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Two sailors remain missing after an oil tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on September 15, with Iran and Washington offering sharply conflicting explanations. Iran claims the vessel struck mines, while the US says it was hit by a missile followed by a drone strike. The dispute underscores rising risks to Gulf shipping and US-Iran military confrontation, with significant implications for global energy transit, maritime insurance pricing, and multilateral coordination over Strait of Hormuz navigation rules.

The US House Ways and Means Committee released a sweeping crypto tax bill ahead of Wednesday’s markup, establishing tax treatment rules across crypto payments, stablecoins, mining, and staking, while introducing a $10 de minimis exemption for small crypto payments. The bill will shape US crypto industry compliance costs, tax architecture, and retail crypto payment adoption, and may become a baseline text for subsequent Senate legislation and bipartisan crypto legislative negotiations.

BBC World reported on September 15 that China has further tightened restrictions on outbound travel for its citizens, drawing broad observer concern that the new rules will further tighten the Chinese government’s control over cross-border movement of its citizens, with knock-on effects on the China-outbound tourism industry, cross-border business, study-abroad and family-reunion travel, and international assessments of China’s human-rights situation.

BBC World reported on September 15 that NATO member Lithuania scrambled fighter jets and shot down an unidentified drone inside its airspace. Lithuanian authorities said the drone most likely entered from Belarus, an ally of Russia, underscoring the persistent aerial threats facing NATO’s eastern flank amid the continued Russia-Ukraine conflict. The incident will affect NATO’s routine patrol posture over Eastern European airspace, the assessment of military cooperation between Belarus and Russia, and EU-wide policy coordination on common air-defence capability building.

Al Jazeera reported on September 15 that Sweden’s 2026 parliamentary election has produced an exceptionally tight result, with the major parties separated by margins within the statistical margin of error. The far-right Sweden Democrats saw a notable drop in support compared with the previous election, but neither the left bloc nor the centre-right bloc has secured a working majority for government formation. Analysts say the outcome may produce a repeat of the 2018-style hung parliament and cast uncertainty over Sweden’s NATO policy, its EU relationship and the country’s immigration and energy-transition agenda.

Al Jazeera reported on September 15 that Russia has, for the first time under the new military-cooperation framework agreed with Syria’s transitional government in late 2025, shipped equipment and supplies to several long-used military bases inside Syria, a move viewed as a key signal that the new agreement has moved into substantive execution. Analysts say the step redefines the Russia-Syria military relationship, with deep implications for Russia’s geopolitical footprint in the Middle East, the transitional government’s external balancing strategy and regional counter-terrorism and maritime corridor security.

A natural-science research consortium announced on September 14 that a continuous trackway of footprints left by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex has been identified for the first time in a Late Cretaceous geological formation in North America. Individual prints approach the size of an adult human foot, marking the first concrete trace of an adult T. rex in motion. The discovery provides new physical evidence for the study of the species’ gait, social behaviour and the wider Late Cretaceous North American ecosystem, and is being described by the field as one of the most significant trace-fossil finds in decades.

US media reported on September 14 that the Environmental Protection Agency has formally repealed its greenhouse gas emission limits for power plants, prompting immediate sharp reactions at the federal and state levels, from industry groups and from the business community. The rule had been regarded as one of the most substantive climate-policy levers in the US power sector, and its repeal means that, for several years to come, the US electricity industry will no longer face mandatory federal emission constraints, leaving state governments, grid operators and companies to make investment and operating decisions in a highly fragmented policy environment.

Al Jazeera reported on September 14 that the United States has blocked the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation from travelling to Vienna for a key International Atomic Energy Agency conference, widely read as the latest US move to pile diplomatic and visa pressure on Iran and a fresh sign that multilateral diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme is tightening once again. The move could affect IAEA arrangements for inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities, the room for coordination between Iran and Western countries on the Agency’s board agenda, and the wider UN Security Council and EU diplomatic processes around the Iranian nuclear file.

Reuters reported on September 14 that the Federal Reserve under Kevin Warsh is heading into its first key rate decision of his tenure, and markets widely expect the meeting to formally launch a rate hike. The decision is a major directional signal for global capital markets, FX, emerging market capital flows and international commodities. Warsh has repeatedly voiced concern about inflation stickiness in public, and the market currently expects a hike of around 25 basis points. If the hike lands, it will mark an important directional turn for the Fed after several years of relative accommodation, with potential knock-on effects across global financial markets.