Rubio boots Iranian UN delegation from US ahead of schedule

The FlyDubai co-pilot attacker passed "loophole" that restricts pilots flying to Israel cannot be from countries with which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday morning.

"Well, he was an Omani national and we have constraints that say you can't have pilots from countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel," Netanyahu told "Fox & Friends" in an exclusive interview. "So obviously he was able to go through that. So there's a loophole there: How to make sure that we screened pilots in advance.

"And that's what we did, by the way, with the pilots that came to take our passengers from Saudi Arabia to Israel: We checked their background, but obviously there was a loophole here, and we're taking care of that, among other things."

Netanyahu said Israel is getting "full cooperation of the Emirati government."

"So we're both interested in making sure this doesn't happen again, and it might be attempted again because we have indications that Iran and its proxies are trying to conduct attacks against Israel and Israelis right now in this election season," Netanyahu continued.

"And, therefore, I asked Israelis to be on special alert, but we're going to we're going to probably draw a lot of, conclusions from this investigation and, tighten up the security.

"We always try to do that. We do a pretty good job."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards killed six members of what state media described as a “terrorist” group Thursday in the country’s restive southeast.

The killings took place in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, an impoverished region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan that is frequently hit by clashes involving security forces, armed groups, Sunni militants and separatists.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said security forces discovered and confiscated explosive packages, but did not identify the six "terrorists" killed or provide further details.

Tehran has accused some armed groups in the region of ties to foreign powers and involvement in cross-border smuggling.

Haalvsh, a human rights group that monitors Sistan-Baluchistan, said fighting between military and security forces and armed individuals began Thursday morning.

The report comes as Iran reviews a U.S. response to its latest proposal to revive the collapsed Gulf ceasefire and prepares for the possible resumption of large-scale U.S. military attacks after seven months of conflict that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says early investigations have revealed an "Islamist radical indoctrination" in the FlyDubai co-pilot's history.

"And as, you know, the attacker, the copilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated, but here's what we do know: First, we know that, he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination," Netanyahu told "Fox & Friends" in an exclusive interview Thursday morning.

"That appears to be something we're gathering from the information – his personal information."

Netanyahu said it was clear that the co-pilot was suicidal, but it will be known "within a matter of days" whether the attacker had confirmable ties to Iran.

"If you couple that with the what I just told you about the Islamist tendencies, that radicalization that are found in his background, I think that's – that'll give us the a pretty good clue," he said. "But again, I don't make final conclusions yet. But that's the indications we have now."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials are investigating whether a co-pilot believed to have been radicalized had any connection to Iran, but cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions.

“We're looking into that, so I can't draw conclusions yet,” Netanyahu told "Fox & Friends" in an exclusive interview Thursday morning. “It looks like he had been radicalized.”

Netanyahu said investigators were still examining whether the co-pilot had ties to Iran or anyone else.

“I think it's too early to say whether he had any connections with Iran or with anyone else,” Netanyahu said. “It's too early to say that, but we'll be able to say that very definitely – I think very fairly definitively, not fairly – I think we'll be able to say definitively within a matter of days.”

Netanyahu said it was clear that the co-pilot was suicidal.

"If you couple that with the what I just told you about the Islamist tendencies, that radicalization that are found in his background, I think that's – that'll give us the a pretty good clue," he said. "But again, I don't make final conclusions yet. But that's the indications we have now."

Iranian leaders are increasingly concerned about domestic unrest as war pressure builds, but Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed Tehran would never “shy away from dialogue,” Tasnim reported.

"We have never shied away from talks, and we never will, although the United States has targeted our country three times despite having signed an agreement," the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.

Despite the claim of diplomatic interest, Pezeshkian played the victim last week at the United Nations General Assembly.

That came days before a seven-day peace proposal was rejected by President Donald Trump and a reported attack on a U.K. base with ties to a "foreign actor" and a radical Omani was restrained in trying to down a commercial airliner in Israel.

A former senior reformist Iranian official told Reuters that the leadership fears a repeat of the nationwide protests that erupted in January, when worsening economic conditions triggered unrest across the country.

“Facing unrest at home – while the system is under U.S. pressure and bombs – could pose a very serious challenge to the legitimacy of the ruling establishment,” he said.

Authorities crushed the January demonstrations, killing thousands of protesters, President Donald Trump has reminded Iranian apologists.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Iran’s leadership is weighing whether its economy can withstand a prolonged confrontation under a U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that has cut off oil exports, Reuters reported Thursday.

Years of sanctions, wartime pressure and mounting hardship have placed growing strain on ordinary Iranians — and on Tehran’s clerical rulers.

“Iran cannot afford continuation of U.S. blockades that could be a major game changer essentially taking the oxygen out of the lungs of the regime ... escalation at this point is conceivable,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute.

The pressure comes as Iran weighs both diplomacy and escalation, with commanders preparing a wider response if the U.S. renews large-scale attacks.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Iran is preparing a broader and more forceful response if the United States launches another major attack, Reuters reported Thursday, even as Tehran hopes to keep a diplomatic channel open.

“They seem determined not to respond symbolically to a symbolic move and instead to escalate in the hope of reestablishing deterrence,” said Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Commanders are reviewing plans to expand potential targets beyond U.S.-linked assets to countries that support American military operations — and possibly to locations outside the Middle East, sources told Reuters.

Iran has instructed allied groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq to be ready to support Tehran if the U.S. resumes large-scale attacks, two Iranian officials told Reuters.

The guidance was to prepare for a coordinated response stretching “from the Strait of Hormuz to U.S. interests in the region and outside the Middle East,” the officials said.

The planning comes after seven months of conflict that began with U.S.-Israeli attacks Feb. 28. A ceasefire ended the 40-day war in April, but hostilities have continued sporadically since.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Trump administration has told France and Germany to release emergency diesel or risk a possible U.S. diesel export ban, Reuters reported Thursday, as Washington looks to ease global fuel prices during the Iran war.

The U.S. wants the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel over the next six months, according to one source close to the discussions.

The Trump administration has been particularly frustrated with France and Germany, which U.S. officials believe have not fully followed through on earlier commitments to release emergency oil and petroleum stocks.

"It is in Europe’s best interest to work with the United States as we pursue multiple pathways to boost the supply of refined products and lower costs for consumers," a U.S. official told Reuters.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters Wednesday that the administration expected announcements soon from Europe about new diesel supplies.

"We've ​lost some diesel ​exports from the ⁠Middle East, although we're restoring those, and we've lost diesel exports from China," he said. "So that's a lot ​of interruptions."

The demand underscores the widening economic fallout from the conflict, which has disrupted energy flows and intensified pressure on governments to stabilize fuel markets.

Three people close to the discussions told Reuters that the administration has warned Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories or face the prospect of restrictions on U.S. diesel exports.

The pressure campaign comes as diesel markets remain tight globally, with the war adding stress to already strained supply chains and threatening higher costs for consumers, shippers and industry.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The EU Commission, France, Italy, Ireland and Britain are holding a call on the possible need to release diesel stocks, an EU official said Thursday.

A Commission spokesperson had earlier declined direct comment on reports the Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help to ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Chinese refiners have suspended oil product exports for October as Beijing moves to protect domestic fuel stocks, Reuters reported Thursday.

The move would further tighten global markets already strained by the Iran war.

China began its weeklong holiday without giving major refiners approval to export fuel products beyond Hong Kong and Macau in October, four sources told Reuters. It was unclear whether Beijing would allow exports to resume after the holiday ends Oct. 7.

The pause affects a major refining hub at a moment when global markets are already grappling with lost supplies tied to the Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining infrastructure.

“It highlights that the government’s focus remains domestic supply security. International markets are an afterthought,” said Michal Meidan, head of China energy research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

State oil giant PetroChina canceled some gasoline and jet fuel shipments planned for October, while Zhejiang Petrochemical did not schedule oil product shipments during the holiday week, sources told Reuters.

Beijing had restricted fuel exports in March after the Iran war disrupted Middle Eastern crude supplies, then eased those curbs in July. But falling domestic inventories and uncertainty over crude availability have pushed China back toward stockpiling.

The move follows President Donald Trump’s recent appeal to Chinese President Xi Jinping to help stabilize global fuel supplies. It also comes as Washington presses Europe to release emergency diesel stocks, warning France and Germany they could face a possible U.S. diesel export ban if they refuse.

Reuters contributed to this report.

A French warship escorted 10 ships through Bab El-Mandeb Strait over last week as part of the EU's Red Sea mission, an army spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday.

France is still clarifying with Saudi partners the requirements for a military mission to secure energy infrastructure, the spokesperson Xavier Rival added.

Reuters contributed to this report.