Tehran Demands

Iran told Donald Trump what it wants to end the war. Lift the naval blockade. Unfreeze its money. Stop fighting on every front. Security chief Mohsen Rezaei laid out the conditions in an interview, the Independent reported. Qatari and Pakistani mediators are still shuttling messages as the war passes the six-month mark.

Saturday brought fresh explosions to Riyadh. Flames and a thick plume of black smoke rose near King Khalid International Airport after Saudi authorities sent overnight air raid alerts to phones in the capital, Jeddah and the oil port of Yanbu, the Guardian reported. A fuel tank bearing the Aramco logo burned near the airport. FlightRadar24 listed the facility under its maximum disruption index before Saudi officials issued an all-clear.

Behind the chaos: the Houthis. The Iran-backed group has controlled Yemen's most populous areas since declaring a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in July. Friday, the UN Security Council condemned the Houthi campaign, citing strikes that wounded civilians and damaged energy infrastructure, according to the Guardian. Iran reported a new strike on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway it has tried to choke off since the war began in February, the Independent said.

Trump told reporters in North Carolina this week that the two sides are "hopefully" nearing an end to the nearly seven-month war and that he'd spoken with Tehran directly, CNBC reported. He gave no further detail. Fox News reported Trump is weighing a "big decision" behind the scenes: escalate toward what he's called annihilating the Iranian regime, or push for a settlement.

Nazee Moini, a Middle East Institute fellow, told Fox News the regime is boxed in either way. "The Islamic regime is under extreme pressure for all the good reasons, militarily, economically," she said, adding that Washington's pressure campaign leaves Tehran two options: fight harder or collapse.

Tuesday, September 23, Trump plans to meet leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, CNBC reported, citing Axios. A final plan isn't expected until after the U.S. midterm elections in November. The talks are meant to sketch a postwar strategy.

"Both scenarios are possible at the same time," Moini said.