Putin offers to help end Iran war as Trump touts ‘productive discussions’ with Tehran

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The European Parliament adopted a resolution Thursday calling for greater vigilance and EU action against Islamist entryism, which lawmakers warned threatens democratic institutions, social cohesion and European values.

The measure passed 381-167, with 15 abstentions, and calls for a standardized EU method to identify entryist tactics, including opaque financing, institutional doublespeak and political manipulation.

Lawmakers also called for stricter oversight and traceability of EU funding.

The resolution urged the European Council to assess whether Brotherhood-affiliated entities and networks meet the criteria for terrorist designation and EU sanctions.

A new State Department Trafficking in Persons report has held Iran at Tier 3, finding that Tehran does not meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.

The report, released Thursday, accused Iranian officials of perpetrating and condoning trafficking crimes with impunity and maintaining a policy or pattern of forcibly recruiting children into armed groups.

According to the report, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia recruit Iranian children, as well as vulnerable Afghan, Pakistani and Syrian migrants. The IRGC announced a recruitment campaign in March 2026 that set the minimum age at 12 for certain security activities.

Iran also provides material support to Yemen's Houthi rebels, a non-state armed group that uses child soldiers, the report said.

Oil prices jumped on supply concerns after a series of attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, along with a decline in U.S. oil production caused by hurricane activity moving toward the Gulf of America.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude oil futures settled up 3.6% and 4.1%, respectively, Reuters reported.

According to The Associated Press, Brent crude rose to nearly $106 a barrel in the morning before President Donald Trump sent prices tumbling after saying “productive discussions” were taking place with Iran and that the U.S. would not attack the country before the midterms.

Trumps remarks sent Brent crude falling toward $103 a barrel before prices eventually rebounded.

Britain's Green Party has adopted a controversial motion declaring "Zionism is racism," putting its Jewish leader, Zack Polanski, under fresh scrutiny this week as he faces an electoral test in London.

The resolution, passed at the party's annual conference, comes as Green Party polling has plunged from 21% to 11%, while Polanski's personal favorability rating has fallen to minus 29.

Polanski, who initially transformed the Greens from an environmental movement into a broader far-left political force with a strong anti-Israel agenda, now faces a "moment of truth" in the Holborn and St Pancras special election, following former Prime Minister Keir Starmer's departure, according to The Times of Israel.

His party's earlier surge in membership and polling has faded, raising questions about whether its ideological shift has alienated mainstream voters, the outlet said

Iran declared Thursday that it won't cease uranium enrichment, according to Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Reuters reported.

Dismissing U.S. requests regarding Iran's nuclear facilities as "nothing new," Eslami said enrichment was "an inseparable part" of the nuclear process.

"Enrichment is an integral part of the nuclear process, and we will not abandon it in any way. How can you claim to have a nuclear industry if you don't have the starting point of the process? The nuclear industry is the driving force of science and technology," Eslami added, according to state media.

Iran's nuclear program is a key sticking point in the conflict and a major obstacle to reaching a diplomatic agreement.

Eslami’s remarks came as President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States was having productive discussions with Iran.

A further attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport Thursday prompted U.S. Embassy security warnings, travel restrictions for government personnel, and widespread flight cancellations, with some carriers suspending service for several days.

The U.S. Embassy warned of disruptions, including potential airspace closures and travel delays.

“The Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including against civilian airports, and the military conflict has the potential to escalate,” the embassy stated on X.

The alert also advised U.S. citizens to avoid the Yemen border and announced that U.S. government employees now require special authorization to use the Riyadh airport.

Government personnel remain barred from traveling within 20 miles of the border and need approval to visit Jizan, Asir, and Najran provinces, as well as Qatif, Yanbu, and Taif, the alert said.

Flightradar24 reported hundreds of canceled flights, with carriers such as Lufthansa suspending multi-day service and IndiGo canceling all Riyadh flights through Oct. 9. 

Air India also says it has canceled flights to and from Riyadh until Saturday amid escalating missile attacks by the Houthis.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that an empty Saudia commercial aircraft parked at a terminal was heavily damaged by fire.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 17 tankers and their owners Thursday as part of Operation Economic Outcast, aimed at dismantling Iran’s remaining shadow fleet network.

In a statement, Treasury said the ships had carried millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemicals to markets in South and East Asia.

The network spanned more than a dozen jurisdictions and relied on international front companies, Treasury said in a statement.

“Today’s action effectively neutralizes the vast majority of Iran’s remaining shadow fleet network.”

“Treasury is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime’s oil sales,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“No enabler of Iranian sanctions evasion is safe from the full force of Treasury’s authorities.”

The sanctioned vessels included the Cameroon-flagged Shenzhen, which Treasury said had transported more than 3.5 million barrels of Iranian crude oil since November 2025, and the Vanuatu-flagged Tina 5, which had carried more than 1.5 million barrels in August.

The Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday that two more Hamas terrorists have been taken out in the Gaza Strip. 

"ELIMINATED: Muhammad Muhsen Nimr Yazji, a commander in the Shati Battalion of Hamas’ military wing, who was involved in holding hostages in the Gaza City area," the IDF wrote on X. "Additionally, in the Sabra area, Muhammad Fawzi Muhammad Awad Gamal, a terrorist in the Daraj Tuffah Battalion of Hamas’ military wing, was eliminated." 

The IDF said both men "advanced attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops and operated to restore Hamas’ capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire," and they they "were eliminated in order to remove the threat they posed." 

U.S. Central Command said Thursday that "in recent months, U.S. forces have supported the shipment of over 1.25 billion barrels of crude oil from Gulf partners and through the Strait of Hormuz. 

"In contrast, Iran has not shipped any barrels because of America's ironclad blockade on Iranian ports," it wrote on X.  

CENTCOM revealed earlier this week that 130 ships have been redirected as part of the blockade. 

"The U.S. military remains intensely focused on this mission, Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. "We will swiftly act against any vessels trying to run the blockade. Our forces are highly trained, professional, and lethal." 

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said Thursday that a crude oil tanker has been struck while traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. 

The incident, in which the tanker was hit by an "unknown projectile," happened on Wednesday, according to the UKMTO. 

"There have been no reported casualties. Damage assessment and environmental impact are unknown at time of report," it added. 

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. military "will not be attacking Iran" in the leadup to November's midterm elections. 

"We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran. I want to make it clear to everybody that, while Iran is in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily, and while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, with Oil flowing in Record Numbers of Barrels through the Hormuz Strait (22 Million Barrels, last night alone, with not one barrel coming from, or going to, Iran!), we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd," Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

"IRAN WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" the president also declared. 

A White House official told Fox News on Thursday that "President Trump holds all the cards and will do whatever is best for the United States" when asked to respond to reporting about potential strikes against Iran. 

The remark comes after The Atlantic, citing two administration officials, reported Wednesday that “The White House has asked the Pentagon to develop strike options against Iranian targets that could be exercised ahead of the midterms.” 

“The Commander-in-Chief has all options available at any time. The United States is in a very strong position with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian economy collapsing," the White House official said. 

"Iran has been decimated, and things will go one of two ways; the easy way or the hard way," the official added. 

Fox News' Patrick Ward contributed to this post. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down Thursday in accusing Israel of waging a genocide in Gaza after being criticized over a statement he released yesterday on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks while also being called a "traitor" by anti-Israel protesters.

Mamdani, during the anniversary of the attacks on Wednesday, released a statement saying three years ago, "on that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others.

"We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss," Mamdani said. "The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children," he continued.

Mamdani later was heckled by anti-Israel protesters as he attended a vigil for the Oct. 7, 2023, victims, despite being a longtime critic of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza.

"I was proud to attend last night's vigil, as I did last year, to listen to testimonies from family members of those who were killed on Oct. 7 and those who've been killed in the three years since, and all of whom united in a vision for peace and an end to the genocide in Gaza. And when we're speaking of that genocide, we're speaking of one that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in the last three years," Mamdani told reporters Thursday. "As for those protesting me, I am the mayor of New York City, and this is what I signed up for.

"And I've been very clear, both as a candidate as well as the mayor of our city, of my firm belief that we have to extend human rights to all people and that has to include Palestinians. And that as Americans, we have a special responsibility, given our federal government's complicity in funding so much of the weaponry that has been used over these last three years," Mamdani continued.

"And we also know that when we are commemorating the anniversary, three years of horrific war crimes, three years since Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted hundreds more, three years of an anniversary that has brought unthinkable devastation to so many that also the Israeli government used and continues to use that day, those war crimes, as a justification for an ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

“This is something that has shattered the lives of so many New Yorkers, whether in those who I was standing alongside at the vigil, recounting their own family members who were killed, or reading the testimonies of Palestinians whose family members have been killed, or the then-Palestinian New Yorkers that I met soon after that vigil who shared with me — for example, a Palestinian-Christian nurse here in New York City sharing with me that she lost 17 of her family members when the Israeli military bombed a church," Mamdani said. "It has devastated people's lives across our city."

Fox News Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this post.

U.S. Central Command said it held a meeting Thursday with international shipping partners to discuss the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where ships continue to be targeted during the U.S.-Iran war.

"Leaders highlighted building momentum for freedom of navigation as commercial traffic flow increases," CENTCOM wrote on X. 

"Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, thanked industry leaders and other U.S. government agencies for their continued support and acknowledged the sacrifices made by civilian crews due to unwarranted Iranian attacks," it added. 

U.S. Central Command said the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is returning home to San Diego, California, on Thursday following its "historic deployment to the Middle East" during Operation Epic Fury. 

"Over 5,000 Sailors and Marines supported thousands of combat flights and sailed more than 90,000 miles," CENTCOM said on X. "Congratulations on the well-deserved reunion with loved ones!" 

The ship spent more than 300 days at sea during the deployment. 

“What the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group did, no other carrier strike group has ever done,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday. “10,000 sorties, 23,000 combat flight hours, almost 4,000 combat sorties, 1.5 million pounds of ordnance dropped on the enemy,” he added.  

Fox News Digital's Emma Bussey contributed to this post. 

The Saudi General Directorate of Civil Defense said Thursday that buildings in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh have suffered damage after a ballistic missile was intercepted.

“Shrapnel fallout resulting from the interception of a ballistic missile in Riyadh city caused material damage to a children's nursery and a medical clinic complex,” it wrote on X.

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen claimed earlier Thursday that it launched a ballistic missile attack against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed Thursday that the U.S. military has lost more aircraft during the war than the Congressional Research Service has reported. 

"In May, the Congressional Research Service admitted that Iran’s Armed Forces had taken out 42 U.S. military aircraft. Now: 81. Real toll is far higher," Araghchi wrote on X. 

The aircraft that were lost included some of the military's most advanced fighters and critical support aircraft, as well as dozens of drones, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in its report. 

CRS, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress that provides research and analysis to lawmakers and congressional committees, identified 12 F-15E Strike Eagles, an F-35A Lightning II, seven KC-135 refueling tankers, an E-3 Sentry airborne warning-and-control aircraft and 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones among those lost or damaged since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, 2026. 

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this post. 

Multiple sources told Reuters on Thursday that smoke was seen rising from an aircraft at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following a reported Houthi attack.

The aircraft is believed to be empty, three people briefed on the matter said to Reuters.

Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said in a post on X that “We intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh.”