US Imposes Sanctions on 13 Tied to Iran Weapons Procurement

The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)

23:35-29 September 2026 AD ـ 18 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

The seal of the Treasury Department is seen before a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington. (AP)

The US government announced fresh sanctions on Tuesday against 13 individuals and entities, including some based in Russia, China, Hong Kong and Pakistan, saying they helped Iran procure weapons and components.

The sanctions announced by the Treasury and State departments are part of the Trump administration's effort to isolate Iran economically and force it to negotiate an end to the war that began with a US-Israeli strike on Iran on February 28.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “Treasury will not tolerate any support to the ‌regime and ‌will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s ‌enablers.”

Treasury ⁠said the sanctions ⁠were aimed at degrading Tehran's ability to reconstitute its weapons programs, while increasing the costs for those who supported its procurement efforts.

Those targeted in Tuesday's sanctions announcements include:

* Seyyed Asghar Alizadeh Tabatabai, a Beijing-based representative of Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics agency, who Treasury said had coordinated ⁠the procurement of finished weapons systems and dual-use ‌components in China on Iran’s behalf.

* ‌Iran-based Kavoshcom Asia R and D Group, which Treasury said had ‌procured electronics including connectors for Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company.

* ‌Hong Kong-based EC Mojo Technology Co Limited, which Treasury said had provided electronic components in support of Kavoshcom’s procurement efforts, and EC Mojo's China-based representative Li Fen.

* Pakistan-based Waseem Pasha Tajammal, who serves ‌as chairman of Cavalier Group, a privately owned defense company with locations in Pakistan and internationally.

* ⁠Joint Stock ⁠Company Experimental Design Bureau Named After A.S. Yakovlev, a Russia-based aircraft manufacturer.

* MG-Flot LLC, a Russia-based shipping company whose vessels transport weapons for the Russian government.

* Saha Airlines, an Iran-based airline affiliated with the country's air force.

Brett Erickson, managing principal with Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the latest sanctions action would do little to impede Iran's ability to launch missiles and drones in the Strait of Hormuz.

"This is optics management for the Trump administration to claim 'We're hammering them,' when the reality is we're poking them with a toothpick," he said.

Rival Says Netanyahu ‘Fear-Mongering’ Over Warning of Pre-Vote Attack

A giant electoral poster for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party with the slogan "no surrender" is displayed on the facade of a building in Tel Aviv on September 29, 2026 during campaigns ahead of the October 2026 legislative elections. (AFP)

00:11-30 September 2026 AD ـ 19 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Rival Says Netanyahu ‘Fear-Mongering’ Over Warning of Pre-Vote Attack

Israel's opposition chief early Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fear-mongering after he alleged that enemies may attack before October 27 elections.

Netanyahu, who polls show is in a close race to hold on to power, has issued warnings in recent weeks to Iran, the armed groups Hamas and Hezbollah and even the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, vowing retaliation in case of an attack.

Israel has kept striking Gaza and Lebanon, and Netanyahu has also stepped up his tone against the leaders of Türkiye, Syria and Qatar.

Parliamentary opposition leader Yair Lapid requested an urgent security briefing after Netanyahu alleged a potential attack, in a video the right-wing prime minister made Tuesday in front of a fighter-jet at a base.

Lapid, speaking after the late-night meeting with Netanyahu, said he was certain elections will take place on time and that "there is no reason to panic the public".

He again accused Netanyahu of failing to heed warnings of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 -- the deadliest ever against Israel, which has responded with a massive military campaign in Gaza.

"Netanyahu ignored every warning before October 7 and now, 28 days before the election, he's suddenly busy fear-mongering," Lapid said.

"I of course will not violate the confidentiality of the security briefing but it must be said -- security threats must be handled professionally and responsibly," Lapid said.

Israeli military bases "are not the setting for election videos", Lapid said.

Lapid, a centrist former prime minister, is one of a number of opposition players in the election, with former military chief Gadi Eisenkot emerging as Netanyahu's most formidable rival.

Netanyahu's office said he provided the briefing alongside military leaders to Lapid soon after the opposition leader has requested it in response to Netanyahu's remarks.

"During the intelligence update, alerts of possible attacks on the various fronts ahead of the elections were presented in detail," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

In his video earlier Tuesday, Netanyahu said: "We have indications that ahead of the elections our enemies will try to attack us."

"I am sending you a message: Don't mess with us, not now and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, anytime," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in late February launched a war on Iran, which retaliated with weeks of missile and drone attacks against Israel.

Iran and Israel have not struck each other since April even as a ceasefire that Tehran's clerical government reached with Washington crumbles elsewhere in the region.

- Warning to Hamas abroad -

Separately, Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a video statement threatening leaders of Hamas based outside Gaza, after the military said it had killed a commander in the north of the territory overnight.

"Hamas leaders abroad are also in the crosshairs. None of these despicable murderers, who played a central role in the October 7 massacre, should die peacefully in their beds," Katz said.

"Once, they were spared because of a mishap -- but the next time will come, and they too will be sent to the depths of hell," he added, in an apparent reference to an Israeli airstrike against a gathering of top Hamas leaders in Qatar in September 2025.

The strike in Doha killed a Qatari security officer and five Hamas members, but none of the group's top officials.

World

Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

23:28-29 September 2026 AD ـ 18 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Trump Says He Does Not Know if Iran Is Going to ‘Give Up Yet’

Cargo ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, before sunrise Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not know if Iran is going to "give up yet" but cast the country as doing "very poorly" in its war with the US.

"I don't know if they are going to give up ‌yet but ‌they'll give up," Trump told reporters.

"They ‌are ⁠doing very poorly," ⁠he added.

A US blockade has cut Iran's financial lifeline - oil exports, and economic costs of the war have made life tougher for Iranians.

Iran's president told the UN General Assembly last ⁠week that Tehran would never surrender to ‌US pressure.

The rise in oil prices due to the ‌war has also become a major issue ‌for Trump's Republican Party heading into the November US midterm elections.

The war has led to the blockade of the Strait of ‌Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global supplies of crude oil ⁠and ⁠LNG before the conflict.

Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the Iran war that began on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

World

Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)

23:15-29 September 2026 AD ـ 18 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Ceuta Mass Migrant Crossing Handling ‘Responsibility of All EU,’ Spanish King Says

Migrants wait for food distribution to begin on El Trampolin Beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP)

European countries should have shown ‌more solidarity and offered more support to Spain after the mass arrival in Ceuta of tens of thousands of migrants, Spanish King Felipe VI said on Tuesday during a gala dinner to mark a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.

In an unusually outspoken address reflecting the depth of the crisis facing Spain following the Ceuta border rush that took place two months ago on Wednesday, the king said what happened in the enclave on the North African coast was "unacceptable" and ‌generated an enormous ‌security, public order and humanitarian challenge.

"It's a ‌situation ⁠that ought to ⁠have as a consequence a reinforcement of collaboration between member states in resources and cooperation," he said. "The European countries that suffer the most pressure from being on the external borders of the European Union cannot alone bear a responsibility that also belongs to everyone."

The king spoke during a dinner at the Royal ⁠Palace in Madrid also attended by Spain's Socialist ‌prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, a rare ‌European proponent of the benefits of migration who launched a mass ‌regularization of irregular migrants that concluded in the summer.

Sanchez, however, ‌has proposed possible changes to asylum rules to return arrivals more quickly, which NGOs and lawyers say would violate human rights conventions.

Asked in a news conference about the plans, territorial policy minister Angel Victor Torres ‌said the government was "analyzing the possibility" of a legislative amendment but that it was "not easy" ⁠due to ⁠questions of international law.

Following the mass crossing of 72,000 migrants into Ceuta on July 30, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commended Spain's swift action in returning most arrivals to Morocco. Other leaders were less understanding, however, with Italy suspending the European Union's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month.

European Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner unveiled a plan on Tuesday to strengthen EU border controls in the wake of Ceuta.

The plan, which requires the approval of member states, would strengthen the mandate of Frontex, the EU border protection agency, and give it a standing corps ready for immediate deployment.

US Imposes Sanctions on 13 Tied to Iran Weapons Procurement

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