House confirmed that positive and constructive talks were continuing through intermediaries, according to DW.
President Donald Trump is taking Chinese President Xi Jinping to the National Archives on Friday, September 25, 2026, to wrap up a three-day state visit, with a stop at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Associated Press reports. The two leaders made a show of harmony between the world’s two largest economies, though there were no major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence, according to the same report.
Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, called the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors’ resolution reporting Iran to the United Nations Security Council “disgraceful” and accused Western countries of “complete irresponsibility” within the body, at a news briefing on Thursday, September 24, 2026, according to TASS, cited by News-Pravda. The resolution, submitted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, was adopted on September 9, 2026 by 23 votes in favor, three against and eight abstentions, with Russia, China and Niger opposed, and asks IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to report Iran to the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, according to AFP, in a report published by the Khaleej Times. According to AFP, it is the first time in 20 years that Iran has been reported to the Security Council for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, September 25, 2026, that there are no specific details yet regarding the organization of a trilateral meeting on Ukraine, Sputnik Globe reports. The United States has proposed technical-level trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia, with the United Arab Emirates suggested as the venue, and Kyiv is waiting for Washington to set a date, according to the Kyiv Post.
Iran’s seven-day roadmap to end the war with the United States provides for an end to hostilities on all fronts, the release of at least US$ 12 billion in frozen assets, relief from sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the naval blockade, with the Strait of Hormuz reopening on the seventh day, Al Jazeera reports. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the plan was delivered to Washington through intermediaries and that a deal should be sealed before the U.S. midterm elections, he told Al Jazeera.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Uganda at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly for erecting a statue of his brother Yonatan at the place in Entebbe where he was killed, according to the speech transcript. The monument was unveiled on August 1 at Entebbe’s old terminal by Uganda’s military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Associated Press (AP) reports. Netanyahu spoke on September 24 before a hall largely emptied by delegations walking out, according to Pulse Uganda.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, is continuing contacts with U.S. negotiators focused on potential economic cooperation, TASS reports. According to Peskov, such cooperation is “currently absent,” but there is an understanding it could be mutually beneficial and that discussions about the possibilities are under way, the agency reports.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and backed a diplomatic way out of the Gulf crisis, Sputnik Globe reports, citing a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. The statement blames the United States and Israel for the crisis and says there is no alternative to a diplomatic settlement, as the Jerusalem Post notes on the meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin relieved Andrei Kelin of his post as ambassador to Britain, a position he had held since November 2019, in a decree published on Friday, September 25, 2026, according to TASS. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the end of Kelin's planned tenure and said Putin will name a replacement “in due course,” according to The Moscow Times.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in New York on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to IRNA. Iran’s state news agency says Araghchi has held a series of bilaterals with counterparts on the session’s sidelines.
United States President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping met at the White House in Washington on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on the second day of Xi’s three-day state visit — his first to Washington in 11 years, according to Al Jazeera, with Reuters and the Associated Press (AP). China’s state news agency Xinhua, cited by the broadcaster, reported that Xi urged Washington to handle Taiwan prudently and oppose the island’s independence; the White House published no readout of its own. On the war with Iran there was no breakthrough: Xi backed a return by Washington and Tehran to the interim agreement meant to pave the way for a larger deal.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York and vowed to deepen bilateral cooperation with Dhaka and Tehran, according to the Hindustan Times, citing the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. With Pezeshkian, Sharif said he had reaffirmed ties with Iran and urged restraint, de-escalation and sustained diplomacy in the face of the prolonged conflict, according to a post by the premier himself cited by the paper.
Colombia severed diplomatic relations with Iran effective 19 September 2026, according to The Rio Times, which cited Colombian radio station Caracol and the country’s Foreign Ministry statement. The government cited human rights violations, alleged Iranian links to terrorist and narcoterrorist groups, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and obstruction of the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and kept consular relations, according to the Venezuelan state outlet teleSUR, which also cited the ministry’s statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov handed United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres a Russian report on the alleged falsification of the events in Bucha, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, and asked the UN Secretariat to examine the case in detail, according to the Russian state news agency TASS, which cited the Russian foreign ministry. According to TASS, the report attributes the episode to Ukraine and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsors. The UN has not confirmed the handover of the document, and the accusation comes from the Russian side.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortened his trip to the United States and returned home on the night of Thursday, 24 September 2026, right after addressing the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly, according to Dawn. His stay in New York was limited to a few hours, and the immediate departure after the speech was reported by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, carried by Middle East Eye. The decision not to extend his stay followed a recommendation from security officials presented to Netanyahu in talks held in the previous days, Channel 13 reported, cited by Dawn.
Pope Leo XIV begins on Friday, 25 September 2026, in Paris the first official papal visit to France in 18 years, according to Vatican News. The last papal trip classified as an official visit was Benedict XVI’s, in September 2008, Euronews recalls, which reports a four-day schedule including an address at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a meeting with sexual abuse survivors in Lourdes and an open-air Mass in Paris with 600,000 people expected by French authorities.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is in good health and in full control of the country, in a Fox News interview reported by Russia’s TASS news agency, in which he said he met Khamenei face to face for seven hours about a month to a month and a half ago. In the same interview, Pezeshkian denied that Tehran directs the battle plans of Yemen’s Houthis, saying “the Houthis are responsible for their own actions” and take no orders from Tehran, according to the Middle East Eye. On the June memorandum of understanding (MoU), Pezeshkian said the text outlined a temporary ceasefire before talks collapsed, according to News18.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the United States and China to manage their superpower rivalry and keep artificial intelligence (AI) under human control, during his state visit to the White House in Washington on Thursday, September 24, 2026, according to AFP via The Standard. Xi said both countries have the capability and the responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, ensuring it always remains under human control.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that last month’s floods were “a warning to the world” about the rising dangers of climate change in the Himalayas. Shah, whose country contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, said Nepal “did not create this crisis, yet is paying for it,” and proposed a Himalaya Climate Resilience Mechanism with India and China to share satellite data, monitor glacial lakes and strengthen joint early warning systems. The floods killed more than 1,400 people, left 6,000 missing and caused devastation worth billions of dollars, according to France24.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said she is ready to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss bilateral relations, in remarks to the Index news portal during the high-level week of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to TASS; she said that although she has not yet spoken with Lavrov, diplomatic relations continue as normal.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expects the national leaders of the Sahel to attend the Russia-Africa summit, scheduled for 28 and 29 October in Moscow, according to the state news agency TASS. Russia’s foreign ministry says the dialogue with the Confederation of Sahel States is moving fast and cites the consultations held on 8 July in Niamey.
Iran has conveyed to mediators its conditions for returning to negotiations to end the war, and Tehran is pressing for the United States to return to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) before November’s midterm elections. Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said he sent the conditions through Qatar, including an end to the war on all fronts and an end to the naval blockade. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran wants the Americans back in the memorandum before the midterms. The New York Times reported that Iran proposed a seven-day plan to end the war.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, 24 September 2026, that the United States and China reached a common understanding on many issues in his meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House. Xi called on the two militaries to keep regular dialogue and improve crisis communication and prevention mechanisms, the formula Beijing uses to avoid the “Thucydides trap”. The trade truce between the two countries, which was due to expire in November, was extended by two months, to 10 January.
Costa Rican President Laura Fernández dismissed Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar on Thursday, September 24, 2026, after he attended a regional security meeting in New York chaired by Donald Trump without her knowledge or approval. The Costa Rican government said his negligence caused significant strategic damage by keeping Fernández from taking part in the meeting.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 81st General Assembly, behind closed doors and without statements to the press, according to Russian state agency TASS. The meeting had been on the schedule since Monday, when UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said it was set for Thursday evening.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Thursday, 24 September 2026, that Tehran had given the United States a proposal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks on ending the war within seven days. The text has not been released. Regional sources cited by The National describe a regionwide ceasefire of up to 60 days, a phased reopening of the Strait and an end to the US blockade. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a Fox News interview that the choice rests with Washington: “It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not.”
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir dissolved the Transitional Government of National Unity on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and appointed a caretaker administration to lead the country to the December 22 election, the first since independence in 2011. The decree, read out by the state broadcaster, removed all vice presidents, ministers and local administrators and dissolved the national and state assemblies; the judiciary and security institutions remained in place, and Kiir stays in office “during the election period until the next elected president assumes office”, according to Al Jazeera. The move came a day after parliament passed amendments to the National Elections Act that unlinked the vote from the completion of a permanent constitution and a census, changes Kiir signed late on Monday and that the South Sudan Opposition Alliance rejected, according to Reuters, saying they were made without adequate consultation among the parties to the 2018 peace deal. Kiir’s longtime rival Riek Machar, who leads the main opposition party, has been under house arrest since March 2025 and is on trial on charges including treason and murder, which he denies. A permanent constitution, voter registration and the unification of armed forces loyal to rival parties all remain outstanding. Amnesty International called the decree a step toward the vote and urged conditions for people to vote and stand; analysts cited by Agence France-Presse said the amendments concentrate power in the president. The civil war that ended in 2018 killed about 400,000 people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he cannot entertain diplomatic relations with Israel while the rights of Syrians are usurped, citing as core concerns the territories Israel has occupied since December 2024 and the Golan Heights, speaking at a panel hosted by the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, according to Middle East Eye. He said talks with Israel reached ‘almost 90 per cent’ agreement before Israeli pullbacks and that Damascus regards the Golan as Syrian territory whose sovereignty is not open to negotiation, according to the Jerusalem Post. Al-Sharaa also said Russia kept 170 bases in Syria and now operates two, both for training Syrian forces, according to Middle East Eye.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet in New York on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, according to the State Department, cited by the Kyiv Independent and the Ukrainian news agency UNN. The meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. (UTC-4) and comes a day after President Donald Trump’s talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said he was ready for an energy ceasefire if Russia accepts the same terms. Lavrov addresses the Assembly on Saturday, September 26, and Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the agenda includes Moscow–Washington relations and cooperation between the two countries at the UN.
An investigation by the consortium coordinated by Forbidden Stories has obtained a copy of the agreement under which Eswatini takes in deportees from the United States, according to France 24, which is part of the consortium. The document, signed on 14 May 2025 by Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, provides for the kingdom to receive 160 people removed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in exchange for $5.1 million to “reinforce border and migrant migration capacity”. Four planes have brought 32 deportees to the kingdom over a year; they are held without charge at the Matsapha maximum-security prison, and only five have returned to their home countries.
Envoys of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for about three hours on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York — the first round of talks since the June ceasefire collapsed, according to the BBC. The meeting was mediated by Qatar and no breakthrough was announced; Witkoff said a round of discussions had been completed “that we hope will prove constructive and promising,” and Tehran repeated its demand that Washington end its “acts of aggression.” Hours earlier, in the address that opened the Assembly, Trump said he would decide between a deal with Iran and “annihilating the Islamic Republic,” and said he believed a deal would come right after November’s congressional elections. Oil prices fell after the talks were announced, according to Gulf News, which carries the Associated Press coverage.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the choice of the next United Nations secretary-general cannot come down to “pure arithmetic” and that consultations among the five permanent members of the Security Council will be required, according to TASS. Kirill Logvinov, head of the international organisations department at the Russian ministry, told the agency that after the September 18, 2026 indicative vote, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Olara Otunnu of Uganda were leading, but that each has between five and seven votes against, and that Moscow expects full-fledged consultations among the five to begin soon. According to [The Guardian]({GUARDA_ONU}), three rounds of secret balloting have not produced a clear frontrunner: the winner needs nine votes from the 15 council members and no veto from any permanent member, and António Guterres’s term ends on December 31, 2026.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the contact with the United States on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was carried out through a Qatari mediator, and that its purpose was to convey Iran’s conditions: an end to the war on all fronts, a halt to US military actions and the naval blockade, an end to the economic war and the release of the country’s frozen assets, according to Mehr News. According to The Guardian, the three-hour meeting between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff was mediated by Qatari diplomats and was attended for most of its duration by Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani; Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the General Assembly on Wednesday, 23 September 2026.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in New York that he does not support the deal transferring sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, calling the agreement “terrible” and “ridiculous,” according to The Guardian. The remarks came at his first meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where Trump said relations with London were “more up” than with predecessor Keir Starmer and called Burnham “a natural businessperson.” His harshest words were for Chagos: “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” he said, adding that the prime minister is going to be “looking at it,” according to the Jerusalem Post and the Associated Press (AP). Under the agreement, the United Kingdom gives up sovereignty over the archipelago to Mauritius and leases Diego Garcia for 99 years, keeping a joint military base with the United States there; ratification has been stalled since April 2026, when the US administration withdrew its support, and London had refused to let the United States use the base for its first strikes on Iran in February, according to the Press Association.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi used her first address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, to call for an overhaul of the organization, including the removal of a 1940s-era clause that refers to Japan as an “enemy state” and that China has invoked in its row with Tokyo, according to The Japan Times. Takaichi said the UN has “never been more important” and “must be reborn as a ‘more resilient and effective United Nations’” to regain the trust of the international community, 70 years after Japan’s admission in 1956. In a meeting with Secretary-General António Guterres, she raised Security Council reform, according to the official UN readout carried by IANS. Japan is part of the Group of Four (G4) with Brazil, Germany and India, which back each other’s bids for permanent seats on an expanded Council.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States from 23 to 25 September 2026 at the invitation of President Donald Trump, according to the announcement by China’s foreign ministry carried by Reuters. Xi arrives on the afternoon of Wednesday, 23 September, at Joint Base Andrews, where Trump will greet him on the tarmac; the arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn, with 479 members of the United States Armed Forces, the military review in the Rose Garden and the state dinner are set for Thursday, 24 September, according to the White House. It is the first state visit by a Chinese president to the United States in 11 years, according to ABC News, which lists artificial intelligence (AI), tariffs, rare earths, technology and agricultural trade on the agenda. Beijing presents the trip as the consolidation of the “constructive relationship of strategic stability” agreed at the May meeting in Beijing and notes that it closes an exchange of visits between the two presidents within six months, according to the State Council of China. For Scott Kennedy, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, the most likely outcome is an extension of the trade ceasefire struck at the Busan summit in October 2025, which expires on 10 November, with deals on specific goods such as agricultural products and Boeing aircraft: “most of this will be theatre,” he told ABC News.
European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she discussed with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York the diplomatic prospects for ending the war between the United States and Iran and for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “There were no tolls or fees for passage before the war, and there should be none after the war,” she wrote on X, according to LaPresse and ANI. “Navigation must be free and unimpeded, both in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.” Kallas also said she raised with Araghchi domestic repression inside Iran, including the sharp rise in executions and death sentences.
French President Emmanuel Macron used his final address to the United Nations General Assembly as head of state to urge countries to recommit to international law and the UN system against what he called a resurgence of the “law of the jungle.” According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and The Hindu, he called for a “double moratorium” halting strikes on civilian and energy targets in the war between Russia and Ukraine: “We must protect the civilian population, and this is why we’d like to express our support for a double moratorium, a moratorium on strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure.” On Gaza, he said that “some claim that peace has been achieved, but this has not opened up humanitarian deliveries” — “a spectacle that shames us all,” as he put it. Macron also proposed that countries pool investment capacity to build an open-source frontier artificial intelligence (AI) model: “I don’t want anyone to become the vassal of one of the great powers,” he said.
Iran handed the United States its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz in a meeting between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. According to Iran’s state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), in an account carried by The Tribune, the demands are the immediate lifting of the naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. The meeting was requested by Witkoff, the broadcaster said. Witkoff wrote on X, in a post carried by The Tribune, that the two sides held “lengthy talks” through mediators who “shuttled between the two sides throughout the day”: “They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work.” Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, told the Vedomosti newspaper that Washington will have to accept the new legal status of the Strait of Hormuz, which he said will be defined by Iran and Oman, according to TASS.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that Washington and Tehran are moving toward a settlement, hours after repeating at the UN General Assembly his threat to annihilate Iran if no deal is reached: “They want to talk to us. They have been talking to us, even today they’ve been talking to us, and the relationship is developing. But we can’t let them — and they understand that — we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said after meeting British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, according to Reuters, in a dispatch carried by Al-Monitor. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf shipping within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, and that Tehran’s latest proposal was conveyed to Washington through mediators last week. “The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who headed the negotiating team in earlier talks, warned that “Trump must understand that he cannot impose his power on the Iranian people and its armed forces”. Trump also hosted the leaders of the six Arab Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) on the same day, telling the meeting there is “a lot of momentum” for a deal, according to TASS: “We’ve been mediating for a while, but I think there’s a lot of momentum for them to make a deal.” According to sources cited by Reuters, Saudi Arabia restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu within hours, at reduced volumes; the pipeline had been shut after attacks this month that Riyadh blamed on Iran-backed groups in Iraq.
United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres used his final address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, to call for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), an end to wars and an overhaul of multilateral institutions, which he said “continue to reflect the power realities and interests of a largely bygone age”. “The fault lines in our world are widening,” he said, citing wars, rising temperatures and AI, and called for “a world built on interdependence”, according to France 24 and Business Day. He urged the countries leading the technological revolution to “share information on emerging safety risks, co-operate on testing and evaluation, and work towards common safeguards” and backed “a multilateral AI risk management framework, supported by credible and independent oversight”. He told the great powers to recognise “that their power isn’t so super” and said “military power alone cannot secure peace”. On the Middle East, he called for “de-escalation and dialogue”: “The fighting must stop. Humanitarian aid must flow. And navigational rights and freedoms must be fully restored in accordance with international law.” Guterres leaves office on 31 December 2026, at the end of his second five-year term, and drew a standing ovation as he defended a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians and said “polluters must pay”.
The foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus said the two countries have called for 25 September 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the ministerial meeting that launches negotiations on the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century, according to Russia’s state agency TASS, citing the Russian ministry, and the Belarusian ministry’s press service as carried by Reform.news. The initiative is Belarusian, put forward in 2023, with Russia joining as co-author of the text. The two ministries held consultations in Minsk on 10 September 2026 to prepare the launch of the negotiations. Both governments present the document as a basis for relations among Eurasian states built on sovereignty, equality and the indivisibility of security.
Colombia’s government withdrew the declaration of intervention it had filed on 5 April 2024 in the case over genocide in the Gaza Strip brought by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The court made public on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, the decision Colombia notified on 18 September, according to the court’s official case page and Anadolu Agency. The intervention rested on Article 63 of the court’s statute, which allows a state that is not party to a dispute to make submissions when the case concerns the interpretation of a convention it has also signed. Colombia was never a party to the main proceedings, and the withdrawal does not affect them. The decision reverses the policy of Gustavo Petro, who severed relations with Israel in May 2024 and halted Colombian coal exports to the country. Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on 7 August 2026, restored diplomatic and economic ties, according to Middle East Eye and Anadolu Agency: the government plans to reopen its embassy in Jerusalem, set up a bilateral economic commission and send a delegation to Israel in October. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanked Colombia for the withdrawal, according to ColombiaOne.
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly that the Gulf is going through “one of the most dangerous phases” because of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and argued the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, with the Strait of Hormuz reopened to navigation, according to Al Jazeera. He said the war is the “cumulative result of years” of postponing diplomatic solutions and called for a “regional system of collective security”, saying that without one “it has become possible for a war to erupt”. Sheikh Tamim called Israel’s expansion in the occupied West Bank “aggression” and said “what has transpired in Gaza is genocide in every sense of the word”.
Donald Trump said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York that relations with the United Kingdom are better than under Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, and attacked the deal that transfers sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while keeping Diego Garcia, home to a joint military base, under lease. “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” Trump said, according to The Guardian, which reports that Burnham nodded when the US president said the British prime minister would “look at it” again. The Jerusalem Post reports Trump praised Burnham as a “natural businessman” and said the two covered “everything from Rolls-Royce to energy to immigration”. Burnham had reaffirmed on Monday, September 21, 2026, to Mauritius’s prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, his commitment to proceeding with the transfer, according to Middle East Eye. The deal was agreed by Starmer, and the legislation to implement it has been stalled since April 2026 over opposition from the White House.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in his opening address to the general debate of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York that “Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians” and that Brazil “does not belong in anyone’s backyard”, in a reference to US pressure over the October 4, 2026 election, in which he is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, according to Al Jazeera and G1. Lula said Latin America is seeing a resurgence of “hegemonic ambitions” and foreign interference in elections, and said the UN is failing to prevent wars, with credibility “never so low”, blaming the Security Council and the veto power of its members. “We do not need aircraft carriers watching our waters. We need cooperation to stop the flow of weapons and money that fuels crime,” he said. The speech came the same day Donald Trump used the rostrum to say Washington would use its “unmatched military might” if necessary to protect US interests in the Western Hemisphere, according to excerpts released by the White House.
Donald Trump told reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, that US officials held a roughly three-hour meeting with the Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the 81st General Assembly, which he described as “very good” and “very productive”, and that “they have another one scheduled in the very near future,” according to Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. The announcement came hours after the president threatened at the Assembly’s opening session to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” if Tehran does not strike a deal to end the war. Neither outlet reported who took part in the meeting or where it was held.
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan said in a joint statement on Tuesday, 22 September 2026 that they affirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself in line with international law and stressed the need to preserve the safety of navigation in the region, amid escalating attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, as reported by Reuters and published by Middle East Eye and the Times of India. The four ministers met on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, voiced “deep concern” over the conflicts in the region, said dialogue and diplomacy were the only path to a sustainable solution and backed Yemen’s government in its efforts towards stability and peace. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed on 7 August 2026 by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, states that an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against all, according to the BBC.
The 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly opens its general debate on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in New York, under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”, with Secretary-General António Guterres presenting the organisation’s annual report alongside the Assembly’s president, Bangladesh’s Khalilur Rahman, according to the UN and La Voce di New York. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks first, followed by Donald Trump, in the order that gives Brazil the opening slot; Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, who addresses the hall on Wednesday, September 23, are among the most awaited. According to G1, Guterres will make an appeal for the UN’s own survival, as the organisation faces funding cuts and criticism led by Trump, and Lula is expected to defend multilateralism and national sovereignty. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will speak by video after the United States denied him a visa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut his New York trip down to the day of his speech, on Thursday, September 24, according to La Voce di New York.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, September 21, 2026, that his talks with Donald Trump in New York were “very constructive” and that there was a willingness to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded during the war, according to the Hindustan Times. In the account he gave to reporters, “several solutions” were discussed that would allow, without a comprehensive deal, more container ships and tankers to move through the strait, along with the situation in the Red Sea, a route that has gained weight for oil shipments with Hormuz closed and where the seizure of a strategic strait by the Iran-backed Houthis has complicated navigation. On Ukraine, Macron said he pressed Trump to speed up the delivery of missile interceptors to Kyiv, “a defensive measure”, and said in a post on X that the two discussed the prospect of an “energy truce and a moratorium in the Black Sea”. Before the meeting, Trump had blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for part of the surge in diesel prices because of attacks on Russian refineries and called on him to stop hitting Russian diesel, according to Le Monde. Macron also met Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Sunday, September 20, 2026, that he is in “deciding mode” on the war with Iran and that the options on the table are “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal.” “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave,” the US president said, according to correspondent Trey Yingst’s account quoted by The Guardian. The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Mohebbi, responded on Sunday that “if a new aggression occurs, we will certainly change the weaponry and the geography of the war” and that “our targets will no longer necessarily be the same as before,” in remarks to the semi-official Fars news agency and Iranian state television. Mohebbi said Iran has targets that have not yet been struck and that the Guard has prepared itself for a long war. CBS News reported on Sunday that Tehran has conveyed to Washington through mediators its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the conflict. Trump speaks on Tuesday at the opening of the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks on Wednesday, September 23; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is already in the city.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham makes his UN General Assembly debut on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and holds his first meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the gathering, with Ukraine, the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the cost of the conflict in the Middle East on the agenda, according to The Associated Press. Burnham, in office since July, said he will seek “common ground” with Trump and that the two had “found a connection” in two phone calls; in 2017, as mayor of Greater Manchester, he said the US president would not be welcome in the city, and in 2019 he said he would refuse to meet Trump. He is expected to urge Trump to send interceptor missiles to bolster Ukraine’s air defences before another winter of war, and the British government wants to discuss how to restore the free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in February 2026, according to AP. The closure of the route has pushed oil prices up and complicates the British economy.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met in Tehran on Monday, September 21, 2026, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and with his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, in a visit during which Tehran thanked Pakistan for its regional mediation efforts. According to Pakistan’s interior ministry, the two discussed “Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations and the latest situation in the region,” and Momeni thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the chief of army staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for their efforts toward regional peace. Iranian state television Press TV reported that Pezeshkian said the two countries can meet much of their needs by tapping “domestic and regional capacities” and that US pressure has produced greater convergence among Muslim countries; in the account published by The Express Tribune and UrduPoint, Naqvi said bilateral relations “will become even stronger.” It is the minister’s sixth trip to Tehran since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February 2026, and it comes as Islamabad tries to keep alive the memorandum of understanding signed in July between the United States and Iran to end the conflict. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on September 19, 2026, that the visit would focus on bilateral relations and that there was no plan to exchange messages on mediation, according to Pakistan’s Dawn. Al Jazeera reported that the meeting takes place amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington, and Pakistani government sources told Anadolu that the agenda included Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, meets Donald Trump on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, carrying a proposal for an energy truce that would halt strikes by both sides on power facilities before winter, according to Reuters. Arriving in the city a day earlier, Zelensky said “concrete security proposals and de-escalation measures” are on the table and that a new drone deal is ready to be signed, with around 20 meetings planned during the visit, according to the Kyiv Independent. Trump has voiced concern about the damage to Russian refineries hit by Ukrainian drones, and Russia, which has more missile firepower, has not signalled it seeks to pause the air war, Reuters reported.
The Trump administration has informally notified congressional committees of a US$ 2.8 billion arms package for Israel that includes 40,000 907-kilogram bombs, 20,000 MK-84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, The Washington Post reported, citing a government official speaking on condition of anonymity, along with Reuters. If completed, it would be the largest single sale of that munition to Israel in recent years and would exceed a 2025 transfer worth nearly US$ 3 billion that contained more than 35,500 of the bombs and was approved after the administration bypassed normal congressional review. Most of the package would be financed through Foreign Military Financing, a mechanism under which Washington provides the money and Israel buys the weapons from the United States. The package also includes 20,000 I-2000 penetrator warheads, designed to punch through hardened underground structures. Outlets such as Al Jazeera fold the warheads into the bomb count to reach 60,000 items, while The Washington Post’s account treats the two categories separately. The State Department said it does not comment on pending sales before formal notification to Congress, and Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen have said they will work to block the sale. The deal is not final, and deliveries of orders this size can take years.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in New York on Monday, September 21, to lead Iran’s diplomatic delegation at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Araghchi is the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, according to Arab News and the Indian Express. He left Iran on Sunday evening with a stopover in Qatar and spoke by phone with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, according to Iranian state television. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X that the minister heads “a diplomatic delegation” at the assembly. Before departing, Araghchi told Iranian journalists his main objective is to use the platform to defend “the legitimacy, rights and interests of the Iranian people.” President Masoud Pezeshkian, due to address the assembly on Wednesday, September 23, left Tehran on Tuesday morning, according to the Mehr news agency; Iranian state media had reported that Washington refused visas to members of the delegation, including its communications team.
Seven countries and the European Union (EU) launched the inaugural summit of “Partners for Multilateralism” (P4M) in New York on Monday, September 21, a group presenting itself as a defender of a UN-based international order and one removed from superpower politics. The joint declaration “A joint commitment to multilateralism, international law, peace and prosperity” lists Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the EU, India and Kenya as initial co-sponsors, according to the office of Canada’s prime minister, and was co-hosted by European Council President António Costa, prime ministers William Ruto of Kenya, Anthony Albanese of Australia, Mia Mottley of Barbados and Mark Carney of Canada, and foreign ministers Mauro Vieira of Brazil and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India, according to UN WebTV. The text says economic interdependence “is increasingly used as a source of leverage”, cites the triple planetary crisis and the rapid development of artificial intelligence among the challenges requiring cooperation, and backs reform of multilateral institutions, including through the UN80 process. In his opening remarks, Jaishankar said the “four F crisis” — fuel, food, fertiliser and finance — “cannot be left to itself”, according to Times Now. In a joint editorial in the Financial Times, Costa, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Ruto and Carney wrote that P4M will not be another exclusive bloc or an international bureaucracy, and cited 2025’s record number of state-based armed conflicts since 1946, in 35 countries, according to The Hindu.
Donald Trump meets on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York with the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to discuss the next steps in the war against Iran, according to Axios, which cited three sources familiar with the plans. Iraq and Jordan have been added to the list and Egypt may take part, according to Abu Dhabi’s The National. The meeting is expected to focus on US proposals for a postwar strategy, which the White House intends to finalize after November’s midterm elections, Axios reported. At the same panel attended by the UAE’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Iran had shifted from arming Hezbollah to increasingly arming the Houthis with “very sophisticated” drones and cruise missiles; Gargash called for a “new mindset” toward Iran, saying the region’s future should also be discussed between Tehran and Arab states. US officials say Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has been granted a visa to address the assembly on Wednesday, September 23, and that no meeting with Trump is planned, according to ABC News.
G7 foreign ministers called on Iran on Monday, September 21, to end its arming and support of the Houthis in Yemen, which they described as a “dangerous pattern of escalation” that risked undermining international trade, and condemned the group’s “unacceptable continued strikes” in Yemen and against Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters. In a statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States called on the Houthis to “immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping” and to return to the political process in good faith. The statement came the same day the Houthi-run Saba news agency said Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed at least six civilians, including two children and a woman, and wounded eight in Mokha, the Red Sea port city the Houthis captured on September 10, according to AFP and France 24; the toll has no independent confirmation.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, September 21, that his meeting with Donald Trump in New York was “very constructive,” and that he pressed the US president to speed up deliveries of missile interceptors to Ukraine, which he described as a defensive measure. The two met at Trump Tower a day before the opening of the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly, and Macron said they held a long discussion about Ukraine and Russia as well as the situation in the Red Sea, which he called important for global prices. According to the French president, Trump was “very receptive.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also due to meet Trump in New York this week, according to the Kyiv Post.
The general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly opens on Tuesday, September 22, in New York, with about 130 heads of state and government registered through September 28 under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all” and under the presidency of Bangladesh’s Khalilur Rahman, according to the UN. By tradition Brazil speaks first, with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, followed by US President Donald Trump; Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks fourth, after King Abdullah II of Jordan, and French President Emmanuel Macron also addresses the hall on the first day, according to the Associated Press. Secretary-General António Guterres delivers his final opening address of a term that ends on December 31. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speak on Wednesday, September 23, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speak the next day, Abbas by video, after Washington denied him a visa for a second consecutive year, according to the Associated Press. The Gulf war, artificial intelligence and climate change dominate the week.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets Donald Trump on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, two days before the US president’s summit with Xi Jinping at the White House, The Japan Times and Reuters reported. Takaichi wants to press Trump on Japan’s positions over Taiwan and trade so that he does not lean toward conciliation with China, according to The Japan Times. Reuters notes that Takaichi angered Beijing in 2025 by saying Tokyo could be drawn into a conflict over Taiwan, and that analysts say allies fear Trump may offer concessions to Xi in return for an economic win he could showcase before November’s midterm elections. Takaichi, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Trump are all scheduled to speak at the General Assembly on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The United States, Japan and South Korea reaffirmed on Monday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, their commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea and called on Pyongyang to resume dialogue, according to the State Department and South Korea’s foreign ministry. The joint statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun also reiterated the three countries’ commitment to the defense of Japan and South Korea and expressed support for Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in international organizations, according to Reuters. The statement came three days before Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, scheduled for Thursday, September 24.
US president Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington is negotiating a ‘massive deal’ to buy potash from Belarus at prices ‘substantially less’ than what it currently pays Canada. ‘The United States is working on a massive Deal with respect to the purchase of Potash from Belarus. The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers,’ he wrote on Truth Social, according to AFP and the Anadolu agency. Potash is a fertiliser input, and the United States imported about 13 million tonnes in 2025, nearly 90% of it from Canada, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited by Bloomberg; Belarus shipped more than 700,000 tonnes to the US in 2021, before American restrictions. Alexander Lukashenko himself said on Monday that there is no volume available to sell because ‘everything is contracted’, according to his office cited by The Hill. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya warned the United States against the deal, which AFP described as risky; the European Union (EU) keeps restrictions on potash imports from Belarus and has frozen the assets of state producer Belaruskali.
A Venezuelan delegation led by interim president Delcy Rodríguez began talks with US counterparts on energy, debt and mining on Monday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Reuters, which cited officials and sources. Rodríguez first met Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) president Ilan Goldfajn and later, in separate meetings, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank president Ajay Banga, according to Venezuelan state television. One source said the visit would have ‘a big focus on debt restructuring, funds and payments’, and the talks are expected to lead to signed agreements; Venezuela’s sovereign debt and that of state oil company PDVSA are estimated by most analysts at between $150bn and $200bn. Rodríguez is scheduled to meet Donald Trump on Tuesday, according to US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz.
Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, told United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres on Monday that the country needs an international force under the UN umbrella in the south once the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expires, according to a statement from the premier’s office reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP). The statement said the presence should ‘ensure the continuation of the functions of monitoring, reporting and liaison’, help preserve stability and support extending the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory. UNIFIL fields around 7,500 peacekeepers from 46 countries and its mandate ends on 31 December, after the Security Council decided last year, under US pressure, to end the mission created in 1978. Israel keeps troops in a self-declared ‘security zone’ about 10 kilometres deep inside south Lebanon, and President Joseph Aoun told AFP last week that extending UNIFIL’s mandate remains the best option; France and Italy want a multinational coalition to succeed it.
World leaders opened New York’s Climate Week on Monday, running alongside the UN General Assembly, in a year marked by extreme heat across Europe and the United States, wildfires in Africa and a record-breaking El Niño, according to The Guardian. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, gave the opening keynote, and Iceland’s prime minister, Kristrún Frostadóttir, closed the day with her country’s geothermal transition. UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband told AFP the climate crisis is a job for heads of state.
Twenty-two countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, Singapore and the European Commission, signed a declaration urging that artificial intelligence (AI) remain under human control, on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, according to ABC Australia and POLITICO. The statement warns that capable AI systems have already circumvented safety testing and gained unauthorised access to real-world systems, and calls for transparent safety protocols, mandatory pre-deployment testing and a new international oversight body. Neither the United States nor China signed it.
Iraq will suspend flights by Iranian airlines from dawn on Tuesday to comply with the US Treasury decision that shuts Iranian carriers out of international traffic on September 23, according to two Iraqi government sources heard by Agence France-Presse (AFP); one of them warned that countries that do not enforce the measure risk sanctions. Georgia has also barred Iranian carriers, and Mahan Air suspended its services to Turkey at the request of the Turkish government. Iran Air says it will keep its route to Najaf, in Iraq, despite the measure.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, met the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, at Shannon Airport in Ireland, according to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter. One source said the meeting took place on Monday; the other said the two spoke while their planes were being refuelled, without specifying a date. Neither disclosed what was discussed, and neither the Ukrainian government nor the US agency confirmed the meeting, which comes on the eve of the high-level week of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
In an interview with The New York Times published on Monday, Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, again promised to disarm Iran-backed militias, on the day he travelled to New York for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, where he is expected to meet Donald Trump on the sidelines, according to government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi. The September 30 deadline is the same for the end of the US-led coalition mission in the country and for the handover of weapons held outside state control, a commitment al-Zaidi made to Trump in July. The government itself sends mixed signals: national security adviser Qasim al-Araji said in August that the date marks the coalition’s departure, not the deadline for handing over weapons, and the committee in charge of disarmament has no fixed deadline, according to The National. The commander-in-chief’s spokesperson, Sabah al-Numan, told state news agency Iraqi News Agency that September 30 is “a strategic turning point” and that from then on “any justification” for armed action outside state authority “disappears”. Among the factions the picture is equally split: Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali have announced compliance and handed over part of their weapons, while Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada reject the deadline, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Iraqi outlet 964media. Iraq tried once before to concentrate weapons in state hands, after the 2011 US withdrawal, and the country slid into sectarian violence until Islamic State gained ground in 2014.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said on Monday in an interview with CNN that Donald Trump “acts like an emperor” in the negotiations over tariffs imposed on Brazil, and said his government is studying which American products would go on a reciprocity list. “It is a way of governing I do not agree with. He has a way of governing based on ‘I am the strongest, I am the most powerful, I am the richest, I can do anything, and everyone else has to obey’”, he said, according to CNN Brasil. Lula said he prefers dialogue and does not want a tariff war, but that if there is no deal, “we will have to take measures, because we have a law approved unanimously in our Congress”. Brazil notified Washington in August that it was opening proceedings under the Economic Reciprocity Law, and the two sides resumed talks on the tariffs on August 31 under Section 301 of US law. According to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), the 25% and 12.5% surcharges announced in July together hit 23.1% of Brazilian exports to the United States. Lula is in New York and speaks at the opening of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is drawing up a two-year engagement plan for Venezuela focused partly on electricity and social protection, its president, Ilan Goldfajn, said on Monday in an interview with Reuters. “We are, of course, reengaging,” he said, adding that the bank has missions to Venezuela to assess the macroeconomic framework and the data and to draft an engagement note setting out what it plans to do over the next two years. The IDB, the largest development lender in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 48 member countries, stopped making new loans to Venezuela in May 2018 after the country fell behind on payments, and still has about $2 billion in outstanding Venezuelan loans. Goldfajn did not say how the arrears would be addressed or when financing could resume, and said the bank is concentrating on the country’s macroeconomic framework and requirements across individual sectors rather than preparing its own debt-sustainability analysis.
OpenAI on Monday called on the United States to lead an international effort to set technical standards for frontier artificial intelligence (AI), including systems able to improve themselves, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Politico. In a blog post, the company said “leading now will determine whether the United States shapes the global AI framework or watches a fragmented, uneven, and conflict-ridden system take hold around it,” and argued that the US Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation should lead other countries in adopting common approaches to evaluating model capabilities and risks, with shared measurements and incident-reporting protocols. The document says the agreed standards “would not be licenses, mandatory prerelease review or approval requirements for AI models” and that national governments would decide whether and how to incorporate them into their own legal systems; Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Kenya, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India and the United Kingdom are named as possible partners. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman is due to brief the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday on AI and international security, at a meeting convened by France, which holds the council’s presidency in September, and chaired by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. President Donald Trump’s administration has rejected calls to slow AI development.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s high-level week, with the bilateral pencilled in for Thursday evening, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, adding that he was recalling the timing from memory. Lavrov travels to New York on Tuesday and addresses the General Assembly on Saturday, 26 September. Dujarric said Guterres remains in regular contact with representatives of both Russia and Ukraine, and that he had no information on whether a trilateral meeting on the Ukraine war would take place during the week.
The office of Grand Ayatollah Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani announced early on Monday that the cleric had died at 98, one of the leading sources of emulation (marja’) in Twelver Shia Islam and a figure of the Qom seminary, according to Mehr News and Press TV. He had been hospitalised in Qom for two days. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shia authority, sent a message of condolence, according to the Shafaqna news agency.
On the eve of his final address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Secretary-General António Guterres told Al Jazeera the state of the world ‘is getting worse’, with the Security Council paralysed by geopolitical divisions and an ‘environment of impunity’ in which middle powers believe they can do whatever they want. He cited the combined effect of the war in Ukraine on food, fertiliser and energy exports through the Black Sea, alongside the difficulties in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb and attacks on oil installations in the region, as devastating for developing economies. Guterres, who leaves office on 31 December, said the Security Council ‘still essentially represents the world of World War II’ and called for reform. According to TASS, more than 70 world leaders and 45 heads of state are attending the high-level week; NPR notes this is Guterres’s last General Assembly as secretary-general.
Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, called on Sunday for a new “regional security framework” in the Middle East that includes Iran, saying the war against the Islamic Republic should be a “wake-up call” for the region, according to Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera. “Iran is our neighbour,” Al Thani said at the Qatar Economic Forum in New York. “We have to act together responsibly as a region and to make sure that we are having good relations with Iran. We are hoping this war is a wake-up call for everyone.” At a separate event on Sunday, Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said the region needed a “new mindset” and called for talks to end the war to include an “Iranian-Arab” element. The remarks came hours after reports, relayed by Middle East Eye, that Washington plans to resume direct strikes on Iran after months of reduced violence.
Pakistani jet fighters struck what security officials described as suspected militant hideouts in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, and two Pakistani security officials said 28 suspected militants were killed, according to the Associated Press (AP). Afghanistan’s government said the strikes killed three civilians and wounded four. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it had confirmed that “at least three civilians, including a man, a woman and a girl, were killed and four injured in apparent airstrikes” in Kunar province, and that it had documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan from cross-border violence so far this year. The strikes came after Pakistan warned it could target militants inside Afghanistan following two deadly attacks on its security forces near the border, including Friday’s bombing at a mosque in Kohat that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers.
Seven Ethiopian armed groups announced an alliance to remove the government in Addis Ababa and install a transitional administration, according to the BBC and Al Jazeera. The coalition, named the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, brings together the Amhara Fano militia, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and four smaller groups: the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, the Benishangul Peoples’ Liberation Movement and the Gumuz Peoples’ Democratic Movement. Together they cover six of the country’s twelve regional states. Fano leader Zemene Kasse will chair the alliance, according to TPLF vice president Amanuel Assefa. The federal government has not commented on the announcement.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington has proposed a mechanism with China to notify each other of artificial intelligence incidents that threaten national security, for Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to consider at their meeting in Washington this week, according to NBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera. Bessent said the two sides discussed setting up a bilateral AI dialogue focused on national security and that “moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important”. China’s state Xinhua news agency confirmed that Bessent and Vice Premier He Lifeng discussed issues “relating to AI”, without mentioning the US proposal. What would trigger a notification has not been disclosed.
US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Sunday with Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi, who asked for American support against the Houthis, and made no direct pledge of military support, according to four people familiar with the call cited by The Hindu. The White House and Yemen’s information minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has already rebuffed Saudi requests for military support against the group, according to Reuters, and says publicly that Washington is in contact with the Houthis, who say they will not target American shipping. The United States designates the movement as a terrorist organisation. The call came after the Houthis this month took areas along the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met on Sunday in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, a French archipelago about 25 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland, and announced closer cooperation on energy, defence, critical minerals and cross-border security. Macron said France and Canada are “two great independent nations who want to stay that way” and said he wants agreements to secure more Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Europe’s Atlantic coast, which today goes mainly to Asia. It was the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to the territory and the first by a French president since 2014. The meeting came weeks after Donald Trump posted an image of the archipelago covered by the American flag, according to Reuters, and amid Ottawa’s rapprochement with the European Union.
Houthi fighters pushed on Monday to seize strategic heights in Yemen’s Taiz province to cut the Red Sea coast off from remaining forces of the Saudi-backed government, according to Reuters. The New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s administration prepared airstrikes against the group on Sunday at the request of the Saudi crown prince and that Trump called them off at the last minute as bombs were being loaded onto aircraft; Reuters could not verify the report and the United States Central Command did not respond to a request for comment. The Hindu reported, citing sources, that Trump did not pledge military support to Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi in a phone call despite the request.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of Donald Trump. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Trump will greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews when he arrives on Wednesday and that the state dinner is set for Thursday; according to the agency, the first state visit by a Chinese leader in more than a decade has trade, rare earths and artificial intelligence on the agenda, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meets Vice Premier He Lifeng over the weekend.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won the State Duma election with 57.83% of the vote and 355 of the 450 seats, beating the party’s previous record of 343, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Turnout was above 59%, and the Communist Party finished second with 40 seats, followed by the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) with 25 and New People with 20. The three-day vote was held without parties critical of the Kremlin or of the war in Ukraine — the only one calling for an end to the fighting was barred from the ballot. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the figures pointed to “the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state”, while European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas dismissed the “so-called” election and said “the veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia”. It was the first parliamentary election since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico said on Monday they will sue the United States government over the revocation of their journalists’ White House credentials, according to The Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). In a joint statement, the three newsrooms said they had notified the government and would file the suit in the federal court in Washington to protect their First Amendment rights, adding that the case could see emergency hearings as soon as this week. The credentials were revoked on Friday without notice or process, according to the outlets. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the move is “an assault on the FAKE NEWS”, and not on the free press, “which I cherish”. The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) called for the immediate restoration of access and said a standard used to exclude one outlet over its coverage could be applied to any other in the future.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he intends to hold his coalition of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) together after his party’s defeats in Sunday’s state elections, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), The Guardian and The Hindu. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came first in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the CDU crashed out of the state parliament with its worst result since the party’s founding in 1945; in Berlin, the hard-left Die Linke pushed the CDU into second place. Merz called the result a “heavy blow” and a “profound turning point”, ruled out resigning and said the reasons for the setback “go far beyond my own person”. The SPD also said it would stay in the coalition while signalling it would push for changes to the government’s planned reforms.
The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the United States refused visas for the communications team of President Masoud Pezeshkian, which was due to accompany him to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, and Al Arabiya carried the report citing the state agency. Washington had approved the trip of the main delegation, led by Pezeshkian, last week, and US public radio National Public Radio (NPR) reports that those cleared will face strict limits on where they can go and what they can buy, enforced by diplomatic security. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, stopped in Doha on his way to New York for consultations on the war, according to the Iranian state agency. The visa refusals come as the conflict nears the half-year mark and after the United States denied a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian delegation, according to the BBC.
The US Virtual Embassy in Iran issued a security alert telling Americans not to travel to the country “for any reason” and those already there to leave immediately, citing possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and changing land border rules, according to Fox News and the ANI news agency. The notice recalls that Washington has no embassy or consular presence in Iran, with Switzerland acting as protecting power for US interests, and advises citizens to plan alternative means of communication. On Saturday, the State Department had already told Americans in the Middle East to exercise heightened vigilance and prepare for travel disruption, after new Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The alert repeats guidance issued several times this year and comes on the eve of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, with an Iranian proposal to end the war still unanswered by Washington and the US blockade of Iranian ports in place.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released video and photographs on Saturday of a visit to the excavation tunnels under Jerusalem’s Old City, beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, saying he was “very close to the Holy of Holies” and that Israelis “are here, and we will always remain here”; on Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the compound for Yom Kippur prayers, and on Sunday about 570 settlers passed through the courtyards by 10am local time, according to the Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate. Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt condemned the entries; Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called them “a blatant violation of the existing historical and legal status quo” and said the Islamic Waqf affiliated with Amman is the site’s legal custodian. Hamas called Netanyahu’s tunnel visit “a flagrant assault” on the sanctuary’s identity. Analysts cited by Al Jazeera say the release is driven by the October election, with Netanyahu trailing in the polls.
US and Chinese negotiators ended about eight hours of talks in New York on Sunday without agreement on extending the trade truce that expires on November 10, according to the Financial Times, which cites US sources; the central dispute is the length — Washington proposes six months and Beijing wants the extension to cover the rest of Donald Trump’s term. The paper also says US officials believe China is meeting about two-thirds of its rare-earth supply commitments. In public, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the meeting “very successful”, said the two sides will discuss a channel for artificial intelligence (AI) concerns and that Washington proposed a notification mechanism for incidents; Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Board of Trade is operational and that teams are still defining a list of non-sensitive goods. China’s Xinhua agency described the talks as “candid, in-depth and constructive”. The meeting sets up Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington on Thursday.
A police officer and a man were wounded in an exchange of gunfire near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Canada, on Sunday evening, as the Jewish community observed Yom Kippur, according to the Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times. The man is in critical condition; police have not said whether the synagogue was the target, and Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has taken the case. Provincial premier Doug Ford said he was “disgusted” by the shooting.
The agreement on Greenland between the United States, Denmark and Greenland is set to be signed on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly, and Copenhagen says the text puts Arctic security under NATO, according to Reuters. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told TV2 that “to a large extent it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”; the contents of the deal have not been made public and Donald Trump describes it as giving the US “permanent” control over the island’s security.
France and Canada strengthened ties in response to Trump’s provocations, according to Le Monde, and a Canadian minister told the BBC that the UK should “team up” with Canada in a new European alliance.
China confirmed that Xi Jinping will visit the United States between 23 and 25 September for talks with Donald Trump, according to The Hindu, the Hindustan Times and Reuters. Negotiators from both countries are holding the final preparatory rounds, The Hindu reports.
Pakistani police arrested two sisters of former prime minister Imran Khan, according to France24, and his son said relatives and children were “abducted” ahead of the PTI protest march, the Hindustan Times reports.
The United States and China are discussing an AI safety plan ahead of the summit, according to the BBC and AP. The agenda combines guardrails for the technology’s development with the dispute over access to chips.
Three South Korean military officers were injured in an explosion in the Demilitarised Zone, according to the country’s military, cited by Reuters, AP and The Hindu; none of the sources has attributed the incident to North Korea so far.
US and Chinese negotiators are holding the final preparatory rounds ahead of the Donald Trump–Xi Jinping summit, according to The Hindu, which also reports a US proposal for an ‘AI dialogue’. The New York Times flags arms sales to Taiwan as the issue that could unravel the deal.
Pakistan struck what it calls militant hideouts in Afghanistan and says it killed 28 people; Kabul says the strikes killed three, according to AP, Hindustan Times and Mehr News. There has been no independent confirmation of the death toll.
Beijing links Xi Jinping 24 September visit to Washington to a freeze on new arms sales to Taiwan, according to Kyodo; no Chinese official confirmed the linkage.
The yuan hit a fresh multi-year peak after China’s central bank eased restrictions, on the eve of the summit with Washington, according to Reuters.
The US is preparing sanctions against the International Criminal Court, according to sources cited by The Hindu and Mehr News; a diplomat told TASS that Dutch companies are already cutting ties with the court over fears of the measures.
Brazil, the European Union, Canada and Kenya launched a manifesto for multilateralism on the eve of the UN General Assembly, according to G1; AP notes the opening week brings leaders together with war, unregulated AI and climate shocks on the agenda.
Eighteen suspects in the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse have been extradited from Haiti to the United States, according to Le Monde, AFP, Al Jazeera and The Guardian — five years after the killing.