U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Iran:

It’s not Trump’s war in Iran. Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism, and they were within weeks of having a nuclear capability — a nuclear bomb.

That had been an objective, preventing that, for every administration for 50 years.

They came this close, and the president had to act.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson:

If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China.

And that is a threat to every single American.

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended backing Texas Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera despite past remarks in which Herrera called a child a “cum trophy,” goose-stepped to Nazi music and joked about killing older people.

Johnson called the remarks “detestable” but said Herrera had been trying to get attention as part of his “persona online.”

“He’s now running as a very serious candidate for Congress and a very thoughtful guy,” Johnson said, adding that Herrera had apologized.

Trump:

I think the polls are fake. My approval rating in Ireland is good.

My approval rating in the U.S. is great. The problem is, only the legitimate pollsters show it.

Reporter: Iran says one of their vessels was struck last night. Was this the U.S.?

Trump: I don't want to say.

Reporter: JD Vance, are you ready to throw your weight behind him in 2028?

Trump: I think it's too early. I think he is terrific. We have so many terrific people.

Trump:

$5,000 dividend is going to happen 100%.

The reason is because our country is taking in trillions and trillions of dollars.

People deserve it. Democrats and Biden treated them so badly.

Reporter: You threatened to cut off trade with a nation running a trade deficit... Are you actually going to follow through with that?

Trump: I'm going to do that with some nations. We don't want to have deficits with nations. We want to have surpluses, or at least break even.

The meeting planned for tomorrow in Oman between Iran and Gulf states over the Strait of Hormuz has been postponed.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella:

I will never stop defending Israel because it is the people of God, and I will always be with Israel.

The NSA is launching its biggest restructuring in at least a decade, creating five new mission centers focused on AI, China, cybersecurity, warfighting and global intelligence.

Director Gen. Joshua Rudd’s plan will give the new mission chiefs deputy director-level authority, with some potentially recruited from outside the agency.

The NSA’s elite hacking unit, Tailored Access Operations, will fall under global intelligence and is expected to receive a major budget increase.

The restructuring is set to begin in mid-October, with full implementation targeted for January 2027.

Source: WaPo

Sweden’s centre-left opposition bloc is projected to win 51.3% of the vote, ahead of the right-wing bloc on 46.8%, according to an SVT exit poll.

A separate TV4 poll also put the centre-left ahead. Official counting is under way.

If confirmed, the result could return Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson to power and keep the far-right Sweden Democrats out of government.

French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon:

If I become your president through the vote of the French people, speaking in the name of France, I will say that the French do not accept Germany rebuilding the leading conventional army on the continent.

Because my question is: what for? We do not want war. We do not want a war economy, and we will not allow any nation whatsoever to decide to place itself militarily above all the others — and especially above the French.

French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon:

The financial order of the world is going to collapse. Do you hear me?

The financial order of the world is going to collapse. We will have to face it.

French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon:

The United States is preparing for war with China.

We will never participate in that war if I am president of this Republic.

Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar threatened to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after their Gaza documentary NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Zohar called the film “vile” and said it “constitutes treason.”

The documentary examines the systems behind Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, using testimony from IDF soldiers and intelligence officers.

Source: Haaretz

Canada is in talks to contribute to the EU’s €90bn loan for Ukraine as Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes for closer ties with Europe and less dependence on the U.S.

The two sides hope to agree on Canada’s contribution before an EU summit in Montreal in late October.

Source: FT

A Gulf official told Barak Ravid that Saudi Arabia proposed changes to the Omani-Iranian Hormuz plan, fearing it could create a new status quo in the strait unacceptable to Riyadh and other GCC states.

Republican Rep. Randy Fine calls for the breakup of the United Kingdom.

Reporter: Chinese entities may have provided the Iranians with satellite imagery.

Trump: They basically do what we do. I think he's behaved reasonably well, and we've behaved reasonably well.

Trump on Russia:

A lot of the diesel comes from Russia.

Russia's plants are being hit by Ukraine.

I've asked Zelensky not to hit the diesel plants, refineries.