22 September 2026
Iran War
Unknown projectiles hit two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Two crew members were injured in the first attack. Both ships will continue to their next port of call, suggesting minimal damage.
The United States refused visas for the Iranian president’s delegation as he travels to the United Nations General Assembly meeting. This includes members of his communications team. The United States will likely also restrict the delegation’s visas, as it did last year. This would include limiting travel and shopping.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Iranian airlines will be unable to operate abroad as of 23 September due to US sanctions. Bessent was quoted as saying: “If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system.” Iraq announced that it will suspend flights from Iran because of the new sanctions. Turkish Airlines also said it will suspend all flights to Iran until at least March 2027.
Global diesel prices rose in both Europe and the United States and hit record highs. The average price in the US is $6.51 a gallon.
G7 foreign ministers urge Iran to stop arming the Houthi rebels in Yemen, ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting today. The statement warned of an “unacceptable threat to regional stability and security, to global energy security as well as to navigational rights and freedoms, and maritime security in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.” Yesterday, DefenceReport published an article on the deepening relations between the Houthi, AQAP and al-Shabaab, which also puts more pressure on the Red Sea,
Yemen
The UK agreed to Saudi Arabia’s request to provide air-to-air refuelling for Saudi fighter jets, but only for ‘defensive’ operations. The UK will provide air refuelling for aircraft that are defending Saudi Arabia from incoming drones and missiles and not aircraft striking against the Houthis.
Iraq
The Iraqi government is going back to its hard deadline of 30 September for armed factions to surrender their weapons. Iranian-backed militias have been against the disarmament and have been attempting to impose their own conditions.
Iraqi Ground Forces Commander Qassim al-Mohammedi called for all non-Iraqi armed groups to leave Sinjar, and added that the remaining Iraqi Yazidi fighters could join the country’s security forces. This coincided with efforts by Iraq’s prime minister to bring all armed groups under state authority. Sinjar is a Yazidi-majority district in northern Nineveh province, and since ISIS has been driven from the region, other armed groups have become active.
Ukraine-Russia War
The European Union failed to finalize their Russia sanctions deal, which would renew sanctions against nearly 3,000 Russia-linked individuals and entities. Negotiations continue just hours before the measures expire. The impasse follows weeks of disputes between most EU members and France and Slovakia, who want to remove sanctions from two Russian businessmen. Latvia appears to be the only country withholding support for a proposed compromise, as it opposed removing Uzbek-Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov from the sanctions list.
Ukraine’s 1020th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment has released a video showing the new Ukrainian STING S jet-powered interceptor shooting down a Geran-5 jet-powered drone. Russia has been increasing the number of jet-powered Geran-5s it produces and has been able to circumvent Ukraine’s air defences. This new interceptor may be what Ukraine needs to counter Russia’s latest evolution of the Geran drone.
Canada-United States Trade War
As part of the trade war with Canada, President Trump announced a deal with Belarus to import potash fertilizer. Trump claimed that the prices would be much better than what Canada would offer. Critics quickly denounced Trump for considering making a deal with a dictatorship in Europe and a staunch ally of the Kremlin. It all backfired when Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said that there were no available volumes of potash to send to the US.
Montreal-based CAE Inc. says it secured a $300 million contract to continue training US Air Force crews on the C-130 Hercules military transport plane. The company has trained the US Air Force since 2018, but the ban on Canadian companies from government procurement put that deal in question. Questions linger about whether the presidential order covers services, not just goods.
Greenland
Reports say the US will re-establish the Bluie West One Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up another on the east coast, now used by the Danish dog sled patrol, under the new security deal. The text of the agreement has not been made public, and the new deal is expected to be signed at 10:30 ET today.
European Union
A new report from the European Court of Auditors found that the European Cybersecurity Alert System is not operational because of procurement delays. The system also lacks cooperation agreements, a common classification system and technical standards needed to get the alert system running. The Auditors also found that the Achilles heel of the system is poor information-sharing among its members.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Confirmed Ebola cases have risen to 7,672 with 3,699 deaths according to the country’s National Public Health Institute. It has become the largest Ebola epidemic on record for the country and the second-largest globally. The 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak had 28,600 reported cases and 11,325 deaths.
Social Media Wires
The new STING S interceptor
Attacks on Houthi positions
Featured Photo: “2005 Iranian arms expo”, Mehr News, Wikimedia Commons 2026
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The Wires Brief is a daily breaking-news report that incorporates wire service news and social media updates. DefRep cannot verify the authenticity of social media reporters nor the accuracy of social media updates. Feature photos are altered with grayscale and cropping.