IRGC appeals to U.S. voters as Treasury hits Iran weapons networks; Super Intelligence order and SCOTUS stay stand
Tehran’s Guards publish a midterm propaganda letter as the rial hits a new low; OFAC sanctions 10 under Operation Economic Outcast. Trump’s Super Intelligence EO and industry accord text are out; the Court’s third-country stay holds with December arguments.
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I'm Nora Vale with your Night World Brief for Tuesday, September 29. IRGC letter urges U.S. voters to punish Trump; rial hits record low above 2.5 million per dollar. Treasury sanctions 10 in Iran military procurement networks under Operation Economic Outcast. White House posts Super Intelligence EO; full industry accord text released. SCOTUS third-country stay holds; December arguments set. Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson would have denied. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Hurricane Nolo, with top winds near 90 mph, may bring impacts to parts of Hawaii. Tropical Storm Polo, with top winds near 45 mph, may bring impacts to parts of New Mexico and Texas. Our opinion. Reject IRGC midterm propaganda; nuclear limits before relief; real SI audits; enforce removals while courts decide. That's your Night World Brief. I'm Nora Vale. See you tomorrow morning.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday released a 25-page open letter addressed to Americans urging them to oppose President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the New York Post and Fox News reported. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi called Trump an “inveterate liar,” blamed the war on Trump and U.S. support for Israel, and claimed the U.S. economy is “on the precipice of collapse” from fuel prices. Separately Tuesday, Fox News reported citing the Associated Press that Iran’s rial fell to a new record low of more than 2.5 million to the U.S. dollar as economic pressure mounts.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday sanctioned 10 individuals and entities across multiple jurisdictions for procuring weapons and weapons components for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), Treasury said in an official release. The designations, under Executive Order 13382 and Operation Economic Outcast, include a MODAFL representative in Beijing and procurement networks spanning Iran, China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey tied to drone and ballistic-missile supply chains. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the campaign will keep targeting those who provide material, technological or financial support that sustains the Iranian regime’s terrorist enterprise.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed the executive order “Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence,” directing executive departments and agencies, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to use “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in place of “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” in non-statutory executive-branch communications, the White House published. The order keeps the existing statutory AI definition in 15 U.S.C. §9401(3) for now and gives the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology 60 days to propose legislative language for a federal SI definition. Separately, the Washington Examiner published the full one-page “White House Accord on Super Intelligence: Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities,” signed by Trump and leaders of Google, Meta, Anthropic, xAI, Nvidia and OpenAI, outlining four voluntary layers of internal controls, external audits and board oversight.
The White House fact sheet on Tuesday’s America.gov launch says Americans can already ask questions and get up-to-date answers on the site, and that later this year they will be able to complete tasks such as passport renewal and Medicare enrollment there without being sent through a maze of agency websites. Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said America.gov will, starting next year, let people fully apply for a first passport online, including using a mobile phone to take and upload the required photo, the New York Post reported. The standalone afternoon story on Rubio’s first-passport timeline remains the detailed account; tonight’s note adds the official fact-sheet framing of renewal and Medicare tasks later this year.
No newer Supreme Court order on Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D. appeared Tuesday evening after the Court’s brief unsigned miscellaneous order granting the Trump administration’s stay application, treating it as a petition for certiorari, and directing briefing for argument in the December 2026 session, according to the Court’s PDF order and SCOTUSblog. The February 25, 2026, District of Massachusetts order and judgment blocking third-country removals without the notice-and-challenge process that judge required remain stayed. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the stay, the order states.
Separate from Tuesday’s D.V.D. order, the Supreme Court docket for Trump v. Kingdom, No. 26A416, still shows the Chief Justice requested a response to the Trump administration’s emergency stay application by 4 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, with no stay ruling posted as of Tuesday night, according to the Court’s public docket. The application seeks to pause a lower-court order blocking the Bureau of Prisons’ February 2026 policy on gender-transition surgeries, hormone therapy and related accommodations for transgender inmates, SCOTUSblog has reported. Oral arguments in the Suncor climate case remain on the calendar for Monday, Oct. 5; Justice Samuel Alito has said he will no longer participate in that dispute, SCOTUSblog reported.
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