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France Urges Iran to Curb Nuclear Activity, Resume Talks

Iran’s nuclear activity includes enriching uranium which Western nations fear could be used to build an atomic bomb - AFP
Iran’s nuclear activity includes enriching uranium which Western nations fear could be used to build an atomic bomb - AFP
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France Urges Iran to Curb Nuclear Activity, Resume Talks

Iran’s nuclear activity includes enriching uranium which Western nations fear could be used to build an atomic bomb - AFP
Iran’s nuclear activity includes enriching uranium which Western nations fear could be used to build an atomic bomb - AFP

France on Friday urged Iran to curb nuclear activities of “unprecedented gravity” as US and European envoys met to discuss efforts aimed at reviving the troubled 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

US envoy Robert Malley joined counterparts from France, Britain and Germany at the meetings in Paris, at what the French Foreign Ministry called a “critical time” in efforts to salvage the accord.

“It is urgent and crucial for Iran to end the activities of unprecedented gravity that it is conducting in violation of the (agreement) and to immediately resume full-fledged cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre said in an online briefing.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters the US and its partners are “united in the belief that diplomacy continues to provide the most effective pathway to verifiably and permanently preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

“And,” he said, “we are united in the belief that negotiations should resume in Vienna as soon as possible and that they should resume precisely where they left off in June.”

The IAEA is charged with monitoring the 2015 accord, which was aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions. The US pulled out of the accord under Donald Trump and re-imposed sanctions.

Since then Iran has stepped up nuclear activity and is now in violation of several aspects of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, AFP reported.

Iran’s nuclear activity includes enriching uranium which Western nations fear could be used to build an atomic bomb. Tehran denies any such ambitions.

The US and European partners are ready to return immediately to negotiations with Iran “in order to swiftly conclude an agreement on Iran’s return to its commitments and the United States’ return to the JCPOA,” Legendre said.

Iran’s new hardline government led by President Ebrahim Raisi, which took power in August, has hinted it will return to the nuclear talks in Vienna but has balked at setting a date.

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World

US Sending 3rd Aircraft Carrier, More Troops to Mideast

Image published by CENTCOM of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operations in the region (CENTCOM)
Image published by CENTCOM of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operations in the region (CENTCOM)
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US Sending 3rd Aircraft Carrier, More Troops to Mideast

Image published by CENTCOM of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operations in the region (CENTCOM)
Image published by CENTCOM of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer during its operations in the region (CENTCOM)

The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and an additional Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East, according to US officials, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region as President Donald Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the officials said. Trump recently told aides that he expects to resume bombing Iran that same month, according to the newspaper.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left its home port of San Diego on Sunday on a scheduled deployment, while the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, comprising three amphibious ships carrying Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, left on Monday.

Two carriers—the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington—are already in the Middle East. If the Washington stays after the Roosevelt arrives it will bring the region to three carrier strike groups for the first time since April, before Iran and the US clinched a fragile ceasefire that temporarily ended fighting that began on Feb. 28. That ceasefire collapsed, and the two sides have fought sporadically since.

Besides the Bush and Washington, ships from the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group are also in the Middle East. The additional servicemembers on the warships that deployed this week will add to the more than 50,000 troops already in the region, one of the officials said.

It is possible that the Washington could leave the region and head back to its home port in Japan, bringing the force back down to two carriers. Spokespeople for the White House and Pentagon didn’t respond to requests for comment.

World

Iran Launches 30 Drone, 10 Missile Attacks Per Week on Ships in Hormuz

Ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman, on October 2, 2026 (Reuters)
Ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman, on October 2, 2026 (Reuters)
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Iran Launches 30 Drone, 10 Missile Attacks Per Week on Ships in Hormuz

Ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman, on October 2, 2026 (Reuters)
Ships near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman, on October 2, 2026 (Reuters)

Iran has been launching dozens of drones and missiles at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz each week, largely out of the public eye, though it has often failed to strike its targets, confidential data shared with The New York Times by a Western security official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters shows.

Since the beginning of August, Iran has launched about 30 drone attacks and 10 anti-ship missile attacks per week against commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to the data shared with The Times by the official.

At least four commercial ships have been hit by Iran in the past 10 days, the official said.

A tally of reports by a monitoring group run by the British Navy show that since Sept. 10, at least 13 ships, most of them oil tankers, had been struck by projectiles or debris from projectiles. (Those reports may be incomplete because they are based on voluntary reports by ship crews.) While the reports do not specify who was responsible for the attacks, maritime experts say the details suggest many were Iranian.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for the first time appeared to confirm it was behind the near-daily sounds of explosions heard from Iran’s southern coast, saying it was striking targets in the Strait of Hormuz every 24 hours.

“We prevent them from passing, but for some time now, America has not responded,” a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said in a state news interview.

The aggression shows that even as oil exports from the Middle East have rebounded in recent weeks, shipping through the waterway remains risky, as Iran jostles to keep control of one of its biggest sources of leverage.

“Negotiations aren’t going anywhere. Neither side is really budging. So it’s a standoff,” said Gregory Brew, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group.

He said that the violence in the strait “speaks to the position that both sides are in: Neither is looking to aggressively escalate the conflict.” But both, he said, want to control the waterway.

World

Trump Reportedly Expected to Name Jay Clayton as AI Czar

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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Trump Reportedly Expected to Name Jay Clayton as AI Czar

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump speaks at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

US President Donald Trump is expected to name Jay Clayton as his AI czar, CNN reported on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the discussion.

Clayton is the US director of national intelligence.

Last month, Trump said he plans to appoint an artificial intelligence adviser, known as an "AI czar," and create an "AI force," though he ⁠gave no details ⁠about either initiative or how they would be implemented.

This is the second time Trump has named an adviser to oversee AI-related decisions across the administration, a position he has ⁠dubbed "AI czar." Venture capitalist David Sacks held the role at the beginning of Trump's second term, before leaving his team. Sacks still advises Trump on AI.

Trump's move comes as top AI researchers have warned that people building AI believe it could kill humans within a decade, following cases of AI ⁠agents ⁠going rogue to hack external systems. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers have responded with alarm and calls for more action.

Trump has repeatedly downplayed concerns about AI and argued that additional regulation is unnecessary even as fears grow among lawmakers in Washington and globally about risks posed by the technology.