Tehran Rejects Trump's Talk of Negotiation, as Israel and Iran Launch Airstrikes

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after airstrikes targeting Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, March 7, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after airstrikes targeting Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, March 7, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Tehran Rejects Trump's Talk of Negotiation, as Israel and Iran Launch Airstrikes

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after airstrikes targeting Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, March 7, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after airstrikes targeting Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, March 7, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Israel and Iran exchanged airstrikes on Wednesday, as Iran's military rejected President Donald Trump's claim Washington was in negotiations to end to the war, saying the US is negotiating with itself.

The rejection of negotiations by the unified command of the Iranian Armed Forces, which is dominated by the Revolutionary Guards, comes amid reports the US has sent a 15-point plan for discussion to Tehran.

"Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you (Trump) negotiating with yourself?" the top spokesperson for Iran's joint military command, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, said on Iranian state TV.

"People like us can never get along with people like you."

"As we have always said... no one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever."

Iran's leadership has previously said it cannot negotiate with the US as it has attacked the country twice during high level negotiations in the past two years.

Four weeks into the war that has killed thousands, created the worst energy shock in history and sparked global inflation fears, there was no letup in airstrikes from Iran and Israel on Wednesday.

The Israeli Defense Forces said in a Telegram post it had launched a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure across Tehran. The semi-official Iranian SNN News Agency said the strikes hit a residential ⁠area in the ⁠city, with rescuers searching the rubble.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said it had launched a new wave of attacks against locations in Israel including Tel Aviv and Kiryat Shmona, as well as U.S. bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, Iranian state media reported.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday the US was in "negotiations" with "the right people" in Iran to end the war, adding the Iranians wanted to reach a deal very badly.

Stocks rose and oil prices fell on Wednesday on reports the US is seeking a month-long ceasefire and had sent a 15-point plan to Iran for discussion, raising hopes for a ⁠resumption of oil exports out of the Arabian Gulf.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Washington sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war in the Middle East. Israel's Channel 12, quoting three sources, said the US was seeking a month-long ceasefire to discuss the 15-point plan.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed that the US had sent a plan to Iran but provided no further details.

The Israeli media outlet said the plan would include the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, ceasing support for proxy groups, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 after saying they had failed to make enough headway in talks aimed at ending Iran's nuclear program, although mediator Oman said significant progress had been made.

The US struck Iran's nuclear facilities in June 2025.

Since the start of "Operation Epic Fury" by the US in February, Iran has attacked countries that host US bases, struck Gulf energy infrastructure and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.



Heavy Rain Shuts Down Istanbul, Causing Flooding and 3 Deaths

Car owners search for their vehicles swept away by the flood after a heavy rain at Ayazaga district in Istanbul, on October 15,2026. (AFP)
Car owners search for their vehicles swept away by the flood after a heavy rain at Ayazaga district in Istanbul, on October 15,2026. (AFP)
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Heavy Rain Shuts Down Istanbul, Causing Flooding and 3 Deaths

Car owners search for their vehicles swept away by the flood after a heavy rain at Ayazaga district in Istanbul, on October 15,2026. (AFP)
Car owners search for their vehicles swept away by the flood after a heavy rain at Ayazaga district in Istanbul, on October 15,2026. (AFP)

A heavy downpour has shut down Istanbul, flooded homes and roads and killed at least three people, officials said Thursday, as rescuers evacuated hundreds of stranded people.

The downpour Wednesday night flooded homes and businesses and inundated roads and underpasses, stranding vehicles and causing traffic chaos in Türkiye's largest city. In some neighborhoods, the floods swept away cars, sending them crashing into one another.

It was the heaviest rainfall in the city in 83 years, said Murat Kurum, the minister for the environment, urbanization and climate change.

The Istanbul governor's office on Thursday reported three deaths in the city and said five other people were reported missing. A 14-year-old was electrocuted after stepping in a puddle at a park in the Fatih district, and a 34-year-old slipped on a sidewalk in the Sariyer district and hit their head, local media reports said. The governor's office said the body of a third victim was discovered near another park in the Kagithane district.

More than 3,000 people who were stranded by the floods were safely evacuated throughout the city, Kurum said.

The minister, who will chair the UN climate change conference, COP31, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya next month, linked the floods to the climate crisis.

“Climate change is no longer an issue of the future; it is the most important issue of today,” he told reporters. "Unfortunately, climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. We are now facing more intense rainfall events.”

In Sakarya province, around 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Istanbul, a two-story house that was built on a riverbed collapsed in the floods, HaberTurk television reported. One person was reported missing in neighboring Kocaeli province.

The country’s weather agency has predicted more showers for Istanbul and the surrounding area in the coming days.

The Istanbul governor’s office extended a school closure order to include Friday, and some state employees were placed on leave Thursday.

Kurum asked residents not to leave their homes. Motorcycles were barred from traffic until further notice.


US Extends Sanctions Waiver for Russia’s Lukoil

 Prices of gasoline and diesel fuel are displayed in downtown Los Angeles, California, US, October 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Prices of gasoline and diesel fuel are displayed in downtown Los Angeles, California, US, October 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Extends Sanctions Waiver for Russia’s Lukoil

 Prices of gasoline and diesel fuel are displayed in downtown Los Angeles, California, US, October 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Prices of gasoline and diesel fuel are displayed in downtown Los Angeles, California, US, October 15, 2026. (Reuters)

The US Treasury Department on Thursday extended a sanctions waiver on Russian oil giant Lukoil for service stations outside Russia through April 2027.

The move allows Lukoil-branded stations in countries like the United States to continue serving customers until April 24 next year.

An earlier license enabling such transactions would have expired towards the end of this month.

The extension comes a week after US President Donald Trump said he had secured an agreement with Russia to supply diesel to American and global markets, with the US Treasury issuing a temporary license to enable flows.

Oil prices remain high with war in the Middle East now in its eighth month.

Energy prices have surged since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. Tehran's retaliation included the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for global oil transit, sending costs up.

The latest license, like an earlier one, does not allow the "transfer of funds to any person or account located in the Russian Federation."

A separate Treasury license on Thursday also authorized certain transactions involving Lukoil's Bulgaria entities through April 24, 2027.


Trump Scraps Plan to Livestream Execution After Fierce Backlash

 US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with US President Donald Trump onstage during an event at Sparrows Point Shipyard, in Baltimore County, Maryland, US, October 6, 2026. (Reuters)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with US President Donald Trump onstage during an event at Sparrows Point Shipyard, in Baltimore County, Maryland, US, October 6, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Scraps Plan to Livestream Execution After Fierce Backlash

 US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with US President Donald Trump onstage during an event at Sparrows Point Shipyard, in Baltimore County, Maryland, US, October 6, 2026. (Reuters)
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with US President Donald Trump onstage during an event at Sparrows Point Shipyard, in Baltimore County, Maryland, US, October 6, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled plans to livestream the firing squad execution of a convicted military base mass shooter, reversing a widely condemned move by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The plan to make Nidal Hasan's execution public was opposed at home and abroad, with US Democratic and Republican politicians, the Catholic Church and the United Nations all expressing outrage.

The cancellation is a blow to Hegseth, who is already under fire over the stalemated Iran war and its fallout, which are weighing on Trump's Republican Party ahead of November midterm elections.

Hasan "will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The US president indicated he did not personally oppose the streaming plan, saying it "might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan."

But "many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die," Trump said, adding that the execution could still be viewed in person by immediate family of the victims if they wanted to do so.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth and Trump had spoken before the announcement.

"The secretary supports the president's decision, and they are completely aligned," Parnell said in a statement.

Hasan's execution -- scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down 13 people in 2009 -- is set to be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945.

Last week, Hegseth said that "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," later confirming that the plan was to livestream the execution.

"People need to understand that...there's serious consequences for these types of things," he said.

Backlash to the plan quickly grew following Hegseth's announcement.

- Most Americans opposed -

The United Nations said streaming the execution would amount to "torture," while the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said it was a "barbaric promotion of a culture of death," and both Australia and Britain's prime ministers described it as "abhorrent."

A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Thursday found that eight in 10 Americans opposed livestreaming the execution.

Lawmakers from both main US parties have said they were against it, and dozens of retired US military officers expressed opposition to the planned broadcast in an open letter.

It "will taint the honor of the military that employs it, and a nation that allows it," and "will ensure that Hasan becomes a martyr," said the officers, including more than 40 generals and admirals.

Some US Democratic lawmakers on Thursday hailed the decision to cancel the livestream while slamming Hegseth.

Representative Chrissy Houlahan said it was "as clear an illustration as any that Hegseth is dangerously unqualified," while Senator Jack Reed said Trump was "right to backtrack" but that Hegseth "deserves to be admonished for his lack of judgment."

Republican Senator John Curtis also weighed in, saying the cancelation "is the right move, both for the loved ones of the victims and for the country."

The last US military execution was carried out in 1961, when John Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder.

The Death Penalty Information Center says 135 troops have been executed by the US military since 1916.

Twelve of the 13 people Hasan killed and 30 of those he wounded were soldiers. He was shot by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack and is paralyzed from the waist down.

Hasan chose to conduct his own defense during the trial but called no witnesses and gave no testimony, and made no attempt to deny the charges.

He was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.

The court that convicted Hasan was told he was opposed to the US military's occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he had spoken online with an alleged Al-Qaeda figure, radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen subsequently killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.