Wars 2026 02/28 Israel-Iran War 3.0

[Saif]

US troop deaths during Iran war exceed Pentagon count by 4: WaPo

More US troops have died during the US-Israeli war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, the Washington Post reported on Friday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the report. The Post, citing five unidentified officials, reported that there had been at least 22 military fataliti

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US troop deaths during Iran war exceed Pentagon count by 4: WaPo

A neighbour places flags in their yard in support of the family of fallen US soldier Sgt Angel S Rampersad in New York City, US, Jul 23, 2026. Source: REUTERS/File

More US troops have died during the US-Israeli war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the report.

The Post, citing five unidentified officials, reported that there had been at least 22 military fatalities, four more than were listed in the data available on the Pentagon's public database.

The newspaper also reported, citing another unidentified official, that not all of the undisclosed deaths were directly tied to the months-long conflict but involved US personnel who were in the West Asia amid ongoing hostilities.

Hegseth, in a post on X, called the report "a complete LIE."

The Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its story, the newspaper said the Pentagon had declined to address its questions about the discrepancy in casualty accounting.​

 

[Saif]

Iran calls Trump ‘annihilation’ threat a sign of ‘strategic desperation’

Iran’s military has dismissed Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic warning it’s ready to respond with “crushing” attacks far more severe than earlier in the war, Al Jazeera reports. In a statement carried by Mehr news agency, Iran&rsq

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Iran calls Trump ‘annihilation’ threat a sign of ‘strategic desperation’

Representational image: Reuters


Iran’s military has dismissed Donald Trump’s threat to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic warning it’s ready to respond with “crushing” attacks far more severe than earlier in the war, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement carried by Mehr news agency, Iran’s General Staff accused the US president of using the UN podium at the General Assembly to justify “aggression”.

“Such words demonstrate America’s strategic dead end in its aggression against the Iranian nation,” it said. It described Trump’s repeated threats as “not a sign of power but a sign of their strategic desperation”.

The statement also warned Iran’s armed forces are ready to deliver strikes against the US and Israel that would be “more crushing and less predictable” than earlier in their war.​

 

[Saif]

US 'must choose' whether to end war: Iran president

It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News in an interview aired Thursday. Pezeshkian took a defiant stand at the UN Wednesday, for which he travelled to New York, telling...

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US 'must choose' whether to end war: Iran president

AFP
UN, US
Published: 25 Sep 2026, 10: 00

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York City, US, 23 September, 2026. REUTERS

It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News in an interview aired Thursday.

Pezeshkian took a defiant stand at the UN Wednesday, for which he travelled to New York, telling the world that Iran would not "bend at the knee" to Washington -- even as US President Donald Trump acknowledged ongoing US-Iran talks.

"When we can resolve issues through dialog, we shouldn't resort to killing one another. But with the instigations conducted by Israel, they have imposed this war on us," he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster.

"But we do not wish to continue. It's America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not."

Pezeshkian insisted Iran was ready to strike a deal with Trump to end the conflict.

"Why is it that within two weeks after the signing of an agreement, they chose to blow it up?" he said of the collapse of a shaky ceasefire.

"If the current American government, within international legal frameworks, wishes to reach an agreement, fine. If not, before the (US midterm) elections or after the elections, what difference does it make for us?"

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took part in a meeting with Trump's roving envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Their talks did not immediately yield a breakthrough.

Houthi backers?

As violence raged between Yemen's Houthi militant movement -- widely seen to be Iran-backed -- and Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, Pezeshkian insisted the Houthis do not take direction from Tehran's government.

Washington and its allies including Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, accuse Iran of backing the Houthi militant movement that is raining ballistic missiles on the kingdom, and battling Riyadh-backed forces for control of Yemen.

"The Houthis are responsible for their own actions. They don't take directions from us as those who are resisting in the region, based on the situations that have been imposed on them," Pezeshkian said, according to the broadcaster's translation of his remarks.

"We have contacts with them. There is no systematic relationship," he added.

Saudi Arabia intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles on Thursday after issuing warnings for several regions including Mecca.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers and territory and seizing swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast, which is vital for Saudi oil exports, causing energy prices to jump.

Their gains cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out its oil and other fuel products.​

 

[Saif]

Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Hormuz and end fighting

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East.

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Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Hormuz and end fighting

AFP
Washington/ United Nations/ Cairo

US President Donald Trump arrives to board Air Force One for travel to Tennessee from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 26, 2026 Reuters

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East.

Iran raised the initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators and that it could reopen the strategic waterway and put an end to hostilities in the region within seven days.

But in comments to reporters at the White House, Trump said: "I reject their proposal. ... I rejected their deal.

"They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they''''re losing so badly," he said before leaving for Tennessee. "We''''re winning tremendously.

"They want to make a deal and I think that's fine, I like making a deal too. What they want to do is immediately open the Hormuz Strait ... because they have no money coming in, because they get their money from the Hormuz Strait," Trump said.

The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to lift its blockade of Hormuz, which has drastically reduced shipping through the strait, even though Trump again asserted that the US had control of the waterway.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials.

It said Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections to Congress.

A US official had said earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were "positive and constructive".

Conflict has disrupted oil flows, harmed global economy
The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old conflict that has disrupted oil flows through a critical shipping lane and taken a toll on the global economy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 23, 2026. Picture taken through a window. REUTERS

"If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared," Araqchi said. If the US were to agree, the warring parties could start wider talks "on mutually agreed subjects."

That could potentially include discussions of Iran's nuclear programme. Trump has said Tehran must never acquire a nuclear bomb, while a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the USaccepted its peace deal.

Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out ⁠of the country, the official said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show "Face the Nation", said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear programme and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion".

"Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that "we''''re not supposed to develop nuclear weapons".

Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on 28 February with US and Israeli attacks.

Since then the war has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading Iran's conventional forces and damaging Iran's already ailing economy.

Iran and its allies have retaliated by extending the conflict throughout the region. Iran has struck US allies in the Gulf with drones and missiles while its Houthi allies in Yemen have targeted Saudi interests.​

 

[Saif]

Trump expects new Iran talks despite rejecting deal offer

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran. Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening...

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Trump expects new Iran talks despite rejecting deal offer

AFP
Washington, US
Published: 28 Sep 2026, 10: 42

US President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, in Illinois, US, 27 September, 2026.REUTERS

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran.

Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel.

Trump dismissed the plan and has mused on resuming full-scale air strikes on Iranian targets, but he told the news platform Axios that he expects negotiations to resume.

"They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make," Trump told Axios. "It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago."

"They overplayed their hand," Trump said, in the interview published Sunday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Axios reported that indirect talks between Washington and Tehran could take place as early as Monday.

On Sunday, Iran was still standing by its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, leaving the Gulf front of the Middle East war locked in a stalemate, while fighting rages in Yemen.

'We will not back down'

Hormuz is a key chokepoint for the world's energy supplies and is now central to the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which was started nearly seven months ago when the US and Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran.

Iran's plan called for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a return to the conditions in an earlier ceasefire deal that fell apart.

That agreement, which collapsed during fighting over Hormuz, called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent upon these conditions being fulfilled. We will not back down from them," Araghchi said on Sunday, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

"We have never closed the door to diplomacy or negotiations, but at the same time, we have never backed down from our rights."

Washington's ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, accused Tehran of demanding too much in exchange for a return to the negotiating table.

"This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable. To ask for the release of the blockade, the sanctions, international sanctions and access to billions in assets, just to talk," he told NBC News in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"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."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards meanwhile said that they seized an American submersible drone on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz.

It said the underwater vehicle was being used "for espionage purposes", adding that it was "now in the hands of the force's specialists for data recovery".

'Tool for pressure'

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the war, reopening the strait and launching talks on Iran's nuclear programme.

But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.

Iran requires ships to obtain authorization before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons.

Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.

Araghchi said at the UN that Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan, adding: "The choice now rests with the United States."

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying: "We will not cease punishing the US until Iran's seven conditions are met."

Mohebi had told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran's demands.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/315805/us-will-be-forced-out-of-me-khamenei

US will be forced out of ME: Khamenei
Iran has no plans to negotiate with US

Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 29 September, 2026, 01:34

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Monday the United States would be forced to leave the Middle East after suffering ‘painful blows’, according to a statement carried by state television.

Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the Middle East war in late February, made the remarks despite attempts to revive talks aimed at ending the fighting.

‘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,’ Khamenei said in the written statement attributed to him, without explicitly mentioning the United States.

‘Whenever they have braved this risk, they have only brought harm upon themselves. It will not be long before the Arabian Sea, too, would rid itself of their presence,’ he added.

The Arabian Sea, stretching from the Arabian Peninsula toward India in the east, is a vital maritime corridor that leads to Iran’s coasts and the Strait of Hormuz.

State media in Iran on Monday reported that Iran’s delegation to the UN General Assembly had no talks planned with the United States, after US president Donald Trump said he expected more negotiations. ‘Iran’s delegation in New York has no plans for negotiations with the United States,’ said the official IRNA news agency, citing an unnamed source close to the group.

Trump told media outlet Axios on Sunday that he expected talks to resume soon, a day after he rejected a proposal by Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.

‘Iran’s views and positions were conveyed clearly and explicitly to the US side via a Qatari mediator,’ IRNA said, adding that the Iranian delegation would return to Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran says it presented seven conditions for ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas flowed before the war.

The strait lies at the heart of the conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

Following that attack, Tehran placed a chokehold on the waterway, and Washington responded with a blockade of Iranian ports.

Axios said indirect talks mediated by Qatar could take place as early as Monday, less than a week after similar discussions between US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.

Iran demands a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah is regularly bombarded by Israel.

It also demands the unfreezing of its foreign assets, lifting sanctions on its oil sector, and an end to the US naval blockade.

Meanwhile, Iran has lodged a complaint with the United Nations over US sanctions against its aviation sector that have forced the cancellation of flights, state media reported Monday.

This month the United States imposed restrictions on the entire aviation industry in Iran and vowed to take a hard line against companies that assist it.

As the sanctions took effect last Wednesday, major airlines were forced to cancel international flights after several countries implemented bans.

‘To defend the legitimate rights of the aviation industry and counter illegal restrictions imposed by America, Iran has drafted and submitted a formal protest to the International Civil Aviation Organisation,’ said civil aviation chief Abouzar Shiroudi, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

The ICAO is a UN agency based in Montreal, Canada that sets and regulates standards for civil aviation.

‘In cooperation with the foreign ministry, we have also filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice at The Hague,’ Shiroudi added.

For Iranians wishing to enter or exit their country, destinations in neighbouring Turkey are now the primary options for flights.

Routes also remain available to Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Russia, Malaysia and Thailand, with flights to the United Arab Emirates suspended.

Dubai was the most important Middle Eastern destination for Iranian airlines, with several flights daily from Iran.

The UAE financial hub offers onward connections to Europe, Asia and Africa and served as a stopover for many Iranian travellers.

An official from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport said Sunday that around 30 international destinations were still being served by Iranian airlines.​