In public, Iran’s surviving leaders have defiantly refused to negotiate with President Trump to end the American and Israeli assault on their country. But a day after the attacks began, operatives from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence reached out indirectly to the C.I.A. with an offer to discuss terms for ending the conflict, according to officials briefed on the outreach.

U.S. officials are skeptical — at least in the short term — that either the Trump administration or Iran is really ready for an offramp, the officials briefed on the outreach said.

Still, the offer, which was made through another country’s spy agency, raises critical questions about whether any Iranian officials could put into place a cease-fire agreement with the Tehran government in chaos as its leaders are methodically picked off by Israeli strikes.

The offer was described on the condition of anonymity to The New York Times by Middle Eastern officials and officials from a Western country. (NY Times – Continue Reading)

A senior Iranian official said Wednesday that Tehran would hold a public ceremony for citizens to pay their respects following the death of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah ​Ali Khamenei, according to state media.

Hojjatoleslam Mahmoudi, head of ⁠Iran’s Islamic Propagation Council, said the farewell ceremony ‌would continue for three days and the funeral ⁠procession will be announced later.

The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini ‌Prayer Hall starting at 10pm (1830 GMT) on Wednesday but was "postponed", state media said, without elaborating further. (France24 – Continue Reading)

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) on Wednesday declared force majeure on ​its contracts because it is not ‌able to ship, a spokesperson said.

"It's because what's happening in the Strait of ​Hormuz, we are not able ​to ship. So we're producing, but ⁠the metal is here in ​Alba," the spokesperson told Reuters.

Alba, which ​has one of the world's biggest aluminium smelters, produced 1.62 million metric tons of ​aluminium in 2025, according to ​its website. (Reuters – Continue Reading)

Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura, which houses its largest ​domestic refinery and a key crude export terminal, was targeted by ‌an attempted drone attack on Wednesday, a Saudi defense ministry spokesperson said on X, two days after a drone attack on the complex shut the refinery.

The attack ​resulted in no damage, the spokesman said. The Saudi state news ​agency also cited an energy ministry source as saying that ⁠there was no disruption to supplies.

Three separate sources told Reuters that Ras ​Tanura had been struck, but did not provide details on any damage. (Reuters – Continue Reading)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump’s plan to increase a 10% universal tariff up to 15% will likely be done this week.

“That’s likely sometime this week,” Bessent said on CNBC in response to a question about when the increase to 15% would be implemented. (Bloomberg – Continue Reading)