Corbett | September 18, 2026
Ken Silva of Headline USA joins us to discuss his new book, The Trump Assassination Plots: What the Investigations Missed and Why it Matters. From the unlikely official account of these shootings and plots to the still unexplained aspects of the events to the possibility of a false flag operation to blame a future shooting on Iran, James and Ken discuss all the details of these mysterious events.
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Ken Silva – Substack / Headline USA website
Trump ‘left instructions’ to bomb Iran ‘at levels that they’ve never seen’ if he’s assassinated
The Trump Assassination Plots: What the Investigations Missed and Why it Matters by Ken Silva
It Looks Like Trump Restarted the War with Iran over a Phony Assassination Threat
The HighWire with Del Bigtree – September 17, 2026
GLP-1 drugs are easier to get than ever, even as reports of overdoses, severe reactions, vision loss, and multibillion-dollar lawsuits continue to mount. Del and Jefferey look at how quickly these drugs are being prescribed, how little time some providers spend with patients, and why proper dosing and medical follow-up may make all the difference.
MEMO | September 19, 2026
A top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has placed a hold on a $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel, The Hill reported on Friday.
Shaheen has voiced frustration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not addressed concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers over civilian deaths in Gaza, Israeli strikes in Syria, and growing violence against Palestinians by extremist Israeli occupiers in the West Bank.
The proposed weapons package includes 40,000 one-ton bombs. The Biden administration had previously withheld similar munitions due to concerns over their use in Gaza and the resulting civilian casualties.
Palestinian health officials estimate that around 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the three-year war between Israel and Hamas since October 2023, though the figures do not distinguish between civilians and militants.
As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Shaheen can place a hold on major arms sales while the State Department addresses lawmakers’ concerns. Semafor first reported that she imposed the hold in July.
Her House of Representatives counterpart, Rep. Gregory Meeks, also announced Wednesday that he had placed a hold on the sale, citing concerns about whether Netanyahu’s government would use US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law and US law.
Asked by CNN about Meeks’ decision, Shaheen said: “All of us share concern about what Israel is doing … what they’re doing in Gaza, their bombing in places like Syria, and what that means for any peaceful solution in the Middle East.”
“Netanyahu needs to hear from America that we don’t like what he’s doing. We don’t like what’s happening in the West Bank where settler violence is killing Palestinians, sending them out of their homes, disrupting basic infrastructure. And the Netanyahu administration has basically done nothing to address that,” she added.
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iran’s Judiciary has issued indictments against 159 senior US and Israeli political and military officials over the assassination of the martyred Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and military commanders, Judiciary spokesman Ali Kazemi says.
Kazemi said on Saturday that 92 of the accused are US nationals and 67 are Israeli, adding that the indictments had been issued and the cases referred to court.
He said a separate civil case, filed collectively by people in Tehran and concerning material, moral and punitive damages, is being heard after the jurisdiction of Iran’s courts to consider the lawsuit was established. A hearing date will be set soon, he added.
Regarding the cases involving martyred commanders, Kazemi said cases have been opened and investigated concerning 19 commanders. Indictments were ultimately issued against 97 US and Israeli officials, including 74 Americans and 23 Israelis.
The Judiciary spokesman said around 400 cases have been filed with Iranian courts as part of domestic and international legal proceedings, adding that one case involved more than 350,000 plaintiffs.
He said the purpose of the measures was to document claims and evidence, conduct judicial proceedings and issue well-founded rulings, allowing the pursuit of legal claims inside Iran and, if necessary, internationally.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched the second round of aggression against Iran, assassinating Ayatollah Khamenei and several high-ranking commanders and officials. The war, which lasted for 40 days, was met with Iran’s decisive military response.
Iran has vowed to legally pursue those behind the assassinations at domestic and international levels.
Earlier this month, Minister of Justice Amin Hossein Rahimi said the crimes committed during the US-Israeli war on Iran are being documented for lawsuits and judicial and legal follow-up at international forums.
The Cradle | September 19, 2026
The Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) revoked Iran’s Bank Mellat license, citing vague financial risks amid Washington’s economic sanctions campaign on Tehran, Turkiye’s Official Gazette reported on 18 September.
The regulator invoked Article 71(b) of Turkiye’s banking law, which allows a license to be revoked if a bank is deemed a threat to depositors or to the stability of the financial system, thereby ending the lender’s 44-year presence in the country.
The notice made no reference to US sanctions or to any operational failings at the bank’s Istanbul branch.
However, Bank Mellat, whose largest shareholder is the Iranian government, is under US, EU, and UK sanctions, according to the open-source sanctions-tracking database OpenSanctions.
Earlier this week, Ankara declared that Iran’s Mahan Air would be grounded starting 21 September, following Washington’s sanctions on three Turkish companies for providing services to the airline.
The US Treasury said Turkiye and Oman agreed to halt the flights following talks on complying with its sanctions.
“The risk now extends to every Turkish entity providing services to Mahan Air, from airport operations and ground handling to ticketing and banking,” one official warned.
The airline, which ran at least three daily flights between Istanbul and Tehran, is also suspending services to Oman and Georgia.
The revocation follows a string of punitive measures under Washington’s “Economic Outcast” operation, an economic strangulation campaign launched after the US failed to achieve its military objectives against Iran.
On 4 September, the US Treasury sanctioned Golden Global Bank, a small Turkish investment bank, along with two of its Istanbul-based units, accusing them of channeling tens of millions of dollars for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force.
Days earlier, the Treasury cut the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr off from dollar access over their dealings with Iran, the Financial Times reported on 28 August.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed to roll out new secondary sanctions every week, with banks first in line.
“This is going to be financial violence if we have to,” he told AP.
Bessent has also repeatedly pressed Washington’s allies to intensify their own sanctions on Tehran, warning G20 finance chiefs they would face secondary sanctions of their own if they failed to cut ties.
Sputnik – 19.09.2026
“This treaty is mostly for show, but in legal terms it’s much ado about nothing” because “the US already had free access to Greenland and the main responsibility for the defense of Greenland,” Swedish military and geopolitics analyst Mikael Valtersson told Sputnik, commenting on the new US-Denmark Greenland deal.
While the agreement grants the US permanent military access, basing and overflight rights, Valtersson pointed out that Washington already had these rights, and that it was the US itself that “voluntarily and drastically reduced its own military resources on Greenland” after the end of the Cold War.
Valtersson suspects the deal is “mainly a PR stunt for the US government ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.”
However, given fears in Denmark and Europe in general that the current administration’s “erratic foreign policy” might trigger an actual military conflict over Greenland, which “would have created a huge crisis in Transatlantic relations,” the agreement is likely to be a relief to the EU, and will let Copenhagen “stop worrying about a potential military confrontation with the US” over the dependency.
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says military intervention cannot create security and coercion cannot bring peace, calling for a fundamental shift from militarism and intervention toward sustainable development, respect for national sovereignty, and lasting peace.
Addressing the “Calling for a Global U-Turn: Recentering Development, Reclaiming Humanity, Restoring Justice in a Crazi(er) World” conference at the 2026 Global Town Hall hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia on Saturday, Araghchi said decades of foreign intervention, military pressure, and endless wars in West Asia have demonstrated that military intervention does not create security and coercion does not lead to peace.
The tragedy of Gaza and the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli regime are among the clearest and most horrific manifestations of this failed pattern, Araghchi said.
He warned that a dangerous pattern has emerged in which military force is no longer being used as a last resort, but as a permanent mechanism for reshaping the political and security landscape of the region.
Under such circumstances, aggression becomes normalized, escalation becomes institutionalized, and destruction turns from a consequence of war into a tool for advancing political objectives, he said.
Araghchi described the US and Israeli military action against Iran as part of this broader pattern, calling it illegal, unjust, and aggressive and pointing out that it occurred without prior provocation.
He also referred to targeted assassination campaigns against Iranian officials, threats against political figures, violations of national sovereignty, and impunity for acts of aggression, saying the failure of the international community to respond effectively to such actions would gradually erode the boundaries established by international law.
Referring to the killing of 168 students in an attack on a school in Minab, southern Iran, Araghchi said the victims should not be reduced to numbers in war statistics.
Behind each of these lost lives, there was a family, a future and a life, he said, asking, “When do we say enough is enough?”
Araghchi said international law could not be upheld if it were ignored whenever the interests of major powers demanded it, adding that human rights could not be called universal if they were treated as an inherent right for some nations and a conditional privilege for others.
He stressed that the answer was not abandoning multilateralism, but establishing real, effective and fair multilateralism.
The foreign minister called for a shift from militarism to sustainable development, interventionism to respect for national sovereignty, collective punishment to protection of civilians, selective accountability to universal justice, and endless wars to lasting peace.
He also stressed that lasting security in West Asia could not be dictated from outside the region.
Regional security must belong to the region itself, Araghchi said, arguing that regional countries should be able to discuss security, stability, development, and their shared future and find solutions without foreign intervention.
He said Iran believed sustainable security could be achieved through dialogue, confidence-building, cooperation, and mutual respect among regional countries rather than through the military presence of foreign powers and the imposition of their will.
Araghchi concluded that the international community faced a historic choice between continuing militarism, intervention, and endless conflict and changing course toward development, human dignity, justice, and respect for international law.
The time for this is not tomorrow or some indefinite future; the time is now, he said.
GCC internet will go dark if Trump renews hostilities
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | September 18, 2026
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait—are heavily invested in AI as part of a strategy to diversify away from petroleum. National AI strategies across GCC countries emphasize investment in research and development, encourage public-private partnerships, and create regulatory frameworks that support innovation. The GCC AI market size increased from USD $6.22 billion in 2025 to USD $7.60 billion in 2026. It is projected to reach USD $23.03 billion by 2034.
In April, Iran’s Tasnim news agency mentioned the submarine cables, landing stations, and data hubs in the Gulf as strategic pressure points in the conflict initiated by the United States and Israel. According to the market research company IMARC Group, subsea internet data cables in the Gulf sit at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and damage to these networks risks connectivity losses in one of the world’s most important internet traffic zones.
The economic importance of these cable systems extends far outside internet browsing or streaming services, notes Techstory, “because financial markets, payment systems and cloud computing firms depend on uninterrupted connections between continents every second of the day. Data centers in the Gulf and Asia also depend on those same cables to connect cloud systems serving businesses around the world.” Analysts estimate that networks linked to the GCC support roughly $10 trillion worth of financial transactions daily.
Iran claims the cables are within its territorial waters and fall under its jurisdiction. Tasnim and Fars suggest Iran may charge tech companies to use the internet cables, while Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a Brigadier General and the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that “companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon” will be required to “comply with Iranian law” and pay licensing fees for cable passage, with repair and maintenance rights given exclusively to Iranian firms.
The Islamic Republic cited the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which includes provisions governing submarine cables. Article 79 of UNCLOS says coastal states have the right to establish conditions for cables or pipelines entering their territory or territorial sea.
On September 2, Iran’s Kayhan newspaper urged Iran’s IGRC to disrupt or sever international fiber-optic cables to pressure the United States and its allies. “Is it not our indisputable right, in order to bring these sources of evil to their knees and cut off their lifeline, to prevent internet cables from passing through the depths of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz?” asked Kayhan editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari. “This necessary measure could be carried out by seriously disrupting the cables’ operation or even cutting them.”
Iran has the ability to take out key cable networks, including the Fibre in Gulf submarine cable system, which connects Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. The Falcon Network connects Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Yemen, while the the Gulf Bridge International links Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and has onward connectivity to India, and Europe.
The Islamic Republic may decide to retaliate for the imposition of crippling sanctions which have negatively affected its economy, causing an increase in inflation and unemployment. Iran’s minimum wage stands at approximately 104 million rials, equivalent to roughly $110 US monthly. Essential commodity prices have risen sharply, with the International Monetary Fund documenting an annual inflation rate of 42.4%, according to October 2025 figures. Most estimates suggest sanctions have cost Iran approximately $60 billion each year by limiting investments in the energy sector. The sanctions have also significantly reduced Iran’s petroleum exports.
In 2023, the Iranian navy unveiled the domestically developed and manufactured Chamrosh-4 VTOL, a remotely operated drone designed for detecting, locating, and destroying both anchored and sleeping naval mines. Furthermore, Iran operates an undersea fleet of roughly 4 to 6 diesel-electric attack submarines well-suited to operate in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz. In short, Iran has the ability to sabotage subsea internet data cables.
On September 17, President Trump, frustrated by the current stalemate in his war, said he faces a major decision over whether to escalate military action against Iran. “I have a big decision to make,” Trump said. “Do I want to go in and eliminate them or not? That’s a big decision. Anything can happen with me.”
Iran has given the United States an ultimatum for a period of three to four weeks, during which the United States must satisfy all Iranian demands. Failure to comply will result in severe escalation within the Strait of Hormuz and the execution of Iran’s planned preemptive military action targeting United States-backed Gulf infrastructure as well as American and Israeli assets, according to a senior Iranian official based in Tehran with direct knowledge of the situation.
The demands include $300 billion in reconstruction funds, a full release of Iran’s frozen assets of up to $120 billion, lifting of the US naval blockade, an end to war on all fronts (including Gaza and Lebanon), lifting of all sanctions on Iranian oil and gas, and acceptance of Iran’s permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz, including up to 7% transit fees.
President Trump is unlikely to accept these conditions, and as previously mentioned, may intensify military operations before the midterm elections. Should Trump choose to escalate, Iran has indicated it will heighten the intensity of its assaults against remaining American military and commercial infrastructure throughout the GCC region and West Asia.
On September 15, Amazon Web Services disclosed that Iranian drone strikes caused substantial damage to the corporation’s data facilities located in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The preceding week, officials from the UAE declared that they were modifying their AI data center initiatives in response to the strikes, thereby underscoring a critical weakness that Iran continues to leverage with considerable facility.
The Cradle | September 18, 2026
Israel is expected to seek “compensation” from the US in the form of weapons systems that Washington has so far declined to sell to Tel Aviv, in response to US plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a $25 billion deal, Walla reported on 18 September.
A source familiar with the matter told the Hebrew news outlet that the Israeli military would prefer that no other country in West Asia receive the F-35 to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) in the region.
The deal marks the first time an Arab state gains access to the F-35, the US military’s most advanced warplane.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region,” the State Department said in a statement on Thursday.
Even if the deal is signed soon, Saudi Arabia would receive its first F-35s only in five years and without all the enhancements Israel has for its fleet of the warplanes, US officials told Middle East Eye (MEE).
Using the deal as leverage, Tel Aviv intends to ask Washington to allow it to participate in the development and production of classified US weapons systems, including space-based weapons, the source speaking with Walla said.
Israel will also ask the US to participate in the development and production of some of its own weapons systems, including missile interceptors for the Arrow 4 and Arrow 5 systems.
Additionally, Israel wants access to advanced munitions that Washington has so far declined to sell to Tel Aviv, including bunker-busting weapons designed to penetrate through mountains deep underground, autonomous strike systems, and swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel may also seek funding to finance a third F-15 squadron and additional F-35 squadrons, which Israeli officials say they are currently struggling to do.
At the same time, the source speaking with Walla said that the Saudi purchase of F-35s would not threaten Israel’s qualitative military edge.
Israel continues to hold a clear operational advantage over other countries that have purchased the aircraft from the US due to the extensive operational experience accumulated by the Israeli Air Force and its pilots while carrying out the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the bombing of Lebanon and Iran.
One Israeli defense official sought to play down concerns, saying that Israel’s advantage lies “not just in the machine, but mainly in the people.”
Tel Aviv has also received Washington’s approval to integrate Israeli-made weapons systems into its Adir aircraft, the Israeli version of the F-35.
MEE notes that the sale has raised concerns among some in the US defense and intelligence community who believe China could gain access to critical US technologies through espionage if Saudi Arabia is allowed to operate the warplane.
Press TV – September 18, 2026
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has declared that his country will not deploy troops or military assets to join the US-led military adventurism against Iran, defying calls from Washington to support the illegal war.
“There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” Lee said during a news conference on Friday. “We won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.”
He also emphasized that Seoul has maintained the principle of not becoming directly involved in combat and will continue to do so.
However, he added, South Korea is considering expanding the operational scope of its naval presence off the coast of Somalia for anti-piracy operations.
US President Donald Trump has openly lashed out at South Korea over its refusal to participate in the war against Iran and scaled back major joint military drills by the two countries’ armies this summer.
Reports said earlier this month that South Korea is flirting with the idea of deploying military assets to the Strait of Hormuz, which has remained under Iran’s control since the early days of the criminal US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had warned that any military presence by other parties in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz will constitute direct support for the aggressor, bearing serious consequences.
“No sovereign and responsible country will submit to US pressure and blackmail to collude in committing acts of aggression and heinous crimes against the great Iranian nation,” he said on September 7.
Iran restricted transit through the Strait of Hormuz in response to the terrorist US-Israeli aggression that began on February 28.
On June 17, Tehran and Washington signed the Pakistan-brokered Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), whose Article 5 places responsibility for reopening and managing the Strait squarely in Iran’s hands.
However, Washington attempted to undermine Iran’s sovereignty over the vital global energy chokepoint, resumed its airstrikes on Iran, and imposed a naval blockade in violation of the war-ending deal.
The unlawful US measures prompted Iran to re-impose restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz.
Daniel Davis / Deep Dive – September 16, 2026
Press TV – September 17, 2026
Saudi Arabia is reportedly facing depleted reserves of missile interceptor systems and has appealed to regional partners and Western allies for assistance as Yemeni Armed Forces continue retaliatory missile and drone operations against strategic sites deep inside the kingdom.
The Associated Press, citing two regional officials speaking on condition of anonymity, reported on Wednesday that Saudi authorities have appealed to France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Egypt to establish air-defense reinforcements in the region to bolster protection against missile and drone operations conducted by Yemeni Armed Forces.
The Yemeni operations are being carried out in retaliation for ongoing airstrikes and the blockade against their Arab Peninsula nation.
The outreach effort commenced due to the fact that Saudi Arabia’s principal ally and primary arms supplier, the United States, has faced a significant reduction in its interceptor inventory over the course of a six-month war of aggression on Iran, according to one official.
Fresh Saudi airstrikes across Yemen
On Thursday, a civilian was killed and another sustained injuries when Saudi warplanes carried out two airstrikes in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah.
Yemen’s al-Masirah television channel, citing local sources, reported that the aerial assaults destroyed four passenger cars and damaged a house in the Abs district.
Elsewhere in the southwestern province of Ta’izz, Saudi fighter aircraft targeted three telecommunications towers in the al-Ta’iziyah and Dimnat Khadir districts.
On July 20, the Sana’a government announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia in response to “an unjust and oppressive siege” on Yemen for almost 12 years.
Subsequently, the Yemeni armed forces have reported a series of successful missions that have targeted vessels associated with Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed a blockade on Yemen, initiating a comprehensive military offensive that received support in terms of military, political, and logistical assistance from the United States and several Western countries.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis have lost their lives; however, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its primary goal of reestablishing a puppet government that served its interests.
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Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
By Stephen Sniegoski | My Catbird Seat | June 12, 2010
The claim that Israel serves as a valuable ally for the United States is made by both pro-Zionists and much of the anti-war and anti-Zionist Left that is influenced by Noam Chomsky. As a result of the Gaza flotilla massacre, which has caused a world-wide uproar against Israel, the value of Israel to the United States is being publicly questioned in more mainstream foreign policy forums. … continue
Aletho News If Americans Knew No Tricks Zone
