Iran International and Al Jazeera reported on September 17, 2026, statements by leaders in the U.S., Iran and Israel (below). Those statements give a good picture of the U.S.-Iran-Israel standoff today. One should take into account campaigning for the upcoming elections with Trump's and Netanyahu's pronouncements.            I believe the betting is that Trump will wait until the midterms have taken place before pushing the ‘annihilate’ button. Noting the cry of alarm from Saudi Arabia and the expanding conflict, by then the interceptors supply in the region will be heading toward zero.  Trump says ‘big decision’ looms on whether to ‘annihilate’ Iran regime       “ I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me ,” Trump told Axios.  Iran president says Tehran will not bow to US, Israel  ...

          Not surprisingly, Al Jazeera gave the fullest reporting on the nuclear-related developments with Iran on September 10. Their headline and subtitles were:            IAEA accuses Iran of ‘noncompliance’                      What has the IAEA accused Iran of?                      How has Iran responded?                      What is the UN Security Council expected to do?                      What impact could this have on the US war against Iran?                      What is the IAEA's history with Iran?  Iran International also posted on Sep 10 reports on numerous related developments....

          Today Reuters headlined:                                                                   Trump says US may hit Iran's Pickaxe Mountain soon .            Meanwhile, on the ‘diplomatic’ front, in advance of the September Board of Governors meeting next week, Reuters has reported that the U.S. is again leading a push for another Board resolution on Iran. This would follow Board Iran resolutions in June 2025, November 2025 and June 2026. This fourth one is the ‘ clincher ’; it would move the Iran nuclear case back onto the UN Security Council agenda, after a 20-year pause.            Why a Board resolution now? Why bomb Pickaxe now?            They...

          ISIS has published its analysis of the IAEA’s report on new developments on the clandestine nuclear program in Syria. As I wrote on August 20, more details “ can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors .”            In my August 20 blog, I went into what it would mean if the disclosed nuclear material was above the ‘ starting point of safeguards ’ or before that point. What has been revealed makes most of that not relevant or applicable.            To my surprise, the material is in the form of some 8,800 fabricated natural uranium metal fuel elements intended as the first core loading of the clandestine DPRK-duplicate graphite moderated, carbon dioxide cooled plutonium production reactor.            Yes, that was undeclared nuclear material that had to be reported to the IAEA under Syria’s NPT safeguard...

IAEA Director General Grossi was in Syria again (He was there in June.) and held a press conference in Damascus with the Syrian Foreign Minister. He reported having visited the site where in 2007 Israel bombed to destruction a nuclear reactor in construction, the buried remains of which are now being excavated, apparently under IAEA inspector observation.       Grossi also mentioned that IAEA inspectors will visit another site where there is nuclear material. He said: “ We’re talking about a few tons of nuclear material that could be put to bad use and Syria has decided to open up this site to the inspectors of the IAEA. This material will be accounted for and will be put within the international safeguard system .” No further details have been published (They can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors.)       Let’s see if DG Grossi’s remarks are correct regarding what the safeguards situation might be for...

Trump posted on August 2: Today's headlines suggest that Trump has the military 'card' and Iran has the rest of the deck. Trump wants a quick ' total surrender' and, not getting that, is likely to go for ' decapitation ' in the coming days. Does he realize that is what Iran wants? They want him to lose badly in the midterms and Netanyahu/Hegseth escalation is likely to achieve that.  Here are the August 3 headlines from Iran International. Trump  • Iran talks to proceed in two phases, Trump says  • Trump says he is giving Iran ' every last chance before decapitation '  • Trump says US blockade to remain until Iran deal or ‘ total surrender ’  • Trump touts ‘ denuclearization of Iran ’ as major achievement   Iran  • No new Iran negotiations planned despite Trump comments - CBS  • Khamenei aide says Trump deliberately kept Israel out of renewed Iran strikes  • Iran rejects US proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz - Al Mayadeen  • Venu...

The IAEA has published part of its annual report on the international safeguards it carried out in 2025. (The entire confidential report is distributed to governments,)  In it there is a nice summary of IAEA's interactions with Iran in 2025. It explains that Iran was declared to be in noncompliance with its NPT safeguards agreement with IAEA and has not remedied that noncompliance, and that lack of information and access to the bombed nuclear enrichment facilities constitutes a "proliferation concern."  Here it is.  A. Safeguards Statement for 2025           In 2025, safeguards were applied for 190 States with safeguards agreements in force with the Agency. Forty-four States had comprehensive safeguards agreements in force, but no additional protocols in force.  Islamic Republic of Iran            For one State [ Iran] , the Secretariat found no indication of the diversion of declared nuclear material ...

     Reuters reported the following after the US bragged about hitting 80 targets in Iran, which included killing two fishermen and blowing up two railway bridges:                 In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Iran's mission at the UN accused   the United States of "blatant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and its international                obligations" and said its attacks violated the memorandum of understanding signed by the two                     countries.                 A spokesperson for parliament's National Security Commission had said options for retaliation ⁠    included withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), changing Iran's nuclear         doctri...

President Trump, once again ignoring his commitment in paragraph 1 of the Islamabad MOU, posted on June 28 a threat of use of force against Iran. But this time he seems to be threatening a nuclear attack, in order to accomplish his threat that “ the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist !”  Here is President Trump’s full threat.                      " United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist! " [ Truth Social]                  About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air d...