Iranian Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, a key figure in the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made the threat Monday as Mr. Trump weighs a resumption of U.S. attacks on Iran that would escalate America’s involvement in a widening Middle East conflict.

The Iranian threat may be bluster. But the general’s warning about new Iranian weapons capable of hitting previously protected U.S. bases comes just days after a major Pentagon inspector general report detailed the significant damage Iranian drones and ballistic missiles have already inflicted on American installations across the region.

Those Iranian threats will fuel suspicion that other American adversaries and members of the so-called “Axis of Authoritarians,” perhaps including China and Russia, may be helping Iran develop new weapons to target U.S. assets.

An expanding Middle East crisis that threatens international energy prices, an ambitious U.S. policy push in South America and growing concerns over AI are just a few of the key issues that will dominate the annual U.N. General Assembly. Foreign Affairs Correspondent Vaughn Cockayne will be reporting from New York City on this week’s convergence of world leaders.

A highly anticipated meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi at the White House on Thursday is likely to dominate media attention. But a slew of other major issues will be in the spotlight in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday, including the Russia-Ukraine and U.S.-Iran wars, an increasingly ambitious U.S. push for influence and partnerships in South America and growing concerns over AI.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he’ll meet with Mr. Trump on the sidelines. Iran’s president will also be in New York. It remains to be seen whether U.S. officials will meet with him directly or through mediating diplomats from Pakistan and Qatar, who will also be there. Interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez is also expected. The State Department has not confirmed whether she will have a direct meeting with Mr. Trump or Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

ExxonMobil, the largest U.S.-based oil and gas company, is betting billions that the southeast African nation of Mozambique can become one of the world’s next great sources of liquefied natural gas — and one far removed from the strategic vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz. 

The company and its partners recently awarded $1.1 billion worth of pre-investment contracts as part of the Rovuma liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s troubled Cabo Delgado region. The contracts mark a significant step toward a final investment decision on a project expected to involve roughly $30 billion.

Threat Status Special Correspondent Joseph Hammond examines the security complexity of the situation. Despite Mozambique’s potential, the threat posed by the Islamist insurgency Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a has repeatedly delayed the development of the country’s vast gas reserves. The Mozambican Islamic State affiliate was at one point strong enough to capture major towns before being driven back by the Mozambican military with international support.

A Chinese national in Panama is being sought by Beijing as part of the high-stakes geopolitical battle between the United States and China over control of the ports near both entryways to the strategic Panama Canal.

Prominent Chinese businessman Kenneth Liang Zhang is fighting an extradition request from China over allegations that he misappropriated funds from a Chinese Communist Party-linked company that lost out in a canceled bid to build a major new port on Margarita Island, near the Atlantic entrance to the canal.

The case is unfolding as part of the fight over Chinese control of the canal’s two ports and U.S. efforts to prevent Beijing from expanding its access to new, multibillion-dollar projects near the canal. National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz writes that Mr. Zhang’s situation reads like a lost verse from the Warren Zevon song about a troubled Havana gambler calling for lawyers, guns and money.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) was “established in the wake of 9/11 to serve as a critical conduit between the intelligence community and state, local, tribal and territorial governments,” writes Rep. August Pfluger, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence.

“Yet a persistent lack of understanding of I&A’s statutory role within the intelligence community has fueled mission creep, inconsistent oversight, politicization, civil liberties concerns, high turnover, low morale and significant training gaps for personnel. These failures have ultimately weakened the agency and eroded public trust,” Mr. Pfluger writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times.

“To preserve what makes I&A uniquely valuable, the agency must be reformed. Law enforcement officials, federal stakeholders and community leaders broadly agree that I&A must become a more agile, focused and field-oriented agency,” he writes. “That is why the House of Representatives passed my I&A Mission Reorientation Act of 2026, legislation that would update I&A’s statutory responsibility to clearly define its focus, reinforce accountability and improve operational effectiveness.”

• Sept. 21-23 — 2026 Concordia Annual Summit in New York City, Concordia

• Sept. 22-23 — Nuclear Energy Policy Summit 2026, Atlantic Council

• Sept. 22-28 — U.N. General Assembly General Debate, United Nations

• Sept. 24 — Ending Self-Imposed Scarcity: Expanding Defense Production with New Technology and Techniques, Hudson Institute

• Sept. 24 — Ensuring Economic and Energy Security: Opportunities for U.S.-Japan Leadership, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Sept. 24 — 2026 Intel Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Oct. 12-14 — AUSA Annual Meeting and Expo, Association of the U.S. Army

• Nov. 20-22 — Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, HFX