Iran

• Qatar presents new proposal to end Iran war: Qatari mediators presented Iran with a new seven-day proposal to end the eight-month U.S.-Israeli war. A senior Iranian official said the proposal consisted of “unacceptable ideas” and that it was “not an offer,” according to Reuters.

  • The proposal, reportedly approved by the U.S., outlined daily confidence-building measures by both sides, potentially beginning early next week, with several countries serving as guarantors, according to an official briefed on the negotiations. Qatari mediators presented it to Iran on Sunday, the official added.

  • Washington insists that nuclear negotiations begin immediately, while Iran demands an end to the U.S. blockade and the lifting of oil sanctions before beginning those negotiations.

  • The diplomatic push comes amid renewed threats of military escalation. The U.S. warned several Gulf Arab states to prepare for a “short, intense military campaign” following next week’s U.S. midterm elections, according to the Wall Street Journal.

  • Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the “devastating impact on international markets of any Israel-instigated military misadventure” in the Persian Gulf remains a major concern for global energy producers and consumers.

• Iran denies involvement in alleged assassination plot in Kuwait after three sentenced to death: Iran’s embassy in Kuwait rejected accusations that an Iranian national was involved in a plot to assassinate senior Kuwaiti officials, saying on Wednesday that the individual had not been in Kuwait for the past decade.

  • The statement came after a Kuwaiti court sentenced three defendants to death on Monday, including Iranian national Abdulreza Dehqani, and two Kuwaiti nationals, while eight others received five-year prison sentences. Kuwaiti prosecutors accused the defendants of espionage for Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and of plotting to assassinate the First Deputy Prime Minister, the Interior Minister, and other senior officials.

• U.S. military spending on Iran war surpasses $47 billion, up more than 25% since July: The U.S. military has spent more than $47 billion on its war against Iran, over 25% higher than the Pentagon’s $37.5 billion estimate in July, according to internal War Department figures obtained by Reuters.

  • The latest estimate includes more than $29 billion to replace expended munitions and over $6 billion to replace lost military equipment, including aircraft and drones.

  • The figures do not clearly account for the potentially enormous cost of repairing U.S. military bases damaged by Iranian missile and drone attacks.

• IAEA says no evidence Iran has rebuilt nuclear facilities damaged in U.S.-Israeli strikes: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that there was no activity suggesting Iran has attempted to repair or rebuild nuclear facilities damaged by U.S. and Israeli attacks in 2025 and 2026.

  • “Since June 2025, we have not identified any activity to repair or reconstruct any of the facilities damaged in the military attacks of 2025 and 2026,” Director General Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. But he stressed that the agency still needs access to verify the facilities’ condition and account for previously declared nuclear material, including 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium.

• Gulf states reportedly push diplomatic deal involving Iran, Yemen, and Hormuz: Gulf states are developing a diplomatic deal to avert another U.S.-Iran war that involves the Strait of Hormuz, Yemen, and a new regional security framework, The Guardian reported.

  • Iran’s Mohsen Rezaei met Ansarallah’s ambassador a day after senior Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani officials visited Tehran.

  • Iran could sway Ansarallah, potentially facilitating a settlement short of total military victory—expelling Saudi Arabia from the country. Ansarallah is demanding an end to Saudi Arabia’s air and naval blockade.

  • According to The Guardian, Iran “successfully prevented discussion of its nuclear programme” at the Tehran meeting, instead steering talks toward a regional security arrangement that would include Iran and Gulf states while reducing or ending the U.S. military presence in the Middle East.

• UAE closes all Sharjah beaches as tanker oil spill spreads across northern emirates: Authorities in Sharjah closed all beaches across the city following an oil spill from a damaged tanker in nearby waters, describing the decision as a “proactive precautionary measure.”

  • The closure comes after dozens of beaches and coastal areas across Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah have been shut down in recent days, with satellite imagery showing the spill stretching across the UAE’s northern coastline.

  • Experts told Reuters the oil was leaking from the Panama-flagged Gem No. 2, a tanker reportedly struck by an unidentified projectile last month.

Palestine

• Four Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza: An Israeli airstrike on the Mawasi area of Rafah, southern Gaza, killed three Palestinians and wounded at least 10 on Wednesday, according to WAFA. A drone strike in the Mawasi area of Al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killed one Palestinian and wounded several others. Separately, a Palestinian man and his daughter were wounded in an Israeli strike on the Ard Al-Laymoun area south of Khan Younis.

  • Over the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks killed three Palestinians—one in a new Israeli attack and two after succumbing to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and injured 11 others across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023, is now 74,564 killed, with 175,770 injured. Since October 11, 2025, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,568 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 5,649, while 845 bodies have been recovered.

• Israeli forces demolish homes in the occupied West Bank as Hebron assault enters sixth day:

  • Hebron: Israeli forces continued their military assault for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, sealing off the neighborhoods of Al-Jalda and Deir Baha, raiding homes, destroying property, and converting residential buildings into military outposts, WAFA reported.

    • Around 780 families have been affected by the siege, with nearly 5,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced or confined to their homes, according to Hebron Municipality.

    • Israeli forces detained approximately 110 Palestinians, including seven children and three women, and subjected hundreds more to field interrogations, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

  • Nablus: Israeli forces demolished one home and blew up another in Beita after forcing residents to evacuate the western part of the town. In Yasid, north of Nablus, Israeli soldiers beat a Palestinian and his son during a raid, leaving one with a fractured hand.

  • Bethlehem: Israeli forces maintained road closures across the governorate for the sixth consecutive day, blocking access to several towns and villages.

  • Tulkarm: Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians, including the journalist and former prisoner Hamza Salama and two of his brothers. An officer in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, Mohammed Al-Qass, was arrested during a raid on his home.

• Workers at nearly 50 ports worldwide plan Friday strikes in solidarity with Gaza: Trade unions at nearly 50 ports worldwide, spanning Mexico, Europe, and India, are planning strikes and demonstrations on Friday in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to Israel’s genocide and unrestricted humanitarian aid access, according to Shaher Saad, secretary-general of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. The actions are being coordinated with the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

• Netanyahu falls short of majority; no clear winner in Israeli elections: Neither of the two leading political camps have yet secured the 61 seats required to win a parliamentary majority in the 120-member Knesset. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc has secured 53 seats. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc stands at 48 seats. As of 12:34 p.m. local time on Wednesday, 84.5% of ballots were counted, according to preliminary results.

  • Palestinian parties are projected to secure 19 seats. Although they have significant leverage given their electoral gains, it is unclear if any opposition bloc would be willing to form a coalition with them to form a majority. Netanyahu openly dismissed the idea, saying, “We must not endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties.”

  • Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that his endorsement of Netanyahu “helped him a lot.” “It’s looking like maybe a stalemate or a win,” Trump told reporters.

Yemen

• Ansarallah missile hits Aden airport: An Ansarallah missile reportedly hit Aden International Airport in southern Yemen on Wednesday. Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree called for the immediate evacuation of the airport, claiming that a Saudi military cargo plane was transporting weapons intended for use against Yemenis.

  • The group later repeated the warning, describing it as its “final” call for everyone at the airport to leave immediately.

  • The missile reportedly struck the airport before the group issued its warnings, according to a police source cited by AFP.

• Ansarallah-appointed governor claims most of Yemen’s Taiz is under its control: The province of Taiz is under the control of Ansarallah, except for parts of Taiz city, the Ansarallah-appointed governor of Taiz Ahmed Al-Masawa claimed Tuesday in an interview with Ansarallah’s Al-Masirah TV.

  • Taiz city, the provincial capital, is still under siege and largely controlled by Saudi-backed government forces.

  • Human Rights Watch said that roads into and out of Taiz city have been “largely blocked by government-affiliated and Houthi forces” since October 1. It also documents Ansarallah forces blowing up the Hayjat Al-Abd road on October 18, the main entry point for food, medicine and fuel.

Lebanon

• Israeli forces bombard southern Lebanon towns amid “ceasefire”:

  • Nabatieh: Israeli artillery shelling targeted the area between Mifdoun and Zawtar Al-Sharqieh on Wednesday morning, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

  • Tyre (Sour): Israeli artillery shelled Mansouri, Majdal Zoun, and surrounding valleys.

  • Marjeyoun: Israeli forces caused two large explosions, one near the cemetery in Khiam and another in the town of Tallouseh on Tuesday.

U.S. News

• Man dies in ICE facility in San Diego, the 30th death in ICE detention this year: Roberto Jimenez Gutierrez, a detainee at ICE’s Otay Mesa facility in San Diego, died at the facility on Saturday, ICE said on Monday. Gutierrez, a 43-year-old Guatemalan national, was arrested in Escondido and had been in custody since October 9. ICE said that he was in an “assigned safety cell” at the Core Civic-run facility when he died.

  • The agency also claimed that Gutierrez was detained in July 2024 after being convicted of selling liquor to a minor and several other arrests without apparent convictions. The local news outlet Daylight San Diego could not locate court records matching ICE’s claims. ICE said that a judge ordered him deported to Mexico in 2006.

• Ambassador Waltz and Cuban Foreign Minister argue on UN floor: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz clashed with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on Tuesday, after Waltz delivered an inflammatory speech criticizing the Cuban government. Rodríguez Parrilla approached the podium during the speech, and Waltz told him to back up, saying that Rodríguez was trying to “intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to intimidate political prisoners” in Cuba. General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman requested that Waltz be allowed to finish his speech before hearing Cuba’s point of order. Decorum continued to break down, and Rahman suspended the meeting.

• Trump again calls for Venezuela to be 51st state: At an event in Texas on Tuesday, Trump said that Venezuela should be made part of the United States. “Maybe someday soon, it will become a prosperous 51st state,” he said, adding that “instead of a president, we’ll have an election for a governor.” Addressing the oil tycoon Harold Hamm, who was in the crowd, he said, “Let’s make it the 51st state.” Earlier this year, Trump said that he was “seriously considering” making Venezuela a state. The country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said in May that Venezuela had no plans to become a U.S. state and that it would defend its sovereignty.

• Rubio adviser Jeremy Lewin leaves State Department ahead of midterms: Jeremy Lewin, the 29-year-old under secretary and director of policy planning at the State Department, announced on Tuesday that he was leaving the administration for a job in the private sector. Lewin, a DOGE alum who helped dismantle USAID, led U.S. engagement with Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez, helped assemble Trump’s Venezuela oil deal, and led bilateral talks in Havana with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro.

  • Separately on Tuesday, WIRED reported on Lewin’s time at USAID, where for three weeks Lewin essentially ran the agency as if he was its director, canceling lifesaving aid programs and dismissing employees even though he had not signed the paperwork required to work at the agency. The full report from WIRED is available here.

• Grand jury declines to indict Cassidy Hutchinson: A federal grand jury in Washington on Tuesday returned a “no true bill” on the Justice Department’s bid to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who testified against the administration to Congress regarding the January 6 Capitol attack. The DOJ tried to charge Hutchinson with lying to Congress, the New York Times reported. Some DOJ prosecutors were reportedly skeptical of the case, which was led by Trump loyalist Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s civil rights division.

• FBI raids billionaire Stephen Cloobeck’s Beverly Hills mansion in connection with Eric Swalwell probe: FBI agents executed a sealed search warrant on Tuesday at the Beverly Hills home of Stephen Cloobeck, billionaire owner of the timeshare company Diamond Resorts. Eric Swalwell stayed at the home several times while campaigning, an FBI spokesperson said. Swalwell dropped out of the California governor’s race and resigned from Congress in April after allegations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer and acted inappropriately with other young women, which he denied.

  • In August, federal agents seized Swalwell’s devices, raided his Washington home, and briefly held him at San Francisco International Airport. Earlier in the summer, they searched his Dublin home. Separately, authorities in New York and Los Angeles County are investigating the ex-congressman.

• Hackers target FEC system, disrupting campaign finance filings a week before midterms: The Federal Elections Commission said on Tuesday that its electronic filing system has been offline since Monday evening, forcing a shutdown of web-facing services. An FEC filings officer told compliance firms that “we have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems,” according to an email seen by Reuters. The outage blocks 24- and 48-hour spending reports, though past reports remain searchable and voters’ ability to cast ballots is unaffected.

• Hasan Piker sues Scott Jennings for defamation over edited lynching clip: The leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker filed a federal suit in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, alleging that the conservative commentator Scott Jennings aired manipulated footage of him. According to the 38-page filing, an August 11 episode of “The Scott Jennings Show” included footage of Piker that contained misleading quotations. Captions attributed to Piker the line “Let’s go back to a better time when lynchings were happening.” Jennings then accused him of “calling for Black voters to be lynched.”

  • Jennings posted the edited segment on X, and tied Piker to the Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Jennings described Piker as El-Sayed’s “best pal and campaign partner.” The X post drew about 2.5 million views. Piker’s suit said that Jennings refused to retract the post after receiving a written demand on August 31, and that Jennings harmed Piker’s reputation and his income from streaming, advertising, and sponsorship deals.

• Trump moves to loosen rules for oil and gas firms: On Tuesday, President Trump announced an Environmental Protection Agency plan to weaken federal rules governing methane emissions, calling the Biden-era rules “expensive and unnecessary.” The proposal would relax EPA requirements for hundreds of thousands of low-output “marginal” wells, end the agency’s Methane Super Emitter Program, and reverse a rule requiring operators to capture the additional gas that leaks from wells. Although “marginal” wells make up about 7% of U.S. oil and gas production, they account for roughly half of the industry’s methane emissions.

• Supreme Court lets Texas-Justice Department deal on deportation proceedings stand: On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to block an agreement ending immigration judges’ discretion to suspend deportation cases through “administrative closure.” The procedural tool allows judges to halt deportation proceedings under certain circumstances, such as when an immigrant seeks humanitarian protection to remain in the U.S. The plaintiffs in the case, several U.S. cities and the advocacy group Centro Legal, argued in favor of the legitimacy of administrative closure.

• NYPD cancels no-bid contract with Israeli surveillance firm: The New York Police Department will not pursue a “sole source procurement” deal with the Israeli firm Cognyte for AI-driven surveillance technology, an NYPD spokesperson said on Tuesday. According to the spokesperson, the firm “did not meet the criteria” for such an arrangement and that the NYPD would conduct “an open, competitive procurement process.” The decision comes after allies of Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized the contract. The Israeli firm’s FalcoNet technology would allow police to intercept cell-phone communications. Similar technology is already used by the department, though experts say that the FalcoNet system would significantly increase police surveillance capacities.

Other International News

• U.S. strike on boat in Pacific kills five people: The U.S. military attacked what it said was a drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, killing five people. U.S. Southern Command claimed that “intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narcotrafficking,” without providing any evidence underlying the intelligence. It published a video on X that shows a small boat enveloped by an explosion. Since the U.S. military began targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists” in September 2025, it has killed more than 240 people in more than 70 attacks.

• Flávio Bolsonaro and family flee Brazil; U.S. to provide visas: The United States will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family, the State Department said on Tuesday. Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday morning, according to news reports. After losing the presidential election to the incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, police requested that Bolsonaro turn over his Brazilian and diplomatic passports. He has been under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering.

• Toll from Sudanese military strike exceeds 100 deaths, rights group says: The death toll from a Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) attack on a busy market in Nyala, South Darfur, rose to more than 100 deaths and 113 injuries, the rights group Emergency Lawyers said on Tuesday. Many of the victims were women and children. The SAF attacked the market on Monday evening.

  • Separately, a drone strike on the Al-Markhiyat transformer station in Omdurman, which an official from the state-run Sudanese Electricity Distribution Company blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), left large swaths of Khartoum without power for over 12 hours. Approximately 60% of the capital’s electrical supply was affected by the strike, forcing hospitals and bakeries to rely on back-up generators.

• Strikes on Sudan gold mines kill five: Drone strikes, likely carried out by the RSF, killed at least five people and injured several others at several artisanal mining sites in South Kordofan, Sudan, on Tuesday. The RSF has previously targeted South Kordofan mining areas. Artisanal mining, which is done under exacting conditions, employs more than two million people in Sudan and produces over 80% of the country’s gold.

• Mada Masr chief editor released, faces another trial: Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was released on Tuesday evening after paying a 3 million Egyptian pound fine ordered by a Cairo court that convicted her of running a news outlet without a license. The court also ordered the closure of Mada Masr and the seizure of its assets.

  • On Wednesday, the outlet said in its newsletter: “Mada Masr is still considering its legal position following the conviction. As of yet, we don’t know where things stand, when you will hear from us next, or what we will say.”

  • During release procedures, Attalah was informed for the first time that another court had sentenced her in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison on charges of publishing false news and managing an unlicensed website. Her lawyers have challenged that sentence. A retrial is scheduled for November 11.

  • Over 120 rights organizations and independent media outlets, including Drop Site News, signed a joint statement condemning the conviction and calling on Egyptian authorities to allow Mada Masr to operate freely. In Congress, Rep. Don Beyer described the conviction as “a massive escalation” of Egyptian authorities’ “crackdown on independent media,” and “a brazen attack on press freedom and an attempt to silence one of the last major independent voices in Egypt.”

• Syria-Jordan border reopens amid probe into deadly strikes: Syria reopened the Nassib crossing, Jordan’s only border crossing with Syria, on Wednesday morning, with regular passenger and commercial traffic resuming, SANA reported. The crossing had briefly closed after Jordanian strikes on suspected ISIS hideouts in southern Syria on Monday, which killed at least seven people in Deraa and Suweyda. Jordan launched the attacks in response to a church shooting in Karak on Friday, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, that killed at least nine people and wounded 34 others.

  • Also on Tuesday, the two countries’ foreign ministers agreed in a phone call to form a security committee to review the incidents and improve intelligence coordination. During the call, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi expressed “deep regret” over civilian deaths that occurred as a result of Monday’s Jordanian strikes.

• Nigeria says 37 jailed miners died in their cells from overcrowding and neglect: Thirty-seven miners, who were jailed on charges of illegal mining, died in detention last month. A Nigerian government investigation found that the deaths were the result of severe overcrowding and poor ventilation. The detainees also suffered from heat stress and dehydration, the report noted. The chairman of the investigation, Jonathan Kure, called the deaths “entirely preventable.” Last month, witnesses in the detention facility told Reuters that prison guards “sprayed an unidentified substance into a ​crowded cell where dozens of detainees died and kept the doors locked, ignoring cries for help.”

  • The government panel overseeing the investigation recommended that each victim’s family receive 30 million naira (about $22,500), and that each of the 41 survivors receive 10 million naira. The panel advised a sweeping overhaul of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, which detained the miners.

• Dozens of Somali soldiers killed in major al-Shabaab battle: Dozens of Somali troops died in fighting against al-Shabaab Islamist insurgents in the Buurhakaba district of southern Somalia, Reuters reported on Tuesday. One soldier said that he helped carry 40 dead soldiers and over 100 wounded others to hospitals in Mogadishu. Another said that al-Shabaab deployed car bombs that wrecked five military vehicles. Government forces killed about 75 militants and wounded 56, the Defense Ministry said, adding that al-Shabaab militants used explosives-packed vehicles in their attacks. Somalia has fought al-Shabaab militants for nearly two decades.

• Tanzania’s jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu ends hunger strike: Tundu Lissu, who leads the Tanzanian opposition party CHADEMA and came in second place in the 2020 presidential election, ended a brief hunger strike after prison authorities allowed him to meet privately with his lawyers on Tuesday. He began the strike on either Monday or Tuesday. Tanzania’s prison service denied that he went on hunger strike at all. Lissu was arrested in April 2025 and charged with treason over a speech that prosecutors said urged the public to rebel and disrupt the 2025 election. Violence following that election led to the deaths of at least 518 people. Lissu pleaded not guilty, calling the case political. A judgment in his case is due in early November.

• El Salvador rushes about 1,000 troops to Haiti after gang ambush: El Salvador has sent about 1,000 troops to Haiti since an October 18 gang ambush near Port-au-Prince that led to the disappearance of four Salvadoran soldiers with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, Reuters reported. It is unclear who will command the new deployment, how long the troops will remain on the ground, or whether more will follow. The U.S. provided C-130 aircraft to move the troops. The UN-backed force comprises about 2,000 personnel. Gangs have internally displaced almost 1.5 million people in Haiti.

• Spain deports migrants from Ceuta in move criticized by Amnesty: Spain deported migrants from Ceuta after their asylum applications were rejected and Morocco agreed to take them, Spain’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday. These are the first deportations of their kind since a mass crossing of migrants from Morocco to Ceuta in July. NGOs told Reuters that 16 people were deported; they hail from African, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries. Amnesty International criticized the Spanish government, warning that the human rights of deportees could be at risk. About 80,000 people entered Ceuta over 48 hours in July; at least 100 died swimming around marine barriers or in stampedes and about 8,000 migrants remain, some of whom are sleeping on the streets.

• Iraq PM sacks intelligence chief and advisers: Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi fired the head of the National Intelligence Service, Hamid al-Shatri, a post he held since December 2024. No reason for the firing was given, and al-Shatri’s successor has not been named, public broadcaster Iraqi News Agency reported. Through an official, the prime minister announced a campaign against “public-sector overstaffing.” He terminated the contracts of 69 advisers and staff in his office.

📖 READ The UAE Is Secretly Helping Ansarallah Fight Saudi Arabia in Yemen

📖 READ AIPAC-Aligned Groups Gift Doris Matsui a $785k Blitz of Last-Minute Attack Ads

🛒 SHOP for your Drop News/Not Bombs Hoodie

💬 JOIN our Whatsapp Broadcast Channel for the latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly

⚠️ TOO MANY EMAILS? You can go to your account settings to unsubscribe from the Drop Site Daily newsletter—while still getting the rest of our reporting