“Iran’s beleaguered economy will soon have ‘nothing to trade’ in about two weeks after it makes its final oil deliveries, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed,” the New York Post reports.
Said Bessent: “I am confident, given that there’s only 15 million more barrels of Iranian oil on the water, that Iran will have nothing left to trade for anything.”
“President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if he would like to buy American weapons during the communist politician’s three day trip to the States last week, according to U.S. Ambassador to China David Purdue,” Mediaite reports.
Said Purdue: “President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world.’ He actually asked President Xi if he would like to buy some, at one point.”
One day after he rejected an Iranian proposal to end the war, President Trump told Axios in a phone interview that he expects U.S. negotiators to engage in more talks with the country this week.
“Iran said it’s awaiting a definitive U.S. response to a seven-day proposal for reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz but won’t soften its conditions, after President Donald Trump voiced his rejection,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Islamic Republic is aware of Trump’s remarks though has yet to receive anything from mediators Qatar and Pakistan, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was cited as saying by state-run broadcaster IRIB late Saturday.”
Said Araghchi: “The U.S. president has made some good remarks as well as many contradictory ones, which unfortunately we hear from him frequently.”
“Diesel prices soaring to record highs this past week have caused Republican candidates in solid-red parts of the country to call for an end to President Donald Trump’s war with Iran and for a ban on diesel exports, as the issue rattles the party’s MAGA base in a way that few have in this midterm election year,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump officials say Iran is miscalculating if it believes rising prices and the midterm elections will weaken President Donald Trump’s hand in negotiations to end the nearly seven-month conflict,” Fox News reports.
“The administration is projecting confidence that mounting economic pressure will push Tehran toward a deal, even after three hours of talks this week ended without an announced breakthrough.”
Said State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott: “The president holds all of the cards here.”
“North Korea has started practicing swarm attacks that combine unmanned systems with conventional weapons, adopting tactics already used in Ukraine and the Middle East that could challenge U.S. and allied air defenses,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Trump warned in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in recent days that he might ‘annihilate’ Iran, a growing number of Republicans were scrambling to find distance from a costly war that has swelled into a midterm crisis for the party,” the New York Times reports.
“The split screen showed how Mr. Trump and his party’s battleground candidates are increasingly at odds as the November elections approach. With no clear resolution in sight, the war has sent the prices of gasoline, diesel and heating oil upward, and cost increases have spilled across the economy. Mortgage rates have also climbed to seven percent, squeezing prospective homeowners already struggling with inflation.”
“While Mr. Trump is talking about escalating the war if he cannot strike a deal with Iran, Republicans in competitive races are losing patience with the fighting.”
“Don’t develop your oil and gas, just buy it from us, well, that’s great for them and terrible for us. The same is true on data centers. If they can convince Americans, ‘You don’t want data centers here, you want to just rely on the Chinese for AI,’ that’s great for China, and it’s terrible for America.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by Fox News.
“President Trump said on Saturday he turned down Iran’s latest cease-fire proposal that offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks on the country’s nuclear program in exchange for U.S. concessions,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “They made a proposal, but I rejected it.”
“Mr. Trump demurred when asked if he expected to restart military strikes after the November midterm elections, saying Iran wanted ‘to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly.'”
Robin Wright: “In a whirlwind trip to New York this week, Mahmoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, looked exhausted. His country has been at war with the United States and Israel for seven months. Dark, puffy bags sagged under his eyes. His tone—at the opening of the UN General Assembly, on the sidelines of negotiations with U.S. envoys, in meetings with other world leaders, and at briefings for nuclear specialists, think-tank experts, and members of the media—alternated between bitter, biting, and bewildered.”
“The scenes were often surreal. Since February 28th, when the war began, Pezeshkian has frequently run his government from an underground location, to avoid the fate of his former boss, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and dozens of other politicians and military officers, all killed in air strikes.”
“This week, however, the U.S. Secret Service and the New York Police Department provided Pezeshkian protection in coordination with his own security detail of Revolutionary Guards, an Iranian military branch that has repeatedly been targeted during the war. It was the first time that the President of a country at war with the United States has been allowed to pay a visit.”
“Expectations were low entering President Trump’s meetings with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, this week, after officials on both sides tempered hopes for a breakthrough. Yet the summit’s stark lack of substance surprised even the closest China watchers,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“It was a visual affair designed to project a new phase of managed competition between a prevailing superpower and a rising one — a message that Washington and Beijing are ultimately capable of responsible leadership. But even a cursory look beneath the surface revealed the challenges ahead for the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship.”
And then there’s this: “Trump repeatedly patted Xi on the back, a gesture considered highly inappropriate in Chinese political culture.”
“The proposed permanent U.S. military base in Poland, dubbed Fort Trump, will cost as much as $4.4 billion and could open as early as in 2029,” Bloomberg reports.
“A top U.S. Treasury Department official hopscotched across the Middle East and Europe this month with a warning to Iran’s trading partners: You either trade with Tehran or Washington,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The commercial strongarming is working.”
“In recent days, Iran has seen its airlines cut off from critical regional routes and its top commercial bank stopped from transacting in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, both actions that came on top of longstanding sanctions and the continuing U.S. naval blockade.”
“President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Tehran’s proposal would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz and resumed nuclear talks in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports, which is causing deep damage to the country’s economy. Trump says openly that Tehran is begging for a deal after the midterms that dismantles its nuclear program.”
“But privately Trump is skeptical Iran would meet his demands and has told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely, the officials said.”
“President Donald Trump spent months plotting ways to impress Xi Jinping,” CNN reports.
“But even after enlisting two military bands, ordering up a flyover, speeding construction of his new helipad and rolling out a literal red carpet, Trump ended up directly undercutting what the Chinese leader craved most: Network television cameras.”
“Trump’s abrupt ban on three news outlets — including CNN — disrupted months of careful planning for Xi’s state visit, frustrating both U.S. and Chinese officials over the limited coverage of a summit meant to showcase the two men together in front of a global audience.”
“A bipartisan group of senators is pressing President Donald Trump to withdraw Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the G20 summit later this year in Miami,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The 13 senators, including six Republicans, warned that welcoming Putin to the United States would give him ‘stature and legitimacy’ while Russia continues its war in Ukraine.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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