TOP STORIES
Iran in ‘Advanced Stages’ of Planning Attacks Against Americans, Officials Say | New York Times
“The U.S. government has put employees on heightened alert across the Middle East and moved to reduce personnel levels at embassies and consulates because of intelligence showing Iran is in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Americans, U.S. officials said on Friday. Intelligence officials raised alarms to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo on Friday that warned about the dangers to State Department employees in the Middle East and other regions, the officials said. The memo, from Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, said that agencies had ‘received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel. The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.’”
Trump Says Decision Nearing on Iran: Deal or ‘Finish It Off’ | Bloomberg
“President Donald Trump said it’s ‘getting to be decision time’ on whether he will make a deal with Tehran or resume attacks as Iranian and Houthi threats against Americans in the Middle East continue to grow. ‘I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That’s all,’ Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. ‘We don’t play games.’”
Iran Is Now Losing Overland Trade Routes to U.S. Pressure | Wall Street Journal
“Iraq and Pakistan are cutting off some important land routes in and out of Iran, adding to the economic pressure on the regime after a U.S. naval blockade and tough sanctions on airlines severed most of the country’s shipping and air routes.”
UANI IN THE NEWS
“A London-born radical Shia preacher accused of celebrating terrorists has set up a physical and religious training camp in Thailand to teach ‘Islamic spiritual psychology,’ the Daily Mail can reveal. . . . Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at UANI, told the Daily Mail: ‘The context is key here: Hezbollah is a violent Islamist extremist terror group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. It has previously been implicated in terrorist plots on British soil. It is deeply concerning that this British cleric has consistently promoted Hezbollah’s ideology, mourned the death of its terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah—and even travelled to Lebanon to attend Nasrallah’s Hezbollah-organised funeral.”
Hormuz Is Still Costing Australia—Even When the Oil Gets Through | Times (Australia)
“United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy organisation that monitors tanker movements, reported on October 1 that dozens of vessels carrying Iranian oil and petroleum products were clustered along Iran’s coastline. It identified some smaller LPG and naphtha shipments passing the blockade, but said it had not tracked a loaded Iranian crude tanker successfully escaping enforcement and departing the Gulf of Oman.”
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
How Purchases of Sanctioned Iranian Jet Fuel Were Disguised by Myanmar | Reuters
“In December 2025, the US-sanctioned tanker Reef arrived in Myanmar waters with some 113,000 barrels of fuel backed by sham paperwork. Myanmar-based energy broker Dynamic Wave ordered the shipment, agreeing in a sales contract inked with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading to supposedly take delivery of a similar amount of South African diesel. But the $15.8 million agreement, which Reuters viewed, was a charade: there was no such trade between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025, according to data from the United Nations and Vortexa, a shipping and energy data provider. In reality, Reef carried jet fuel from Iran to Myanmar, according to records of fuel shipments to Myanmar, as well as satellite images and analysis by SynMax Intelligence, which tracked the tanker’s journey from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia. The deception was needed because the US in 2023 imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s jet-fuel industry.”
“Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf calls for a campaign to cut gas consumption by at least 10 percent, with officials anticipating shortages as winter approaches. While a major producer, Iran has long suffered shortages of natural gas, essential for powering heating systems, which have been exacerbated by war with the United States and Israel that began in February.”
MILITARY MATTERS & SHIPPING
US Has Plans for Major Iran Strikes If Trump Chooses | CNN
“US forces in the Middle East are prepared to launch new, potentially major, military operations against Iran ‘within 96 hours of receiving’ an order from President Donald Trump, according to two US officials. Sufficient forces are now deployed in the region to carry out the potential attacks, the sources said. The scope of new US military operations would likely go beyond efforts to simply ‘mow the lawn’ or maintain the status quo by striking radars, launchers and other Iranian assets that can be quickly reconstituted—as has been the case since Trump halted full combat operations earlier this year, the sources added. . . . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing to carry out new attacks against Iran, but US officials have requested he delay until the Trump administration is ready to conduct joint operations, according to two US officials and an Israeli security source.”
“The United States is rushing to move some diplomats and their family members from posts in the Middle East as the threat of regional escalation looms, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.”
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir clashed over a military action that could renew the conflict with Iran days before Israel's elections, N12 News reported Sunday evening. Recently, Zamir received a directive from the political echelon to carry out an action, which security officials told N12 would trigger a rapid escalation into a confrontation with Iran. Due to the sensitive nature of the action, N12 reported that Zamir requested an in-depth discussion and formal authorization before moving forward with the action.”
Trump Says US ‘May Do Another Little Epic Fury’ Against Iran | Reuters and Times of Israel
“US President Donald Trump suggests that Washington may carry out another military operation against Iran. ‘We may do another little Epic Fury,’ Trump says in remarks at a rally in Florida as he spoke about the war. He does not elaborate.”
“US President Donald Trump bristles when asked how far he is from a possible attack on Iran. He recently said on social media that he would not hit Iran again before the November 3 midterm elections. ‘Do you really think I’m going to tell you if I’m going to do it?’ Trump responds. ‘And there’s a possibility I will. There’s also a possibility we’ll have a nice, big, beautiful agreement.’ Trump repeats his assertion that Iran wants to make a deal, ‘but the problem is, will they hold the deal?’”
Iran Has Detailed Plans to Hit Gulf Undersea Cables If War Resumes, Officials Say | Reuters
“Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to target undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel attack Iran again, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.”
Iran Says US Military Not Allowed to Enter Gulf ‘Under Any Circumstances’ | Straits Times
“Iran said on Oct 24 that US military ships would never be allowed to enter the Gulf ‘under any circumstances”’ and President Donald Trump will ‘take that dream to his grave.’”
“Iran’s armed forces attacked bases belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Iraq’s Kurdistan region using drones, a media outlet in Tehran reports.”
Iranian Army Says It Shot Down US Drone over Bandar Abbas, Tasnim Reports | Reuters
“Iran’s air defence systems shot down a US LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the Iranian army said on Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.”
Aboard USS George Washington as It Rearms for Possible Iran Strikes | Wall Street Journal
“American warships in the Middle East are preparing for an escalation in fighting in case President Trump opts for a fresh round of attacks against Iran in the coming weeks, according to U.S. officials familiar with the planning. During a rare visit to a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer operating in the Arabian Sea, The Wall Street Journal observed flight operations, as well as a significant replenishment of munitions and supplies—including a large delivery of standoff land attack missiles and bunker-buster bombs designed to penetrate ground targets.”
Iran’s Baghaei Says Israel’s Election Outcome ‘Doesn’t Matter’ Ahead of Mecca Pact Meeting | Reuters
“The result of the Israeli election ‘doesn't matter’ for Tehran, Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei claimed on Monday. ‘I don’t think there will be an election there,’ Baghaei said. ‘There, like in the movie Strangelove, there is a competition between different gangs to commit more evil; in other words, it is a competition between different people to commit more murders.’”
DIPLOMACY
Iran Hosts Saudi Defence Pact States as Houthis Launch More Attacks | Reuters
“Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan were due in Iran on Monday in a push to de-escalate the regional conflict now afflicting the Gulf kingdom, as Yemen's Houthis launched further attacks on Riyadh's airport and Saudi oil facilities The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations—which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August—since a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.”
Iran Says Mecca Agreement Meeting in Tehran Will Discuss ‘Zionist Expansionism’ | Times of Israel
“The agenda for today’s meeting has not yet been set, says Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, but ‘the most important issues threatening our regional security include the expansionism of the Zionist regime, developments in occupied Palestine and the surrounding region, Lebanon.’ One of the most important topics at the meeting, says Baghaei, will be ‘the US military aggression and the Zionist regime’s aggression and its consequences for the security of the entire region.’”
Iran’s Pezeshkian Blames US for Interim Deal Failure, Urges New Try | Reuters
“Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, in remarks broadcast on state TV on Saturday, blamed the United States for the failure of an interim deal with Iran, but said there should be a new attempt at concluding it.”
PROXY WARS
“Sources said Baghdad suspects that two sites storing Chinese-made man-portable air defense systems were targeted in airstrikes last week, as officials examine an intelligence assessment suggesting that the US-Israeli war against Iran may have already resumed, even before the official start of hostilities, but on Iraqi soil.”
Saudi Arabia Says It Intercepted Missiles and Drones from Iran-Backed Houthis | CNBC
“Saudi Arabia intercepted drones and missiles headed for several cities, including the capital Riyadh, fired by Iran-aligned Houthis on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said.”
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The Autocrats Waging War on Starlink | Jamie Fly and Jennifer Brody in the Washington Post
“The future of space-based connectivity will be shaped by governments that want to either connect or control people. Iran’s leaders have told the world what they seek. Democracies should take them at their word and act accordingly.”
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran Judiciary Says Chief Holds Rare Meeting with Supreme Leader | Asharq Al-Awsat
“Iran’s judiciary said on Saturday that its chief held a rare meeting with the country's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since being appointed.”
RUSSIA & IRAN
Iranian President to Meet Putin in Moscow: Iran Media | Straits Times
“Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, Iranian media reported. Pezeshkian is due to visit Russia for a meeting of gas-exporting countries.”