David Perdue, U.S. Ambassador to China:

Our position is we want peace in the Strait. We want a peaceful resolution between the people of Taiwan and the people of China.

Putin mocked Estonia’s defense minister over comments about a possible war with Russia, saying:

“The circus has left, but the clowns remain.”

Putin called the remarks “complete nonsense” and “absolute rubbish,” adding that Estonia’s entire population is smaller than the Russian army.

Putin on Ukraine:

They started everywhere. Is this some kind of toy? Some kind of children’s game?

Therefore, they need to feel these retaliatory strikes from Russia and understand that no provocative actions, no escalation of the situation will lead to the result they want. They only make their situation worse.

Q: Regarding the summit between Xi Jinping and Trump, how do you view this? Are you jealous?

Putin: Jealousy is something from a completely different sphere — humanitarian relations between a man and a woman. In politics, in international politics, such categories are not really used, I think.

We welcome negotiations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Why? Because these are the two largest economies in the world.

Putin on Europe:

They are trying to deceive citizens of European countries with the claim that Russia itself supposedly intends to attack someone. This is complete nonsense.

Trump urged Xi Jinping to halt any Chinese assistance to Iran during their White House talks, according to U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue.

Perdue said the U.S. had made clear that “any help with China gives Iran is totally unacceptable.”

He added that “President Trump did a great job making sure China knows this is unacceptable” and said Beijing had already shown movement on the issue.

“We’ve seen movement on that already. That’s what the commitment is. They assured us they aren’t doing that.”

The Trump administration is considering alternatives to a diesel export ban to lower record-high fuel prices, including expanding tax-exempt “dyed diesel” use and encouraging states to cut diesel taxes.

No final decision has been made, but officials are expected to announce a plan soon.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has warned that an export ban could reduce supplies and push prices higher.

U.S. diesel prices hit $6.50 per gallon, about $2.80 higher than a year ago, increasing pressure on farmers and transport companies.

Source: POLITICO

The Pentagon quietly added 37 troops to its public tally of personnel wounded during the Iran war this week, bringing the total number of wounded U.S. service members to 861.

The increase includes 29 Navy sailors and eight Marines, but the Defense Department has not explained when or how the injuries occurred.

The Navy said the sailors returned to duty after their unspecified injuries.

Source: WaPo

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The Trump administration has committed almost all of the $400 million in military aid Congress approved for Ukraine, ensuring the funds do not expire on September 30.

So far, $307 million has been allocated through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), with the remaining $93 million expected to be placed under contract before the deadline.

The first deliveries, including offensive weapons and spare parts for armored vehicles, began this month.

The package does not include Patriot missiles, despite Ukraine’s continued requests for more air defense systems.

Source: Reuters

Four Italian soldiers were wounded by friendly fire during a NATO live-fire exercise in Ādaži, Latvia.

An Italian Dardo armoured vehicle accidentally fired a machine gun burst at another Dardo vehicle carrying the soldiers. The wounded troops were taken to a hospital in Riga; one was in a more serious but stable condition, and none were in life-threatening danger.

An investigation into the accident is ongoing.

Earlier today, Russian attacks twice hit a McDonald’s logistics partner’s food warehouse in Ukraine.

NEW: Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said Tehran has offered the U.S. a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if conditions are met.

“Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days.”

Araghchi said the next step depends on Washington:

“The choice now rests with the United States.”

The reported plan includes a seven-day halt to regional hostilities, the release of at least $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, lifting sanctions on Iranian oil, and an end to the U.S. naval blockade. Iran would reopen Hormuz on the seventh day of the truce.

“If there is seriousness in the U.S. side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

The allegation that Iran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon is a big lie, first concocted by Israel in 2003, and the United States and European countries have been parroting it ever since.

Iran has been a faithful party to the NPT since 1970 and has been subject to extensive IAEA monitoring for decades.

The United States cannot credibly claim to defend non-proliferation while attacking IAEA-safeguarded peaceful nuclear facilities.

Saudi Grand Mufti Al-Fawzan issued a religious mobilization statement calling defense of Saudi territory and the Holy Mosques "among the greatest religious duties."

He described the Houthis as "a band of evil" and "a plot of the enemies," called for their "complete defeat and eradication," and urged Coalition forces to "stand as one against this misguided sect."

He framed restoring Yemen's internationally recognized government as "among the most pressing obligations."

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

Until 28 February 2026, the Strait was open. The insecurity prevailing in the Strait of Hormuz and the disruption of maritime navigation are the direct result of the aggressive actions of the United States and the Israeli regime.

You cannot bomb a country, threaten its annihilation, impose a maritime blockade and coercive measures, and expect the automatic restoration of security and navigation.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

From the podium of the General Assembly, the U.S. President, along with the criminal Prime Minister of Israel, attempted to distort the facts and reverse the roles of victim and aggressor.

The United States and the Israeli regime cannot whitewash their criminal acts against the people of Iran.

Elon Musk:

The Chinese AI models are generally outstanding, actually. You can see on the sort of intelligence rankings there, especially given the limited amount of compute that the Chinese AI companies have, the performance is excellent.

Probably China is doing by far the best in terms of performance per unit of compute. And as I've said publicly, you know, I think China's going to address the compute limitation faster than most people expect.

My rough guess would be that China addresses the compute constraints with lithography and chipmaking in about 2 or 3 years.

Elon Musk on China:

Any words I say do not do justice to the incredible majesty that is China. It’s awesome.

Elon Musk:

Xi seems like a great leader. Under his tenure China has prospered immensely.

If you visit China and you see the amount of progress that happens from one year to the next or even within a year, it's very visible. You can see the new buildings, the new infrastructure.

It's also obvious to see that just walking around the streets, the increased prosperity of the average Chinese citizen has increased tremendously.

Elon Musk:

My prediction is that there will be effectively universal high income. In fact, it’s not clear to me that money will even matter in the future.

Like if you scale the economy, the output of goods and services to a level much greater than could possibly be consumed by the number of humans on the planet, then you have an age of abundance.

That is difficult for us to wrap our minds around because our entire evolutionary history has been an evolution of constraints, of where we didn’t have enough food or we didn’t have enough heat.