Media: Palestinian killed by settlers in the West Bank following an attack on a settlement

“Russia hopes that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open and that sanctions against Iran will be lifted.” According to the Russian news agency ‘TASS’, this statement was made by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, whilst speaking at a meeting of the Valdai think tank.

When governments’ decisions diverge from public sentiment, hostility can be expressed violently by those prepared to act alone: the Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, on which a co-pilot from Oman stabbed the captain and, according to the Israeli account, attempted to crash the aircraft with 174 people on board, brings the issue to the heart of the Arabian Gulf. Given that the motive remains unknown and no claim of responsibility has been made, the context takes on a central role: following the normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel six years ago, the Dubai–Tel Aviv route has become a common one for Israelis, and Flydubai is a company owned by the Dubai government. The alleged perpetrator of the 30 September attack is a citizen of a country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel and, for this reason, according to the Israeli Minister of Transport, Miri Regev, Flydubai is said to have breached its aviation agreements with the Emirates. Moreover, Oman – which has for years acted as a mediator between neighbouring Iran and the United States – voted in 2022 to extend the law prohibiting contact with the Jewish state.

After descending from 34,000 to around 17,000 feet in less than a minute, the Boeing 737 Max triggered the hijack code and landed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, where the co-pilot is now being questioned by the Saudi authorities. This complicates the situation: Riyadh had been discussing normalisation with Israel prior to 7 October but subsequently put any progress in that direction on hold, partly due to fears of domestic repercussions, given the political clout of its population within the kingdom. As for the motive, whilst Netanyahu speaks of “radical Islamist indoctrination” and the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, of an “attempted jihadist attack”, according to Saudi media, investigators are not ruling out any possibilities: “from terrorism to mental health issues”, two factors that do not necessarily rule each other out. In this regard, regional analysts point out that the ‘lone wolf’, even if he plans and acts technically on his own, does not operate in a vacuum: lacking structures, funds and orders, he is nonetheless connected to a radical ecosystem that expresses itself through incitement on social media and online tutorials. And he moves from radicalisation to action so quickly that it leaves intelligence services – accustomed to tracking communications and money flows – with only a very narrow window of opportunity.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claim to have established that 170 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip – identified in Gaza as journalists – were in fact members of terrorist groups. The IDF has published the 170 names on a dedicated website, listing their names, civilian and military identification numbers, the media outlet and the military unit to which they were affiliated, as well as images of the obituaries published over recent months by the terrorist organisations themselves for their ‘martyrs’ on their social media channels and websites, which formed the main basis for the investigation.

In a lengthy statement, the army said that 118 of these journalists were active in the military wing of Hamas, 49 were working for Islamic Jihad, two were members of the Popular Resistance Committees and one was a member of the Mujahideen Brigades. Seventeen of those on the list had infiltrated Israeli territory during the attack on 7 October 2023, the IDF said. In June, after obituaries for their ‘martyrs’ (as required by Islamic law), accompanied by photos and videos, had been published on the official websites of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Committee to Protect Journalists (an independent organisation based in New York) conducted a review of its list of casualties and removed 22 names from the list of Palestinian journalists killed in the war, having found them to be members of terrorist organisations. A further 12 names had been removed in a previous review in 2025. Some of the journalists on the list published by the IDF “also worked for major international media outlets and agencies, including Reuters, CNN, ABC Australia, the BBC, Le Monde, AFP and AP”, the IDF wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed new details in an interview with Fox News regarding the investigation into yesterday’s attempted hijacking of the FlyDubai flight. “The attacker is under investigation. Here is what we know: he was radicalised by Islam,” linking this statement to the words reportedly spoken by the Omani man during the incident: “He told the crew: ‘Kill me’. It is clear that he intended to commit suicide and crash the plane.” Netanyahu also stated that there are indications that Iran may attempt to strike Israeli targets, particularly during the election period.

The Israeli Prime Minister has stated that the passengers and the injured captain of the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, in Israel, averted a catastrophe that could have taken on ‘global’ proportions. “They prevented a catastrophe that could have had global consequences,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News. The Prime Minister described the actions of the passengers, who helped to subdue the hijacker and stabilise the aircraft, as “an act of great courage that prevented a repeat of 9/11”.

Iran summoned the British ambassador in Tehran today to protest against what it described as “baseless” allegations linking Tehran to an alleged sabotage plot against the RAF’s Fairford airbase. This was stated by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, according to Iran International. British Ambassador Hugo Shorter was summoned by Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who accused the British government of pursuing a “destructive approach” towards Iran and rejected the allegations of Iranian involvement in the alleged plot. According to the ministry, Shorter said he would convey Tehran’s protest to London. Takht-Ravanchi also accused Britain of complicity in US and Israeli military actions against Iran, for allowing the use of British bases and infrastructure in operations against the country. The UK has previously admitted to allowing US forces to use British bases for what it described as limited defensive operations against Iranian missile installations.

A 51-year-old Palestinian man, Mashhour Shaher Yassin, was killed today after being shot by extremist Israeli settlers during an attack on the village of Yasuf in the central West Bank, according to Palestinian media reports. Israeli broadcaster Kan reported that 25 Palestinians attacked settlers with stones near the illegal Anton outpost in Samaria. Following the clash, the settlers entered the village of Yassif and threw stones at the Palestinians. A shootout reportedly followed, with two Palestinians and a Jewish teenager reported to have been injured.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have killed six members of a “terrorist” group, according to the state news agency IRNA, in a region that is often the scene of clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists. The killings took place in Zahedan, the capital of the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchistan in south-eastern Iran, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and is a major drug trafficking route.

The IRNA report states that the security forces discovered and seized parcels containing explosives. It did not identify the six people killed nor did it provide further details about the incident. Tehran accuses certain armed groups of having links with foreign powers and of being involved in cross-border smuggling. The human rights organisation Haalvsh, which monitors the situation in Sistan-Baluchistan, said that clashes between military and security forces and armed individuals had begun on Thursday morning. Separately, on Wednesday in Zahedan, the sound of an explosion was heard, which caused no damage, according to the Fars news agency, citing the city’s administrative office.

The co-pilot accused of attempting to crash the FlyDubai flight bound for Israel had undergone a process of “Islamist radicalisation”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this statement to Fox News. “We know that the pilot responsible for the attack had undergone radical Islamist indoctrination,” he said, adding that the Israeli authorities expect to be able to establish within a few days whether the co-pilot had links to Iran.

Israel is to request the extradition of the co-pilot of the Flydubai flight accused of attempting to crash the aircraft, which was bound for Tel Aviv with around 170 Israelis on board. This was announced by the Israeli Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who intends to urge the security cabinet to ask the Ministry of Justice to “use all possible means” to secure the suspect’s extradition and try him in Israel. “Anyone who planned to crash a plane and kill 180 Israelis must be extradited to Israel and pay the highest price here,” Ben Gvir said, according to The Times of Israel. The suspect is being held in Saudi Arabia, where the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing, and may subsequently be transferred to the United Arab Emirates. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Oman – the co-pilot’s country of origin – has diplomatic relations with Israel, whilst Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv do maintain diplomatic ties but do not have a bilateral treaty governing extradition.

Donald Trump does not believe the reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned in advance by Egypt or the United Arab Emirates about the Hamas attack on 7 October. “I think that, if he’d known, he would have done something,” the US President said in an interview with Time. “He certainly would have at least put his men on alert.”

Recording requests from shipping companies, approving routes, coordinating with the parties to the conflict and tracking ships via satellite: this, according to the outline presented to the European Parliament by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Jorge Moreira da Silva, the new UN mechanism designed to allow the passage of fertiliser through the Strait of Hormuz. “We are not asking for anything that is extremely difficult,” said Moreira da Silva, emphasising that the number of ships involved would be limited. Before the routes were disrupted, he explained, “around 3–7 ships a day carrying fertiliser passed through the Strait”, out of a total of “around 130 ships” transporting fertiliser, energy and petrochemicals. The aim, he explained, is to prevent the crisis from turning into a “massive humanitarian crisis”.

Unlike with cereals, he emphasised, the effects of a fertiliser shortage take some time to become apparent. “The fact that there is a delay should not lead us to overlook” the problem, he noted. Moreira da Silva reported that he had held consultations with Iran, the United States, the Gulf states, the EU and its member states, and had garnered “overwhelming support” amongst UN member states, including in the General Assembly and the Security Council. “However,” clarified the head of the UN task force for the Strait of Hormuz, “we have not yet obtained the necessary mandate from the two parties to the conflict to implement” the mechanism. The mechanism was developed on the instructions of Secretary-General António Guterres and draws on previous UN experiences, including the 2720 mechanism for aid to Gaza, the monitoring system for ships bound for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, and the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with Fox News, replied that “it is too early to say” when asked whether there were any indications of Iranian involvement in the Flydubai flight incident. The Prime Minister also told CNN that Israel had not received any specific warning.

A “terrorist group” that was “planning an operation” in Iran has been “identified and targeted”, and six of its members have been killed: according to the Quds Force headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as reported by Iranian media. The security forces’ raid took place this morning, the Quds Force added. The operation took place in the Zahedan area, in eastern Iran, according to the Fars news agency.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his delegation to the United Nations General Assembly to leave New York earlier than planned. This is according to two US officials with knowledge of the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Trump administration had granted the Iranians visas to attend the annual UN meeting despite hostilities between the two countries. Araghchi had subsequently remained in New York to take part in indirect talks with the United States aimed at ending the conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. However, after little progress was made during the weekend’s meetings, officials reported that Rubio had lost patience and informed the Iranians that Araghchi and his delegation had to leave New York immediately.

Iraq: Pasdaran: ‘US withdrawal is a historic victory’

Tehran, 1 Oct. (Adnkronos/AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have described the withdrawal from Iraq of US forces, which had been deployed in the country for 12 years as part of the international coalition to combat the so-called Islamic State (IS), as a “historic victory”. “The expulsion of the United States from Iraq is the result of this proud nation’s unwavering determination to defend its independence,” the Pasdaran said in a statement.

The departure from the US of the Iranian delegation, which had travelled to New York for the most recent UN General Assembly, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was preceded by an order from the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who had decided to “expel” them on the grounds that they had remained on US soil “beyond the permitted period”: this was reported by Axios, citing an administration official. “Secretary Rubio expelled the Iranian delegation, which had stayed beyond the permitted period. The UN General Assembly had ended, so it was time for them to leave”, the source said. A second source confirmed that the United States had asked the Iranian delegation to leave the country, but pointed out that the Iranian delegation – which included Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, after President Masoud Pezeshkian had initially also attended the UN General Assembly – was nevertheless scheduled to return to Tehran on Monday evening. The group took a flight from New York to Doha at 1.20 am on Tuesday, Axios adds. According to sources cited by the Associated Press on its website, the Iranian delegation had instead intended to remain in the US until Wednesday. For its part, the delegation itself denied on its official X profile that its departure had taken place at a different time or on a different schedule than planned. “The departure from New York took place on Monday evening, in accordance with the schedule also communicated to the US State Department on 17 September.” In the statement, the Tehran team also accuses the US State Department of having “spread false news” after the American side “achieved nothing” in the discussions held between the US and Iran during Araghchi and his colleagues’ stay in the US.

Crude oil futures have seen a sharp correction, with the December Brent contract falling to $96.9 per barrel (-6.4 per cent); the November WTI contract, meanwhile, is trading at $88.9 (-1.6 per cent). This movement follows the sharp rise in exports from the Persian Gulf over the past week. Although tensions in the region show no sign of abating, “some estimates place the flow of oil at levels close to those seen prior to the conflict between the United States and Iran”, according to analysts at ANZ Research. Satellite monitoring firm Kpler estimates that shipments reached 12.5 million barrels per day in the week ending 27 September, just 1 million barrels per day below the pre-conflict benchmark level. A figure which, according to Goldman Sachs, rises to 23 million barrels a day when additional routes, such as that via the Red Sea, are taken into account.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was unaware of “the background” of the Flydubai co-pilot who attacked the captain in an apparent attempt to crash the plane, “but it is obvious that he hated Israelis”. Speaking to Fox News, the Prime Minister also said that “this is fanaticism and hatred on an incalculable scale”, adding, regarding possible Iranian involvement in the attack, that “it is too early to say”. “The pilot responsible for the attack is now under investigation in Saudi Arabia. I believe he will be extradited to the United Arab Emirates, where he comes from, or at least where he set off from,” he said. “We will follow the investigation closely and, if possible, take part in it.”

US President Donald Trump has said that “the time has come” to reach an agreement with Iran or “perhaps to blow them up”. Responding to a question from the press on how he intends to reach an agreement with Tehran, given that he considers its leaders to be mad, Trump replied: “Perhaps by blowing them up. We have to make that decision. Do we blow them up or do we reach a deal? But the time has come. It will be over very soon, one way or another.”

The United States is planning a response against Iran for its role in the alleged plot to attack the RAF Fairford base. “We’re working on it right now. We’re looking into the matter. We’re analysing it thoroughly,” said Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

“I spoke at length with Bibi” about the incident on the plane. Donald Trump said this in the Oval Office. “Perhaps the pilot was a terrorist or a madman.” “It’s an incredible story,” he added.