Mr. Trump revealed Tuesday that U.S. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met for roughly three hours with Iranian officials in New York ahead of his speech at the General Assembly, during which he threatened to drive Iran “into hell” if the regime refuses to drop its nuclear ambitions.

The president stressed during his speech that he would not allow the U.S. midterm elections to dictate whether he strikes a deal with Iran or moves to “annihilate” the Middle Eastern country.

“I have a big decision to make,” Mr. Trump told the annual gathering of world leaders. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

NATO members have become more united in pushing back against Russian sabotage and other dangerous “gray zone” threats confronting the alliance, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, who told Threat Status in an exclusive interview that U.S.-European counterintelligence cooperation is helping to “prevent some of the plots” attempted by the Kremlin.

Mr. Budrys, the top diplomat for a crucial frontline NATO state, cited a recent incident at Germany’s Leipzig airport as one that brought Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics into clear focus. Officials discovered drones strapped with explosives at the airport last month in what Western investigators believe was likely an attempt to destroy cargo plane deliveries to Ukraine.

In a wide-ranging discussion with Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward, the Lithuanian foreign minister said “awareness” of the uptick in Russian subterfuge has stirred deep concern among political leaders of Baltic and Nordic countries. Until recently, Mr. Budrys said, “further to the West, in Europe, there was some reluctance to admit that this is happening, or that they are also responsible with their decisions to prevent this from happening.”

The U.S. Air Force is closing down its China Aerospace Studies Institute, a strategic think tank at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. For years, CASI produced detailed, open-source reports on Chinese military air, space and cyber warfare capabilities.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in an email that the closure is part of an “ongoing civilian restructure within Air Education and Training Command.” The action comes as Mr. Xi arrives in Washington for a summit with Mr. Trump also and appears to be the latest step in the Pentagon’s efforts to soften its public posture toward the Chinese military and Chinese Communist Party under a new detente policy with Beijing.

CASI said in a statement that its researchers will seek work elsewhere and that the think tank’s closure means “we will have to cancel the plans for the 10th anniversary CASI event that was scheduled for next February.”

Mr. Trump’s proposed oil agreement with Venezuela has “left pundits and politicians around the world intrigued and confused,” Emilio T. Gonzalez, a retired U.S. intelligence officer, writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times.

While the deal gives the U.S. “an important foothold in a country that until recently served as the epicenter of anti-U.S. operations in the Americas,” Mr. Gonzales writes, there is cause for concern that it was brokered through interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, a former Chavez and Maduro regime stalwart, as well as Trump administration interlocutor Alejandro Betancourt.

A “major concern,” Mr. Gonzales writes, “is that once foreign investors, particularly U.S. firms, commit billions of dollars to long-term projects, they will feel compelled to support the status quo rather than risk renegotiating deals with a successor democratic government.”

China’s newly enacted National Defense Mobilization Law gives the People’s Liberation Army “expanded ability to control the national economy, supply chains, technology and critical infrastructure,” Larry M. Wortzel writes in an op-ed for The Times.

The move incorporates Mr. Xi’s “‘Military-Civil Fusion’ principles into law, essentially harnessing all enterprises — whether public, joint venture or private — as well as schools, civil infrastructure, the populace and relevant technologies to support national defense,” writes Mr. Wortzel, a senior fellow in Asian security at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.

As China is “surging ahead in critical areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics,” the central government will “establish expanded stockpiles of critical materials and control their supply chains,” he writes. “The PLA would control the entire range of China’s critical infrastructure, roads, railways, telecommunications and space assets, and the PLA can requisition any materials or capabilities it needs.”

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

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

• Sept. 23-28 — 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