Evening Brief: Vance reaches out to Iran's security chief; Netanyahu alleges election theft; Fed holds rates as two officials push for a hike
Plus the $47 billion Iran war tab, the U.N. Cuba vote, Houthi missiles on Aden, Trump's robotics trade order, the Peltola 'Decoy Dan' fight, a DOJ parental-rights suit and Monday's Supreme Court arguments.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 5 PM World Brief for Wednesday, October 28. WSJ: Vance sent a letter to Iran's security chief to try to revive talks. Iran war has cost more than $47 billion, including about $29 billion in munitions, Pentagon told Congress Netanyahu says Arab parties stole the election and demands an 'immediate' probe; his bloc at 53 seats with about 89% counted Fed holds rates at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote; Cook and Hammack wanted a hike as Warsh says inflation must come down Trump: robotics and machinery imports a security threat; talks first, tariffs possible. No new orders today; Monday's arguments: Maxwell v. Dinis and Younge v. Fulton County. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Heavy rainfall and flash flooding threats to expand across the Southern High Plains and Southwest through Friday. A few severe thunderstorms may occur over parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin this afternoon and early evening. Isolated tornadoes, severe hail, and damaging winds will be possible, a level 2 of 5 severe storm risk. Our opinion. Talk with Iran, keep the pressure on, and account for every dollar. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale.
Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, at President Trump's direction to test whether the two countries can resume negotiations and avert a possible U.S. attack in the coming weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, according to World Israel News and Iran International. Later contacts focused on a possible framework for talks rather than details of a peace proposal; a Vance spokesperson declined to comment and Iran's Foreign Ministry said it had no information. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote that Iran "continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed" while its forces are "fully prepared to defend the homeland."
Pentagon officials told Congress on Oct. 16 that the cost of the Iran war had passed $47 billion, including $29 billion in munitions and roughly $6 billion in damaged or lost equipment, mostly aircraft, the Washington Examiner reported. A Congressional Research Service report found 81 U.S. aircraft, more than half of them MQ-9 Reaper drones, have been damaged or destroyed since the war began, the Examiner said. The cost keeps rising as the military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said refilling stockpiles will take years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X that Arab parties cheated in Tuesday's election, alleging bribery, threats, violence, forgeries and use of prohibited voter-mobilization software, and demanded that law enforcement act "with an iron fist and in an immediate manner," the Washington Examiner reported. With roughly 89% of the vote counted Wednesday evening, his bloc held 53 seats and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar-led opposition 48, with no side near the 61 needed to govern. Arab parties made the biggest gains, with 19 seats, up from the 10 held by the United Arab List and the Joint List before the vote, the Examiner said.
The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday called for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba for the 34th time, passing the resolution 130 to 17 with 25 abstentions, down from 165 to 7 with 12 abstentions last year, UN News reported. Ambassador Mike Waltz told delegates "there is no blockade," citing more than $876 million in U.S. exports to the island in the first eight months of 2026, and called a no vote the only thing standing between "the communist kleptocratic regime and another propagandistic victory." The resolution is not binding.
Two ballistic missiles struck the perimeter of the airport in Aden, the stronghold of Yemen's Saudi-backed government, wounding several civilians and causing damage, a government forces spokesman said, calling it the sixth such attack on the airport; Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree had ordered an evacuation over a Saudi military cargo plane, which police told AFP was not hit and took off, RTÉ reported. The Iran-backed Houthis said Saudi strikes on a market and a gas station in Jawf province killed 14 and wounded 15. The Houthis relaunched Yemen's civil war last month and have repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia, RTÉ said.
The humanitarian ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky in southern Ukraine held for 30 hours without a single reported incident, Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said Wednesday, thanking first lady Melania Trump for mediating, Hromadske reported; it began at 3 a.m. on Oct. 27 and is scheduled to last until 10:59 p.m. on Nov. 1. Next steps are clearing mines from access roads, delivering aid and letting civilians leave. The Netherlands announced a €500 million military aid package for Ukraine as President Zelensky visited, the Kyiv Independent reported.
In a proclamation signed Wednesday, President Trump agreed with the Commerce Secretary's Section 232 finding that imports of robotics, industrial machinery and their parts "threaten to impair the national security," noting the U.S. relies on foreign imports for most types and that some foreign-sourced machines pose cybersecurity risks. Instead of immediate tariffs, he directed the Commerce Secretary and U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners and report within 180 days. Depending on the results, he said he may consider tariffs, duties, quotas, fees or a program to encourage new U.S. production.
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday by a 10-2 vote, saying "inflation remains elevated" while the economy is "expanding at a strong pace"; Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase, the Fed's statement said. Chairman Kevin Warsh said "it's our responsibility to get inflation down," and that energy prices have moved higher again in recent weeks because of the Iran war, the Washington Examiner reported. President Trump has been pushing for lower rates, the Examiner noted.
President Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that Mary Peltola "should resign from the race" and "be prosecuted criminally," after The New York Times reported her aides helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan, who shares a name with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, the New York Post reported; the Post noted it is unclear what law would apply, since the second Sullivan met the legal requirements to run. The Times said senior Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aides also took part and Peltola's former campaign manager said Peltola knew of the project, statements the manager later sought to retract, the Washington Examiner reported. A federal investigation is ongoing, a source told the Examiner.
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued Anne Arundel County Public Schools, alleging its policies tell staff to use a student's self-identified name, pronouns and gender identity without notifying parents, in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, the Washington Examiner reported. The suit describes a family who learned from a staff email that their daughter was using a male name at school, and says officials refused to turn over education records.
The Court's most recent order list is from Tuesday, Oct. 27, and no new orders were posted Wednesday, per supremecourt.gov. On Monday, Nov. 2, the justices hear Maxwell v. Dinis, on whether a federal inmate can use habeas corpus to challenge the Bureau of Prisons' refusal to speed his move to a halfway house or home confinement under First Step Act credits, SCOTUSblog reported. They also hear Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia, on whether an employer that never pleaded an affirmative defense can still win summary judgment on it, in a former employee's pregnancy-discrimination suit, SCOTUSblog said.
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