26 million ago Ayatollah Khamenei says US forces will soon be repelled The blows they have received. Iran’s new supreme leader shortly after his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first round of attacks between the United States and Israel, which sparked the war on February 28. The younger Khamenei has not been seen, not even on video, since he was named supreme leader, and senior US officials have said he was likely seriously injured in the same attack that killed his father. 6:44 AM Value of Iranian currency falls to all-time low against dollar The Iranian rial has fallen to a new all-time low against the US dollar, and the selling rate on the free market surpassed 2.4 million rials per dollar on Monday. Data from Pashizi, which tracks Iran’s free-market exchange rates, puts the dollar at around 2.4 million rials as Iran faces high inflation, sweeping sanctions and growing foreign trade disruption. Annual inflation has reached 61.4% in August, while food prices are reported to have increased by 128% from a year earlier, according to data from the Statistical Center of Iran. 6:13 AM Iran’s delegation to the UN has no plans to negotiate directly with the US Iranian state media said Monday that Iran’s delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York had no plans to hold direct talks with the US, after President Trump said he expected more negotiations to take place this week. “Iran’s delegation in New York has no plans to negotiate with the United States,” the official IRNA news agency said, citing an anonymous source close to the group. Trump told Axios on Sunday that he hoped negotiations would continue this week, adding that Iranian leaders were interested in reaching a deal because they are “losing a lot.” “Iran’s views and positions were clearly and explicitly conveyed to the American side… through a Qatari mediator,” IRNA said, adding that the Iranian delegation would return to Tehran on Tuesday. Since the outbreak of war in February, negotiations between Tehran and Washington have largely occurred through mediators. The United States during its war against Iran was detained on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks. RAF Fairford, a UK Royal Air Force base about 85 miles west of London in rural Gloucestershire, has been used by American bombers to carry out strikes against Iranian missile sites. The British government, under an agreement reached during the government of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, granted the United States permission to use Farford and other key UK bases as long as it was only for attacks defined as defensive in nature. Authorities are investigating a link between the Fairford arrests and Iran as a possibility. Iranian authorities have declared all bases used to attack Iranian territory as legitimate targets. President Trump praised those who participated in the arrests. “It was an incredible job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do great damage to our fort. And working with the British worked very well,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday. “We had them in our sights for a long time and we got them.” 5:21 AM Iran says it is ready for diplomacy or a return to fighting as war reaches 7-month mark Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran was ready for diplomacy or a return to fighting in the war sparked seven months ago by joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran. He said it is now up to President Trump to choose which direction to take. “We are fully prepared for the moment when the war resumes and, I repeat, we remain firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it is an apocalyptic war,” Araghchi told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “At the same time, we are ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose,” he said. collapsed months ago as part of a seven-day plan that would allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen to commercial shipping. Araghchi said Tehran would wait for an official response from the mediators. 5:21 AM Trump hopes talks with Iran will resume this week President Trump said Sunday that he hopes talks with Iran will resume next week, a day after rejecting a truce proposal put forward by Tehran. “They want to make a deal, but it’s not the deal I want to make,” Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Sunday. “It’s what we might have agreed on a year ago.” Iran said on Friday it had submitted a proposal to the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for seven days, but Trump claimed Iranian leaders wanted the deal because “they are losing so much.” “They overreacted,” Trump told Axios. The president said resuming attacks on Iran was not out of the question, adding: “I’m always thinking about it.” Sen. Kennedy says Iran plan ‘was not a serious offer’ Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Iran’s proposed plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks was “not a serious offer.” “The president is not Bambi’s little brother. He rejected him,” Kennedy said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “We need to continue doing what we’re doing: the sanctions, the blockade,” Kennedy said. “Now there is only one problem: the strait is at least partially closed and it has affected the price of oil. And oil is in everything, including gasoline, and it is very painful,” he said, adding: “We have to find a way to resolve this issue, to open the strait, or to escalate it.” However, Kennedy said he would not support sending US ground troops to Iran.
