U.S. destroys three Iranian oil tankers.
Today's events
Iranian oil fleet.
Central Command struck three Iranian crude carriers on September 5 after the Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships; the tankers fund the Guard and its regional proxies.1Sep 5 · CENTCOMCanadian goods barred.
A presidential memorandum directs budget and trade officials to identify and remove Canadian-origin items from federal civil procurement, citing Canada's “Buy Canadian” preferences; Canadian firms currently access over $280 billion in annual U.S. federal buying.2Sep 21 · Fed. Reg.Chinese tin plate.
Commerce preliminarily found tin mill products from China sold below fair value and that critical circumstances exist, applying adverse inferences to a China-wide entity of non-responding exporters and extending provisional duties.3Sep 21 · CommerceShareholder proposals.
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rescinding Rule 14a-8 — the federal right to put resolutions on a company ballot — and a companion rule dropping the annual-report delivery requirement, leaving governance to state law.4Sep 21 · SECGreat Lakes pilots.
The Coast Guard proposed 2027 pilotage rates raising operating costs about 10 percent, and set the first rate for the Straits of Mackinac, newly placed under pilotage by the 2026 defense authorization act.5Sep 21 · Coast GuardDiphenidine banned.
The Drug Enforcement Administration placed the dissociative hallucinogen diphenidine in Schedule I effective October 21, meeting a United Nations treaty obligation triggered by a 2021 vote of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.6Sep 21 · DEAChesapeake Bay order.
Executive Order 14428, signed September 16, revoked the 2009 order governing bay restoration, faulting localities that imposed stormwater “rain taxes” under it, and directed six agencies toward on-the-ground projects instead.7Sep 16 · Fed. Reg.Sprout outbreak.
The CDC linked 55 illnesses across 15 states to alfalfa sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts and sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands; four people were hospitalized and two carried both E. coli and Salmonella.8Sep 21 · CDCCattle bid-rigging.
A South Carolina manager at a bovine artificial-insemination firm pleaded guilty to rigging cattle auctions from 2018 to 2024, acquiring more than $1.6 million in animals for his employer — the first charge in the probe.9Sep 21 · DOJ
This week
Interest rates rose.
Federal Reserve policymakers voted 12-0 on September 16 to lift the benchmark rate a quarter point to 3.75–4 percent, saying inflation remains elevated and the move supports a timelier return to the 2 percent goal. Two days later the Fed's supervision chief released initial findings of an independent Silicon Valley Bank review, concluding supervisors knew of the bank's vulnerabilities as early as March 2022 and did not act. It led the September 17 brief.1Sep 16 · FedCanada out of federal buying.
A presidential memorandum signed September 16 and published September 21 directs budget and trade officials to identify and remove Canadian-origin goods from the federal civil procurement system, citing Canada's “Buy Canadian” preferences. Canadian suppliers currently reach more than $280 billion in annual U.S. federal purchasing. A separate presidential determination the same week named Canada and Mexico as needing to do more to stop drug flows. September 17 and 21 briefs.2Sep 16 · WHChina talks before a summit.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on September 20 to prepare a U.S.–China summit in Washington. The meeting fell in a week when Commerce issued two preliminary duty findings against Chinese tin mill steel — the material in food cans — one on subsidies, one on below-fair-value sales. The drug-transit determination also listed China. September 20 daily.3Sep 20 · USTRKremlin murder-for-hire charges.
The Justice Department charged five Russian intelligence operatives on September 15 with financing terrorism and murder-for-hire, alleging they paid people to surveil and kill targets in the United States and to attack infrastructure in European states backing Ukraine. All five remain at large. Commerce renewed export bans on Aeroflot, UTair and Azur Air two days later, citing continuing violations of the controls imposed in February 2022. September 16 and 18 briefs.4Sep 15 · DOJCarbon rules cut, coal kept.
The Environmental Protection Agency repealed most of the 2024 greenhouse-gas standards for fossil-fuel power plants on September 17, dropping carbon-capture requirements for coal units and new gas turbines. Two days later the Energy Secretary ordered two Indiana coal plants kept available through December 18; units at the Schahfer and Culley stations had been scheduled to shut at the end of 2025. September 17 and 20 briefs.5Sep 17 · EPAIran's crypto pipeline.
The United States sanctioned two companies and three people on September 17 over digital-asset exchanges that gave Iran's central bank and Revolutionary Guard a route into the global financial system, among them BitBank, tied to financier Babak Zanjani. Central Command separately disclosed that it destroyed three Revolutionary Guard oil tankers on September 5 after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships. September 18 and 21 briefs.7Sep 17 · State
Allied Governments
Arctic security deal.
Britain's prime minister told Denmark's Mette Frederiksen he would congratulate President Trump on a United States–Greenland–Denmark security agreement for the Arctic and North Atlantic, due for signature in New York this week.aSep 20 · UK No.10North Korea launch.
Japanese, U.S. and South Korean officials held a three-way call after North Korea's September 20 ballistic-missile launch, calling it a breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions.bSep 21 · Japan MoFASudan stability fund.
Britain's Foreign Office opened a £25 million call for partners to run civilian dialogue, local governance and civilian protection work in Sudan, part of a £39 million five-year programme running to 2031.cSep 21 · UK FCDO
Voices
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander · Sep 51
“My Administration will always act to combat such unreasonable or discriminatory practices.”
Presidential Memorandum, Restoring Reciprocity in Government Procurement · Sep 212
“This Department of Justice will never stand for collusion that cheats hardworking, honest producers and raises prices for American families putting food on the table.”
Assoc. Atty. Gen. Stanley E. Woodward Jr., DOJ · Sep 219
“Commerce preliminarily determines that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of tin mill products from China for the China-wide entity.”
Commerce Preliminary Determination, Tin Mill Products · Sep 213
“In managing the Chesapeake Bay, as with other resources, governmental actors should prioritize environmental protection and economic objectives.”
Executive Order 14428 · Sep 167
“Do not eat any affected alfalfa sprouts. Throw them away or return them.”
CDC Food Safety Alert · Sep 218
Sources
- U.S. Central Command, “CENTCOM Destroys 3 IRGC Oil Tankers After Iran Targets 2 U.S. Navy Warships,” September 5, 2026. centcom.mil/public-releases/…/irgc-oil-tankers
- Federal Register, “Restoring Reciprocity in Government Procurement” (Presidential Memorandum), published September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/restoring-reciprocity-procurement
- U.S. Dept. of Commerce, “Tin Mill Products From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances and Extension of Provisional Measures,” September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/tin-mill-products-china
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “Rescission of Rule 14a-8's Federal Regulation of Shareholder Proposals and Amendments to Rule 14a-4,” with companion release “Proxy Solicitation Modernization,” September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/rescission-rule-14a-8
- U.S. Coast Guard, “Great Lakes Pilotage Rates—2027 Annual Review and Revisions to Methodology,” September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/great-lakes-pilotage-2027
- Drug Enforcement Administration, “Schedules of Controlled Substances: Placement of Diphenidine in Schedule I,” September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/diphenidine-schedule-i
- Federal Register, “Providing Meaningful Water Quality Improvements Through Collaboration and Oversight of Federal Support” (Executive Order 14428 of September 16, 2026), published September 21, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/eo-14428-chesapeake-bay
- CDC, “Outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts; people sickened with E. coli and Salmonella,” September 2026. cdc.gov/media/releases/…/alfalfa-sprouts-outbreak
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Bovine Artificial Insemination Manager Pleads Guilty to Multi-Year Bid-Rigging Conspiracy,” September 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/bovine-bid-rigging
- UK Prime Minister's Office (No.10), “PM call with Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark: 20 September 2026,” September 20, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/pm-call-frederiksen-denmark
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Japan-U.S.-ROK Foreign Ministries' Official Telephone Meeting on North Korea,” September 21, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/japan-us-rok-north-korea
- UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, “Sudan Stability Programme (SSP): call for expressions of interest,” September 21, 2026. gov.uk/international-development-funding/…/sudan-stability-programme