The US will allow an Iranian delegation to travel to New York to participate in the UN General Assembly meetings, the Associated Press reported, citing a US administration position. The decision is unusual given the ongoing tensions between Washington and Tehran and comes at a time when the crisis in the Middle East is widening with new strikes and mutual accusations.
According to AP, the State Department has made similar decisions in previous sessions, but often imposes strict restrictions on the movement of Iranian representatives in New York. This includes earlier restrictions on the delegation, when it was allowed to attend the forum but with limited access outside the area around Iran's UN mission.
Escalation in the region
Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it had hit a Togolese-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. According to reports cited by Reuters, the ship caught fire after being hit while attempting what Tehran described as an "illegal passage." There was no independent confirmation of the incident at this time in the available reports.
On another front, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia exchanged fresh blows. Reuters reported that the Houthis spoke of Saudi airstrikes on provinces near the border, while Riyadh reported a fatality after debris from an intercepted drone fell over Taif. The Houthis also claim continued attacks on Saudi targets, and according to other international agencies, pressure on energy and maritime traffic in the region is increasing.
Iraq and the US withdrawal
In parallel, the Associated Press reported that the US is beginning to withdraw military equipment from northern Iraq, including air defense systems, as part of the planned withdrawal of US forces. According to a US military source, the operation should be completed by September 30, and the equipment will be redirected to Jordan and other countries in the region.
In the same article, the AP notes that the withdrawal raises security concerns in Iraq and the Kurdish region. Baghdad is considering new air defense systems, and issues regarding armed groups, including the presence of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and the PKK in northern Iraq, remain among the topics of the negotiations.
Separately, in recent days, American media, citing NBC, reported on an internal political dispute in the United States over the April decision to abandon the deal with Iran, but according to the currently available data, this claim has not been confirmed by an official public explanation from Washington. Therefore, it should be considered a media statement, and not a definitively established fact.
The picture outlined by the latest reports shows both a diplomatic opening towards the Iranian delegation to the UN and a new escalation of military pressure in the Middle East. So far, the individual episodes have been confirmed differently by the AP and Reuters, but not as part of a single official line of de-escalation.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, NBC, US State Department