Reports speak of behind-the-scenes of a delayed Israeli strike on Iran, while Israel awaits a green light from Trump to carry out the attack. In a related context, the US War Secretary said that his country effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz at present, and that its responsibility is to do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon. The US Central Command confirmed that navigation in the Strait of Hormuz continues with coordinated protection by US forces and partners.
Domestically, the Iranian judicial authorities announced on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, the execution by hanging of Ali Sina Mostafavi, after his conviction for cooperating with Israel and carrying out armed attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, and for communicating with Israeli media and the Reza Pahlavi movement. Mostafavi was accused of shooting civilians and military personnel, supporting Israel, and endorsing Reza Pahlavi, while Pahlavi questioned the charges and said the confessions were extracted under torture. Also, a court in Iran issued a death sentence against university student Najmeh Amini (23 years old) on charges of 'religious insult,' and another court sentenced her to 12 years, 6 months, and one day in prison on charges including 'acting against national security' and 'propaganda against the regime.' She is held in Vakil Abad prison in the city of Mashhad, northeastern Iran, and the death sentence is not final and can be appealed.
Diplomatically, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi praised Pakistan's role in supporting dialogue between Washington and Tehran, during a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, where the talks addressed the US-Iranian crisis and developments in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab, Palestine, and Gaza. This comes amid a previous Pakistani mediation role between Washington and Tehran that faltered after renewed US strikes on Iranian targets in July. In an analysis by Middle East affairs expert Mahjoub El-Zouairi, he argues that the diplomatic stalemate between Washington and Tehran is not imposed by the details of the terms, but by two mutual knots: the hostage-taking at the US embassy in 1979 for Washington, and Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 for Tehran, and that nine mutual initiatives over seven months of the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on 28 February 2026 yielded only the Islamabad Memorandum signed on 18 June, which collapsed within 48 hours.
In London, the Royal Woolwich Court, in its fifth session and the start of the second week of the trial, reviewed messages, audio files, photos, and call logs recovered from the phones of the three defendants: Mostafa Sabahvand (41 years old), Farhad Javadimanesh (46 years old), and Shapur Qaleh Ali Khani Nouri (57 years old), who deny the charges against them. The prosecution says they surveilled journalists linked to 'Iran International,' including Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, to pave the way for severe violence against at least one target.