Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a sharp ultimatum to U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that Tehran will not engage in any dialogue with Washington unless the United States ends its support for Israel, withdraws its military from the Middle East, and stops interfering in regional affairs.

Speaking in Tehran on Monday during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover, Khamenei accused the United States of “arrogance, imperialism, and hypocrisy,” and said American leaders have always sought to subjugate Iran.

“Every American president has demanded Iran’s surrender, even if they did not say it aloud,” Khamenei said. “The current president said it openly—he revealed the true face of America.”

He added that any future U.S. request for engagement would only be considered after Washington met Tehran’s conditions, Newsweek reported.

“Only if the United States completely cuts its backing for the Zionist regime, removes its military bases from the region, and ceases interfering in its affairs,” Khamenei said, adding that such changes were unlikely “in the near future.”

Khamenei described the 1979 embassy takeover—when Iranian students held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days—as “a day of pride and victory.” The event, he said, exposed “the true identity of the American government” and reflected what he called fundamental, not tactical, differences between the two nations.

The seizure followed Washington’s decision to admit the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for medical treatment, an act that fueled fears of another U.S.-backed attempt to overturn Iran’s revolution.

However, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, Trump defended his administration’s military actions against Iran, calling them essential for Middle East stability.

“You essentially had a nuclear Iran, and I blasted the hell out of ‘em,” Trump said, claiming that U.S. operations had neutralized Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

He added that curbing Iran’s ambitions was key to continued progress on Arab-Israeli normalization and said American strikes were “measured to deter Tehran while leaving room for diplomacy.”

The exchange underscores a deepening rift between Washington and Tehran at a time of mounting instability in the region. Recent months have seen Israeli attacks on Iranian positions, U.S. strikes on suspected nuclear sites, and a breakdown in diplomatic efforts, Newsweek reported.

Analysts warn that unless either side softens its stance, the current impasse could harden into a prolonged confrontation—raising the risk of renewed military clashes involving the United States, Iran, and their regional allies.

Pakistan’s Navy expects its first Chinese-designed submarine to enter active service next year, marking a key milestone in a $5 billion arms agreement aimed at strengthening Islamabad’s maritime power and deepening defense ties with Beijing.

Admiral Naveed Ashraf, Pakistan’s naval chief, told China’s Global Times that progress on the delivery of eight Hangor-class diesel-electric attack submarines by 2028 is “proceeding smoothly.” He said the new fleet will significantly enhance Pakistan’s ability to patrol the North Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean.

The defense deal, one of the largest in Pakistan’s history, will see four submarines built in China and the remaining four assembled domestically, a move designed to boost Pakistan’s technical and industrial capabilities. Three of the vessels have already been launched into China’s Yangtze River from a shipyard in Hubei province, Reuters reported.

“Chinese-origin platforms and equipment have proven reliable, technologically advanced, and well-suited to Pakistan Navy’s operational requirements,” Admiral Ashraf said. He added that the Navy is increasingly focused on adopting emerging technologies such as unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, and electronic warfare — areas where Pakistan is exploring expanded cooperation with China.

Pakistan remains China’s top arms customer. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Islamabad accounted for more than 60% of Beijing’s total weapons exports between 2020 and 2024.

The submarine announcement follows a tense military encounter earlier this year, when Pakistan’s air force used Chinese-made J-10 fighter jets to shoot down an Indian Air Force Rafale, a French-built aircraft. The incident reignited debate over the balance of military technology between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Beyond defense, the partnership is part of China’s broader strategic and economic ambitions in the region. Through the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a 3,000-kilometre network linking China’s Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s deep-sea port of Gwadar — Beijing aims to secure a direct route for Middle Eastern energy imports, bypassing the vulnerable Straits of Malacca.

The initiative extends China’s influence across South and Central Asia, including toward Afghanistan and Iran, while reinforcing its position in the Indian Ocean region — a sphere where India, with its mix of nuclear-powered and conventional submarines, has long maintained dominance.

“This cooperation goes beyond hardware,” Ashraf said. “It reflects a shared strategic outlook, mutual trust, and a long-standing partnership. In the coming decade, we expect this relationship to grow through enhanced training, interoperability, research, and industrial collaboration.”

Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa will visit Washington, U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said on Saturday, in what would be the first visit by a Syrian head of state to the U.S. capital, Reuters reported.

The visit will occur “around Nov. 10” according to a White House official.

During the visit, Syria would “hopefully” join the U.S.-led coalition to defeat Islamic State, Barrack told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, an annual global security and geopolitical conference.

A Syrian source familiar with the matter said the visit was expected to take place within the next two weeks.

According to the U.S. State Department’s historical list of foreign leader visits, no previous Syrian president has paid an official visit to Washington. Sharaa addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, read the report.

Since seizing power from Bashar al-Assad last December, Sharaa has made a series of foreign trips as his transitional government seeks to re-establish Syria’s ties with world powers that had shunned Damascus during Assad’s rule.

Barrack said Washington was aiming to recruit Syria to join the coalition Washington has led since 2014 to fight against Islamic State, the militant group that controlled around a third of Syria and Iraq at its peak between 2014 and 2017.

“We are trying to get everybody to be a partner in this alliance, which is huge for them,” Barrack said.

Sharaa once led Syria’s offshoot of Al Qaeda, but a decade ago his anti-Assad rebel group broke away from the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and later clashed with Islamic State.

The U.S.-led coalition and its local partners drove Islamic State from its last stronghold in Syria in 2019. The group has been attempting to exploit the fall of the Assad regime to stage a comeback in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, sources told Reuters in June.

Barrack earlier told the summit that Syria and Israel continued to hold de-escalation talks, which the U.S. has been mediating. He told reporters that Syria and Israel were close to reaching an agreement but declined to say when exactly a deal could be reached, Reuters reported.

Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.

The Syrian source said the U.S. is pushing for a security agreement to be reached with Israel by the time Sharaa visits Washington, read the report.

Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades. Despite the overthrow of Assad last December, territorial disputes and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries remain.