US Politics Live Updates: Iran offers $42k bounty for killing US soldiers

The upcoming October 27 elections in Israel could prove a fatal roadblock in the path of peace in Gaza and Lebanon.

US negotiator and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Board of Peace representatives, are reportedly set to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu this week after sitting down with Hamas leadership in Egypt.

Netanyahu recently rejected a recent peace plan proposed by the Board, demanding a complete disarmament of Hamas before Israeli forces withdraw from parts of occupied Gaza, where attacks continue despite an ostensible ceasefire.

His right-wing coalition is under pressure at the polls, with his domestic partners demanding Netanyahu refuse to commit to any peace proposal, while internationally his relationship with Trump is growing strained.

Netanyahu and his allies are attempting now to position him as the only leader capable of defending Israel, despite questions over the security failures that led to the October 7 attacks.

After regional Arab nations on the weekend issued a statement demanding Israel work constructively toward a peace, the government showed off its hardline stance.

His Likud party responded to the statement by claiming “Arab states want to topple” Netanyahu and that centrist challenger Gadi Eisenkot and centre-left party leader Yair Golan “will give them everything they want. That will not happen.”

Iranian authorities say its space program remains operational despite war damage, according to local media.

Hassan Salarieh, head of the Iranian Space Agency, said satellite communications and remote-sensing services continued, along with several domestic projects, according to IRNA.

He said private companies and universities in the country were also developing their own technologies.

Iran has launched multiple satellites into orbit, which are providing data Salarieh said was being used to agriculture, water management, environmental monitoring, communications, and disaster relief.

Iran also has control of military space technology, including widely-reported usage of a Chinese-built satellite during the war to target American assets.

A US missionary who was captured and held hostage in Niger for nine months has been reunited with his wife after being released, Trump has said.

Kevin Rideout was freed on the weekend after he was kidnapped by unknown men in the capital Niamey on October 21 last year.

Rideout worked for SIM International, a US-based missionary organisation which claims it has a presence in 70 countries around the world.

“I am happy to reveal that former hostage Kevin Rideout is getting ready to fly home to the United States after having been reunited with his beautiful wife, Krista,” Trump said on Truth Social, with an accompanying photo of the couple.

“This return marks the 110th captive American liberated since I was sworn in as President for a second time.

“I look forward to seeing Kevin and Krista at the White House soon!”

It was previously reported Rideout had been released into FBI custody, though it has not been reported what the terms of his release were, or who had held him captive.

Trump claimed to have intervened to help secure Rideout’s release, but the FBI declined to comment to CNN.

Citrinowicz also said reports of a rift among Iran’s leadership - a prominent complaint from high-ups in the White House - should not be over-emphasised.

“Internal disputes certainly exist, but it is not necessarily possible to infer from them that the Iranian leadership is divided on the principles guiding its policy toward Washington,” he said.

He said the White House had shown signs of acceptance that it could not forcibly change the Iranian regime at this time.

Danny Citrinowicz, a security expert who was the head of the Iran desk for Israeli intelligence, says it is clear Iran is “not interested in an endless war”.

“It seeks to reach a diplomatic solution, but one that will preserve the gains it has accumulated in the campaign and will not require it to relinquish fundamental principles in its ideological and strategic outlook,” he wrote on X.

“If an agreement is not offered to it that meets these conditions, it seems that the Iranians will be prepared to risk returning to confrontation with the United States.”

But, he said, the US administration appeared unsure about deciding on a course of compromise or escalation, opting for a “middle path” of ongoing economic pressure.

“However, such pressure may burden Iran and improve the American bargaining position, but on its own, it is not expected to lead to Iranian capitulation,” Citrinowicz wrote.

Iran has executed another prisoner accused of attacking police during mass protests in the country earlier this year.

Semi-official news outlet Tasnim said Shahram Sadeghi had been accused of driving a car into police officers during a protest in Karaj on January 8, injuring seven.

Sadeghi was sentenced to death after being convicted under Iran’s espionage laws of acting for Israel and the US in doing so.

He was executed Sunday, local time.

Australia last week joined dozens of mostly-European countries in a statement calling for Iran to release people arrested over the protests.

Trump has praised a NATO-style mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey.

“Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” he said.

“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way.

“Congratulations to the Great Leadership of the three Nations mentioned. THIS IS A BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP — WOW!”

Trump has been an advocate for independent national defence and Middle Eastern cooperation, though some observers have suggested Saudi Arabia’s recent expansion of its defence pacts reflect a loss of US prestige and power in the Middle East.

Iran is pushing Qatar to allow its investigators into the country amid repeated claims that Qatar is holding several Iranian pilots captive.

“Instead of denying the matter and creating restrictions on the path to finding the truth, the Qatari government should allow the fact-finding and expert team of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force to travel to Qatar,” Brigadier General Mohammad Baqerzadeh told Iranian state television.

The pilots went missing after their jets were downed in March.

Qatar has denied holding the pilots captive.

Iran has regularly targeted its regional neighbours, including Qatar, in so-called reprisal strikes during the war with the US, but this is the only accusation Tehran has made about captured fighters.

Trump says that during his presidency, North Korea has been “unthreatening and respectful”.

Its neighbours might disagree.

Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un three times in his first term.

While the mere fact of a sitdown between the two leaders was historic, no meaningful change in the relationship, or North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, eventuated.

North Korea recently resumed ballistic weapons testing, which the UN has tried to ban the nation from undertaking.

Earlier this month, South Korea, the US, and Japan reported the launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea in its first such test since late June.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has claimed North Korea has furnished the Russian military with tens of thousands of troops on multiple occasions since Moscow launched its 2022 invasion.