Iran War Highlights: Trump open to Iran deal but warns of ‘number of options’ including military action — Rubio

Brent crude settled 3.86% higher at $103.08 a barrel, while WTI rose 1.81% to $92.16 on Wednesday.

Prices rose after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly that Tehran would never surrender to the US, a day after President Donald Trump warned he could “annihilate” Iran.

Houthis issue warning to Trump: US interests will be targets if Washington intervenes in Yemen

A Houthi military adviser told AFP that the group would target US interests in the Middle East if Washington intervenes militarily in Yemen.

Abed Mohammed al-Thawr said any US attempt to take control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait would cross a “red line”.

Thawr warned that the Houthis could “close Bab al-Mandab completely to American ships” if Washington provides military support to Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump is still willing to pursue an agreement with Tehran.

Rubio said the deal should allow Iran to become “a great and prosperous country.”

Rubio said Iran’s nuclear ambitions are complicating prospects for an agreement.

Rubio also pointed to what he described as Iran’s support for terrorism as an obstacle.

Rubio warned that Trump could consider “a number of options,” including further military action, if Iran’s policies continue.

U.S. stocks are faltering Wednesday after oil prices halted their slide, while a surprisingly strong report on U.S. business activity raised worries about inflation.

The S&P 500 sank 0.6% and dropped 1.1% below its record set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 311 points, or 0.6%, as of noon Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1% from its own all-time high.

Stocks felt pressure as the price for a barrel of Brent oil rose 3.4% to $102.66. It reversed a decline for Brent, which had been falling since nearing $110 last week on worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East for a long time. Talks are continuing with mediators between U.S. and Iranian officials, but nothing concrete has come from it yet.

Even with its recent decline, the price for a barrel of Brent remains much higher than the roughly $72 it cost before the war with Iran began.

— AP

Iran clarified conditions for resuming diplomacy with US during two-hour talks, Iran's Foreign Ministry said on X.

Senior Iranian official told Reuters Iran seeks permanent end to hostilities, lifting of US naval blockade

Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei has said Tehran will neither enter negotiations nor reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the US agrees to its conditions.

“Iran has not been in a rush to negotiate. Iran’s conditions have been finalized and are in the hands of the Qatari and Pakistani parties,” Rezaei told state broadcaster IRIB.

Rezaei said Iran had decided that Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi would communicate Tehran’s conditions to intermediaries during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He added that “The new diplomatic path we have chosen is proceeding strongly.”

Iran's president said Wednesday that his people have been "victims of terrorism" by the United States, delivering a rare wartime speech at the UN General Assembly a day after President Donald Trump said he could "annihilate" the Islamic Republic.

In a defiant speech, President Masoud Pezeshkian held up large photos of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the more than 150 schoolchildren killed on the first days of the war.

"We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists," Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. "Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us."

He added about the United States: "Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee." Toward the end of his speech, Pezeshkian called out Trump by name.

"It must be understood by Mr Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force," he said.

He also said one thing that was measurably false: "We did not hit civilian populations." Mariners and migrant workers in the region have been among the civilians killed in Iran's attacks since the war began.

— AP

India’s mission in Oman said it was closely monitoring the attack on MV Cape Dao while the vessel was sailing towards India and was coordinating with Omani authorities over the safety of all crew members.

The mission said 19 Indian nationals were among those on board and confirmed the death of one Indian national in the attack. It expressed condolences to the deceased’s family and said it was coordinating with the RPSL while remaining in contact with the family.

It took Houthi rebels less than 48 hours to seize Yemen's Red Sea coast from pro-government forces in a resounding blow to U.S. interests and Washington's regional allies.

But the Houthis didn’t do it alone. Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisers were in the field helping direct the battle, people familiar with the offensive told The Associated Press, marking Iran’s most direct intervention in favor of its longtime ally since Yemen’s civil war erupted in 2014.

The intervention shows how Iran has built the Houthis into a major regional partner able to open a new front in the wider war with the U.S. The rebels’ biggest land grab in years, along with the closure of a key Saudi pipeline, strengthened their ability to choke off Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, pushing up global fuel prices and giving Iran greater leverage. The United States has seemed reluctant to help its ally Saudi Arabia, even as the Houthis have gained momentum in Yemen's revived civil war.

The AP spoke to 10 officials and soldiers to assemble an account of the Houthi offensive. They included a senior Houthi official, two regional officials, a top Yemeni military commander and a member of Yemen's ruling presidential council. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision making.

The Houthis' swift, 115-kilometer (75-mile) assault exploited divisions among forces allied with Yemen's Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government. The Houthis penetrated the internal communications of one of the main forces, the National Resistance, allowing them to track its movements and sow confusion.

As pro-government forces beat a frantic retreat, the leader of the National Resistance fled to Saudi Arabia. The key port city of Mokha was abandoned as residents left in the night, allowing the Houthis to roll in unopposed on Sept. 10. Their seizure of strategic islands nearby further enhanced their ability to attack Saudi oil shipments in the Red Sea.

Iran had been building up the Houthis’ capabilities

The Houthis had not conducted a major campaign along the coast since 2017, when government forces drove them out of the area. Since then, the Houthis had focused on trying to capture the oil-rich province of Marib in central Yemen.

A truce took hold in 2022. The following year, the Houthis began attacking Red Sea shipping over the war in Gaza, attacks that continued until a punishing U.S. bombing campaign in 2025. After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, the Houthis largely kept to the sidelines.

Last year, Iran began providing the Houthis with stepped-up training and logistical support on more advanced missiles, drones and uncrewed attack boats, said Mzahem Alsaloum, a security analyst who has followed Iranian-backed groups for nearly a decade and now runs a private intelligence firm.

In July, the Houthis renewed their attacks on Saudi Arabia after accusing it of striking the airport in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. That strike appears to have been aimed at halting a flight from Tehran.

Alsaloum and the senior Houthi official said the Iranian flight, which later landed, brought Revolutionary Guard advisers, who joined other advisers from the Guard — and Iran's Lebanese ally, Hezbollah — already based in Yemen.

Iranian advisers assumed a larger role in the offensive

— AP

UKMTO said it received a report of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday when a cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile, leaving it on fire and adrift, with all crew evacuated and two casualties reported.

UKMTO said authorities were investigating, and that there was no reported environmental impact.

— Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday left for Washington to hold a rare second summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump in less than six months to discuss a broad range of bilateral and international issues.

Xi is accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Committee, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, the foreign ministry said.

Trump had invited Xi and Peng to visit the White House during his visit to China in May this year.

They are expected to arrive at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday, where Trump planned to accord a rare airport reception by personally receiving them on the tarmac, according to media reports.

— PTI

Iran has been compelled to suspend some regional international flights amid mounting pressure from US sanctions.

Iranian media, citing the Civil Aviation Authority, reported that flights from Iran to Iraq and Oman would be suspended from Wednesday morning.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced additional measures targeting Iran’s aviation sector in an interview on Monday. He also warned countries they could be cut off from the US dollar system if they supplied fuel to Iranian airlines, offered landing services or sold tickets on behalf of Iranian carriers.

Iran has restored about 50% of damaged production capacity at the South Pars gas field, Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Zeraatkar was reported as saying on Wednesday by semi-official Fars news agency. Zeraatkar said all planned restoration work would be completed before winter. He had said in late August that about 40% of the damaged capacity had been returned to production.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said US and Iranian representatives held "very good" talks at the United Nations, raising hopes of further diplomatic engagement. Brent crude fell to $98.41 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate dropped to $89.23 in afternoon Asian trading, with both below the $100 mark repeatedly breached since the Middle East war began in February.

Trump has insisted that Iran abandon any plan to develop a nuclear weapon, ease its control over the Strait of Hormuz and stop funding proxy groups including the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran has demanded sanctions relief and assurances against future US attacks.

Gulf Cooperation Council states are keen to end the conflict as attacks on their territories and ships have disrupted their economies. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has also been severely affected, slowing or contracting regional economies.

Hours before the talks, Trump warned that he could "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if Iran did not reach an agreement. Later, he described the discussions with Iranian envoys as very productive.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the purpose of the meetings in New York was to convey Iran’s demands. Qatar helped facilitate the talks, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said American and Iranian delegations communicated through mediators who shuttled between the two sides. Witkoff and Jared Kushner participated in the talks on behalf of the US and said they hoped the discussions would prove "constructive and promising".