Iran's Pezeshkian vows never to 'bend at the knee' at UN as US-Iran talks, 60-day ceasefire roadmap and Hormuz blockade take centre stage
US redirects 115 ships in ‘steel wall’ blockade as Iran pushes Hormuz reopening
US-Iran diplomacy is taking centre stage on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held roughly three hours of Qatari-mediated talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Tehran has reportedly presented a roadmap that includes a region-wide ceasefire of up to 60 days, a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a timetable for broader negotiations. But the path to a deal remains uncertain: President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN that Iran will not bow to American pressure, divisions have surfaced in Tehran over whether the talks were authorised, and Washington's "steel wall blockade" has now redirected 115 commercial vessels. Elsewhere, French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks on Hamas and the West Bank sparked a row with Israel before Paris clarified his meaning, and a senior IRGC commander was killed in clashes in southeast Iran. Follow our live coverage for the latest updates.
The Trump administration has acknowledged eight suicide attempts by US service members during the extended deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a US lawmaker revealed on Wednesday.
The information emerged in a letter, seen by AFP, that was sent by Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao in response to questions from Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on board the carrier since it first deployed to sea last November made headlines in the United States, provoking criticism of President Donald Trump's war against Iran.
Iran's president struck a defiant tone at the UN on Wednesday where he spoke for the first time since Washington and Israel launched an all-out war on his country, vowing Tehran would never "bend at the knee."
Masoud Pezeshkian accused Washington of "terrorism" for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the conflict, insisting Tehran had never started a war.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump had told the UN General Assembly that he was weighing whether to "annihilate" Iran but went on to hail renewed talks between Tehran and Washington's negotiators.
Pezeshkian made no reference to the talks to resolve the stalled war in his steely speech.
The US military said Wednesday it had redirected 115 commercial vessels under its renewed naval blockade of Iran, highlighting the growing pressure on maritime traffic as Washington seeks to restrict trade with Tehran.
US Central Command said in a post on X that, as of Sept. 23, its forces had redirected 115 commercial vessels while enforcing what it calls America's “steel wall blockade.”
The figure represents vessels that US forces say were diverted under the blockade, rather than ships seized or destroyed. CENTCOM previously said the blockade targets vessels travelling to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas, while allowing other commercial traffic in regional waters to continue.
The Iran-US talks in New York have exposed questions over how much authority Iranian negotiators have to make concessions.
UK-based Iran International reported that criticism emerged inside Tehran after Iran FM Abbas Araghchi's contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency reporting that the interaction had not been "authorised" by Iran's policymaking bodies.
At the same time, Iranian officials have continued to defend diplomacy.
Iran's foreign ministry said the New York contact was conducted through Qatari mediation and was intended to communicate Iran's conditions.
That leaves two major questions: whether Washington and Tehran can agree on the sequence of steps needed to end the conflict, and whether Iranian negotiators have enough domestic backing to deliver an agreement.
Tehran has presented Washington with a road map that includes a region-wide ceasefire of up to 60 days, the "phased reopening" of the Strait of Hormuz and a timetable for broader negotiations to end the conflict, according to regional sources briefed on the proposal.
The proposal reportedly includes a halt to attacks on Arab neighbours.
Iranian officials have earlier said Hormuz could potentially be reopened "within seven days" if Washington meets Tehran's conditions.
In New York, Iranian officials say that diplomacy remains "possible" but insists any deal must address its demands — including the lifting of US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also indicated that Washington remains "open" to diplomacy, while maintaining that military options remain available. The negotiations remain highly fluid, with both sides publicly maintaining positions that leave little room for appearing to compromise.
French President Emmanuel Macron triggered a diplomatic row at the UN after saying Hamas had "never been active" in the West Bank, prompting sharp criticism from Israeli officials. France later said Macron was referring to Hamas "not governing" the territory.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 22, Macron criticised the situation in the occupied West Bank while discussing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Look at what’s happening in the West Bank, where day in and day out we are seeing violations, and in the name of what? Hamas was never active in the West Bank,” Macron then said the continuing situation was making it increasingly difficult to achieve a political settlement based on Palestinian rights.
The wording drew criticism from Israeli officials, who argued that Hamas has maintained a presence in the West Bank and has carried out attacks there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office described Macron's statement as a “grotesque absurdity”, saying Hamas militants had carried out attacks against Israelis in the territory. Israeli officials also pointed to the killing on September 20 of Netanel Shukrun, a French-Israeli father of six, in a West Bank attack that Israel attributed to a Hamas terrorist.
The controversy appears to have centred partly on translation.
A French diplomatic official subsequently explained that Macron “meant to say that Hamas does not govern the West Bank.” A separate French source stated that Macron's French phrase, “le Hamas n'a jamais sévi en Cisjordanie,” had been interpreted too literally in English and that the intended meaning was that Hamas has never governed the West Bank.
US-Iran diplomacy continued in New York as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN that Tehran would not surrender under American pressure, even as negotiators explored a possible route towards ending the war.
Pezeshkian said Iran remained "open" to diplomacy but rejected what he described as coercion and threats from Washington.
His remarks came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held lengthy talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with Qatar helping mediate.
The talks lasted about three hours. US officials described them as constructive, while Iranian officials stressed that Tehran's core conditions had not been abandoned.
A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been killed during an operation against armed men in the southeastern city of Saravan, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Hossein Zarifi, commander of the IRGC’s Shahid Sajjad Operational Base in Saravan, was killed during the operation in Sistan and Baluchestan province, according to the IRGC Ground Force’s Quds Base.
The IRGC said five members of an armed group were killed and others arrested during the operation. The claims could not be independently verified. Saravan lies near Iran’s border with Pakistan and has witnessed repeated clashes involving security forces and armed groups.
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