Live: US refuses visas for Iran UN delegation members
Live Updates
Good morning Middle East Eye readers,
If you're just joining us, here are key developments from across the region:
• Iran has announced seven conditions for starting any negotiations to the US government, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council has said.
• Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is set to visit Tehran on Sunday to meet with senior Iranian officials. Tehran does not expect him to deliver any specific message related to mediation efforts over the war with the US.
• The US government has told its citizens currently in the Middle East that the security environment remains "complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation", urging them to exercise heightened vigilance.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that Turkey and other countries have proposed new conditions to the US and Iran to end the war.
• Dozens of Palestinians were detained in the occupied West Bank, while settlers cut down guava trees and attacked Palestinians.
• Pop Star Ed Sheeran has said what is happening in Gaza is “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate” as he opened his solo concert in the US city of Philadelphia.
• Thousands of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Buraq Wall plaza, west of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, and performed Talmudic rituals.
• The Israeli military claims its forces have killed a Hamas commander, Muhammad Suleiman Byouk, in Khan Younis in Gaza on Thursday.
• Dozens of Palestinian supporters demonstrated outside Ed Sheeran's concert in Philadelphia, denouncing promoters’ decision to drop US rapper Macklemore from the tour over his “Free Palestine” calls.
Dozens of Palestinian supporters demonstrated outside Ed Sheeran's concert in Philadelphia, denouncing promoters’ decision to drop US rapper Macklemore from the tour over his “Free Palestine” calls.
Carrying Palestinian flags and banners with messages that read “Gaza: Aid in, soldiers out” and “Zionism=racism=terrorism”, the protesters criticised Sheeran for continuing the tour.
Adi Chattopadhyay, a spokesperson for the organisers of the protest, told Reuters that the demonstrators had gathered to call attention to Macklemore’s message and to talk “about the conditions on the ground in Gaza” and “the fact that the genocide is very much still ongoing”.
The 35-year-old pop icon kicked off the show by saying what is happening in Gaza is "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate".
Sheeran had reportedly said that stadium owners refused to allow Macklemore to perform over his Palestine remarks.
In solidarity with Macklemore, Sheeran’s opening acts and members of his band quit the US tour.
Two Palestinians were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers on Sunday east of the town of Salfit in the central occupied West Bank, Wafa reported.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews treated two Palestinians injured in the attack: a 58-year-old man who sustained a head injury after being struck with a stone, and another who was stabbed in the thigh.
The Red Crescent provided first aid to both injured Palestinians and transferred them to Salfit Governmental Hospital, Wafa reported.
US President Donald Trump cut short a weekend at Camp David to return unexpectedly to the White House on Saturday, as tensions rose in the Middle East.
There was no explanation from the administration why Trump was no longer returning on Sunday from Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, as had been previously announced.
However, it is not uncommon for White House travel to change on weekends, including for weather reasons. Forecasts showed rain and thunderstorms in the hilly Camp David area on Sunday.
The change in plan came as the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Saturday that the Iran-backed group fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn, after a fire broke out near the Saudi capital's international airport.
The State Department and a string of US embassies issued security alerts to Americans.
The alerts cited "the potential for unforeseen escalation" and noted that "Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports".
Report by AFP
Due to surging Israeli settler violence, West Bank families headed by women are more likely to be displaced and more likely to have chronic illness among household members compared with those headed by men, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The agency estimates that some 83,000 households (one in eight families in the occupied West Bank) are headed by women.
Nearly nine in 10 women interviewed who are heads of their households stated that checkpoints make travel feel unsafe, and more than half said movement restrictions are blocking access to their livelihoods.
A UN Women’s analysis of a survey among women who are formally recognised as household heads notes that 82 percent are responsible for managing household income, 77 percent are responsible for childcare, 75 percent make all decisions about household members’ safety and 65 percent handle aid registration alone.
Two back-to-back Israeli air strikes hit Lebanon’s southern city of Nabatieh, while a third strike targeted an ambulance team responding to the attacks, according to Al Jazeera.
On Saturday, Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on the outskirts of Sarbin, near Haris in the Bint Jbeil district, and another that destroyed a house between Haddatha and Haris.
Six French nationals are due to stand trial in Iraq on Sunday, as the country assumes responsibility for prosecuting thousands of suspected Islamic State group members.
Iraq's prisons, already packed with IS suspects, have received thousands more detainees transferred since last year from neighbouring Syria.
An Iraqi judicial source told AFP on Thursday that six French nationals were scheduled to stand trial on Sunday.
Their identities remain unclear, but they are part of a group of 47 French citizens transferred from Syria last year.
The larger group includes Adrien Guihal, who claimed responsibility for the 2016 Nice attack for IS.
Report by AFP
The Israeli military says its forces have killed a Hamas commander, Muhammad Suleiman Byouk, in Khan Younis in Gaza on Thursday.
In a post on X, the military said Byouk was involved in the 7 October attacks on southern Israel.
Thousands of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Buraq Wall plaza, west of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, and performed Talmudic rituals, according to Quds News Network.
Last Sunday, settlers also stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy protection from Israeli soldiers.
Local sources had told Wafa news agency that around 240 settlers broke into the mosque compound through the Moroccan Gate, carrying out prayers and rituals, which is prohibited under a 1967 status quo agreement governing the site.
Tens of thousands of Israeli settlers storm Al-Buraq Wall plaza, west of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, and perform Talmudic rituals. pic.twitter.com/VZweFuN22D
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 19, 2026
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has said that Iran will not abandon its right to be present in the UN General Assembly, stressing that attending the UN meeting is not a privilege given by Washington, according to IRNA.
Speaking in a televised programme, Baghaei said that being in New York held absolutely no charm for Iranian representatives, but it was a "trench that must not be abandoned".
He said participating in the UN General Assembly was a legal right rather than a favour from others, as Iran was one of the 50 founding member states of the UN.
Baghaei said that the country had a duty to attend the most important international event to make the rights of the Iranian people heard by the world.
He added that the US "used every tool to prevent the Iranian delegation’s participation, ranging from derogatory remarks and media propaganda to abusing its commitments as the host government by creating delays or refusing to issue visas for several delegation members", IRNA reported.
A majority of American Jewish voters say they are deeply concerned that Israel’s actions under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have contributed to rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States, even as an overwhelming majority continue to identify as pro-Israel, according to a new poll released this week.
The survey, conducted by the Mellman Group for the Jewish Electorate Institute and published on Thursday, found that 56 percent of respondents had a “great deal” of concern that “Israel’s actions under Netanyahu have increased antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the US”.
The view varied sharply by political affiliation, with 65 percent of Jewish Democrats expressing a high level of concern, compared with 46 percent of independents and 34 percent of Republicans.
Other Findings:
• 86 percent of those surveyed described themselves as pro-Israel, while 65 percent said they were pro-Israel but critical of some or many Israeli government policies.
• 71 percent viewed Israel favourably, compared with 25 percent who viewed it unfavourably.
• 61 percent viewed Netanyahu unfavourably and 34 percent favourably; 67 percent wanted to see him replaced in Israel’s upcoming election.
US military aid
Of those surveyed, 52 percent favoured either cutting or ending US aid to Israel, including 36 percent who supported reducing it and 17 percent who favoured eliminating the $3.3bn in military assistance. Meanwhile, 40 percent wanted funding maintained at its current level.
Views of AIPAC and primary spending
Fifty-one percent said they had heard at least something about pro-Israel involvement in this year’s primary races, up from 38 percent in March. Thirty-nine percent supported such activity, while 35 percent opposed it and 26 percent were unsure.
Forty-two percent viewed the pro-Israel group AIPAC favourably and 35 percent unfavourably, with 24 percent unsure.
Pop Star Ed Sheeran has said what is happening in Gaza is “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate” as he opened his solo concert in the US city of Philadelphia.
Sheeran also said he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine”, describing the suffering caused by the war as a “human tragedy”, while explaining that he has generally sought to keep his concerts focused on “unity, joy, escapism, love” rather than his own political views.
It was Sheeran's first show since he dropped US rapper Macklemore from his tour after Macklemore called for a “Free Palestine”. Sheeran said he could not keep Macklemore after stadium owners refused to let him perform.
Sheeran drew flak for the move, and his opening acts and his own band have quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.
“I have tried in my career not to be a political commentator of any kind, because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division,” he said.
“But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore. What happened in Israel and at the Nome Museum Festival on 7 Oct was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain," he said.
"What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable, and disproportionate. Our hearts can be broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, children’s lives and the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
Iran has announced seven conditions for starting any negotiations to the US government, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council has said.
"Tehran's message is clear and unambiguous; if Washington wants to escape the quagmire it has created for itself and avoid getting further entangled in it, it has no choice but to accept Iran's rights and conditions," Rezaei said in a post on X.
His statement comes hours after he told Al Jazeera that Tehran has conveyed its conditions for ending the war to the US through mediator Qatar, which include “the end of the war on all fronts, the release of frozen assets, and the end of the naval blockade”.
۷ شرط ایران برای آغاز هر مذاکرهای به دولت آمریکا اعلام شده است. پیام تهران روشن و بدون ابهام است؛ اگر واشنگتن میخواهد از مخمصهای که خود ساخته خارج شود و بیش از این در آن گرفتار نشود، راهی جز پذیرش حقوق و شروط ایران ندارد.
— محسن رضایی (@ir_rezaee) September 19, 2026
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus has accused Israel of seeking to deepen divisions across the Middle East in its pursuit for a 'promised land'.
“Israel should not chase empty dreams,” Kurtulmus said during a civil society gathering in Kirsehir, according to Al Jazeera.
“Israel’s main goal is for the peoples of this region to fall out with each other, to fight each other, and to realise its own ‘promised land’,” he added.
However, he said, Turkey "will bring this region together and continue on our path".
Kurtulmus said Israel had carried out attacks in recent years against Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Qatar, arguing that almost every country in the region had been affected by conflict.
“They want to divide and fragment; we want to unite and integrate,” Kurtulmus said. “They want to scatter; we want to bring people together.”
Eight Palestinians were detained, while several others suffered suffocation caused by a pepper spray attack by Israeli settlers, in the occupied West Bank. Here is an account of some of attacks and raids by Israeli forces and settlers reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa:
Eight detained: Anti-settler activist Osama Makhamreh told Wafa that eight Palestinians were detained from the village of Ad-Deqaiqa, in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, following an attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their attempt to steal livestock.
He named the detained persons as Nasser Ahmad Nasser al-Najadeh, Abdul Rahman Mohammad al-Najadeh, Suleiman Mahmoud Kaabneh, Mohammad Suleiman al-Najadeh, Yousef Ahmad Mohammad Kaabneh, Mohammad Raad Amer, Odeh Salem al-Najadeh and his son Salem.
*Water supply cut: Settlers cut the main water line supplying the village, depriving around 700 residents of water.
*Solidarity activists attacked: In a separate incident, colonists attacked the home of Khairy Abu Tuffah in Khallet al-Hummus, south of Yatta, assaulting his family and foreign solidarity activists.
*Thirty guava trees cut: Settlers cut down 30 guava trees in the village of Khirbet Firasin near the town of Ya'bad, west of Jenin. The trees were owned by local Palestinian farmer Khaled Mohammad Amarnah.
*Attack near Ramallah outskirts: Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, attacked the outskirts of Abu Falah village, northeast of Ramallah, on Saturday evening, while Israeli forces raided a commercial shop.
*Settlers use pepper spray: Several Palestinians suffered suffocation on Saturday evening after Israeli settlers attacked them with pepper spray near the entrance to al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah, head of the al-Mughayyir village council Amin Abu Alia told Wafa.
* Ambullance targeted: The settlers also targeted an ambulance belonging to the al-Mughayyir village council as it was heading to provide medical assistance to the injured Palestinians, causing material damage to the vehicle.
Abu Alia added that Israeli forces raided the village several times since last night, searching several homes, ransacking and damaging their contents, and assaulting several Palestinians.
