TOP STORIES
U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes in Latest Fight for Control of Hormuz | Wall Street Journal
“The U.S. and Iran exchanged fire Tuesday as the two countries continued to battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said the U.S. strikes were launched in retaliation for Iran’s attempt to mine the strait and target American servicemembers in the Middle East over the weekend. Iran responded by firing missiles and drones across the Persian Gulf. Jordan, which hosts U.S. servicemembers in bases across the country, reported engaging 13 ballistic missiles that entered its airspace, according to the country’s armed forces. Kuwait and Bahrain also reported taking hostile fire. . . . On Tuesday, U.S. forces targeted Iranian air-defense sites, radar systems, mine laying capabilities and communications sites, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East. Iranian state media reported that the U.S. struck a wedding ceremony and killed multiple civilians.”
Blockade Succeeds Where Sanctions Failed as Iran Oil Exports Stall | Reuters
“For the first time on record, Iran has gone about seven weeks without shipping meaningful crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz, as a U.S. naval blockade succeeds where years of sanctions failed by cutting off one of Tehran's main sources of foreign-currency earnings. Unlike previous sanctions campaigns, when Iranian crude continued reaching buyers despite restrictions, the current blockade has stopped fresh crude cargoes reaching China, Tehran’s only major remaining oil customer, increasing pressure on government finances and foreign-currency reserves.”
Russia Secretly Helping Iran Develop Supersonic Cruise Missiles | Financial Times
“Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles in one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran. The multiyear covert programme, codenamed C430L, has enlisted some of Russia’s most experienced missile specialists to help Iran develop a new class of weapon capable of threatening US aircraft carriers and other warships in the Middle East. . . . Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday that Moscow was ‘trying to give you the help you need in this difficult period’ during the war with the US and ‘supplying you with the goods you need,’ without elaborating.”
UANI IN THE NEWS
Interview with UANI Research Director Daniel Roth | Al Arabiya
“I’d be cautious about describing [Iran’s latest diplomatic overture to the U.S.] as an olive branch because that implies that the Islamic Republic is in a good bargaining position. It’s clear, rather, that Iran is responding to pressure. . . . I’d describe it more as waving the white flag.”
“The State Department quietly waived mandatory sanctions on Iran's radical state broadcaster at two pivotal junctures this year, enabling the broadcaster to air the forced confessions of anti-regime protesters in January and, just this month, encourage and support assassination plots against President Donald Trump, his cabinet members, and his 20-year-old son Barron, according to nonpublic notifications transmitted to Congress and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. . . . ‘The U.S. should rescind the sanctions waiver that allows satellite broadcast service for IRIB. IRIB is not just a state news network. It is an arm of Iran's security and intelligence services, which weaponize IRIB against the Iranian people and the U.S. and its allies,’ said Jason Brodsky, policy director at the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran. ‘The broadcasting of bounty videos calling for the killings of President Trump and his family counts as incitement.’”
Iran Offers Trump an Off-Ramp as US, Tehran Trade Strikes | Daily Caller
“‘The U.S. may try to erode Iran’s regime’s capabilities to threaten the Strait of Hormuz,’ Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told the DCNF. ‘As we’ve seen in the past, that does not necessarily mean this is going to result in escalation beyond the current dynamics between both sides. I believe we will be in this limbo period of increasing economic pressure with occasional, calibrated U.S. military strikes for the foreseeable future. As the economic situation in Iran deteriorates, that may cause the regime to lash out. The U.S. must be prepared for that eventuality.’”
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
UN Faces Contentious Iran Nuclear Vote Ahead of General Assembly | Reuters
“France said on Tuesday the U.N. Security Council will vote this month on renewing the mandate of a panel monitoring sanctions on Iran, setting up a potential showdown with Russia and China, which oppose the sanctions regime and oversight mechanisms. The mandate of the panel, which supports the work of the U.N. sanctions committee on Iran, is due to expire on September 26, during the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.”
MILITARY MATTERS & SHIPPING
U.S. Strikes Iran Tankers Under New “Tanker for Tanker” Policy | Axios
“The U.S. military attacked two Iranian government tankers as part of the round of strikes that took place on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. . . . This is the first time the U.S. military has struck Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz—rather than to prevent them from violating the naval blockade. A U.S. official said the move was part of a new ‘tanker for tanker’ policy approved by President Trump to further deter Iranian attacks on tankers that move through the strait.”
Trump Aides, Fearing a Midterm Rout, Push to Keep Iran War ‘Quiet’ for Now | Reuters
“Top aides to President Donald Trump are pushing to keep the Iran war from escalating before November’s midterm elections to staunch Republican electoral losses, four people familiar with the discussions said, a strategy that is already under strain as the United States and Iran resume their back-and-forth attacks. White House officials will consider ramping up military action after the November 3 vote, said the sources, who requested anonymity to describe internal thinking, though any return to full-scale conflict is far from a given.”
Four Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Personnel Killed in US Strike, Iran Says | Iran International
“Four members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards aerospace force were killed in a US attack in Kermanshah province, the Guards' provincial public relations office said on Wednesday.”
DIPLOMACY
China’s Xi Keeps Iranian President at Arm’s Length Weeks Ahead of Trump Summit | CNBC
“China’s President Xi Jinping gave his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian a brief, low-profile audience at a regional security summit, signaling Beijing’s calibrated approach toward Tehran just weeks ahead of Xi’s planned trip to Washington. . . . Chinese state media, including the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, gave extensive coverage to Xi’s encounters with other visiting leaders on Tuesday, but made no mention of the meeting with Pezeshkian.”
Trump: An Agreement with Iran Isn’t Worth the Paper It’s Written On | IranWire
“In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, September 1, US President Donald Trump rejected a return to the ‘Islamabad Memorandum,’ stating that an agreement with Iran ‘isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.’ Addressing potential Iranian retaliation to US strikes, Trump warned: ‘If they respond, they will be hit with far greater force.’ Describing the strikes as ‘very big,’ he added that if the conflict escalates for a third time, Iran ‘will be destroyed as a country.’”
Iranian Misrepresentations over the Strait of Hormuz Addressed by Oman | Maritime Executive
“Oman appears to have put its foot down over Iran’s misrepresentations about the state of their bilateral negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz. On August 25, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi made yet another day trip to Tehran to meet his opposite number, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. . . . There is a familiar routine in these exchanges between Oman and Iran. An Iranian politician comments on the talks to the press, outlining its position – which more often than not bears little resemblance to what was actually said or agreed at the meeting, and reflects instead what Iran would like to have achieved. Oman has, after each meeting, tended to say little, other than acknowledging that the meeting has taken place. . . . The meeting on August 25, however, was different, because a joint statement was issued, agreed by both parties, and with the agreed version bearing little resemblance to the initial Iranian briefings.”
Peru Cuts Diplomatic Ties, Accuses Iran of Escalating Middle East War | Iran International
“Peru severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Tuesday, accusing Tehran of escalating conflicts in the Middle East, restricting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and obstructing nuclear inspections.”
PROXY WARS
IRGC Unit 4000 Plans Attacks on Shipping in East Asia, Sources Say | Iran International
“Iran’s IRGC intelligence arm is recruiting non-Iranian operatives to carry out attacks on ships, waterways and ports in East Asia, including two major Chinese ports, sources familiar with the plans told Iran International. . . . According to the sources, the unit recruited the three individuals through Shiite clerics in Thailand and Indonesia and has begun planning attacks in the Malacca and Bangka straits, as well as at Tanjung Priok Port in Indonesia and the Ningbo-Zhoushan and Shanghai ports in China.”
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Protester Blinded in One Eye Sentenced to Death After Return to Iran | Iran International
“An Iranian court has sentenced Ali Zarei Doozdarresi, a protester shot by security forces and blinded in one eye during the 2022 protests, to death after he returned from Germany and was arrested upon arrival in Iran, US-based rights outlet HRANA reported. Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court convicted Zarei of ‘corruption on Earth,’ based on alleged acts including extensive political activity, producing false news, propaganda against the establishment, disrupting security and unauthorized entry into and exit from the country, according to HRANA.”
Jobs Protests Met with Gunfire in Southwestern Iran | Iran International
“Iranian security forces on Monday used gunfire and beatings to disperse two protests by young jobseekers in southwestern Iran, as anger over unemployment and alleged discrimination in hiring spills into the streets.”
CYBER WARFARE
Iran Attempted Cyberattacks on Range of U.S. Infrastructure, Sources Say | NBC News
“Iranian hackers have targeted not only U.S. water systems but also America’s telecommunications, energy and other infrastructure in recent weeks, according to four people with access to government and industry information about cyberthreats.”
Hackers Without Borders: Serving Tehran, Stealing on the Side | Iran International
“An Iran International investigation into five hackers linked to the Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry and wanted by the United States shows how members of the network carried out state-directed espionage while also selling stolen data, extorting victims and attacking Iranian citizens and companies for private profit.”
CANADA & IRAN
“The Canadian government awarded millions worth of contracts to the son of Iran’s former vice-president, despite an ongoing investigation into allegations he helped the Islamic Republic evade sanctions and develop missile systems, documents obtained by Global News reveal.”