Iran’s military has warned that all US deployment centres and interests in the Middle East will be targeted if Washington “makes a mistake” against the country, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Earlier, Iran proposed a seven-day roadmap to end the war, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi telling reporters that Tehran is ready to begin implementing the plan as soon as the US agrees to it.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott tells Al Jazeera that the door to diplomacy with Iran has been open since the beginning, saying that “it’s not the United States that has stopped that from happening”.
4m ago
(12:45 GMT)
Israeli forces arrest four Palestinian farmers in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have arrested four Palestinian farmers while they were harvesting olives east of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
The report said the farmers were picking olives on their own land near the illegal Israeli settlement of Einav.
19m ago
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WATCH: Settlers attack last remaining farmland in occupied West Bank village of Burqa
Illegal Israeli settlements and outposts are encircling Burqa, an ancient farming village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Residents say they have lost most of their land, while settler attacks are intensifying in the remaining area.
Watch our report below:
2:41
West Bank village under pressure: Settler attacks target its last remaining farmland
Donald Trump has reportedly ruled out an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week, just hours after Iran put forward a new roadmap and days after the US president threatened to “annihilate” Iran from the floor of the UN General Assembly.
Both sides appear to be locked in a standoff. Iran says it will not discuss its nuclear programme until the conditions it has laid down are met. A US official told Al Jazeera that Washington is in no hurry to respond to Iran’s proposal and sees itself in a strong position regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the US officials cited in The Wall Street Journal, Trump told his aides he expects to carry out a new bombing campaign against Iran after the US midterm elections in November.
At the same time, Trump has said he believes a deal to end the conflict will come shortly after the midterms.
Pezeshkian says Iran will not surrender to US pressure at UNGA
49m ago
(12:00 GMT)
Iran sees inflation decrease slightly: Central Bank governor
The governor of Iran’s Central Bank said inflation in the war-hit country has slightly decreased, the first such sign in the past 15 months.
“The point-to-point inflation rate decreased slightly in September, falling from 84.4 percent in August to 83.8 percent in September,” said Abdolnaser Hemmati, as quoted by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“Although the decrease is small, the fact that the trend of point-to-point inflation is decreasing is very important,” he added.
The US has launched “Operation Economic Outcast” to impose new sanctions, in addition to its naval blockade against Iranian ports. The new squeeze on Tehran’s economy has added to the misery of Iranians already battered by decades of previous sanctions.
Read more here about the highest level of inflation since World War II.
Soaring prices in Iranian markets – inflation is at its highest level since World War II [File: Al Jazeera]
At the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Qatar has been passing messages between the two sides as an intermediary. The US and Iran have said the door to diplomacy remains open, and a US official told Al Jazeera that ongoing mediated talks are “positive and constructive”.
Qatar said its foreign minister spoke with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday about de-escalation and the conditions for renewed dialogue.
Earlier this week, US officials, including special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, held mediated discussions with Iranian counterparts in New York, a meeting Trump described as “very good”.
Nevertheless, there is “an enormous amount of scepticism in Washington that the two countries are on the same page,” according to Thomas Warrick, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“I think that the best we can hope for is that this offer from the Iranian foreign minister does lead to further discussions to try to clarify what preconditions Washington is willing to work with,” Warrick told Al Jazeera.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian at the 81st UN General Assembly [File: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters]
1h ago
(11:30 GMT)
Iran moves defence assets underground to shield military capabilities, ministry says
Iran has relocated part of its army’s strategic capabilities to underground infrastructure to prevent a complete understanding of its defence capabilities and weapons production capacity, says Reza Talaei-Nik, the Defence Ministry’s spokesperson.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Talaei-Nik as saying that the US has failed to achieve any of its strategic goals from the war on Iran, including damaging Iran’s strategic position in the region. Instead, Iran “imposed costs on the enemy”.
He added that there is a “need to simultaneously strengthen defence power and the country’s domestic capacity”.
NATIONALIST Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong was recently ridiculed by non-Malay netizens for his seemingly lopsided gauge of patriotism – Malaysian citizenship holds no meaning if a citizen fails to master Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as the national language.
To the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) principal fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, BM proficiency should be fundamental for every citizen as it is not only the national language but also the official language mandated for use within the nation’s administrative system.
Describing the failure of some citizens to master the Malay language as a major issue during the “Nation-State Dialogue: Building Character and National Identity” session in Bangi on Wednesday (Sept 23), he further asserted:
“If a regulation were implemented today to test every holder of a blue identity card on their Malay language skills and proficiency, I believe many would fail. There’re still many Malaysians – despite holding citizenship – who don’t possess a good command of the country’s language.”
Whether this is an “old story told over and over again” or otherwise, it is surely music to the ears of the rightist’s fraternity who hailed the National Professors Council’s (MPN) senior fellow for championing their mother tongue with one praising the good dean for “speak the truth, even if the truth is bitter.”.
“These tribes don’t actually love nor ever been grateful living in Malaysia,” another hit out with one lambasted that Mandarin is seemingly lingua franca of the Malaysian job market these days.
“What I find baffling is that you have to speak Mandarin to apply for a job. What the hell … just speak Malay for we’re living in Malaysia,” he fumed while another mocked what is there to be expected “when one is educated in a foreign language from a young age, then continuing their studies in Australia, Taiwan and America”.
Two sides of the coin
This is when one Johorean from Muar gave a somehow prized tit-for-tat response that “citizenry ship entails not stealing the nation’s money and remaining loyal to the King”.
“What is the point of being a Malaysian citizen who’s proficient in the Malay language if one betrays one’s own country by harbouring ill-intents to topple the Malay ruler? (an insinuation of the Negeri Sembilan royal row said to be masterminded by UMNO),” he jibed.
Another seconded that while “many are doubtlessly fluent in Malay, they eventually become traitors to their nation by smuggling in illegal immigrants, trafficking drugs or accepting bribes that cause financial loss to the government”.
“While Malay language proficiency is a responsibility for citizens, it’s not the sole indicator of loyalty to the country,” justified the self-proclaimed “Hard Core Malaysian”.
However, the rightist faction did not take kindly such retort with one music fan bluntly asked “doesn’t China, too, face instances of state funds being stolen” while another reminded that “not embezzling land and offering bribes to secure projects are as important to become a Malaysian citizen”.
Others harped on the on-going Lim Guan Eng Penang undersea tunnel court trial as example of Chinese embezzlement while defying the Selangor ruler’s decree against pig farming or opposing the Agong’s (house arrest) pardon for incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib are deemed treacherous.
At the end of the day, a Penangite took a potshot at the 73-year-old Bachok, Kelantan-born Peranakan (Straits) Chinese academician for his unending quest of presumably playing to the tune of the rightists.
“Don’t the person people who spout nonsense like this have any other topics to discuss? He seems to think he’s the only Chinese person who can speak the Malaysian language.”
Another added:
I wonder what’s the percentage of people are completely unable to speak Malay? After all, everyone attends school with the majority complete their SPM (which includes written and oral Malay exams).
There’s only a small handful – specifically older individuals not born here – who’re completely unable to speak it (BM). Are certain quarters deliberately exploiting this issue to gain political mileage?” – Sept 26, 2026
![Soaring prices are devouring Iranians' pockets, with inflation at its highest level since World War II. [Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/5476aghl-1780578041-1780661329.webp?quality=80)
