Khamenei Urges Belarusian President to Confront US Sanctions

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
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Khamenei Urges Belarusian President to Confront US Sanctions

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (AP)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to confront US sanctions, noting that countries subject to Western sanctions must counter the scheme through cooperation and by setting up a joint assembly.

The two countries signed a roadmap to boost political, economic, and cultural cooperation.

Lukashenko arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit and was officially received by President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday. The visit comes as the two countries mark 30 years of official diplomatic relations.

Khamenei called for employing the two countries' will to implement cooperation agreements and promote their level of relations.

Raisi hailed three decades of close ties with Belarus after talks with his counterpart.

"Thirty years after the start of relations... the two countries have the will to strengthen cooperation," Raisi said, praising their "common strategic vision."

For his part, Lukashenko praised "with great respect the perseverance with which the (Iranian) people resist external pressures, attempts to impose the will of others on them."

"And I see that, despite everything, you are developing modern technologies and nuclear energy," he added about Iran's contested nuclear program, which has sparked tough international sanctions against the country.

"We could be very helpful to each other if we put our efforts together," added Lukashenko.

The two presidents did not mention the Ukraine war in their statements.

Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Tehran maintains close ties with Russia while at the same time asserting it maintains a neutral diplomatic stance in the Ukraine war.

However, Washington recently warned of the "dangerous" increase in military cooperation between Russia and Iran, accusing Tehran of providing Moscow with drones to use in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.

Iran recently announced that it finalized a contract with Russia to purchase Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets.

Lukashenko recently paid a three-day visit to China, during which he said he fully supports Beijing's proposals to stop the war.

Belarus, neighboring Ukraine, did not send soldiers to fight alongside the Russian army, but its territory served as a rear base for Moscow's troops.



Pezeshkian Says Middle East Has No Need for US 'Policeman'

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, greets Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian upon his arrival for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Indian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, greets Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian upon his arrival for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Indian Foreign Ministry via AP)
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Pezeshkian Says Middle East Has No Need for US 'Policeman'

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, greets Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian upon his arrival for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Indian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, greets Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian upon his arrival for the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Indian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that the Middle East does not need the United States to be a "regional policeman,” with the two countries at war and vying for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

"We do not need a regional policeman," he said on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in India during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

"The territorial integrity and security of the region can only be guaranteed by its main players and the countries that comprise it," he added, according to the Iranian presidency.

Iran has been at war since February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.

Tehran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil previously flowed.

Iran and the US have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway.

The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.

Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian strikes, while the US periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the country's control of the strait.

More than six months into the Middle East war, the blockade continues to drive up oil prices, which soared past $100 a barrel this week.

"Despite all the injustices suffered by our people, we neither desire war nor its continuation. Peace remains our priority," Pezeshkian added.


Trump Says Iran War Will End after US Midterm Elections

US President Donald Trump meets with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin (not pictured) at Farmleigh House in Dublin, Ireland, September 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
US President Donald Trump meets with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin (not pictured) at Farmleigh House in Dublin, Ireland, September 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
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Trump Says Iran War Will End after US Midterm Elections

US President Donald Trump meets with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin (not pictured) at Farmleigh House in Dublin, Ireland, September 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
US President Donald Trump meets with Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Micheal Martin (not pictured) at Farmleigh House in Dublin, Ireland, September 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

President Donald Trump repeated on Saturday that he believed the war with Iran will end after US midterm elections in November and that oil ⁠prices will tumble once ⁠it does.

"I think very soon. I think it'll be probably ⁠right after the mid-terms. They're trying to hold out as long as they can to complicate the election. But I think people are wise to ⁠it," Trump ⁠told reporters in Dublin.

"When that happens, oil prices will come tumbling down."

Earlier, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the Middle East does not need the United States to be a "regional policeman.”

Iran has been at war since February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.

Tehran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil previously flowed.

Iran and the US have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway.


French Police Suspect Train Derailment Was Sabotage

SNCF workers stand next to a derailed train carriage in Cléon, northwestern France, on September 12, 2026, the morning after the train derailed. (Photo by Guillaume SALIGOT / AFP)
SNCF workers stand next to a derailed train carriage in Cléon, northwestern France, on September 12, 2026, the morning after the train derailed. (Photo by Guillaume SALIGOT / AFP)
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French Police Suspect Train Derailment Was Sabotage

SNCF workers stand next to a derailed train carriage in Cléon, northwestern France, on September 12, 2026, the morning after the train derailed. (Photo by Guillaume SALIGOT / AFP)
SNCF workers stand next to a derailed train carriage in Cléon, northwestern France, on September 12, 2026, the morning after the train derailed. (Photo by Guillaume SALIGOT / AFP)

Investigators suspect that a train derailment in northwest France which injured 44, one gravely, was the result of sabotage, a police source told AFP on Saturday.

A fragment of rail was found on the track, with the possibility of a malicious act being treated as the main line of inquiry as a result, the source said.

Carrying 186 passengers, the train was running between the Normandy cities of Rouen and Caen when it derailed around 7:45 pm (1745 GMT) Friday.

Authorities activated a mass-casualty response plan, with 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 vehicles drafted in.

Rouen prosecutor Sebastien Gallois said 44 people were injured including an 18-year-old woman evacuated "in a critical condition", while tests for drugs and alcohol on the train driver had come back negative.

SNCF Reseau, which controls the French rail network, told AFP that traffic on the line has been suspended and power to the tracks cut to allow emergency services to operate.