President Donald Trump points while boarding Air Force One at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. (AP Photo)US President Donald Trump expressed confidence in an interview with Fox News that the war with Iran will be won “very soon”, while warning that fresh strikes at the Islamic Republic ahead of America’s midterm elections are “possible”.
“I think what’s going to happen is we’re going to win this war very soon, and as soon as we win it, the oil will go down, way down to what it was before the war,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, the standoff between Washington and Tehran deepened over the weekend, with both sides trading sharp rhetoric even as backchannel diplomacy pushed forward. Iran signaled it has no intention of backing down from its demands to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, while the US dismissed Tehran’s claims of a captured American underwater drone as posturing born of desperation. Meanwhile, reports of a foiled plot against a UK airbase used in strikes on Iran added a new security dimension to the crisis, even as talk of renewed negotiations kept a diplomatic path alive.
Military claims and rhetoric harden: US officials pushed back firmly on Iranian claims that they had seized an advanced American underwater vehicle in the strait, insisting the military retains full control of its drone fleet and characterizing the Iranian assertion as an act of desperation. On the Iranian side, a senior general struck a defiant tone, declaring victory in the conflict while cautioning that the Strait of Hormuz would stay shut until US economic pressure eases. President Trump, for his part, rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait within a week, framing the offer as evidence that Tehran was struggling badly in the confrontation. Iran’s Foreign Minister countered that the country would not abandon its conditions despite the rejection.
Key world developments:
Follow the latest world news and major international developments here, including the latest on the US-Iran war and talks over the Strait of Hormuz. This live blog is a rolling curation of the day’s key global stories, with updates added as events unfold and the news agenda changes. The headline, introduction and Top Developments section will be refreshed throughout the day to reflect the stories that matter most at that moment.
US President Donald Trump's administration is considering a limited waiver to its Iran sanctions program to allow for flights carrying Shi'ite Muslim religious pilgrims between Iran and Iraq, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. (Reuters)
The UK's Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) on Monday said that all five British nationals arrested on suspicion of terror charges over an explosives threat to a Royal Air Force (RAF) base have been released on bail.
Qatari mediators are expected to hold separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York and with the US side on Monday or Tuesday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
The talks are expected to focus on an amended version of a seven-day proposal that Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, said the official.
Iran has denied involvement in a suspected plot targeting a US-operated air base in England.
Iranian forces have driven enemy forces back from waters off southern Iran to the Arabian Sea, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Monday according to his Telegram channel, warning that Iranian forces would soon push them out of the Arabian Sea as well.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly travelled to the United Arab Emirates over the weekend to reportedly ask its leader to deny reports that he had warned the Israeli PM about a threat by the militant group Hamas ahead of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on southern Israel.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan took place on Sunday, and two people familiar with the matter confirmed the development to the Associated Press.
US President Donald Trump expressed confidence in an interview with Fox News that the war with Iran will be won "very soon", while warning that fresh strikes at the Islamic Republic ahead of America's midterm elections are "possible".
"I think what's going to happen is we're going to win this war very soon, and as soon as we win it, the oil will go down, way down to what it was before the war," Trump said.
When the US President was asked about resumption of strikes, Trump said, "I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that. I mean, it's possible, but I just don't want to say that."
UK police on Monday (Sep 28), questioned five men detained near an air base used by the US to strike Iran over suspected explosives and terrorism offences.
The police officers detained three men in the early hours of Sunday after receiving a tip-off that three large white vans had been seen heading to the RAF Fairford military airfield in west England.
US President Donald Trump said the suspects had been looking to cause “big damage”, while a local farmer said she alerted police after seeing "hooded and masked men".
UK Defence Minister Wes Streeting said authorities would not speculate on the motives behind a live investigation, while warning that Iran and its proxies pose threats to British and allied interests.
"We know that Iran and their proxies wish to do us harm. We know that they hate our democracy, and we know that we regularly have to thwart Iranian attempts to threaten either our interests or indeed our allies," he told BBC News.
Mediators are pressing Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme to help restart talks with the United States, according to unnamed mediators cited by The Wall Street Journal.
However, the Iranian leaders believe the country can withstand continued US pressure, including a blockade or potential renewed airstrikes, the government officials told the Journal.
Meanwhile, the Arab officials said that Tehran wants Washington to compromise so that talks can advance.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital after US and Israeli strikes hit the building, the New York Post reported, citing the Qatari channel Al Araby, which interviewed a senior Iranian cleric.
Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, made the claim in an interview with the Qatari channel Al Araby on Thursday. He said Khamenei had been wounded in earlier attacks and taken to hospital, which was then bombed along with two others in Tehran. The New York Post reported that the hospitals were hit in the days after the war began on 28 February.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday Iran could have “nothing left to trade for anything” within two weeks as Tehran completes its remaining oil deliveries to China.
Speaking on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, Bessent estimated that only about 15 million barrels of Iran’s oil remained out for delivery as the US blockades the ports.
“They are going to make their final deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing,” he said.
Between 15 million and 22 million barrels of oil are now moving through the Strait of Hormuz each day, Bessent said, compared with about 20 million before the conflict.
“The score is the United States, one billion — more than one billion barrels have gotten out — Iran, zero,” he said.
He described the purpose of Operation Economic Outcast as ensuring Iran adheres to the terms of any potential future deal.
Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport remains operational despite US sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation industry, the airport’s CEO Ramin Kashef-Azar told state broadcaster IRIB on Sunday.
Kashef-Azar said the airport continues to serve more than 30 international destinations, with 60 flights operating successfully on September 23, when the sanctions took effect.
The US Treasury Department designated 27 airlines on September 8, covering remaining Iran carriers not previously under US sanctions.
Oman and the UAE have since suspended Iran flights, while four airports in Iraq have also halted them.
ndian shares fell to near six-month lows on Monday, extending a seven-week losing streak, as a rise in oil prices following a deadlock in US-Iran peace talks weighed on investor sentiment.
US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting, while Iran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel.
The deadlock raised concerns over oil supplies through the key shipping route, pushing Brent crude futures up 2.3% to about $106.7 a barrel.
For India, the world's third-largest crude importer, higher oil prices risk stoking inflation, widening the import bill and squeezing corporate margins.
"Higher oil prices, rising inflation and lack of adequate liquidity remain cause of major concerns for domestic markets," G Chokkalingam, founder and head of research at Equinomics Research said, adding "the short-term outlook for Indian markets remain quite pessimistic."
The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened in the foreign exchange market on Monday, four traders told Reuters, as stalled US-Iran diplomatic talks pushed oil prices higher, with month-end corporate flows adding to the pressure.
The rupee declined 0.1% to 95.89 per dollar, with the central bank's presence helping it hold above the 96 mark, similar to the price action observed over the last two weeks.
"Nearly every day we have seen some amount of interventions, which signals that the RBI wants to keep a firm floor under the rupee for now," a senior trader at a foreign bank said.
Asian currencies were down between 0.1% to 0.6% on Monday.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Washington on Monday for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Saudi state news agency said, amid escalating hostilities between Riyadh and Yemen's Houthis.
The two will discuss bilateral ties as well as key regional and international developments, the agency added.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought US military help this month against the Iran-backed Houthis, but Washington declined to launch strikes, though it agreed to supply intelligence and targeting support, sources had told Reuters.
Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital after US and Israeli strikes hit the building, according to a senior Iranian cleric cited by the New York Post.
Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, made the claim in an interview with the Qatari channel Al Araby on Thursday. He said Khamenei had been wounded in earlier attacks and taken to hospital, which was then bombed along with two others in Tehran.
Khamenei, 56, was later moved to an undisclosed location and has not been seen or heard in public since. The US, Israel and the Iranian government have not confirmed the account.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed its forces seized the second US underwater drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait “is not only not open; it is a hunting ground for the IRGC navy for American underwater vessels”, spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi wrote on X.
“The second catch has been reeled in, this time the Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish,” he said, calling it an advanced autonomous drone fitted with sonar and precision navigation and worth several million dollars.
“It is not just a catch; it is a technological and intelligence prize,” he said, attaching a picture circulated earlier that labels the vessel as a REMUS 600.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran was “fully prepared” for war with the United States to resume and would stand firm even if it led to a “doomsday war,” adding that Tehran remained open to diplomacy.
“We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed,” Araghchi told NBC’s Meet the Press. “We stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war.”
“At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose,” he added.
Araghchi said Iran was still awaiting an official US response through mediators to the proposal despite Trump saying he had rejected it. Under the plan, he said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen on the sixth day after agreed US steps, followed by talks on a final agreement on the seventh day.
Oil prices rebounded more than 1% on Monday after US President Donald Trump rejected a peace deal from Iran to resolve their conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, keeping tensions in the Middle East elevated.
Brent crude futures rose $1.32, or 1.27%, to $105.64 a barrel by 0036 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $93.11 a barrel, up 70 cents, or 0.76%.
Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan, but told Axios in a phone interview on Sunday that he expected US negotiators to engage in more talks this week.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed its forces seized the second US underwater drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait “is not only not open; it is a hunting ground for the IRGC navy for American underwater vessels”, spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi wrote on X.
“The second catch has been reeled in, this time the Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish,” he said, calling it an advanced autonomous drone fitted with sonar and precision navigation and worth several million dollars.
Crude oil exports from key Middle East producers rebounded in September to 12.8 million barrels per day, the highest since the US-Israeli war with Iran started in February, data from Kpler showed on Monday, as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates boosted exports.
The rebound came following a recovery in exports via the Strait of Hormuz, which were set to hit about 7.4 million bpd this month, as Saudi Arabia diverted oil exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu following attacks that damaged its East-West pipeline, the preliminary data showed.
While exports from the region - which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran - have rebounded, they were still about 6 million bpd down from 18.8 million bpd in February, according to Kpler.
The region's top exporter Saudi Arabia was on track to ship about 5.4 million bpd this month, rebounding from 2.446 million bpd in August, the data showed.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Sunday that Iran’s proposed seven-day ceasefire was a “pretty cynical attempt” to secure sanctions relief, an end to the US blockade and access to billions of dollars in frozen assets.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Waltz said, “I think it’s kind of common sense that the president doesn’t have a lot of confidence this time, after we just tried a few months ago.” He added that Washington believed Iran had violated a previous memorandum of understanding by attacking international shipping.
Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Trump was preparing to resume strikes against Iran after the November midterm elections, Waltz called it “anonymous reporting.”
“What I can tell you is the president will leave all options on the table,” he said.
IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said Sunday that the Revolutionary Guards Navy had seized a second US underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on X, Mohebbi shared an image of what he identified as an Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish autonomous underwater vehicle.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not only not open, but is a hunting ground for the IRGC Navy for US underwater vehicles,” he wrote.
Mohebbi described the vehicle as an advanced autonomous system equipped with sonar and precision navigation and worth several million dollars, calling its seizure “a technological and intelligence prize.”
The Joint Maritime Information Centre has released the following statement on security incidents in the region during the past 72 hours:
Arabian Gulf
No confirmed attacks or disruptions were reported in this period. Recent attacks on ships in anchorage areas pose risk for adjacent ships due to explosions and environmental damage. Mariners should monitor relevant VHF channels and coordinate all movements with the appropriate port authorities.
Traffic flows remained stable, with anchorage congestion unchanged across the region.
Navigational system interference and wider regional military activity continued to warrant caution, and recurring GNSS interference remained consistent with prior reporting.
Strait of Hormuz
No confirmed attacks or disruptions were reported in this period.
IRGC attacks, attempted attacks, and/or harassment activity persisted including UAV overflight, targeted surveillance of merchant shipping, and occasional VHF hailing. These actions continue to demonstrate Iran's intent to assert presence along key transit lanes and maintain pressure on transiting vessels.
Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained at reduced levels compared to the 2025 baseline. Independent tracking data indicated suppression with single-digit numbers transiting in both directions, while US NCAGS data indicated traffic flows averaging approximately 30 vessel transits per day for the last 72 hours.
Gulf of Oman
No confirmed attacks or disruptions were reported in this period. Traffic flows in the Gulf of Oman remained stable, with vessels maintaining heightened awareness amid ongoing naval activity.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News that Tehran is "fully prepared" for the war to resume, vowing to stand firm against any new aggression "even if it comes to a doomsday war." He added that Iran remains open to diplomacy as well, saying the choice now rests with President Trump.
FM @araghchi to NBC News: “We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed. We stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war.”
— IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) September 27, 2026
“At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.” pic.twitter.com/zIKKxm55BM
A top US official on Sunday dismissed a proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz presented by Iran as "cynical" and indicated it was a non-starter for Washington, AFP reported.
Iran's truce plan, announced by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations earlier this week, calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade in order for the key waterway central to the world's energy supplies to be opened.
"This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable," AFP cited an NBC interview of the US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. "To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions, and access to billions in assets just to talk."
President Trump told Fox News, speaking from the President's Medinah Country Club, that he believes the US is close to "winning the war" with Iran. He said oil prices would return to pre-war levels once Iran is defeated, stressing that the central goal remains preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Trump characterized the US as making gains on both the military and economic fronts, and while he did not rule out a resumption of military strikes, he said he preferred not to elaborate on that possibility. He reiterated his belief that the combination of economic pressure and military action is tilting the war in America's favor, and predicted energy prices would ease once the conflict concludes.
ranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he and President Masoud Pezeshkian came to New York seeking peace rather than war.
“President Pezeshkian and I did not come to New York to sell a war. We came to forge peace,” Araghchi wrote on X.
During an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Araghchi also said Iran remained prepared to confront further military action but was open to diplomacy.
“Iran nonetheless remains steadfast in the face of any aggression even if it comes to an apocalyptic war. At the same time, we are ready for real diplomacy,” he said.
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