PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 22nd, 2026: Tehran Offers To Reopen Hormuz & North Korea’s New Weapon

Mike Baker (0:12)

It's Tuesday, the 22nd of September. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a possible diplomatic development in the Iran War. Tehran is supposedly offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Hmm, haven't heard that one before. Oh, wait. Yes, yes, we have. But hope springs eternal amongst diplomatic folks. I'll have the details later in the show. North Korea says its latest missile test involved a new hypersonic weapon as Kim Jong Un shows off another system designed to challenge US and allied missile defenses. At least Kim is consistent whenever he feels like he's not getting enough attention on the world stage, out comes another missile. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

After over half a year of fighting, US blockade and an almost complete collapse in commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is now reportedly or supposedly offering to reopen the waterway and says it could do it within seven days. According to Reuters, a senior Iranian official says Tehran is prepared to reopen Hormuz if the US eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. The official also says that Iran's delegation in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly has been given full authority to revive diplomacy with Washington.

Iran says it already delivered a proposal to the US through mediators on the 16th of September. You know, it's worth pointing out that it's not clear just yet who within the Iranian regime leadership has authorized this supposed deal, which is an important point since nobody seems to particularly understand who is actually in charge within the regime. But the fact that Iran is putting a specific offer on the table supposedly and attaching a seven-day timeline to reopening the Strait of Hormuz is notable, especially when you look at what's been happening in the Strait. Commercial traffic has nearly disappeared. Reuters reports that just two trackable commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Before this war began on the 28th of February, roughly 125 large commercial vessels were moving through the Strait every day, carrying oil, liquefied natural gas and other cargo. The waterway normally accounts for roughly one-fifth of the world's daily crude oil and LNG supply.

And the security situation does remain dangerous. Over the past couple of days, two more vessels were attacked while crossing the waterway in separate incidents. One was the crude oil tanker LR Stephanie, where two crew members reportedly suffered minor injuries. The other was an LPG carrier called the Al-Morya. Both ships were able to continue under their own power.

So, when the Iranian regime says it's willing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in seven days, it's talking about restoring traffic through a waterway that has effectively been reduced to a trickle.

The question, of course, is why Iran is making this offer now. And the answer is both that the regime feels emboldened by its ability to negatively impact the strait, despite US intervention, and at the same time the regime is under pressure economically. The regime continues to view their leverage over the important waterway as their key strength. In addition, they've raised the stakes regionally by having their proxy, the Houthi rebels, go on the offensive in Yemen against the Saudi-backed government forces. That's created further instability within the region and in global energy markets. And that likely has convinced Tehran that now is a good time to push for concessions from the US in order to gain relief from the economic pressure. Tehran is now apparently using the UN gathering in New York as an opportunity to see whether the US administration is keen to make a deal. The Iranian official who spoke to Reuters called the General Assembly a, quote, an opportunity to return to diplomacy. Iranian President Masoud Pesachian is also traveling to New York, although Iranian officials say he's not currently expected to meet directly with President Trump.

Now, at the same time as someone within the regime is supposedly talking about a potential deal, Iran's military warned just Sunday that any renewed US offensive would trigger retaliation without restrictions. So, the caveat with this potential diplomatic breakthrough or however it should be labeled, is that there may not be a consensus within the regime over a possible deal. Confusion or competing agendas within the leadership ranks could still rule the day. Or has been the case in the past, this could simply be another block and delay tactic as the regime looks to drag this conflict out to the US midterm elections. And there's another wrinkle here, because China now appears to see an opportunity. Now, I'll explain how China and the Iran conflict may intersect during the UN General Assembly meetings in New York this week. Reuters is reporting this morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to press President Trump on one of Beijing's biggest priorities when Xi visits Washington this week. That would be, of course, Taiwan. Specifically, Xi is expected to push Trump to halt US arms sales to the island. China is also reportedly seeking to stop deliveries of weapons that Taiwan has already purchased. Beijing is expected to invoke the 1982 Joint Communique between the US and China, in which Washington said it intended gradually to reduce arms sales to Taiwan under certain conditions. As a reminder, the US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but US legislation requires Washington to provide the island with the means to defend itself.