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经销商：习近平访美前 中国采购100万吨美国大豆

2026年9月10日 15:00 / 联合早报

经销商透露，在国家主席习近平预计本月下旬访美前，中国本周采购了约100万吨美国大豆。图为美国内布拉斯加州普拉特县农民用机器灌溉当地大豆农田，摄于2022年8月。 （路透社档案照）

中国国家主席习近平预计本月下旬访美，四名经销商透露，中国加大对美国大豆的采购，本周购买了约100万吨美国大豆。

路透社星期四（9月10日）引述四名经销商报道上述消息。据报道，这批采购量已接近北京向美国承诺年购买量2500万吨的一半。

中国加大采购美国大豆有助提振与美国的经贸和外交关系，也因世界头号大豆出口国巴西产量减少，影响全球油料供应。

报道引述一名驻亚洲的经销商称，“中储粮集团过去几天增加了采购。它们在习近平访美前持续购买。”

中国大型涉粮央企中储粮集团和中粮集团均未立即回应路透社的置评请求。

美国农业部星期三（9月9日）通报，有34万吨美国大豆销往中国，另有10万吨则卖到不明目的地。

中美元首今年5月在北京会晤后，华盛顿称北京答应每年采购170亿美元（215亿新元）的非大豆美农产品，直至2028年，同时也承诺在同个时期每年采购2500万吨美国大豆

美国总统特朗普7月在一场活动上称，中国国家主席习近平将于9月24日访美。中国至今尚未确认习近平访美日期，或美国大豆与其他农产品的计划采购量。

美国贸易代表格里尔上星期四（9月3日）透露，中国国家主席习近平本月访问华盛顿期间，美中预计将公布农业贸易及相关非关税壁垒方面的安排。

五年49名驻韩外交官涉案 凭豁免权免受刑罚

2026年9月10日 13:36 / 联合早报

9月9日，身着韩服的路人在首尔景福宫外行走。 （法新社）

据统计，近五年来，共有49名驻韩外交人员在韩国涉嫌犯罪，但因享有外交豁免权而免于刑事处罚。

韩联社报道，韩国外交部星期四（9月10日）向国会外交统一委员会提交的资料显示，从2022年至今年7月，共有49名驻韩外交人员涉及各类事件和事故。相关行为包括违反交通法规、性暴力、暴力袭击、盗窃等。

鉴于上述数据仅包括接到报警并通报外交部的案件，实际数量可能更多。

然而，这些人都享有外交豁免权，无法依据韩国法律追究刑事责任。他们的家属也享有相同豁免权。

也就是说，警方只能在征得当事人同意的情况下展开调查。除非派遣国放弃对相关人员的管辖豁免，否则警方在查明事实后将以“无公诉权”为由移送案件。

特朗普：普京有意就俄乌战争达成协议

2026年9月10日 13:44 / 联合早报

俄罗斯导弹9月8日清晨袭击乌克兰首都基辅，城市上空被浓浓黑烟笼罩。 （法新社）

美国总统特朗普说，他与俄罗斯总统普京进行了一次“很棒的对话”，后者有意就俄乌战争达成协议。

彭博社报道，特朗普星期三（9月9日）向记者透露这一情况。他表明：“他（普京）想达成协议。如果（乌克兰总统）泽连斯基也想达成协议，那就太好了。”

对于与俄乌领导人举行三方峰会的前景，特朗普声称“有可能”，并指俄乌双方都已厌倦这场旷日持久的战争。“阻碍在于这两个人互相憎恨。”

特朗普的特使威特科夫和女婿库什纳上周末访问莫斯科和基辅，分别与普京和泽连斯基会晤。

克里姆林宫此前已经披露普京与特朗普的这次通话，特朗普的表态则是美方首次承认此次对话。克宮说，两位领导人进行“建设性且相当坦诚”的对话，通话持续约一小时，双方同意保持联系。

俄乌战争已持续超过四年半，特朗普政府斡旋的和平进程仍未取得进展。乌克兰国家警察星期四（10日）通报，俄罗斯无人机对乌克兰苏梅地区的空袭造成五人死亡、24人受伤。

特朗普再喊对台晶片课重税 台官员称“我们就听一听”后改口

2026年9月10日 14:23 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普再称要对台湾输美晶片课重税，台湾国科会副主委张振豪称“我们就听一听”，他随后又改口称，不是听听就好，会持续与美方沟通。

据联合新闻网报道，美国共和党当地时间星期三（9月9日）在达拉斯召开中期选举大会，特朗普演说提及台湾，主张美方应该对输美的台湾晶片课征高额关税。

对此，张振豪星期四（9月10日）在行政院会后记者会上回应称，特朗普常常会讲一些话，“我们就听一听”，持续做该做的事，好好发展产业。

在媒体提问的空档，张振豪又改口称“刚刚讲话比较快一点，可能要修正一下，并不是听听就好”，强调台湾一直很重视与美方的关系，双方已签订投资备忘录（MOU）、持续展开经贸合作，未来会持续与美方沟通。

据法新社报道，共和党星期三在达拉斯美国航空中心召开为期两天的全国代表大会。这是共和党首次专门为中期选举举办全国代表大会。

延伸阅读

共和党首次为中期选举开全国大会 押注特朗普为竞选造势

大会既不提名候选人，也不安排正式的党务议程，因此更像是特朗普的中期选举竞选活动，也被戏称为“特朗普狂欢节”（Trumpapalooza）。

尽管特朗普的支持率近期已跌至仅略高于30%的低位，共和党仍试图将竞选努力与他紧紧捆绑，以此吸引选民支持。

韩国逾四成民众反对向霍尔木兹海峡派兵

2026年9月10日 13:58 / 联合早报

韩国民众星期三（9月9日）在首尔举行示威集会，抗议向霍尔木兹海峡派兵。一些示威者举着反战口号，敦促政府“不要参与侵略战争”。 （法新社）

韩国四家民调机构联合发布的民调结果显示，逾四成韩国民众反对政府向霍尔木兹海峡派兵。

韩国总统李在明星期二（9月8日）在巴黎与法国总统马克龙共同会见记者时说，韩法将继续密切合作，推动霍尔木兹海峡恢复自由航行。这番表态随即引发韩国是否已倾向派兵的猜测。

四家民调机构星期四（10日）发布的调查结果显示，对于向霍尔木兹海峡派遣海上巡逻机、后勤支援舰等兵力的方案，45%的受访者表示反对，36%的受访者赞成派兵，另有19%回答“不清楚”或未作答。

此次调查于9月7日至9日面向韩国1002名18周岁及以上的人进行。反对者主要是40多岁和50多岁的中年群体；赞成者则多为18岁至29岁，以及60岁以上群体。

按政党支持情况来看，执政的共同民主党的支持者中，55%反对派兵，31%赞成派兵；最大在野党国民力量的支持者中，46%赞成派兵，40%反对派兵。

李在明的言论引起猜测后，青瓦台立即出面回应，强调“政府尚未最终确定方针，正在慎重判断”，不能把李在明与马克龙讨论航行自由“立即等同于派兵”。

Ex-NFL cheerleader battles former gubernatorial aide in tight GOP primary race

September 10, 2026 1:00am EDT / Fox News

The winner faces an uphill battle in November after Dem incumbent governor lost primary Wednesday

By Leo Briceno, Fox News

Attorney Matt Belinsky and The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman discuss an Axios report detailing Democratic midterm campaign strategies. The panel also reacts to Steve Hilton’s viral comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast regarding Los Angeles’ decline and high gas prices under Democratic policies.

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Elaine Pelino, a former NFL cheerleader and publisher pitching herself as the party-line choice, and Aaron Guckian, a former aide to former Gov. Donald Carcieri and a more centrist candidate are locked in a GOP primary that remained too close to call by early Thursday morning.

The race centered on experience and qualifications as Republicans hope they have found a candidate to win over a historically Democratic-leaning state.

SENATE REPUBLICAN PUSHES OVERHAUL TO CUT RED TAPE AND SPEED UP AMERICAN ENERGY PROJECTS

Aaron Guckian, left, pictured alongside Elaine Pelino, right.(Guckian for Governor; Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

In the last election, Daniel McKee, the then-Democratic candidate and current governor of Rhode Island, beat out Republican challenger Ashley Kalus in a 57.9% to 38.9% victory.

Among other priorities in her campaign, Pelino promised to champion merit-based hiring, support law enforcement, immigration law and school choice.”This is what I’m going to do. I’m learning. Everything is a learning [curve] because I’m not a lifetime politician. I’m here because I love Rhode Island. And I want them to have a great life. I want them to live in a prosperous and safe place. We should get all the illegals out of here,” Pelino said at a candidate forum.

DEM INCUMBENT BECOMES FIRST SITTING GOVERNOR TO LOSE PRIMARY SINCE 2018

Rhode Island Governor, Donald Carcieri, speaks to the media February 22, 2003 in West Warwick, Rhode Island.(Douglas McFadd/Getty Images)

Before her time in politics, Pelino had a wide range of experience, working as a model, in media and even as a cheerleader for the Houston Oilers, the football team that would eventually become the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Later, in 2011, she founded Tigress magazine, which published 12 issues.

For his part, Guckian took a far more policy-centric approach, committing to overhaul Rhode Island’s permitting, improve service delivery and tighten use of the state’s revenue. He argued that the state’s budget growth had “gone too far.”

“The state budget increased from $9.3 billion in 2019 to more than $14 billion between 2024 and 2026, nearly 50% growth in five years, even as federal COVID relief dollars are expiring,” Guckian said on his campaign website.

“Rhode Island made a critical mistake. We built permanent commitments on temporary federal money.”

SELF-FUNDED CEO CLAIMS GOP NOMINATION TO CHALLENGE MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRAT’S SECOND-TERM BID

Aerial view of Rhode Island State Capitol in Providence Rhode Island.(Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Once one of them has secured the primary, Pelino or Guckian will face an uphill battle in the Nov. 3 general election.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

Trump’s Iran campaign echoes the post-9/11 ‘forever wars’

2026-09-10T05:04:02.653Z / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) – When Donald Trump campaigned for a second term in the White House, he promised to be a “president of peace” who would stop foreign wars, not start them.

Now, a quarter-century after the September 11, 2001, attacks that triggered America’s global “war on terror,” he is entangled in an unpopular conflict of his own making that analysts say risks becoming his version of a “forever war.”

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With the 9/11 anniversary at hand, Trump’s war against Iran is drawing comparisons in foreign policy circles to the ​long, divisive conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq that preceded it. It is also prompting questions about whether the U.S. has again failed to learn the lessons of past conflicts or prepare a clear exit strategy.

“Trump ‌has broken an important post-Iraq and Afghanistan constraint in Washington against launching another major, open-ended war in the Middle East,” said Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. “That could leave his successor inheriting … an entrenched U.S.-Iran confrontation.”

Administration officials have said the war against Iran is nothing like the protracted post-9/11 engagements.

During the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. removed hostile governments, committed thousands of ground troops who took and held territory, suffered and inflicted much higher casualties and struggled to instill Western-style governance.

This time, the U.S. is relying mainly on air and naval power, operations that ​have damaged Iran militarily and economically but have not defeated it or spurred Iranians to overthrow their rulers as Trump initially urged.

But after six months of war, the United States is mired in a battle of attrition punctuated by bursts of ​hostilities – exemplified by this week’s exchange of attacks on oil tankers – while Trump tries to tighten the economic noose around Tehran.

Analysts warn it is likely to drag on well past the U.S. midterm ⁠elections in November, when voters’ opposition to the war could threaten Trump’s Republican Party’s chances of keeping control of Congress.

And, much like those earlier conflicts, there is no obvious exit even as the economic costs weigh on U.S. consumers.

Tehran’s disruption of oil shipments ​through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed U.S. gasoline prices higher. The war has weakened Trump’s approval ratings and undermined Washington’s international standing, which was also one of the repercussions from the Iraq and Afghan wars.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump alone had “possessed the courage” ​to confront Iran over its nuclear program, that he had achieved all of his objectives and Iran’s economy was being crippled by stepped-up sanctions and a U.S. maritime blockade.

She did not respond directly to Reuters’ questions on how the Iran conflict fits into America’s legacy of post-9/11 wars.

LESSONS IGNORED?

Analysts say Trump has failed to heed the central lessons of the post-9/11 era, which began after al Qaeda militants crashed planes into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Those include the steep political downsides of long wars and the dangers posed by an entrenched foe ​fighting for its survival.

The attacks led to decades of conflict, starting with the invasion of Afghanistan, where al Qaeda leaders were sheltering, and followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on what turned out to be faulty intelligence that it was developing ​weapons of mass destruction.

The twin wars undertaken by President George W. Bush overstretched the U.S. military and destabilized the Middle East.

The resulting U.S. public backlash helped fuel Trump’s rise a decade ago, and he won a second term in 2024 vowing to avoid military adventurism and focus on ‌Americans’ economic concerns.

But ⁠similar to how the Bush administration underestimated the insurgencies the U.S. would face in Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump and his aides have miscalculated Iran’s resiliency and ability to throttle a fifth of the world’s energy shipments, analysts say.

Notably, Trump’s “Operation Epic Fury” launched alongside Israel on February 28 was not precipitated by a 9/11-type national trauma but was deemed by critics to be a war of choice. Experts have disputed Trump’s claims that Tehran’s nuclear program posed an imminent threat to the U.S.

Iran may be taking a page from Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to power five years ago after a chaotic U.S. withdrawal, that a determined foe can outlast Washington’s superior firepower while domestic pressure erodes its resolve.

The Iran conflict has also illustrated the cost of going to war with few allies on board.

Bush ​secured significant international support before launching his Iraq and Afghan campaigns, ​though that backing waned over time.

By contrast, Trump attacked Iran ⁠with little prior consultation or explanation and has found European and Asian leaders mostly resistant to his demands for assistance.

Relations with Trump had already been strained by his threat to seize Greenland, his questioning of NATO’s utility, his reduction of weapons supplies to Ukraine and his sweeping tariffs on trade partners.

HIGH COST FOR ALLIES

The conflict has also mirrored the Iraq invasion in terms of a ​regional spillover that seemed to catch Washington off-guard, in this case Tehran’s retaliation against U.S. Gulf allies.

With Iran’s neighbors quietly seeking to de-escalate a conflict they never wanted, a Gulf official ​lamented that the administration might be ⁠making some of the same errors of the post-9/11 wars.

“What was the (U.S.) strategy here?” asked the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian described “a sense of limitation and helplessness in the Gulf about the wars that are taking place due to the whims of the United States.”

While the Iraq and Afghan wars ended as unpopular conflicts, both started with solid support at home.

Trump’s war enjoyed no such honeymoon in public opinion.

Most Americans were against it from the outset, and he has even drawn criticism from prominent figures associated with his “America First” movement.

Trump had ⁠initially expected to ​replicate his quick win from a January 3 raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

But the Iran campaign instead has hardened into an uneasy stalemate that ​has not achieved most of Trump’s shifting objectives, including shutting down its nuclear program, and has depleted the Pentagon’s missile stockpiles.

Still, Trump is not without defenders.

Mark Dubowitz, head of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an anti-Iran think tank in Washington, denied Trump had plunged the U.S. into an endless war and insisted he ​had scored successes that would eventually bring victory.

“It’s been a 47-year war waged by the Islamic Republic against America,” Dubowitz said. “And now we’ve struck back.”

Reporting and writing by Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis

美媒：约旦军事基地多架美军战机受损

2026年9月10日 14:36 / 联合早报

7月14日发布的视频据称显示伊朗从不明地点发射无人机，攻击位于约旦阿兹拉克基地的美军阵地。 （路透社）

美国媒体报道，伊朗日前对约旦军事基地的空袭，导致数架美军战斗机受损。

美军中央司令部星期二（9月8日）说，美军连夜摧毁五艘伊朗油轮，以回应伊朗革命卫队连续两天向一艘美国军舰发射弹道导弹。

伊朗随后在霍尔木兹海峡攻击两艘美国船只和多艘油轮，并向约旦阿兹拉克美军基地发射弹道导弹。

约旦方面说，防空系统拦截18枚导弹，另有两枚落入无人活动地区。不过，据知情人士星期三（9日）向美国哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）透露，多架美军战斗机在伊朗空袭中受损。

熟悉情况的人士说，约有八架F-15战斗机轻微损坏，据称已恢复服役；一架绰号为“疣猪”（Warthog）的A-10“雷电”攻击机被击中，导致一侧机翼缺失。

针对约旦美军基地的袭击没有造成美军人员死亡。

哥伦比亚广播公司还获悉，驻约旦美军发射30多枚“爱国者”导弹，以防御伊朗的袭击。

Cameras disabled, inspectors blocked: Nuclear watchdog asks for help with Iran

2026-09-10T04:01:29.560Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/politics/iran-nuclear-program-inspections-iaea

The UN’s nuclear watchdog agency is asking the body to hold Iran accountable for failing to stick with safeguards meant to prevent the development of nuclear weapons, diplomatic officials announced Wednesday.

It’s the latest chapter in a more than decade-long effort to keep an eye on Iran that has seen the country descend from compliance to sabotaging inspection efforts – such as disabling monitoring cameras and “excessively invasive physical searches” of inspectors – according to multiple former officials, diplomats and more than a decade of UN documents reviewed by CNN.

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other countries established the world’s most invasive nuclear inspection regime, overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency. And for years, Tehran’s nuclear program complied with the agency’s inspectors.

But during the years after President Donald Trump withdrew from that deal, Iran gradually and systematically defied its nuclear safeguards, according to contemporaneous IAEA reporting, and the agency later concluded that Iran failed to disclose nuclear material-related sites.

“The Iranians were really playing rope-a-dope and consistently making it hard for the IAEA to get access, presenting information that was laughably not true or plausible,” said a former US diplomat whom CNN granted anonymity to freely discuss the sensitive topic.

The UN nuclear watchdog sometimes downplayed issues for political reasons, including efforts to be less confrontational with Iran, a former IAEA official and a former US diplomat told CNN.

The saga demonstrates the limitations of monitoring and verification in the face of concerted noncompliance, leading top experts to argue that even a full diplomatic solution to the war that includes a new nuclear deal won’t be enough to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.

“I think for both technical and political reasons … if Iran wants to get the bomb at this point, it’s going to get it,” said James Acton, a physicist who heads the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s nuclear policy division.

Acton told CNN he believes “there’s a 50-50 chance that Iran gets the bomb” within the next three years.

23 governors sitting on the International Atomic Energy Agency voted Wednesday to report Tehran to the Security Council, with Russia, China and Niger voting against the action, which stems from a June 2025 resolution declaring Iran non-compliant with nuclear safeguards.

That resolution came seven months before the current war with Iran, and days before US strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer.

Tehran was last reported to the Security Council in early 2006, and the UN body responded with a cascade of actions including sanctions against the regime. It’s unclear whether the Security Council will respond similarly to Wednesday’s report; Russia and China are permanent members of the body who may unilaterally veto proposed actions.

Iran’s diplomatic mission to the IAEA decried the resolution as “political” and “nonconsensually adopted” in a statement on social media.

IAEA and the JCPOA

The 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, followed 20 months of intense negotiations. The JCPOA placed strict limits on the country’s nuclear program — especially around uranium enrichment activity — that would be independently verified by the IAEA.

The JCPOA placed strict limits lasting a decade or more on Iran’s enriched uranium stocks and resulted in the country shipping most of its excess uranium to Russia for destruction. The agreement restricted enrichment centrifuge manufacturing, plutonium reprocessing, nuclear weapons design and other related areas.

The deal also permitted the IAEA to enact the most intrusive monitoring scheme on the planet: seals, cameras, sensors, daily in-person inspections, and a mechanism to investigate suspected covert nuclear facilities.

When the deal went into force in January 2016, the IAEA certified that the Iranians were following its terms. And until mid-2019, Iran remained in compliance with the deal’s access requirements and safeguards on its enrichment centrifuges and declared uranium stockpile despite Trump pulling out of the JCPOA in May 2018.

But Iranian compliance began to unravel in 2019, according to the IAEA’s reports, which were issued on a roughly quarterly basis.

In July 2019, inspectors reported that Iran had accumulated enough low enriched uranium to break the JCOPA’s cap on nuclear material. That fall, Tehran resumed enrichment using advanced centrifuges in facilities where the agreement had banned such work.

Then in 2020, Iran blocked IAEA inspectors from accessing two locations suspected of being used for nuclear-related activities before the JCPOA was signed.

IAEA access was curtailed further after Iran’s parliament passed a law in December 2020 that slashed cooperation with the watchdog agency on enhanced monitoring and verification provisions. The law, passed in the wake of Israel killing a top Iranian scientist, also directed the acceleration of Tehran’s nuclear program — to include enriching uranium to 60% purity — unless the US reduced sanctions. 60% is a key threshold that enables rapid further processing into weapons-grade material.

Iran initially agreed to keep IAEA monitoring equipment installed and store the data locally, but that agreement collapsed in mid-2021 — that summer, the Iranians disabled monitoring cameras, destroying one, in a centrifuge workshop in Karaj before demanding the agency remove all its JCPOA monitoring equipment about a year later in June 2022.

Members of Iran’s security forces also intimidated IAEA inspectors through “excessively invasive physical searches” in 2021, the agency said.

The IAEA discovered an undeclared set of centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear facility in January 2023 that were enriching uranium up to 83.7% purity, a level nearing weapons grade (about 90%).

The discovery came when an experienced Russian inspector spotted a subtle change to centrifuge piping, the former US diplomat said. Months later, Iran kicked that inspector and several other IAEA uranium enrichment experts out of the country.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA’s chief, described the booting of the inspectors as a “very serious blow” to the agency’s ability to monitor Iran’s nuclear program.

The relationship deteriorated further in subsequent years, with Iran and the IAEA trading allegations of espionage.

The interference, continued enrichment and lack of candor regarding undeclared nuclear sites led the agency to pass a resolution declaring Iran in violation of its nonproliferation promises in June 2025. Israel launched strikes against Iran the day after the resolution passed, and the US bombed three key nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan less than two weeks later.

Iran’s representatives have disputed the IAEA claims in the past and sharply criticized Wednesday’s referral resolution that built upon the June 2025 finding. In their statement before the vote, the Iranians argued that the agency never “verified the diversion of nuclear materials.”

Tehran’s diplomats claimed that the US and other Western states sponsoring the Security Council referral “shed crocodile tears over proliferation while hypocritically evading even a simple verbal condemnation of unprecedented massive aggressions against peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities, brutal war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”

Since February 2026, when the US and Israel launched their air campaign against Iran, the IAEA has been unable to visit any Iranian nuclear facility other than the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Inspectors have not visited the nuclear facilities previously bombed by the US and Israel in June 2025, either. The lack of access compounds the early 2021 lapse of IAEA monitoring of centrifuge production, movement and installation.

IAEA officials have stressed that the inspection blackout broke the agency’s “continuity of knowledge” on Iran’s uranium, enrichment centrifuges and related items under the watchdog’s monitoring. That means it cannot vouch for the status, amount or location of those items.

Reestablishing that monitoring baseline poses a monumental task for the agency, according to experts who spoke with CNN.

Eric Brewer, a former National Security Council counterproliferation director who now researches nonproliferation at the Nuclear Threat Initiative nonprofit, told CNN that “the IAEA is starting from a pretty massive deficit when it comes to understanding the picture on the ground in Iran.”

“They would need to have much stronger monitoring and a much longer time to go back in and establish a new monitoring baseline to try to put the pieces of the puzzle back together,” Brewer said.

The Security Council will ultimately determine whether Iran will face new international consequences for its alleged violation of the non-proliferation treaty.

After the last such report in 2006, the body passed a series of resolutions that enabled crushing economic sanctions on Tehran.

But with the US currently taking military and economic action against Iran, it’s unclear what impact additional actions would have, and it’s unclear whether any Security Council resolutions on the matter would make it past the veto powers that Russia and China hold.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

CNN’s Arpita Dasika contributed research to this story.

Trump touts $5,000 payout if Republicans win as Vance waits in wings

2026-09-10T07:02:54.605Z / Reuters

Item 1 of 2 U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

[1/2]U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, U.S., September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• Plan could require congressional approval
• Vance’s convention speech seen as 2028 test run
• Republicans lean on Trump despite weak approval ratings

DALLAS, Sept 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump capped the first day of his Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention by proposing to pay every U.S. adult a $5,000 “Trump dividend” if his ​party wins November’s congressional elections.

Trump delivered the extraordinary overture during a primetime speech that lasted nearly two hours and firmly placed him at the ‌center of the midterm campaign at a time when his sagging approval ratings could weigh on Republicans’ chances.

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Vice President JD Vance will give the keynote address on Thursday night, though Trump is scheduled to make closing remarks to bring the made-for-television two-day event in Dallas to an end.

With Trump constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, Vance’s speech could serve as an early audition ​for the 2028 presidential election and offer clues about how he would lead a party reshaped by Trump.

It was not immediately clear how the $5,000 payments ​would work or whether they would be legal. The proposal would likely cost more than $1 trillion, with approximately 270 million ⁠U.S. adults, and could require the approval of Congress.

The convention’s focus on Trump – some Republicans have dubbed it “Trumpapalooza” – amounts to a risky bet that he can mobilize ​the voters who carried him to the presidency two years ago, despite opinion polls showing his popularity is at an all-time low.

But it remains to be seen whether ​his campaign-style speech will appeal to the critical swing voters who have drifted away from Trump’s party amid growing dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the war on Iran.

‘PRETEND THAT I’M ON THE BALLOT’

“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump said, a line that may have pleased Democratic campaign strategists just as much as MAGA voters.

Republican efforts ​got a boost from an unlikely source on Wednesday, when Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman appeared in a pretaped video segment introducing his “great friend,” fellow Pennsylvania Senator Dave ​McCormick, a Republican.

Fetterman said he would always “reject the extremes in socialism,” a comment that is likely to bolster Republican attacks on Democrats as too left-wing. Fetterman, who has increasingly broken ‌with his ⁠fellow Democrats, has nevertheless rejected speculation that he might leave the party.

Some vulnerable Republicans in tough races, perhaps mindful of tying themselves too closely to the unpopular Trump, elected to skip the affair, including Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

DEMOCRATS PORTRAYED AS ‘SOCIALISTS’ AND ‘COMMUNISTS’

While Republican officials had described the convention as an opportunity to tout Trump’s policies, most speakers focused on attacking Democrats as extreme on topics such as transgender women in sports and border security – political red meat ​for core Trump supporters.

Alabama state Representative Ernie ​Yarbrough, a convention attendee, said Trump ⁠needs to give voters a clearer sense of how long the war in Iran could last.

“People want to feel like we’re not getting stuck in an endless cycle,” he said.

Trump defended his decision to attack Iran, saying he acted to prevent ​Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. He also promised that oil prices would drop “as soon as we win the ​war with Iran,” which ⁠he vowed would happen soon.

But the conflict shows little sign of ending more than six months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and analysts have said Iran’s nuclear program has not been eliminated. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

Before Trump took the stage, a parade of speakers called Democrats “socialists” and “communists,” echoing one of Trump’s favorite ​attack lines. ​Democrats are “dangerous, radical and weird,” said Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chairman of the ​party’s Senate campaign arm.

The stakes are high for both parties. With the elections less than two months away, Republicans face the prospect of losing control of at least one chamber of Congress, with public ​polling showing Democrats more motivated to vote and Trump’s approval ratings deeply underwater.

Reporting by Nandita Bose, Steve Holland and Nathan Layne; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Howard Goller

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Nathan Layne is a correspondent on Reuters’ U.S. National Affairs team, where he reports on politics. From 2023 to 2024, he covered Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. He joined Reuters in Tokyo, where he spent 14 years reporting on Japanese business and politics, before moving to Chicago to cover the retail industry and later to New York to report on white-collar crime.