US and Iran ‘still looking for room to negotiate’
Mark Pfeifle, a Republican strategist and former White House and national security official, says both Iran and the US are still willing to strike a deal.
“Sometimes in diplomacy it’s what’s taken off the table,” he told Al Jazeera.
Pfeifle said that when Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei reiterated his demands for talks with the US, “he kept ending the blockade, releasing the frozen funds [and] stopping the attacks”.
“But he left off reparations and reconstruction money, which tells me that there’s a concrete sign that amongst all the rhetoric, which is still very strident, that the pressure campaign that the US is putting on Iran is having some effect,” he said.
“And it tells me that both sides are still looking for room to negotiate in the coming weeks.”
Three Palestinians wounded in Israeli attacks in southern Gaza
The Wafa news agency is reporting that at least three Palestinians have been wounded in Israeli attacks in southern Khan Younis.
The agency, citing local sources, said two of the victims were struck by gunfire from Israeli vehicles near Hamad City. A third person was also wounded by gunfire in the same area.
WATCH: Iran schools reopen after war as damaged classrooms and trauma weigh on students
Schools and universities across Iran are reopening after months of disruption caused by US-Israeli air attacks, with educators and families facing the lasting effects of the conflict.
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A recap of recent developments
- Iran says it has learned that the US may be planning a new round of strikes, and warns it will retaliate “without limitations” if Washington follows through.
- US President Donald Trump tells Fox News that the only options on the table in relation to the war are “to obliterate Iran, letting it rot economically, or reach a deal”.
- Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani warns against “cycles of escalation” in the Gulf, saying the region needs a “framework in which sovereignty is respected” and no state can pose a “threat to another”.
- The US virtual embassy in Iran urges American citizens to leave the country, citing fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition.
- Four people have been reported killed in Yemen’s al-Jawf province as fighting continues to rage between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces. Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, says Riyadh will “pay compensation” for the “unjust blockade” on Yemen.
- An Israeli settler has died in the occupied West Bank from a gunshot wound, with the Israeli army saying that the gunman is a Hamas member and that he has been captured. A Palestinian man was killed during an alleged car-ramming attack on Israeli soldiers.
Welcome to our coverage
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.
Stay with us for the latest news and analysis from across the Middle East and beyond.
You can find our updates from Sunday, September 20 here.
Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, as seen from a position across the border in the Upper Galilee, in northern Israel on September 20, 2026 [Jalaa Marey/AFP]
