Updates: Trump at the UN, Iran fed up, Diesel, AI, Consequences of chanting 'Free Palestine'

 

• Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces & Khatam al-Anbiya in response to Trump’s UNGA remarks: “The hostile remarks and repeated threats made by Trump against Iran, accompanied by the misuse of the UN platform to justify aggression, create insecurity, and engage in banditry across the world, are, rather than being based on realities on the ground, merely a tool for domestic propaganda. Such remarks demonstrate the strategic deadlock facing the US in its aggression against the Iranian nation. The repetition of baseless claims and threats, particularly given the exhaustion of the U.S. military, is not a sign of strength but rather an indication of their strategic desperation. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always served as an anchor of security in the region, particularly for free and international trade, while the US, through its illegitimate, unlawful, and aggressive presence in West Asia, has been a source of threats, insecurity, and instability. In an attempt to compensate for its repeated failures in acts of aggression against Iran and in maritime piracy, it has taken the global economy hostage."

• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian at the United Nations in New York: “Either we will build security together, or we will endure insecurity together....Now regarding Palestine. Palestine remains a wound on the conscience of the international community, and Gaza remains a symbol of the failure of international organizations to prevent the suffering of civilians. For decades, resolutions have been issued, yet occupation and violence continue.  We cannot speak of peace while ignoring Palestine. Lasting peace in West Asia will not endure without justice for Palestine."

• Sovereignista: The US president cancelled planned US airstrikes against Yemen at the last moment, according to the New York Times — pulling back just as the operation was about to begin. Trump had told the Pentagon to prepare a large strike package, and target lists were approved. According to the NYT, bombs were being loaded onto US warplanes when Trump decided against ordering the strikes. Earlier, US embassies across the Middle East issued security alerts warning of flight cancellations and airspace closures. Trump then cut short his Camp David stay and returned to the White House early, cancelling all scheduled events. 📌 Of course, this could have been a huge bluff, or it could have been a huge bluff to try and force Iran back to a negotiation, or it could be partially true, or it could be not true at all, or it could be that the US [Pentagon] leaders would not go ahead with it, or it could be a fake for the midterms, or it could be the major win of Macklemore in the media with ‘Free Palestine’ and a realization that nobody is with this administration and this war. 

• Yemen's Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi: “The Saudis are trying to bring Takfiri [mercenary] fighters from Syria through Turkey and Pakistan. We advise Turkey and Pakistan not to intervene in this matter with the aim of gaining political and material gains from the Saudi enemy." Saudi Arabia cannot export oil, so MbS has one way out: surrender, accept Yemen's terms, and expect a bill including the three southern provinces stolen [from Yemen] by the Brits in 1934.  

• Yemen military: Will we hear condemnations from countries, organizations, bodies, and international entities for the crime committed by the Saudi regime in Bab al-Mandab, where it bombed a popular market in broad daylight while the market was crowded with shoppers — like those condemnations over the lie of targeting Mecca?! Or are they condemnations paid in advance, dedicated to serving the Saudi oil regime, with no relation to the shedding of the blood of poor Yemenis who possess neither oil nor dollars? 

• Tehran’s Metro has installed CPR training machines that let passengers, while waiting for their metro, learn life-saving skills and get certified on the spot. 

• China rejects illegal Iran sanctions: In response to claims by US regarding forcing countries to suspend Iranian airliners, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing will not follow "illegal US sanctions," stating, "China has always opposed unilateral and illegal sanctions that have no basis in international law."  

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) have introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act – a bill to permanently prohibit AI systems which humans cannot control, pause advanced AI development until a real regulator establishes enforceable safety rules, and penalize the companies that break them. Stanford economists found employment for 22-25 year-olds in AI-exposed jobs has dropped roughly 13% since 2022. Entry-level hiring at major tech companies is down by half since 2019. Data centers are pushing our utility bills up. AI deepfake tools are being used to harass students on campuses. High-tech oligarchs are gambling with an economy young people haven’t even entered yet. And they’ve built a $100 million super PAC to make sure Congress can't stop them. 

• The latest state elections in Germany have confirmed a trend that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss. The results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, following Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier, leap off the page, as the AfD won 38.2% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU fell below the 5% threshold for the first time in a German state election. In Berlin, meanwhile, the Left finished first, with the CDU second and the SPD falling to fifth place.  Germany is therefore moving towards something resembling the politics of smaller European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, or Austria, with fragmented parliaments and increasingly complicated multiparty coalitions.

• The Kucinich Report: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is the Punxsutawney Phil of Capitol Hill. Like the fabled groundhog who emerges from his burrow in the late winter, Johnson emerged from his Capitol Hill office last Wednesday, looked at Congressman Thomas Massie’s Impeachment of War Secretary Hegseth, saw the shadow of defeat, quickly adjourned the House, and then burrowed back to his office until after the November General Election. We will have at least six more weeks of war, brought to us by Secretary Hegseth and his boss, President Trump, with the help of Speaker Johnson who avoided a procedural vote, taking it upon himself to adjourn. Consider. The Administration, compelled by Israeli interests, has driven America into a war of choice against a nation that represented no threat to our country. The war against Iran is becoming more dangerous every day, more casualties, more expense, and more devastating economic and moral consequences. On September 15, the House of Representatives expressed its constitutional will and voted 220–204 to direct the President to end American participation in the war against Iran. When the Congress returns after the November Election, Massie’s Articles of Impeachment - - accusing Hegseth of accelerating the Iran War, carrying out unlawful orders and participating in extrajudicial killings - - will remain among the unresolved matters.

• An intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program. The US military swung into action with plans to intercept the vessel, according to four sources familiar with the episode. According to two of the sources, armed members of the US military were preparing to board the ship. Military planes were in the air, one of those sources and another source familiar with the incident said. It was only just before the planned operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a special operations command analyst and found it had been generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) — and that a chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying.