CBS News reports that Iran’s president publicly labeled US military strikes against Iran as cowardly, prompting US President Trump to threaten annihilation in a sharp exchange that has escalated Middle East tensions further.
The Guardian reports that Iran’s president sharply attacked US President Trump’s ‘bully’ policies at the UN General Assembly while also signaling willingness to manage differences through dialogue, drawing broad international attention against a tense Middle East backdrop.
U.S. President Trump warned at the U.N. General Assembly that America could ‘annihilate’ Iran militarily, but also expects a new deal after the November midterm elections. The remarks reflect a dual-track strategy of maximum pressure and parallel diplomacy.
Iran signaled the Strait of Hormuz could reopen within a week, prompting a swift response in global crude markets with WTI falling to $89 a barrel. Bitcoin steadied near $86,000 after a softer Asian session, with risk appetite lifting as oil prices declined.
Core Summary U.S. government officials have disclosed that the “transit fees” Iran levies on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz are actually settled through a bitcoin exchange. The accusation, the first time officials have publicly named a crypto channel in Iran’s gray-shipping tolling scheme, signals a deep fusion between traditional geopolitical gamesmanship and emerging digital-asset surveillance systems. Event Details According to CoinDesk citing senior U.S. government officials, Iran has operated a non-official “transit fee” system in the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict escalated. Any oil tanker entering or leaving the Persian Gulf that wishes to obtain Iranian “safe passage clearance” must pay a fee to an Iran-affiliated entity, with the amount fluctuating based on vessel tonnage and cargo value. ...
Core Summary Independent UN human rights experts publicly announced on September 17 that there are reasonable grounds to believe that US airstrikes on Iranian territory earlier this year may constitute war crimes. The experts focused particularly on the strike on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd, both of which resulted in significant civilian casualties. To date, the US government has not formally responded to the allegations or acknowledged carrying out the strikes. ...
Core Summary The US Treasury announced new sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank on September 17, accusing the platform of using the previously sanctioned Hormuz Safe payment channel to transfer cryptocurrency funds collected since June 2026 to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This sanctions action marks a further escalation of US pressure on Iran’s cryptocurrency financial infrastructure and represents the first explicit accusation against a mainstream Iranian domestic crypto trading platform for directly providing funding channels for military organizations. ...
Satellite imagery obtained by the BBC and CBS News shows severe damage at multiple U.S. military bases in the Middle East from Iranian strikes, including a destroyed Air Force aircraft and damaged buildings, underscoring the persistent security pressure on U.S. forces in the region.
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.
The BBC reported on September 13 that the Iran war is reshaping cooperation within the Brics grouping while also exposing deep internal divisions over how to build an alternative international order, advance a common currency and set up a dispute-resolution mechanism. Brics members broadly agree that a new global order is needed but have so far failed to converge on what should replace the existing one or on how to make that vision operational. Several observers note that the Iran war could become the moment when the Brics shifts its priority from expansion to substantive coordination, but internal disagreements are likely to persist in the short term.