UAE: Restoring Trust With Iran Could Take Decades
A senior adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned that restoring trust between his nation and Iran could take years or even decades.
Anwar Gargash was speaking at the third annual Hili International Forum in Abu Dhabi, bringing together regional policymakers, government officials, academics, and business leaders, on September 7.
"Our dialogue with Iran should be ambitious...and address the larger strategic questions confronting the Gulf: security, non-interference, freedom of navigation, economic cooperation, and ultimately the rebuilding of confidence," Gargash said.
"Trust is the mountain we will have to climb, and there is something worth climbing toward," he added.
The UAE is among the Gulf states that have been targeted by frequent Iranian drone and missile attacks since the beginning of the conflict on February 28.
Gargash also told the conference about efforts by the UAE to build alternative export routes amid ongoing disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.
"Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity," he said.
Grossi Urges Iran To Restore IAEA Nuclear Oversight
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has reiterated that the agency is unable to verify the status of Iran's declared nuclear material and facilities due to a lack of access and information from Tehran.
Iran stopped granting the IAEA access to sites hit by US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities in June last year.
Speaking at the opening of the United Nations atomic watchdog's Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on September 7, Grossi described the situation as a "matter of serious proliferation concern" that needed to be addressed with "the utmost urgency."
Grossi called on Iran to engage constructively with the IAEA and urged a return to diplomacy and negotiations over its nuclear program.
"I call on Iran to engage with the Agency constructively in order to make possible the full and effective implementation of Agency safeguards in Iran and to fulfill its responsibilities," Grossi stated.
UN Rights Chief Urges US-Iran Talks, Warns Of Iran Executions
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on September 7 that he was alarmed by the resumption of attacks between the United States and Iran, warning the violence was affecting the wider Persian Gulf region.
"Recent reports of civilian deaths and injuries, including at a wedding in Hormozgan Province, are particularly concerning," Turk said on September 7 while addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Turk was referring to reports in Iranian and international media that a wedding party was hit by a US strike on September 1.
Moin Arjmand, director of the Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network, a foreign-based monitoring group that documents human rights abuses in Iran, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda on September 2 that the wedding site was located close to a telecommunications tower that was destroyed in the alleged strike.
US Vice President JD Vance said on September 3 that the United States is investigating but that he was "skeptical" of reports coming out of Tehran.
Turk criticized the Iranian authorities in his comments on September 7, accusing them of using the war as a pretext to pursue even more brutal oppression.
"Since March 2026, 59 people have been executed on national security-related charges -- more than the number put to death on the same charges in the whole of 2025," he said.
Iran Warns South Korea Not To Get Involved In Hormuz
Iran has warned South Korea of "serious consequences" if it were to become part of operations ensuring safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
The comments follow local media reports last week that Seoul was considering sending forces to aid US efforts at ensuring navigation in the strait.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a Korean-language social media post on September 7 that South Korea must not send military forces to the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz.
Any such act, Baqaei warned, can "only be regarded as directly supporting" the United States and would "lead to serious consequences."
Iran has consistently targeted its Gulf neighbors -- the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia -- with missiles and drones since the beginning of the conflict on February 28.
Iranian Security Personnel Reportedly Killed Near Pakistan Border
Two Iranian security personnel were killed in an armed attack near the city of Zahedan in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which borders Pakistan, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
Quoting the provincial deputy security chief, Ali Khalilabadi, IRNA reported that the men came under attack on September 6 while carrying food and equipment for the Basij militia.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran's Sistan-Balochistan Province has been experiencing a low-intensity insurgency with Sunni Baluch militants and other separatist groups, most notably Jaish al-Adl (formerly Jundallah), launching occasional attacks against security forces.
The insurgents have used the porous, roughly 900-kilometer Iran-Pakistan border to retreat into neighboring Pakistan. In Pakistan, ethnic Baloch militants are also waging an insurgency, seeking independence from Pakistan.
The security situation on both sides of the border, as well as the involvement of ethnic Baloch populations, has long been a source of tension between Iran and Pakistan.
In January 2024, Iranian security forces, while pursuing a group of retreating militants, fired missiles and shells inside Pakistani Balochistan. In response, Pakistani jets carried out strikes inside Iran claiming that they had targeted the hideouts of anti-Pakistan militants.
Iran Raising Gasoline Prices For Heavy Users As Sanctions, Blockade Bite
The Iranian government said it is raising fuel prices for heavier consumers -- those using more than 110 liters a month -- as US sanctions and a blockade of the country's ports continue to cripple the domestic economy.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the price of the first and second quotas, which allow up to 110 liters, will remain unchanged.
However, the price of the third quota will be doubled to 100,000 Iranian rials per liter, or about 4.5 US cents based on free-market rates.
The new rates will take effect on September 8, officials said.
Other motorists will still be able to purchase 60 liters at 15,000 rials a liter and an additional 50 liters at 30,000 rials a liter, Mohajerani said.
Iranian gasoline prices are among the lowest in the world. A wider increase in prices was discussed, but the authorities held off, likely worried it could lead to new street protests.
Iran is a major producer of oil and has for years heavily subsidized prices, meaning that any changes can be politically sensitive. In 2019, widespread protests erupted after a previous price hike.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda and Reuters
Qalibaf Threatens 'Heavier' Response To US Attacks
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has warned that Iran will respond more forcefully to any further attacks on its interests and security, saying the era of “proportionate responses” was over.
Speaking during an open parliamentary session on September 6, Qalibaf said: “Any aggression against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, heavier and more painful response.”
Qalibaf spoke a day after the US military said it had targeted and destroyed three Iranian oil tankers near the islands of Khark and Jask as well as in the Gulf of Oman.
The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes came in response to ballistic missile attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) against two US warships, which caused no American casualties.
CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper warned that continued Iranian attacks on US vessels would be met with greater economic costs and the destruction of Iranian oil tankers.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the US strikes as “illegal and aggressive,” while a spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters -- Iran’s military central command -- warned that attacks on the US military could intensify and expand if the naval blockade continued.
Hormuz Oil Exports Recovering But Remain Below Pre-War Levels, Shipping Tracker Says
- By Kian Sharifi
Middle East crude oil exports recovered significantly in August but remained well below pre-disruption levels, according to TankerTrackers, a maritime intelligence service.
Exports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar were down 39 percent in August compared with a January-February baseline of 18.5 million barrels per day, before Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the war launched by the United States and Israel.
The shortfall from that baseline has narrowed to 7.2 million barrels per day, from a peak deficit of 12.4 million in May, when exports were down 67 percent.
TankerTrackers said exports from most countries could recover further in the coming months.
Iran, however, is likely to remain a major exception.
Iran’s baseline exports stood at 1.68 million barrels per day, but TankerTrackers estimates they have now fallen to zero. The company said Iranian exports could remain at that level “for the foreseeable future,” depending on the outcome of any agreement.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Claim Attack On Unmanned US Vessel In Hormuz Strait
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on September 6 that it had targeted an unmanned US military vessel which was attempting to enter what it called the “protected area of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Revolutionary Guards made the claim in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster but provided no details on the extent of damage to the vessel or where exactly it was struck.
The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) has yet to comment.
The claim comes a day after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Tehran that the United States “will destroy” Iranian oil tankers if Iran attacks US ships.
CENTCOM said its forces struck three oil tankers belonging to the IRGC on September 5 after Iran fired missiles at US Navy vessels.
At Least 10 Killed In Fuel Tanker Accident In Western Iran
At least 10 people were killed when a fuel tanker exploded on a highway in western Iran as a result of a traffic accident, state media reported on September 5.
The tanker was traveling on the Hamedan-Sanandaj Highway and was involved in an accident due to a technical fault in the braking system, state media reported, citing the governor of Sanandaj.
Six people were also injured in the incident, the governor said.
Authorities said they had launched an investigation into the accident, which highlights concerns about road safety and the transportation of materials in the mountainous region of western Iran amid the US war with Iran.
There was no immediate information as to whether the incident was directly related to the war.