Political Guyentist

Trump says he is choosing among wiping Iran out, letting it rot economically, or a deal, and would "probably" meet Pezeshkian at the UN this week

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Monday, Sept. 21 that a new U.S. attack would change the weapons and the geography of the war, now in its seventh month.

- Sept. 1 — U.S. forces struck IRGC air-defense, radar and mine-laying sites on Iran's southern coast; Trump said a bigger attack was "waiting in the wings." - Sept. 2-3 — About 100 Iranian targets hit; Iran fired at U.S. bases in four countries; Iranian officials counted at least 18 dead, including four at a wedding compound in Kuhestak. - Sept. 5-6 — U.S. destroyed or disabled three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. carrier and destroyer; no Americans hurt. - Sept. 8-10 — Iran declared a restricted zone near Hormuz, doubled gasoline prices for its heaviest users, and fired 20 missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan; Jordan intercepted 18. - Sept. 14 — An unidentified projectile hit an Iranian container ship off Hengam Island, killing one; Trump smirked and said "I don't want to say" when asked if the U.S. did it. - Sept. 20 — A supertanker shortage and the hit on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline squeezed fuel; U.S. gasoline averaged $4.48 a gallon, per AAA.

ContextIranian missiles and drones hit Naval Support Activity Bahrain on the war's first day, a base serving about 8,300 sailors, Defense Department civilians and family members; no U.S. troops died there. The last deal, in 2015, cut Iran's centrifuges from roughly 19,000 to 6,104 and its enriched uranium to 300 kg. Diesel averaged $6.29 a gallon on Sept. 14, per federal price data. Sen. John Kennedy predicts U.S. forces leave within six months.

CBS NEWS9 sources

2usUpdatecontested

CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump over White House ban; TV pool suspends coverage

The suit names Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles and two other advisers, and a hearing on the outlets' emergency request to block the ban is set for Wednesday, Sept. 23.

- Fri., Sept. 18 — Trump announced on Truth Social that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would lose White House access, naming no single story and citing "cumulative stories over the last two years." - Sat., Sept. 19 — Secret Service officers turned the three outlets' reporters away at the gate and confiscated their hard passes; all three said they would sue.

ContextThe pool is about 20 reporters who travel with the president and share audio, video and written reports with every other outlet, so local papers in Wyoming or Ohio run White House copy they did not gather; five TV networks — ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — take turns supplying the live pictures. The White House answered the suit with a release titled "White House access is a privilege—not a right," arguing the First Amendment protects the right to publish but does not entitle any outlet to a hard pass, a briefing room seat or a pool slot. Vance made the same case, saying the three were barred only from special access and citing a claim that 92% of their Trump stories are negative. The administration is not the first to face this: the last outlet-level ban was the AP's in February 2025 over the phrase "Gulf of Mexico," and Trump-appointed Judge Trevor McFadden ordered access restored on April 8, 2025, 46 days after the AP filed. The D.C. Circuit stayed most of that order on June 6, 2025, leaving it in force only for the East Room. That appeal was argued in November 2025 and is still undecided.

POLITICO11 sources

3usUpdateIran war

Trump declined a prepared U.S. air campaign against the Houthis, giving Saudi Arabia intelligence and targeting data instead

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper brought strike options to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday, Sept. 19; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had called Trump twice in one day ten days earlier asking for the strikes.

What the 2025 U.S. bombing campaign bought, and did not: Duration: March 15 to May 6, 2025 Strikes flown: about 1,100 Munitions cost: at least $1 billion

ContextThe last time the U.S. tried this, it did not work. The campaign flew about 1,100 strikes in under two months of a plan drawn for eight to ten months, and CENTCOM's claimed 800-plus targets hit still left the Houthis firing long-range missiles. Their arsenal today runs to fewer than 1,000 drones and several hundred ballistic missiles, only 100 to 200 of them long-range. Roughly 200 U.S. troops are already in Saudi Arabia doing support work that does not involve shooting.

AXIOS9 sources

4usUpdateImmigration enforcement

Man shot once in the back by an ICE officer in Austin is held at a detention center with the bullet still in him, his lawyer says

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was discharged from the hospital into ICE custody and driven about 130 miles to the Pearsall detention center, where DHS is investigating its own officer.

- Sept. 2 — ICE said every field agent would have a body camera by Sept. 30; about 3,000 of 13,000 agents had one as of February. - Sept. 7 — ICE logged more than 50,000 arrests for a second straight month, a first, with a rising share of people who have no criminal record. - Sept. 11 — Latino and voting-rights groups and the city of Denver filed two suits to bar ICE from polling places. - Sept. 18 — The White House pulled Lance Schroyer's nomination to run ICE after Senate Republicans blocked him, leaving the agency under an acting director. - Sept. 20 — An ICE officer shot and wounded a man during a traffic stop in north Austin; state police fired pepper balls at protesters who gathered at the scene and detained several.

ContextICE officers shot 59 people between 2015 and 2021, killing 23. None of those shootings produced an indictment, according to records obtained by The Trace. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year. ICE reported more than 50,000 arrests in each of July and August 2026 — the first months the agency has ever recorded that many. Travis County District Attorney José Pompa Garza's office says the Austin shooting may have broken state law and has asked to work the case with city police. State charges are possible. But a federal officer can move the case to federal court under a law that lets federal employees be tried there for acts done on duty. That is the route that ended Idaho's manslaughter case against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi over the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege before trial, on the grounds that a state cannot prosecute federal agents for doing their jobs. Minnesota charged ICE officer Christian Castro this month — for lying, not for shooting.

THE GUARDIAN11 sources

5us

A blown circuit and a severed backup cable at Philadelphia air traffic control halted flights at Newark, Philadelphia and Teterboro for about seven hours Monday, Sept. 21

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the backup line was found cut at a New Jersey construction site; ground stops later expanded to JFK and LaGuardia, and departure delays ran up to 150 minutes.

What GAO told the FAA to fix, and DOT agreed to: The Department of Transportation agreed to all nine recommendations in the GAO report released the same day, Monday, Sept. 21 GAO found the FAA had completed no formal risk assessment for seven of the eight aviation communication systems it reviewed FAA work with industry partners fully met 2 of 8 leading practices for collaboration and partially met the other 6

ContextThe same Philadelphia facility failed in April 2025, when controllers' screens blanked for 60 to 90 seconds and about a dozen planes over New Jersey lost contact. The repair was a new fiber link to New York running on two separate paths — that is the setup that failed Monday, Sept. 21, when one path blew and the other turned up cut. GAO found in 2024 that 51 of the FAA's 138 air traffic control systems were unsustainable and 54 more potentially so, with 17 critical systems 6 to 13 years from modernization. Newark normally logs about 2 cancellations a day; it recorded more than 300 by Monday evening, the most of any airport in the world that day.

ABC NEWS10 sources

6not newslongformImmigration enforcement

U.S. struck 35 deals to deport migrants to countries not their own, sending more than 25,000 people since 2025

A unanimous three-judge appeals panel ruled the policy unlawful on Friday, Sept. 18; the government has 90 days to appeal and is expected to.

What the $7.5 million payments bought in three countries: Rwanda: $7.5 million, with seven people received as of January 2026 Palau: $7.5 million, with no one received as of January 2026 Equatorial Guinea: $7.5 million, more than the previous eight years of U.S. aid to the country combined

ContextA Feb. 13, 2026 Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority report found just over $32 million went directly to five governments — Rwanda, Palau, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador and Eswatini — some before any deportee arrived. It put El Salvador's rate at $20,755 per migrant received, against DHS's all-in cost of about $17,121 per standard removal. The Equatorial Guinea money came out of an aid account that normally pays UN agencies or private relief groups; here it went straight to the government instead.

THE GUARDIAN6 sources

7not newslongformCourts and the adminis…

Fish and Wildlife director tells staff killing an endangered animal is not an illegal 'take' unless the killing was the purpose

The Sept. 14 memo, leaked rather than published, adopts the purpose test the Supreme Court rejected 6-3 in 1995.

What the Sept. 14 memo does not shut off: Incidental take permits and take statements already issued by Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries stay valid, and both agencies still issue them Section 7 consultation, in which agencies must check projects with wildlife officials, and Section 4 critical-habitat designation are untouched Private citizen suits under the Act remain available against companies that build without a permit

ContextCongress wrote "take" into the 1973 Endangered Species Act once — harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect — and has never amended it. The Supreme Court settled the intent question in 1995: by 6-3 it upheld the agency's rule reading "harm" broadly and rejected the argument that a killing counts only when it was aimed at a particular animal. That definition was written in 1975, narrowed in 1981, and rescinded by a published rule effective Sept. 14, 2026 — the same date as this memo. Three rewrites in 51 years, each opened for public comment. This one went to staff.

STATELINE2 sources

8not newslongform

FAA turns on an $875.95 million AI flight-planning tool at three Washington airports

The 12-year contract went to a 163-person Boston startup whose prior federal work was $2.7 million in Air Force prototypes.

What the same company's airline version did in trials: Flights where the software found a better route: 64% Recommendations dispatchers actually accepted: 32% Time saved per Alaska Airlines flight, Jan.–Sept. 2022: 2.7 minutes

ContextThe FAA has a long record of late computers. Of 30 air traffic control programs with published cost and schedule baselines that the Government Accountability Office reviewed, 15 finished late by an average of 48 months, and 11 ran over budget by $4.2 billion combined. ERAM, the software controllers use today to track planes at high altitude, was contracted in 1990 for a 2010 rollout; the old Host computer it replaced ran until May 2015. A GAO report released Sept. 14, 2026 found the current modernization phase needs $16 billion, against the $12.5 billion Congress provided, and has no single master schedule tying the pieces together.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER5 sources