Editorial

At the U.N., Trump Says He Faces a “Big Decision” on Iran: Make a Deal or “Annihilate” the Islamic Republic

In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump said the choice is a deal or annihilation, accused Tehran of stalling for the midterms, and said all he wants is for Iran never to have a nuclear weapon.

Published

42 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Founder & Chairman of Boston Made, Inc.

Boston Made Newsroom illustration: At the U.N., Trump Says He Faces a “Big Decision” on Iran: Make a Deal or “Annihilate” the Islamic Republic

President Donald Trump used his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, September 22, to put a stark choice before Iran. He told world leaders he faces “a big decision”: make a deal, or move to “annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly,” Axios reported.

A deal, the president said, would let Iran “rebuild and create a far greater country,” according to CBS News. He also predicted how it ends: “I believe we’ll make a deal, right after the election.”

“All he wants”: no Iranian bomb

Trump framed the entire conflict around one goal. The only thing that matters, he said, is that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” He presented the war, which began roughly seven months ago after the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, as the way to guarantee that outcome. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the same thing a day earlier: “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. They just simply can’t.”

“Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” President Trump at the U.N. General Assembly

Accusing Tehran of stalling for the midterms

Trump accused Iran of dragging out ceasefire talks, including a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in the hope that the November midterm elections go against him. Iran’s leaders are “waiting to see how I do on the midterm election,” he said. “What they don’t realize is that I’m not running.” He added, per the Associated Press, that he gives the election “absolutely no credence” when it comes to Iran: “It doesn’t even enter my mind.”

Iran has not publicly said it is waiting on the U.S. election. The claim is the president’s. But the logic he described is familiar in diplomacy: a side that expects its opponent to lose leverage has a reason to slow-walk. (Our Masterpass analysis looks at that argument, and at what each path would look like.)

Where the war stands

Military: U.S. and Israeli strikes have killed much of Iran’s leadership and destroyed its air force and navy, the AP reported, but Iran-backed groups keep attacking.
Economy: A U.S. oil blockade has crippled Iran’s economy. Oil prices remain high, and Saudi Arabia recently shut a key pipeline after attacks by Iran-backed militants.
Diplomacy: Trump said Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff “had a very good meeting” with Iranians during the Assembly, CBS reported, and Rubio said the president is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Politics at home: Polling cited by Axios shows 71% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, and 76% say the Iran war has not been worth its costs.

The rest of the speech

Trump called drug cartels “the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere” and said the U.S. would use force if needed to protect the hemisphere. He called Cuba “an absolutely failed state,” which prompted Cuba’s delegation to walk out, and pledged not to restrict the development of what he called “superintelligence.” He also pointed to Gaza peace efforts, Russia’s war in Ukraine and new security agreements with Greenland and Denmark.

What to watch

Whether a Trump–Pezeshkian meeting happens on the Assembly sidelines.
Any movement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and what that does to oil.
Whether the “after the election” timeline holds, or the “do it quickly” option comes first.

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Editorial

Lionel Richie Hospitalized for a Third Time Since June, Cancels Three Tour Dates

The 77-year-old singer underwent a procedure for atrial fibrillation. His team says it “went perfectly,” and his Las Vegas residency is still on.

Published

42 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Founder & Chairman of Boston Made, Inc.

Boston Made Newsroom illustration: Lionel Richie Hospitalized for a Third Time Since June, Cancels Three Tour Dates

Lionel Richie has been hospitalized again, this time for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heartbeat, TMZ reported on Tuesday. It is the 77-year-old singer’s third hospital stay since June.

Doctors performed an AFib ablation, a minimally invasive procedure that creates tiny scars in the heart to block faulty electrical signals and restore a normal rhythm. It is not considered major surgery.

“Lionel is doing great”

“The doctor said everything went perfectly… Lionel is doing great but will take some time off and will be back on stage soon,” his representative said, according to Consequence.

Shows affected: Sing a Song All Night Long tour with Earth, Wind & Fire

Sept. 26: San Francisco (canceled)
Sept. 30: Chicago (canceled)
Oct. 2: Columbus, Ohio (canceled)
Las Vegas residency, Oct. 14 to Nov. 14: still scheduled

A difficult summer

In June, Richie became dizzy and disoriented during a concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was taken away by paramedics. In August he spent several days in intensive care in St. Louis for cardiac tests. Tuesday’s procedure is meant to address the underlying rhythm problem.

AFib is one of the most common heart-rhythm conditions, especially after age 65. Anyone with a racing or irregular heartbeat, dizziness or shortness of breath should talk to a doctor.

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Editorial

The FBI Breach Is a Gift to Foreign Spies. Here’s How It Could Be Used Against the United States

A Masterpass briefing: why agents’ home addresses and family details are a counterintelligence goldmine, what the 2015 OPM hack teaches, and what should happen next.

Published

42 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Founder & Chairman of Boston Made, Inc.

Boston Made Newsroom illustration: The FBI Breach Is a Gift to Foreign Spies. Here’s How It Could Be Used Against the United States

A cybercrime group’s claim to hold data on every FBI employee and applicant is alarming as a crime. For America’s adversaries, it could be something more: a ready-made targeting file on the people who catch spies.

TechCrunch put it directly: the theft “could present a major counterintelligence threat, where agents and their families are extorted into cooperating with a foreign government.”

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Editorial

“We Hacked the FBI”: Hackers Claim Data on Every Agent and Applicant, and Talk to 404 Media

The ShinyHunters group says it stole terabytes of FBI personnel data, defaced FBIjobs.gov and released a 5,000-record sample that 404 Media partly verified. The FBI says it is investigating.

Published

42 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Founder & Chairman of Boston Made, Inc.

Boston Made Newsroom illustration: “We Hacked the FBI”: Hackers Claim Data on Every Agent and Applicant, and Talk to 404 Media

A notorious hacking group says it has broken into the FBI and stolen personal data on the bureau’s entire workforce. “We hacked the FBI. We hold data on all FBI employees and applicants,” the group, ShinyHunters, told 404 Media, which first reported the claim on Tuesday, September 22.

If the claims hold up, it would be one of the most damaging breaches ever of a U.S. law-enforcement agency.

What the hackers showed

To back up the claim, the group gave 404 Media a sample of about 5,000 records. It contains names, home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and spouse information. Axios reported that the stolen data allegedly also includes agent status, email addresses and spouses’ Social Security numbers.

404 Media checked the sample with the lookup tool OSINT Industries, which matched phone numbers to names, and another tool showed some numbers belonged to Justice Department personnel. The group also defaced FBIjobs.gov, the bureau’s recruiting site, with a message that read “this site has been seized by ShinyHunters” and claimed “All FBI data was compromised including PII/PHI,” meaning personal and health information. Screenshots of the defaced page and the sample spread quickly online.

Boston Made will not publish, link to or describe any individual’s stolen information.

How they say they got in

A ShinyHunters representative told 404 Media the group “used a zero day exploit in an Oracle product called PeopleSoft,” meaning a previously unknown flaw, in HR and recruiting software. From there, they said, they moved into Amazon Web Services GovCloud servers and downloaded two to three terabytes of data. TechCrunch described the same path, from a PeopleSoft server to a government cloud holding agents’ and applicants’ records. None of these technical claims has been confirmed by the FBI.

What they want

“This is not financially motivated,” the representative told 404 Media, adding that the group’s plans were “maybe coercion” rather than extortion. According to TechCrunch and Axios, the group is demanding that the FBI retract a published report about the group that it says contains false allegations.

The FBI’s response

“The FBI is aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating,” a spokesperson said. Axios could not independently verify how authentic or recent the data is, though security researchers said the attack appears legitimate. TechCrunch noted it would be the second known breach of FBI systems this year, after earlier compromises involving wiretap systems and FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email.

What experts say

“The data is out there and has likely been repeatedly downloaded and passed around to other threat actors,” said Allan Liska of Recorded Future (Axios).
Andrew Brandt of Huntress warned that “employees or their families could be threatened or harmed” if criminals or nation-states get the data.
Former FBI cyber official Cynthia Kaiser said the bureau will “marshal additional resources” to bring those responsible to justice.

Does this affect everyone?

The group claims data on all FBI employees and job applicants, not the general public.
Anyone who has applied to the FBI should watch for phishing, change reused passwords and consider a credit freeze.
Be skeptical of messages claiming to be from the FBI or “about the breach.”

For what this could mean in the hands of foreign spy services, read our Masterpass briefing on the counterintelligence fallout.

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