MILAN (AP) — AC Milan didn’t let city rival Inter Milan open up too big a gap at the top of Serie A as it fought back to win 3-1 at in-form Como on Thursday, with Adrien Rabiot winning a penalty and then scoring two goals.
Inter had moved six points clear of Milan and Napoli with a 1-0 win over Lecce on Wednesday, coupled with Napoli’s frustrating draw against Parma.
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Verona's Gift Orban, left, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Hellas Verona and Bologna in Verona, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15 , 2026. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)
Bologna's Santiago Castro (9), right, celebrates goal 1-3 during the Serie A soccer match between Hellas Verona and Bologna in Verona, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15 , 2026. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)
Como's Marc-Oliver Kempf, center, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
Como's Nico Paz, left, and AC Milan's Luka Modric in action during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
AC Milan's Christopher Nkunku celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
Milan’s victory saw the Rossoneri cut the gap back to three points.
It didn’t start off so well for Massimiliano Allegri’s team, however.
Como — which was sixth in Serie A — got off to the perfect start when a corner was taken short and then floated in for Marc-Oliver Kempf to head the hosts into the lead in the 10th minute.
Como dominated but Milan leveled on the stroke of halftime when it was awarded a penalty after Rabiot was brought down by Kempf and Christopher Nkunku’s spot kick squirmed under the body of Jean Butez.
Milan turned the match around completely 10 minutes into the second half. Rafael Leão controlled a crossfield pass and then cut inside before lifting the ball over for Rabiot to chest down and volley across into the bottom right corner.
And Rabiot sealed the match shortly before full time when Niclas Füllkrug headed a ball back to the France midfielder and he drilled hard and low into the near corner.
Bologna ended a miserable run as it fought back to win 3-2 at relegation-threatened Hellas Verona in a match full of spectacular goals.
Bologna hadn’t won since November and got off to a poor start when it gave away the ball in the opposition penalty area and Antoine Bernède raced almost from box to box before laying it off for Gift Orban to fire home.
Riccardo Orsolini curled in an equalizer following a smart free kick and equally impressive goals from Jens Odgaard and Santiago Castro put Bologna 3-1 up at halftime.
Bologna midfielder Remo Marco Freuler accidentally turned a cross into his own net in the 71st minute.
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Verona's Gift Orban, left, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Hellas Verona and Bologna in Verona, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15 , 2026. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)
Bologna's Santiago Castro (9), right, celebrates goal 1-3 during the Serie A soccer match between Hellas Verona and Bologna in Verona, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15 , 2026. (Paola Garbuio/LaPresse via AP)
Como's Marc-Oliver Kempf, center, celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
Como's Nico Paz, left, and AC Milan's Luka Modric in action during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
AC Milan's Christopher Nkunku celebrates scoring during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Milan in Como, Italy, Thursday Jan. 15, 2026. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government's deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.
Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations.
Oil prices fell on Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of President Donald Trump's shifting tone as a sign that he’s leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown.
Nevertheless, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday maintained that “all options remain on the table” for Trump as he deals with Iran.
“The truth is only President Trump knows what he’s going to do and a very, very small team of advisers are read into his thinking on that,” Leavitt said. She added, “He continues to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Iran.”
The nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy appeared increasingly smothered Thursday, a week after authorities shut the country off from the world and escalated a bloody crackdown that activists say has killed at least 2,637 people.
The delicate diplomacy from Arab officials comes during a period of rhetorical whiplash from Trump.
Trump, in a matter of a day, went from offering assurances to Iranian citizens that “help is on its way” and urging them to take over their country's institutions to abruptly declaring on Wednesday that he had received information from “very important sources on the other side” that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not going forward with executions.
The Arab officials also urged senior Iranian officials to quickly end the violent repression of protesters. They warned that any Iranian response to a U.S. action against the U.S. or other targets in the region would have significant repercussions for Iran, the diplomat said.
Asked about reports of allies asking Trump to hold off on the strikes at a White House briefing, Leavitt did not directly address the matter.
Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said military action is an option that remains in play.
“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” said in remarks at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the Iran protests. “He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.”
But Trump himself appeared to send signals he could be backing away from a potential U.S. strike on Iran after days of threatening one was in the offing.
He took to social media to highlight a Fox News headline about the suspension of a death sentence for an Iranian shopkeeper, 26-year-old Erfan Soltani.
Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital.
Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
“This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!” Trump said in his post about the reported pause in the execution of the shopkeeper. The White House later asserted that Iran had halted 800 scheduled executions.
Trump has been known to purposefully display ambiguity about his intentions to maintain an element of surprise.
Last June, as Trump was weighing whether to follow Israel as it carried out strikes on Iran, Leavitt read a message to reporters that she said came “directly from the president” in which Trump said he would decide whether to strike Iran “within the next two weeks.”
Less than two days later, Trump ordered B-2 bombers to carry out strikes on critical Iranian nuclear sites.
Jeremy Shapiro, research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump may have decided to hold off on strikes because of concerns about the current U.S. force posture in the Middle East.
There are currently no U.S. aircraft carriers, considered a critical asset a significant military operation, in the region after the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group were deployed to the U.S. Southern Command region as the part of a massive counter-narcotics operation focused on Venezuela.
“It might be that they’re delaying things and using the time for getting that posture correct,” Shapiro said.
The Trump administration on Thursday also announced new sanction s against Iran.
Included in Thursday’s sanctions is the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security, whom the Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against Iranian protesters.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated 18 people and companies that the U.S. says have participated in laundering money from sales of Iranian oil to foreign markets as part of a shadow banking network of sanctioned Iranian financial institutions Bank Melli and Shahr Bank.
Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump waves during his arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
