🌅 COMBATE Morning Roundup | September 24, 2026

• Bessent: Iran will "yell uncle" — The US Treasury secretary said Tehran's capitulation is only a matter of time — "a week, a month or two months" — naming three outcomes: the government turns on itself, an uprising, or a deal Iran sticks to.

• Air blockade tightens around Iran — Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan refused overflight to an Iranian airliner bound for Dushanbe, forcing it back to Tehran; Beijing said it will not enforce US sanctions on Iranian flights as carriers cut routes to Baghdad, Muscat and Baku.

• WSJ: China fed Iran's war machine — Customs records show some 1,300 dual-use shipments from China to Iran's Defense Ministry in H1 2026 — electronics, GPS devices, motors — plus 39 Mahan Air cargo flights in the week after the US naval blockade.

• Eight US sailors attempted suicide aboard carrier that fought Iran — The Navy confirmed the attempts in the USS Abraham Lincoln group after more than six months at sea without a port call; one sailor jumped overboard and was rescued.

• Pakistan bombs Kandahar in new Afghanistan wave — Jets and drones struck 10 sites across three provinces, reaching Afghanistan's second city, in reply to drone attacks blamed on Kabul; an Afghan government source said four people were killed.

• Xi tells Washington: partners, not rivals — China's president opened a three-day state visit, his first in 11 years, saying China's revival and America's "greatness" can advance together, as the "Busan" trade truce was extended to January 10.

• Moscow warns it will answer US nuclear tests — Zakharova called Washington's preparations a "direct threat" to the moratorium in force since 1992 and said Russia will respond if others test first.

• Kiev struck hours after Trump-Zelensky talks — Russia hit a plant making drone parts and robotic systems and took four more settlements; Erdoğan urged Zelensky to stop attacks on Black Sea merchant ships.

• Israel bars Arab lists from October vote — The elections committee disqualified Ra'am and the Joint List 18-5, pending Supreme Court review; a poll gives the opposition 52 seats to Netanyahu's 51, neither a majority.

• Katz: the Golan is Israeli "for eternity" — Answering al-Sharaa's UN claim the plateau "will remain Syrian," Israel's defense minister ruled out any withdrawal and branded Erdoğan a "paper sultan" over the Mecca defense pact.

• Hormuz toll: Indian sailor killed in "torpedo attack" — An Indian national died when his ship was torpedoed off Oman with 28 crew rescued; an IRGC-linked channel posted footage of "the ship targeted by Iran in Hormuz."

• Seven Ethiopian groups unite to oust Abiy — UPDATE: As the African Union condemned Tigray authorities amid spreading clashes, a coalition including the TPLF announced it seeks to remove the prime minister's government.

📖 Full report: https://telegra.ph/COMBATE-Digest---combate-20260924-1200Z-09-24

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