Global Pulse

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  • ‘We are settling years of unfinished business’: Trump talks up Iran, Gaza, Latin America strategy

    ‘We are settling years of unfinished business’: Trump talks up Iran, Gaza, Latin America strategy

    In a 38-minute address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, former U.S. President Donald Trump (in his second term) laid out his 20-month foreign policy legacy through sweeping, unsubstantiated claims, while issuing a stark demand that all UN member states withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    Compared to his fiery 2024 UNGA speech packed with direct personal attacks, this year’s address carried a calmer tone on the surface, but retained multiple debunked, unproven allegations against regional adversaries. Most notably, Trump claimed without evidence that 72,000 Iranians were killed by their own government during late 2024 and early 2025 anti-government protests. This figure stands in stark contradiction to all available public data: Iranian authorities put the death toll at approximately 3,500, while independent international human rights monitors estimate the count at roughly 5,000 or higher. Throughout 2025, Trump has cited inconsistent figures ranging from 40,000 to 82,000 for these deaths, with no verifiable source for the inflated numbers; even satellite imagery, which has been used to confirm mass casualty events in other global conflicts, has shown no evidence to support his claims.

    The president also repeated a false allegation that Hamas and other Palestinian groups tortured, mutilated, and killed numerous infants during the October 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel. Israeli independent media investigations have already debunked these specific claims, and the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that at least one soldier provided incorrect information to Israeli rescue organization Zaka that fueled the false reports. While five young children (including one four-year-old, two five-year-olds, and two six-year-olds) were among those killed on October 7, the majority of child fatalities that day were between 12 and 17 years old, with some killed by errant rocket fire.

    The ICC’s recent issuance of arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders (all subsequently killed by Israeli forces) as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant drew fierce condemnation from Trump, who labeled the court “out of control” and “a rogue institution” run by “an evil group of people.” “I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately,” he told the assembled delegates.

    Turning to the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, now in its seventh month, Trump doubled down on his longstanding pledge to block Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He claimed that shortly after taking office for his second term in 2025, he opened direct negotiations with Tehran, offering full economic cooperation in exchange for ending Iran’s nuclear program and what he calls support for terrorist groups—an offer he said Iran “absolutely refused.” While the decision to pursue direct talks drew some early praise, the diplomatic effort, led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has faced widespread criticism for mismanagement and incompetence.

    Since March 2025, Iranian retaliatory strikes against U.S. allies in the Gulf have disrupted global shipping, closing key chokepoints including the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb (blocked by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen). The disruption has sent U.S. gasoline prices soaring, worsening a persistent affordability crisis that has not eased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic. At least 14 U.S. military personnel have been killed in regional attacks, with nearly 600 more wounded. Echoing the blunt framing of his old reality television show *The Apprentice*, Trump teased a potential post-election deal to end the conflict: “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world, or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” He added that he expects a deal to be reached shortly after the upcoming November 3 midterm elections, claiming Iranian leaders are waiting to see the election’s outcome—though he noted he is not on the ballot this cycle. Forecasters widely expect the midterms to flip the U.S. House of Representatives from Republican to Democratic control, with the Senate also likely to flip or end in an even split; the results are widely viewed as a public referendum on Trump’s first 20 months of his second term.

    Trump also forcefully pushed back against a recent report from his own Department of Defense inspector general that warned the U.S. is depleting its weapons stockpiles due to sustained military support for allies in the Iran campaign. “The cowards and traitors would love to say the United States is low on munitions, but that’s not true,” he said. “We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we’re building them at levels that we have never done before… There are 18 new massive munition plants being built by the world’s largest defense contractors right now.” He closed his remarks on Iran by calling for global collective action to enforce full economic isolation of Tehran until it halts attacks on commercial shipping, abandons its nuclear program, and ends support for armed groups he labels terrorist.

    Trump’s address came just two weeks ahead of the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks, and three weeks after a Trump-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on October 10, 2025. UN Secretary-General has criticized the ceasefire as a “lesser fire,” noting that Israel has continued carrying out air strikes that killed more than a dozen children in Gaza just this month, with few of the ceasefire’s obligations met by Israeli authorities. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the confirmed death toll in Gaza has now reached nearly 74,000, with the final count expected to surpass 100,000 once rubble clearing operations recover the remains of missing people.

    Despite little tangible progress on the Trump-created “Board of Peace” for Gaza, a body of which Trump named himself chairman for life, the president used his UNGA platform to highlight supposed international praise for the initiative, citing endorsements from the leaders of Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. He also thanked donor nations that have contributed $1 billion to the initiative, despite multiple unconfirmed reports that the dedicated World Bank account for Gaza relief remains empty. Trump thanked the UN Security Council for unanimously approving his 20-point Gaza peace plan and formalizing the Board of Peace, noting that his administration added a last-minute reference to Palestinian self-determination to the draft resolution to win support from Arab and Muslim nations, which the administration hopes will contribute troops to a proposed international stabilization force for Gaza. Regional diplomats are scheduled to hold follow-up talks with Trump on the sidelines of this year’s General Assembly, focused largely on Iran.

    Trump linked his decision to launch the February 28, 2025 military campaign against Iran to the successful U.S. abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January 2025, framing the operation as proof of U.S. willingness to use military force to advance its interests in the Western Hemisphere—a core priority driven by hawkish Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long pushed aggressive policy toward Latin American adversaries. The New York Times reported earlier this year that Venezuela’s new government, led by Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodriguez, is effectively controlled from Washington. Trump also announced a historic $65 billion oil concession deal with Venezuela, covering 65 billion barrels of crude that he claimed would lower global energy prices, though analysts note benefits to U.S. consumers will not materialize for at least a decade, and critics question whether the deal will improve quality of life for ordinary Venezuelans.

    Cuba, another longstanding U.S. adversary facing a crippling Trump administration embargo that has worsened the island’s ongoing energy crisis and collapsed its national electrical grid, was also a target of Trump’s remarks. The Cuban UN delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall mid-speech in protest as Trump called for fundamental regime change in Havana, claiming the communist government is “an absolutely failed state” facing greater pressure than ever before. He noted that Marco Rubio is leading ongoing negotiations with Cuban officials, adding “let’s see what happens.”

    In a sweeping generalization on global religious freedom, Trump claimed that “Christians are being persecuted all over the world,” criticizing the UN Human Rights Council for failing to address the issue. His remarks align with repeated statements from senior administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who have argued the U.S. should identify as a Christian nation in spite of the constitutional separation of church and state. Trump also used the moment to defend his administration’s hardline immigration policies, including the closure of the U.S. southern border and the rollback of multiple legal immigration pathways, claiming the UN pushes for open U.S. borders to admit criminal gangs from unstable regions.

    In the only concrete policy announcement of his speech, Trump revealed that for all official U.S. government documents and communications, the term “Artificial Intelligence” will be replaced with the new name “Super Intelligence.”

    This report was sourced from independent open-source reporting by Middle East Eye.

  • ICC took no steps to withdraw Netanyahu arrest warrant, deputy prosecutor says

    ICC took no steps to withdraw Netanyahu arrest warrant, deputy prosecutor says

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) has not retreated from its legal actions against senior Israeli officials, even as the United States ramps up punitive pressure and broad sanctions against the court’s leadership and institutional operations, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan has confirmed in an exclusive interview with CNN.

    In the weekend interview, Khan made clear the court’s investigation into alleged atrocities in Gaza remains on track, with no moves initiated to withdraw any existing arrest warrants or pending applications. “The case is still proceeding,” she stated. “We have taken no steps to try and withdraw any of those arrest warrant applications or the arrest warrants themselves, and the team continues to investigate in that situation.”

    The legal process began in November 2024, when ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The warrants stem from allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the military campaign in Gaza that launched in October 2023. Israel, which is not a member state of the ICC, has launched two appeals against the rulings, one of which challenges the court’s fundamental jurisdiction over Israeli citizens. Both appeals are currently pending.

    Beyond the high-profile warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, reporting from independent outlet Middle East Eye (MEE) reveals the ICC prosecutor’s office has advanced additional investigations into other senior Israeli leaders over the past two years. In May 2025, MEE disclosed that prosecutors had submitted a confidential application for an arrest warrant targeting Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, over alleged offenses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The charges against Smotrich include forced displacement classified as both a war crime and crime against humanity, the transfer of Israeli civilian populations into occupied territory (a recognized war crime), and persecution and apartheid as crimes against humanity. An evidence review has also been completed to evaluate two additional arrest warrant applications, one of which names Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

    Khan’s defiant comments come in the context of an aggressive, escalating campaign against the Hague-based permanent court from the second Trump administration. In July 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly declared that Washington would deploy every available policy tool to “dismantle the ICC – brick by brick, if necessary”, and called on all ICC member states to cut their financial and political support for the institution. In subsequent public remarks, Rubio launched verbal attacks on the court, labeling it a “stupid organisation” run by “lunatics and crazies”, and warned of severe consequences if the ICC attempts to exercise jurisdiction over American citizens.

    In August 2025, the US imposed asset freezes and transaction bans on Khan, fellow Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, and two sitting ICC judges, expanding sanctions that were already levied against former chief prosecutor Karim Khan, nine judges including the ICC president, and most other senior court leaders. The sanctions block any assets held by targeted individuals in US jurisdictions, and bar all American individuals and companies from providing funds, goods, or services to the sanctioned officials.

    Khan detailed the tangible personal and professional harms the sanctions have imposed. Sanctioned ICC leaders lose access to international banking services, have their credit cards revoked, and can only process financial transactions within the Single Euro Payments Area in Europe, she explained. She added that third-party service providers, including global health insurance firms, have cut ties with sanctioned personnel, and family members of targeted officials may be barred from entering the United States. Khan also noted she has never received an official explanation for her designation, but said she has no doubt the sanctions are retaliation for her role as a senior leader in the ICC prosecutor’s office.

    Against this pressure, Khan reaffirmed the court’s unwavering commitment to its mandate rooted in the Rome Statute, the founding treaty that was negotiated over decades and adopted by the sovereign decision of the court’s member states. “The work of the court continues unabated,” she emphasized. “We have trials in court. We have a trial scheduled for November of this year and one for next year. We have, in the course of the last year, seen convictions in two major trials, and we continue to conduct our investigations and our prosecutions, and appear in court on a regular basis, regardless of these events.”

    Established in 2002, the ICC is the world’s only permanent international court with authority to prosecute senior officials for four core international crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. Beyond its investigation into alleged crimes in Palestinian territory, the court currently oversees more than a dozen active investigations across global conflict zones, including Ukraine, Darfur, Libya, and Afghanistan.

    Khan acknowledged that the court and its staff operate under unprecedented levels of external pressure. “The nature of the work that we do means that we inevitably will face pressure of all sorts to try and toe a political line, for instance, or to take a different position on the charging of accused persons, or to follow a path in investigation and prosecution,” she said. “So, indeed, we do feel pressure, but, as I’ve said, the dedication of our staff is extraordinary, and they continue to do their work.”

    Reports from international policy circles indicate the Trump administration is now drafting even broader institutional sanctions that would target the ICC as an organization, rather than just individual leaders. The proposed measures could cut the court off from all US dollar transactions, and restrict its access to global banking, insurance, and core technology services.

    Despite the mounting threats to the court’s operations, Khan said she retains hope for the future of international accountability. “The work that we do for victims, the fact that we continue to hear their voices stridently, with so much sincerity – they believe in this court,” she said. “For them, this provides an avenue of justice that may not necessarily be provided in many courts around the world. Every single member of this court works for humanity, and there can be nothing better than that.”

  • As Trump and Xi talk, China surges ahead with its AI ambitions

    As Trump and Xi talk, China surges ahead with its AI ambitions

    Beneath the wide open skies of Inner Mongolia’s rolling grasslands, traditional potato harvests now share space with a very different kind of development: sprawling construction sites for massive data centres that will underpin China’s global push to lead the artificial intelligence industry. This unexpected digital frontier in Ulanqab, a city long known as China’s official “potato capital” for its fertile steppes and dramatic volcanic landscapes, is ground zero for Beijing’s ambitious AI expansion, just as Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss AI safety and bilateral tech competition.

    On these active construction zones, hundreds of construction workers in bright yellow hard hats haul heavy structural materials across muddy lots, while welding torches send sparks flying across metal scaffolding. Towering cranes maneuver with deliberate precision to lift prefabricated roof sections into place, and masons balance on narrow ladders to smooth brick facades. “This is China speed,” one worker joked with reporters, describing his country as an “infrastructure maniac” before walking off with a laugh. An electrical engineer overseeing the project outlined the phased development timeline: “We complete one full phase every year, and this is already our second. There are many more phases to come after this.”

    Artificial intelligence has become the central arena of strategic competition between China and the United States, and the raw computing power housed in these new data centres is the core of that race. For the Chinese Communist Party, these facilities are a critical pillar of both national economic growth and national security. Once fully operational, they will bring Beijing closer to its stated goal of integrating AI into 90 percent of China’s industries and social sectors by 2030.

    Beyond building out physical infrastructure, China is also cultivating a growing domestic talent pool of young engineers and AI researchers. Shifting global dynamics, including rising U.S.-China tensions and restrictive U.S. immigration policies introduced during the Trump administration, have dimmed the appeal of the “American dream” for many Chinese STEM scholars, pushing more to stay in their home country or return after completing studies abroad. Jack Zhang, a researcher from the University of Science and Technology of China who previously studied at Yale University in the U.S. and the University of Cambridge in the U.K., was recruited back to China through a high-level national talent program. “Fewer students and researchers are heading to the U.S. now, and more are coming back from the U.S. to China — that trend is very clear,” he explained. For Zhang, returning home allowed him to translate his laboratory AI research into practical applications for human health and medicine, a goal that required access to large-scale resources, research teams, and government support that he could not easily secure while working overseas.

    China’s rapidly expanding AI capabilities have in turn hardened Washington’s position: U.S. leaders have rejected calls to pause domestic AI development, despite widespread warnings from industry leaders that the technology is advancing faster than regulatory frameworks can manage. “Whoever wins AI, wins the future,” Trump stated publicly just one week ahead of the Washington summit. Dario Amodei, CEO of leading U.S. AI firm Anthropic, has called for maintaining the existing U.S.-led ban on selling advanced AI chips and equipment to China, warning that a Chinese lead in AI would “pose grave danger for the U.S. and the world.”

    That hardline stance is not what Beijing will come to the table with during Wednesday’s White House talks. The Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper that reflects official government policy, has dismissed U.S. concerns as nothing more than a Cold War-era playbook designed to contain China’s peaceful economic and technological rise.

    Beyond just competing to catch up to U.S. AI leadership, China is actively promoting an alternative development model for the industry. President Xi has encouraged Chinese AI firms to prioritize low-cost, open-source AI models that allow external developers, companies and even foreign governments to modify and adapt the technology to their own needs. This stands in direct contrast to the dominant U.S. model, where leading developers including OpenAI and Anthropic rely on closed, proprietary AI systems that keep core design details confidential.

    Beijing’s embrace of open-source AI is rooted in practical experience: sharing core technology across domestic firms has enabled faster collective innovation, helping China overcome one of its biggest structural barriers to AI growth: limited global access to the advanced semiconductors that deliver cutting-edge computing power. Beyond technological strategy, Beijing is also seeking a greater seat at the table to write global rules governing AI development. President Xi has repeatedly called for international collaborative regulation and a unified global governance framework for the sector. With global momentum for AI safety regulation building, this week’s bilateral summit carries outsized significance: observers are watching closely to see if the two major powers can find common ground on AI oversight, or if the pace of competitive development will make any slowdown unworkable.

    On the ground in Ulanqab, there is no sign of a slowdown. China is constructing hundreds of new data centres for major domestic tech players including Huawei, ByteDance, and DeepSeek across sparsely populated regions: northern provinces including Ulanqab, Ningxia, and Gansu, as well as Guizhou in the southwest. These locations offer major practical advantages: China has already built massive renewable energy capacity (mostly wind and solar) in these areas, land costs are far lower than in major urban centers, and cooler ambient temperatures reduce the energy and water needed to cool server banks.

    Still, the rapid transformation of these rural regions has not come without challenges and local concerns. Beijing has set a target powering most of its data centres with green energy by 2030, but much of China’s national power grid still relies on coal-generated electricity. Water scarcity is also a persistent risk in the arid grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Multiple whole villages have been relocated to clear space for data centre construction, though it is difficult to confirm the total number of relocated households or the level of compensation offered to residents. Open criticism of these projects is rare, as speaking out publicly carries significant risk for local people.

    “This big data has absolutely nothing to do with ordinary people,” one local resident told reporters anonymously, speaking off-camera. “What benefits has it brought us?” He added that few local workers have been hired for jobs at the completed facilities. Other local residents shared fears that their farmland would be seized for future development, leaving them unable to continue the agricultural work that has sustained their communities for generations.

    Not all local perspectives are critical, however. A local resident who gave his surname as Zhang, standing near a potato harvest adjacent to one of the new data centres, expressed optimism about China’s AI push. “China is now at the forefront of the world,” he said. “It’s not like the 1960s, when we were relatively backward. China is doing alright now, whether in economic development or other areas.” Zhang noted that his own children have secured stable jobs at the new data centres.

    Surveys conducted in China suggest far lower public opposition to widespread AI adoption than is seen in many other Western countries, though the accuracy of these figures is difficult to verify in a political environment with strict media censorship. Beijing has framed AI as a solution to the challenge of China’s aging workforce, and is rapidly automating manufacturing and production sectors, a shift that has created unreported anxiety around potential mass job displacement.

    Even with these challenges, China produces roughly five million new science and technology graduates each year, compared to just half a million in the United States. As more of these graduates choose to build their careers domestically, a thriving, self-sustaining innovation ecosystem has taken root. Dang Ronghao, a 27-year-old AI developer working for a leading Chinese tech firm in Shanghai, noted that Chinese academic institutions have grown far more open to global collaboration, allowing him to partner with researchers around the world from his base in China. “I’ve seen research combining AI with nuclear fusion, AI with astrophysics, AI with new materials, and AI with the development of new drugs,” he said. “I think we are entering a good era for AI innovation here.”

    Still, some long-time observers argue that China’s academic and research culture still prioritizes conformity over critical challenge. Liu Jun, a professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Science at Tsinghua University who has previously taught at Harvard and Stanford, said: “It’s not as open as I wish it would be. I keep encouraging students here to ask more questions, to challenge existing assumptions more, but that’s a hard culture to change. I think it’s partly rooted in traditional culture, and partly shaped by the political system.”

    Far from the cutting-edge research labs of Beijing and Shanghai, and the construction sites of Inner Mongolia, many ordinary Chinese people are still grappling with far more immediate economic challenges: slow post-pandemic growth, persistently high youth unemployment, stagnant consumer spending, and plummeting property values. In rural areas like Ulanqab, an aging farming population remains the most pressing local concern. For many long-term residents, the AI boom unfolding alongside their potato fields feels like a distant, irrelevant development.

    “Big data and all that… it’s pretty good, but it has nothing to do with me,” said one elderly Inner Mongolian farmer as he rode a cart to check on his sheep flock. The farmer said he has no practical use for AI, and barely uses the internet at all. His smartphone screen is cracked, and he only pays for a pocket Wi-Fi dongle that costs roughly 40 yuan (around $5.50) per month for basic connectivity. “There haven’t really been any changes for me. I don’t know what the future will hold,” he said.

    This widespread public disconnect between national AI ambitions and ordinary people’s daily lives poses a quiet long-term challenge for Beijing. All across China, rapid technological transformation is reshaping landscapes and economies, but it remains unclear how much of the general population shares their leaders’ enthusiasm for a tech-driven future.

  • Rare look at the remote engine rooms powering China’s AI ambitions

    Rare look at the remote engine rooms powering China’s AI ambitions

    In the vast grasslands of northern China’s Inner Mongolia region, a quiet transformation is unfolding that could reshape the global trajectory of artificial intelligence development. Dozens of large-scale data centers, the unseen engine rooms that power cutting-edge AI systems, are rising across this remote, resource-rich area, offering a rare glimpse into China’s aggressive push to claim global leadership in the AI sector.

    BBC journalists gained exclusive on-the-ground access to this emerging tech hub, documenting the rapid construction activity that signals the scale of China’s AI ambition. Unlike the dense coastal tech clusters that dominate public awareness of China’s digital economy, Inner Mongolia was selected for this massive infrastructure buildout for key practical advantages: abundant low-cost land, cooler year-round temperatures that reduce the energy needed for cooling heat-generating servers, and access to abundant coal and renewable energy supplies to keep the facilities running.

    Each of these data centers will house tens of thousands of high-performance computing servers specifically designed to train the large language models and generative AI systems that have driven the global AI boom in recent years. As countries around the world race to scale up AI infrastructure to support innovation in everything from autonomous vehicles to medical diagnostics, China’s investment in these remote computing hubs underscores its national strategy to outpace competitors and capture a leading share of the global AI market. Industry analysts note that this massive infrastructure build is a critical foundational step, as advanced AI systems require exponentially more computing power than traditional digital services, making access to large-scale data center capacity a key competitive advantage. The construction activity in Inner Mongolia is just one visible part of a broader national push that includes billions in government investment, support for domestic AI research, and policy initiatives designed to integrate AI across every sector of the Chinese economy.

  • Israel Football Association cites Nobel Prize winners in rant at Ireland coach

    Israel Football Association cites Nobel Prize winners in rant at Ireland coach

    A bitter public dispute has erupted between the Israel Football Association (IFA) and the Republic of Ireland men’s national football team’s head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson in the lead-up to their highly controversial UEFA Nations League Group G fixtures, set to kick off this week across Europe. The conflict has brought long-simmering tensions over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza directly into the world of international football, amplifying calls for Israel’s suspension from global athletic competition.

    The IFA launched a scathing verbal attack against Hallgrimsson in a viral social media post published on the evening of September 21, 2026. In the post, the association highlighted Israel’s long record of cultural and scientific contribution to global society, noting that Israeli citizens have claimed an impressive number of Nobel Prizes across multiple fields. “Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach,” the IFA wrote. “We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, we’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

    The harsh rebuke came in direct response to comments Hallgrimsson made a week earlier, when the Icelandic coach addressed questions about how his squad would stay focused on football amid the intense political controversy surrounding the upcoming matches. “We are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide,” Hallgrimsson said. “We are playing against Israel; we are not playing with Israel.”

    Ireland and Israel have been drawn into Group G of this edition of the UEFA Nations League alongside Austria and Kosovo. Ireland’s campaign kicks off with a match against Kosovo this Thursday, followed by back-to-back fixtures against Israel: first in Debrecen, Hungary on September 27, then in what is technically Ireland’s home match on October 4 in Backa Topola, Serbia. The home fixture was originally scheduled for Dublin, but the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) relocated it citing unspecified operational challenges that could disrupt hosting the match. Israel opens its Nations League campaign this Thursday against Austria in Linz.

    The controversial matches have been the target of a months-long campaign by Irish pro-Palestine advocacy groups, who have pushed to cancel the fixtures entirely in protest of Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza. The Gaza death toll from the conflict has surpassed 74,000 Palestinians, according to reported counts, including more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes. Since October 2023, no international or European club football matches have been hosted in Israel due to widespread security concerns across the region.

    Irish Sport for Palestine (ISFP), the leading group organizing the “Stop the Game” campaign, has coordinated with pro-Palestine civil society groups across Europe to ramp up pressure ahead of the fixtures. “We’re looking at all channels of action. We have been connecting with pro-Palestine Austrian groups on the ground, civil society groups, and we’re going to be working alongside them,” ISFP representative Rebecca O’Keeffe explained in a July 2026 interview.

    On September 21, the campaign gained high-profile backing when more than 160 top Irish athletes signed an open letter calling on the Irish national men’s squad to refuse to play the matches on conscience grounds. Signatories include household names in Irish sport such as legendary rugby player Tony Ward, prominent Gaelic footballers Joe Brolly and Colm O’Rourke, and elite distance runner Ciara Mageean.

    The debate over Israel’s participation in international football is not a new one. In March 2025, global governing body FIFA found that the IFA had brought football “into disrepute” amid the campaign, but stopped short of issuing a suspension, instead imposing a $190,000 fine on the association. In November 2025, FAI membership passed an overwhelming formal resolution ordering the association’s board to call on UEFA to immediately suspend the IFA from European competition.

    Despite widespread public and organizational opposition to holding the matches in Ireland, the fixtures are still set to go forward. The financially strained FAI has publicly stated that it relies on the match revenue to sustain its operations. FAI chief executive David Courell acknowledged the widespread anger over the conflict in comments at a recent press briefing, noting that the association shared opposition to Israel competing. “It is accurate to say the FAI wishes we were not in this position,” Courell said. “We have been clear in our view by virtue of the breaches of the (UEFA) statutes that Israel should not be playing these games.”

    To date, 12 Israeli individuals have been awarded Nobel Prizes for their work across scientific, literary, and peace fields. Notably, in November 2024, Israeli Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover publicly commented that a growing number of citizens who “want to live in a free, liberal-democratic country” were leaving Israel permanently amid ongoing political unrest and the Gaza conflict.

  • US to build two military bases in Greenland under new deal with Denmark

    US to build two military bases in Greenland under new deal with Denmark

    In a watershed moment for Arctic security, leaders from the United States, Denmark, and Greenland have signed a landmark updated defense agreement that clears the way for two new U.S. military installations on the semi-autonomous Arctic territory, while formally reaffirming Denmark’s long-held sovereignty over the region. The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where U.S. President Donald Trump was joined by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen to formalize the pact.

    Right before the signing, Trump announced that work to develop the expanded U.S. military footprint would begin without delay, telling reporters “we will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations”. All three leaders framed the deal as a mutually beneficial outcome. Frederiksen noted the agreement serves the interests of not just the three signatory parties, but also Europe and the broader NATO alliance, while Nielsen called the outcome an unambiguous “win-win-win”.

    The agreement brings a close to more than 18 months of rising geopolitical tension over Greenland, sparked last year when Trump publicly threatened to seize the territory over stated U.S. national security concerns, highlighting its critical strategic location in the Arctic and abundant untapped mineral reserves. His aggressive rhetoric drew widespread condemnation from Greenlandic officials, the Danish government, and other European leaders, who issued a joint rebuke arguing that his threats undermined transatlantic cooperation and risked triggering a dangerous escalation in the region.

    This new deal amends and modernizes the original 1951 bilateral defense agreement between Denmark and the U.S. that has governed U.S. military activity in Greenland for 75 years. Under the terms of the updated pact, the U.S. gains permission to establish two new designated defense areas at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Mestersvig on the island’s eastern coast. U.S. Northern Command has confirmed that U.S. military survey teams have already assessed Narsarsuaq, a former World War II military base and decommissioned civilian airport that already offers deep-water port access and a fully functional large runway. Mestersvig, by contrast, is a remote, barely developed outpost currently used only by a Danish naval dog sled patrol unit.

    Critical details of base construction and operations, outlined as “modalities and technical details” in the agreement, have not yet been finalized and require mutual approval from all three signatory parties, meaning U.S. activity in Greenland is not unlimited and cannot proceed without formal consent from Copenhagen and Nuuk.

    The U.S. already maintains Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and the new agreement allows the U.S. to upgrade and expand its existing operations at that site. A key non-proliferation clause bars any non-NATO member state from constructing manned or unmanned military installations on Greenland, or maintaining a permanent military presence on the island. While this provision is explicit in the updated text, military access for non-allied nations was already effectively prohibited prior to the deal.

    Notably, the agreement involves no cession of territory to the United States, and Washington explicitly recognizes both Denmark’s full sovereignty and territorial integrity over Greenland, as well as Greenland’s constitutionally protected right to self-determination. This represents a clear retreat from Trump’s earlier public calls to acquire the Arctic island, but still delivers on his core goal of expanding U.S. military influence in the increasingly strategic Arctic region, a outcome that is already being framed as a major policy win among many U.S. political circles.

    Before the deal can enter into force, it must still receive formal ratification from both the Danish parliament and Greenland’s legislative assembly.

    Despite months of acrimonious public tension over the territory, the atmosphere at Tuesday’s signing was uniformly cordial and optimistic. Trump praised the pact, saying “We going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship. This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States, for everybody, and for Greenland it’s going to be incredible.”

    Frederiksen framed the signing as a major milestone in the long-standing transatlantic defense partnership between the two nations, noting “Seventy-five years ago we entered into an agreement about the defence of Greenland. Today, we’re signing an even bigger and better agreement – a deal that can last forever.” She reiterated that the agreement fully upholds Danish sovereignty and Greenlandic autonomy.

    For his part, Nielsen emphasized that this agreement was negotiated with Greenlandic input at its core, saying “for Greenland, it is not only an agreement about us, it is an agreement with us. It takes into account the people of Greenland, our rights, our livelihoods and the development of our country. Greenland matters for North American security and for transatlantic security.” Nielsen also highlighted NATO’s central role in maintaining stability in the North Arctic amid a shifting global security landscape. The agreement also includes a provision confirming that Greenland would retain its NATO membership if it achieves full independence from Denmark in the future.

    The original 1951 agreement already allowed the U.S. to deploy as many military personnel to Greenland as it deemed necessary, and the U.S. currently stations more than 100 permanent troops at Pituffik Space Base. For months, Trump pushed for a move to purchase or annex Greenland, arguing the territory was vulnerable to growing influence from U.S. strategic rivals Russia and China. He also framed control of Greenland as critical to his proposed “Golden Dome” national missile defense system, though the new deal only mentions the project once and includes no binding commitments to advance it.

    Shortly after the signing, a NATO spokesperson issued a statement welcoming the agreement, noting that it would “help advance security, stability and cooperation in this vital region”. In Denmark, the deal has been broadly celebrated as a major diplomatic success, with multiple major political parties already announcing they will support ratification. For Greenland, a territory of just 56,000 people, the agreement brings a welcome end to months of political uncertainty. By securing formal recognition of its autonomy and sovereignty alongside the expanded defense cooperation, Greenlandic leaders have emerged from the standoff with a deal that addresses their core priorities, bringing a long period of geopolitical crisis to a close.

  • ‘A blatant affront’: Israeli embassy upgrade angers pro-Palestine voices in Morocco

    ‘A blatant affront’: Israeli embassy upgrade angers pro-Palestine voices in Morocco

    On September 16, a high-profile meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in New York yielded a landmark agreement to deepen bilateral relations between the two North African and Middle Eastern nations. The core of the new deal elevates both countries’ existing diplomatic missions to full embassy status and paves the way for the appointment of resident ambassadors, marking a major step forward in the normalization process that began with the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term. Two supplementary pacts — one focused on investment protection and another addressing double taxation — are also scheduled to be finalized before the end of 2024.

    In a joint statement released after the announcement, the United States, Israel, and Morocco reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of the Abraham Accords, arguing that full, peaceful diplomatic and friendly ties between Rabat and Tel Aviv serve the shared interests of all parties, with the potential to drive regional stability and unlock new economic and social opportunities across the Middle East and North Africa.

    But this latest advancement in normalization has unfolded against widespread public opposition in Morocco, where broad popular support for the Palestinian cause and consistent condemnation of formal ties with Israel have remained deeply entrenched since the original accords were signed four years ago. The announcement also comes just one week ahead of Morocco’s September 23 general elections, leaving the sitting government in a caretaker role with limited authority to act on major policy changes — a detail that has sparked internal political discussion over who holds ultimate decision-making power over foreign affairs in the kingdom.

    When the Abraham Accords were first signed in 2020, the Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (PJD) held the premiership under Saadeddine El-Othmani. PJD officials have long clarified that the 2020 accords did not contradict the party’s official pro-Palestine stance, pointing to Morocco’s unique political structure, where ultimate authority over international relations rests with the monarchy, not the sitting head of government. “Yes, PJD was in power when the Abraham Accords were signed, but the decision was made by the king; the head of government in Morocco does not have the power over international affairs,” a senior active PJD member, speaking on condition of anonymity to Middle East Eye, explained. The caretaker status of the current government during the recent announcement, he added, only reinforces that the monarchy retains full control over this major foreign policy shift.

    To date, PJD remains the only officially registered political party in Morocco that has openly condemned the latest agreement to deepen ties with Israel. Following an urgent virtual meeting held the same day as the New York announcement, the party released an official statement reaffirming its “firm and unwavering stance against any form of normalisation or agreements with Israel.” The banned Islamist movement Al Adl Wal Ihsane has also publicly denounced the diplomatic upgrade, with Dr. Boubker El Ounkhari, a senior member of the movement’s political circle, calling the move “a blatant affront to Moroccans’ sentiments and a provocation against the popular will.”

    El Ounkhari emphasized that at a moment when international pressure should be mounting on Israel to hold it accountable for its ongoing occupation and military campaign in Gaza, Rabat has instead chosen to formalize and deepen its bilateral relationship with Tel Aviv. Morocco’s current governing coalition, made up of the leading National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and the Istiqlal Party, has remained largely silent on the agreement, with senior party members citing the sensitive pre-election context as a reason to avoid public comment.

    A senior RNI member, also speaking anonymously, told Middle East Eye that internal party reaction to the deal was marked by “a kind of rationality and calmness.” He framed this muted response as predictable, noting that Moroccan-Israeli relations have been an established, non-negotiable part of the kingdom’s foreign policy since the 2020 accords were signed. A senior PAM member echoed the sentiment of caution, explaining that no party figure would risk commenting on a divisive issue that could be weaponized by political opponents in the final days of campaigning.

    Moroccan officials have sought to justify the diplomatic upgrade by framing closer ties as a tool to advance humanitarian and diplomatic support for Palestinians. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told reporters that despite deeper cooperation, “Rabat does not agree with Israel 100 percent” — a narrative that mirrors the justification Rabat used when it deployed military personnel to the U.S.-backed International Stabilisation Force in Gaza as part of the 2020 Trump peace plan. The RNI member echoed this government framing, arguing that “Morocco can use its relations with Israel as a channel of diplomatic dialogue and pressure for stopping escalation and advancing a two-state solution,” though he acknowledged that “Moroccan-Israeli cooperation does not automatically translate into benefits for the Palestinians.”

    Critics of normalization have rejected this justification outright. Ahmed Ouihmane, president of the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalisation and a member of the national secretariat of the Moroccan Working Group for Palestine, dismissed the claim that normalization serves Palestinian interests as “nothing but nonsense and an insult to the intelligence of the Moroccan people.” He challenged the government’s narrative, asking: “If normalisation is a means to serve the Palestinian cause, what results have actually been achieved for the Palestinians through it?”

    Ouihmane pointed to the staggering human cost of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has recorded that at least 21,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023. He argued that tangible support for Palestinians would require cutting all cooperation that enables Israel’s military operation, including ending Morocco’s role as a key transit hub for arms shipments bound for Israel — a role that has included facilitating transport of components for F-35 fighter jets used in attacks across Gaza. “Real aid for Palestinians would begin by denying the Israeli war machine any form of cooperation, support or facilitation – such as allowing Moroccan ports to receive ships laden with lethal weaponry destined for the Zionist killing machine,” he said.

    The announcement of the diplomatic upgrade comes at a particularly fraught time for the Moroccan government, which is already navigating multiple concurrent crises ahead of the general election. These include ongoing fallout from the Ceuta migrant crisis, allegations of Moroccan involvement that the kingdom has denied, a major high-profile leak that exposed the personal data of more than 70,000 Moroccan intelligence personnel, and a controversial Spanish bill that would grant citizenship to Sahrawis born in Western Sahara during the Spanish colonial era — a move that Rabat strongly opposes.

    Many political observers and insiders frame the ongoing advancement of normalization as rooted in long-standing geopolitical and strategic priorities, most notably Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over Western Sahara. In December 2020, the United States formally recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory in a side agreement that was tied directly to Rabat’s signing of the Abraham Accords. The Western Sahara dispute has dominated Morocco’s foreign policy for decades, with the kingdom locked in a long-running regional rivalry with Algeria, which supports the pro-independence Polisario Front’s claims to the territory.

    The PJD member acknowledged that Western Sahara is a core driving force behind the kingdom’s policy, explaining: “The state has its own geopolitical calculations that drive it to make such difficult decisions, that sometimes run counter to the will of the people.” Even so, he added, the rights of Palestinians remain a core principle for pro-Palestinian activists across the kingdom, and no strategic calculation can justify formal ties with Israel.

    El Ounkhari echoed widespread public frustration, noting that Moroccans have consistently rejected normalization across every recent poll and public protest, yet official policy continues to move steadily toward deeper ties with Israel. “The official process continues in the opposite direction, moving from one stage to another in deepening relations with the Zionist entity,” he said.

    Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, peaceful pro-Palestinian protests have been held every week outside Morocco’s parliament in Rabat, drawing thousands of participants from a broad coalition of trade unions, political groups, and civil society organizations. The Moroccan Working Group for Palestine, which Ouihmane serves on, is one of the leading umbrella organizations coordinating this grassroots movement.

    Just four days after the diplomatic deal was announced, Ouihmane was physically assaulted by alleged members of a pro-normalization group called “We Are All Israelis” on a major street in central Rabat, requiring hospitalization. Local activists note that the attack marks an escalation of tensions: prior to the assault, the loose network of pro-Israel Moroccans, which formed after October 2023, had limited its activities to online harassment of anti-normalization activists.

    Despite the attack, Ouihmane told Middle East Eye that the grassroots movement would continue its fight across all levels to reverse the normalization process. “We will continue our struggle at all levels […] our goal is to overturn the normalisation process,” he said. The movement’s demands are clear: end all normalization efforts, close the Israeli liaison office in Rabat, and cut all forms of cooperation with what Ouihmane calls a “rogue entity.”

    Protesters have repeatedly made their position clear in mass rallies across every region of Morocco, Ouihmane added, and the message remains unchanged: “Palestine is a Moroccan national cause, […] while normalisation is a betrayal.”

    El Ounkhari emphasized that official state policy does not make normalization inevitable or acceptable to the Moroccan public. “Embassies may be opened, and ambassadors exchanged, but that does not mean normalisation has become acceptable to the Moroccan people. Palestine will remain present in the conscience of Moroccans,” he said.

  • How Ceuta, football and Israel are shaping Morocco’s election

    How Ceuta, football and Israel are shaping Morocco’s election

    As Morocco prepares to hold its parliamentary elections this Wednesday, 27 political parties are competing for 395 seats in the country’s House of Representatives, with disillusioned young voters emerging as the central demographic all campaigns are scrambling to win over. In a political system structured as a constitutional monarchy, where King Mohammed VI holds ultimate executive authority—appointing the prime minister from the top-performing party and presiding over the kingdom’s highest policy-making body, the Council of Ministers—this election comes against a backdrop of growing youth frustration over systemic economic stagnation and political disconnect. Just weeks before voting day, a historic mass migration event laid bare the depth of this discontent: roughly 60,000 people, most of them young Moroccans desperate for better opportunities, risked their lives crossing from northern Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, a surge that left at least 100 dead in the deadliest crossing event the enclave has seen in modern history. This moment of crisis followed a nationwide wave of Gen Z-led protests that erupted in September 2025, when thousands took to the streets to decry sky-high youth unemployment, failing public healthcare, and soaring living costs. Demonstrators chanted calls for “freedom, dignity, and social justice,” before their demands escalated to targeted calls for current Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to step down. The government’s crackdown on the unrest resulted in more than 2,400 protesters facing criminal prosecution, but the movement has nonetheless pushed a small cohort of young activists to run for office themselves, seeking to channel grassroots anger into institutional change. Among these new candidates is 29-year-old Hamza El Kharroubi, a former protester who was briefly detained during last year’s demonstrations. Running for a parliamentary seat with the small, green-aligned Environment and Sustainable Development Party, El Kharroubi represents the small but growing number of young people choosing to enter politics despite deep systemic skepticism. A native of Tetouan, just 21 miles from the Fnideq beach where the Ceuta migration surge began, he has made accountability for the crossing victims a core part of his platform, calling for financial compensation for the families of those who died. El Kharroubi frames the mass crossing as a direct consequence of Morocco’s long-running economic crisis: IMF data puts national unemployment at 13% for last year, with youth unemployment (for 15 to 24-year-olds) reaching a staggering 37.3%. Rather than aiming to defeat the country’s established political heavyweights this cycle, he says his goal is to claim a parliamentary seat to lay groundwork for a stronger youth-led political bloc by 2031. “As young people, we have to enter the parliament so by 2031 we have strong young politicians who can compete for a seat in the government,” he explained. Not all young activists share his belief in institutional change, however. Siham Azeroual, a 32-year-old environmental activist from the Atlas region, says she sees the current political landscape as little more than performative spectacle. “I have no hope for this election. I’m ashamed of our political scene. It’s a complete circus,” she told the BBC. Azeroual, who has taken part in both the 2011 February 20 movement that rewrote Morocco’s constitution and last year’s Gen Z protests, argues that meaningful change must start at the grassroots community level rather than inside parliament. Still, she says she plans to cast a ballot on Wednesday, seeing even incremental participation as a necessary step toward progress. While many young voters remain deeply skeptical of traditional parties, one political outsider has emerged as a surprise breakout star of the 2026 campaign: Fouzi Lekjaa, the wildly popular head of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, who is also a senior finance ministry official. Credited with driving the success of the Moroccan men’s national team, the Atlas Lions, which became the first Arab and African squad to reach a World Cup semi-final in 2022, Lekjaa joined the centrist Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) back in July. With Morocco set to co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, the football-mad nation has latched onto Lekjaa’s campaign, with videos of his rallies going viral online and crowds chanting the iconic “Sir” (meaning “Go” in Moroccan Arabic) catchphrase that defined the 2022 World Cup run. Lekjaa has leaned into this popularity, promising to lift Morocco to a top-six global ranking in education and healthcare—matching the current FIFA ranking of his national team. The ruling National Rally of Independents (RNI), led by incumbent Prime Minister Akhannouch, is seeking a second term, and has renewed its core campaign pledge to create one million new jobs by 2030, a promise that echoes across previous election cycles. Political analyst Rachid Aourraz, of the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, says such promises are hollow. “The slogan ‘one million jobs’ has become an overused electoral slogan. There is also talk of raising the minimum wage, but what is proposed cannot withstand a structural inability to create stable net jobs,” Aourraz noted, adding that Morocco’s major parties do not compete over alternative governing models—only over how to implement policies already outlined by the royal palace. Alongside economic promises, foreign policy has also become a key dividing line in the campaign, with the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) seeking a political comeback by weaponizing widespread public anger over Israel’s actions in Gaza. Morocco normalized diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, a deal negotiated when the PJD held power. Now led by populist former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane, the party is running on a promise to fully cut diplomatic ties with Israel, calling the 2020 normalization a historic mistake. Widespread pro-Palestinian protests have rocked Morocco throughout the Gaza war, with tens of thousands demonstrating weekly in the capital Rabat, leading to the closure of Israel’s liaison office and the suspension of direct flights between the two countries. Despite this public outcry, Morocco and Israel announced earlier this month an agreement to reopen full reciprocal embassies, following talks between their top diplomats and the US ambassador to the United Nations. Benkirane has seized on the announcement to rally supporters, telling a Marrakesh campaign rally: “If we work hard, the king will close the Israeli embassy. The king does not like going against his own people.” For all the focus on winning youth votes, demographic data shows young people remain drastically underrepresented among the electorate: while more than half of Morocco’s 38.8 million population is under 35, just 4% of the 15.8 million registered voters are between 18 and 24. Many young Moroccans in the diaspora have also been shut out of participation, despite being at the forefront of last year’s protest movement. Hiba, a 27-year-old Moroccan living in Montreal, Canada—home to a community of more than 100,000 Moroccan expats—co-organized multiple pro-protest events for Gen Z in the city, where activists could speak freely without fear of prosecution that they would face at home. She says she would have voted via proxy, the only option for diaspora voters, but was unable to arrange for a representative in Morocco. Even so, she sees the protest movement as having already delivered small wins: “Gen Z protests didn’t go in vain. We achieved something. At least now we see more debates with young people on state TV,” she said. As polling stations open across the kingdom on Wednesday, the election will not only determine the makeup of the next government—it will also serve as a critical test of whether Morocco’s political establishment can address the deep-seated frustrations that have pushed a generation of young people to protest, risk dangerous migration, and question the status quo.

  • Trump says he would back ban on diesel exports

    Trump says he would back ban on diesel exports

    With weeks remaining before the United States’ pivotal November midterm elections, surging record-high diesel prices have pushed Republican lawmakers to ramp up pressure on the Trump administration, drawing a public commitment from former President Donald Trump to support restricting American diesel exports in a bid to bring down costs for domestic motorists.

    Speaking to reporters on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Trump argued that retaining more domestically produced diesel within U.S. borders could also ease broader inflationary pressures on regular retail gasoline, a cost that hits household budgets across the country. “I’ve called for that too. I’ve said let’s not send out the diesel. We make a lot of diesel. That could have a little bit of an effect on regular automobile gasoline,” he told reporters.

    Following Trump’s comments, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that senior administration officials are already conducting detailed assessments to determine whether a full or partial pause on exports would function effectively without damaging domestic refinery operations or triggering unintended supply disruptions at home.

    New data from the American Autom Association confirms that national average diesel prices topped $6.50 per gallon this Tuesday, marking a new all-time high for the fuel that powers most freight, construction, and agricultural transportation across the country. The historic price surge has been driven largely by global supply chain shocks stemming from ongoing geopolitical conflict: as one of the world’s top diesel exporters, Russia has seen its domestic refining capacity hit hard by a recent wave of intensified Ukrainian drone strikes on energy infrastructure, a blow compounded by Moscow’s own existing export restrictions. That combination has severely tightened global diesel reserves and sent prices soaring worldwide.

    When meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UNGA this week, Trump acknowledged the dual impact of Ukraine’s targeted attacks: “It is a serious hit on the Russians. It’s also a serious hit on the price of diesel.” He added that the two leaders would discuss the strikes alongside broader negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the ongoing conflict, noting “I think it’s going to happen.” Kyiv has ramped up drone attacks on Russian refineries in recent months specifically to cut off the Kremlin’s primary source of revenue to fund its invasion.

    The skyrocketing pump prices have created urgent political pressure on the Trump administration ahead of the 3 November midterms, where control of both chambers of Congress will be decided. Multiple Republican candidates and incumbents have thrown their support behind export restrictions as a quick fix to ease financial strain on working voters. On Monday, Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson argued that consumers in her state are already “being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump.” A day later, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan echoed that call, urging a “temporary pause of American diesel exports” to help rebuild depleted domestic reserves.

    While policy analysts note that restricting U.S. diesel exports could deliver short-term price relief for American drivers, the move carries notable global economic risks. The U.S. currently exports roughly 1.3 million barrels of diesel per day, accounting for nearly a quarter of its total refining output. Many of those shipments go to key Western allies including the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which have turned to U.S. fuel to cover supply gaps created by sweeping sanctions on Russian energy. A sudden cut to U.S. exports could tighten supplies in those markets and push international prices even higher, potentially creating ripple effects that could eventually bleed back into U.S. markets as well.

  • American power, AI and a walkout – key moments from Trump’s UN speech

    American power, AI and a walkout – key moments from Trump’s UN speech

    On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly, leveraging the global gathering of world leaders to tout his administration’s policy record while delivering sharp, provocative threats to several nations present in the assembly hall. His wide-ranging speech covered ongoing conflicts, global geopolitics, emerging technology, and U.S. military posture, with BBC correspondents on the ground highlighting five defining moments that underscored the president’s agenda and tone.

    Long known for his dismissal of the United Nations as an institution, Trump used his address to repeat his criticism that the body pushes a far-left ideological agenda, even as he embraced the platform it provided to broadcast his message to a global audience. Beyond highlighting his administration’s self-proclaimed achievements and positioning himself as a global peacemaker, Trump laid out a series of aggressive warnings that reaffirmed his longstanding “America First” doctrine. He bluntly stated that the U.S. would continue to deploy its unmatched military power wherever he deemed it necessary to protect American national interests, declaring that Washington would no longer allow threats to the U.S. to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

    One of the most striking exchanges of the speech came when Trump turned his sights to Cuba, labeling the island nation an “absolutely failed state” and confirming that his administration has been pushing for fundamental systemic change on the island. “It will fall,” he stated plainly. As Trump continued his remarks, the entire Cuban delegation walked out of the assembly hall in protest. Over the past 12 months, Trump has ramped up public criticism of Cuba’s communist government, claiming Tuesday that the regime is under unprecedented pressure and failing on all fronts. However, the White House has yet to outline any concrete vision for what political change in Cuba would look like under U.S. guidance. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded swiftly on social media platform X, denouncing Trump’s comments as a spread of falsehoods and asserting that the U.S. government refuses to accept Cuba’s right to exist as a fully sovereign and independent nation.

    On the ongoing conflict involving Iran, Trump issued an ultimatum that drew immediate international alarm: the Islamic Republic must reach a negotiated deal with Washington to rebuild the country, or it will face rapid annihilation. He also repeated his prediction that a deal to end the war would likely be finalized after November’s U.S. midterm elections, laying out his signature coercive diplomacy strategy: keeping the door to negotiations open while threatening overwhelming military force. Experts in international law have previously raised concerns over what they describe as alarming rhetoric from senior U.S. officials, including Trump, who has previously suggested the U.S. could obliterate Iran’s civilian power infrastructure. Tuesday’s references to leaving Iran with “no chance of survival” and “no hope” for future generations have amplified those fears, with many observers noting the bitter irony of delivering an existential threat at the United Nations, an organization founded explicitly to spare future generations from the scourge of war. Despite the harsh rhetoric, the speech was not a declaration that diplomacy is off the table; instead, it sought to set non-negotiable terms for any future talks: Washington remains open to a deal, but only under the shadow of an existential threat to the Iranian state.

    Trump also used the speech to publicly celebrate a newly finalized security agreement with Greenland, an agreement that will allow the U.S. to construct two new military bases on the Arctic territory. “We will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent and also Europe,” he said of the deal, which he first announced publicly the previous Friday. He added that the agreement significantly strengthens the transatlantic defense alliance NATO. A joint signing ceremony between the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland was held at the UN shortly after Trump concluded his address. While Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory, it falls under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, which handles most of its foreign affairs. Senior Trump administration officials have already praised the agreement as a major win for U.S. national security achieved at minimal cost, with no lasting damage to key diplomatic relationships. The deal marks a resolution to a long-running diplomatic dispute that began when Trump first threatened to take Greenland by force, a comment that roiled NATO and put severe strain on U.S.-Denmark relations after months of Trump’s public attempts to purchase or annex the territory. Many geopolitical analysts now view the final agreement as a quiet win for diplomatic negotiation, ending a months-long standoff between close allies.

    In a lighter but widely noted moment, Trump leaned into his well-known passion for rebranding by announcing a new name for artificial intelligence: Super Intelligence, shortened to SI. “The use of the word artificial makes it sound fake,” he explained during the address. “It’s not fake, it’s actually amazing. But we have to be careful. Welcome to the new world of Super Intelligence – SI.” Trump has repeatedly emphasized that the U.S. must claim the top spot in the global race to develop advanced AI, remarking just last week that “whoever wins AI, wins the future.” The president has remained firmly opposed to any new federal government regulation or safety guardrails for AI development, a position that puts him directly at odds with a large majority of world leaders and policymakers gathered at the UN General Assembly, many of whom have pushed for coordinated global regulation of the rapidly advancing technology. For proponents of global oversight, the divide raises urgent questions about whether the slow pace of multilateral diplomacy can keep pace with the breakneck speed of AI advancement.