Iran live updates: Iranian president departs Tehran for UNGA, vows 'strength'

The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint with peace talks stalled.

Last Updated: September 21, 2026, 3:18 PM EDT

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.

Those talks broke down as the U.S. and Iran continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz as the primary flashpoint. Trump then said in August that the U.S. would launch a "crushing economic operation" to force Tehran into submission.

Key Headlines

• 3:17 PM EDT

• 5:40 AM EDT

• 4:29 AM EDT

• Sep 20, 2026, 5:14 AM EDT

Here's how the news is developing.

3:17 PM EDT

Iran prepared for long-term war: IRGC spokesman

Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Iranian state TV Sunday night that “the war has not ended” and the IRCG is “prepared for a long-term war.”

Mohebbi added, “We will certainly change the geography of the war. There will be changes in the weapons and military equipment … and the world will see the power and precision of our weapons and the world will be astonished."

He also said Iran’s “targets are no longer necessarily the same as before.”

5:40 AM EDT

Tanker hit in Strait of Hormuz, 2 crew injured, UKMTO says

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre reported that a tanker was "struck by an unknown projectile" in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday morning, with at least two crew members injured.

"The vessel is reported to be continuing to its next port of call under its own power. There is no reported environmental impact at this time," the UKMTO said in its alert.

4:29 AM EDT

IRGC ready for 'counteroffensive' if US attacks, spokesperson says

Iranian forces are prepared to launch a "counteroffensive" in the event of renewed U.S. attacks on the country, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Brig. Gen. General Hossein Mohebbi told the semi-official Tasnim News Agency in an interview published on Monday.

"If a new aggression takes place, there will definitely be significant changes in our defense and our counteroffensive," Mohebbi said. "We will definitely change the geography of the war," he added.

The spokesperson said Tehran also plans to use new weapons and tactics in the event of renewed fighting. "We will definitely bring new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield, and the world will be surprised," he said.

The U.S., Mohebbi said, has already suffered a "historic and disgraceful defeat."

Sep 20, 2026, 5:14 AM EDT

Strait of Hormuz won't open until Iranian conditions met, Ghalibaf says

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that Tehran will not allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz until all of its conditions have been met.

"Over the past seven months, we have shown that we are not helpless in the face of aggression," Ghaliaf said in a statement published by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

"We must both fight and negotiate," said Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian negotiating delegation to Islamabad in April.

"Our messages have been conveyed and our conditions have been clearly explained to the other side through mediators, and the enemy knows very well that the path of deception and one-sided imposition is closed," Ghalibaf continued.

"Until these conditions are met, the legitimate rights of the Iranian people are recognized and the Americans fulfill their commitments, there will be no opening for a return to the previous conditions for negotiations or for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened," he said.

"Today, the old American order in West Asia has collapsed, and it is the Islamic countries of the region that must implement a new order," Ghalibaf added.