Iran tells the US public that Trump's war has failed, and other Mideast developments

Iran's Revolutionary Guard urged Americans in a message ahead of U.S. midterm elections to take to the streets and rally against Donald Trump, claiming the U.S. president's war in the Middle East has failed.

The Guard's spokesman said such street protests should denounce what he called the U.S. government’s war-mongering policies. He said Americans should "revise their decision” about their leaders.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, settlers rioted, throwing rocks, blocking roads and setting Palestinian property on fire to prevent a Palestinian man escorted by the Israeli military from returning to his home in the village of Jalud.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Full coverage is available here.

Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard, held a news conference in Tehran, Iran's capital, on Tuesday and read from what he said was a “letter to the American people.”

Reading from the prepared text, he said that the only way for the war to end is for Washington to admit defeat and leave. The message was apparently meant for the U.S. public just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections for the U.S. Senate and Congress — a vote in which Trump’s Republican Party faces fierce headwinds as it looks to maintain control of Congress.

Later, in remarks to The Associated Press, Mohebbi urged Americans to take to the streets and protest Trump's policies.

He accused the United States of using Iran’s nuclear program as a ruse to “plunder Iran’s wealth” and to turn the country “back into a colony.” The U.S. military action and economic sanctions would not get Tehran to submit.

Meanwhile, Iran’s currency fell to a new record low Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar, a sign of how the conflict has further eroded Iran's economy.

The decline came after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2. The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.

Over a hundred Israeli settlers scuffled with Israeli soldiers who were trying to escort a Palestinian man to his home in the West Bank village of Jalud.

The homeowner, Mahmoud Tubasi, told the AP that the soldiers initially brought him to his home but that rioting settlers forced him to leave with his family in a military vehicle. He said he still can't access the house, which settlers have besieged for two months.

Israel’s military acknowledged that the overnight mission to return the family “was not completed” and that three officers were injured by settlers who threw rocks, blocked roads and set Palestinian property on fire.

Israeli police said they arrested three settlers suspected of participating in the riot, which was condemned by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gidon Saar and President Isaac Herzog.

The Israeli military has struggled to quell the latest wave of settler violence. Rights groups have accused the military of colluding with the settlers.

An Israeli strike on an apartment west of Gaza City killed two people, including a Hamas commander who the Israeli military said was involved in plotting attacks and recruiting new members for the militant group.

Shifa Hospital officials said Tuesday the strike also wounded five others.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the overnight strike targeted Izz al-Din Bik, a commander in the Hamas militant group’s northern Gaza brigade. Hamas did not immediately confirm his death.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the fatalities.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

An Iranian missile is displayed under the country's national flag in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian missiles and banners showing portraits of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, center, and the late armed forces commanders and nuclear scientists, who were killed in Israel and U.S. strikes, are displayed in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A crow sits on a drone displayed in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This image taken from video released by Al-Masirah TV, a channel run by Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows what the channel said were Houthi fighters and local residents searching through the rubble of a house following a strike by Saudi-backed forces in the town of Kadhah, in Taiz province, Yemen. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guard spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian authorities said Tuesday that an arson attack carried out last month on a defense company that provides military vehicles to Ukraine was an act of sabotage commissioned by Russian security services.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that “such actions are absolutely unacceptable” and that Russia's charge d'affaires in Tallinn was being summoned to his ministry.

A fire broke out overnight on Aug. 15 at a building in the Estonian capital used by Milrem Robotics, but was quickly brought under control, the BNS news agency reported. On Aug. 17, two Latvian suspects were detained in neighboring Latvia, and a third followed the next day. The suspects were handed over to Estonia.

Milrem has supplied THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine.

The Estonian Internal Security Service said that it has concluded that the arson attack “was a deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services.”

It said in a statement that “the modus operandi of the Milrem attack is consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia,” adding that it “assesses that the attack is directly attributable to the Russian Federation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such statements are unfounded, ill-considered, absolutely not reflecting the reality, not containing any substantiation whatsoever.”

“We cannot take such statements seriously, and we won’t,” Peskov said.

Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.

The Associated Press has tracked around 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe blamed on Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

That includes organizing plots to set fire to warehouses, launching drones and trying to kill enemies abroad as well as stealing defense technology and carrying out cyberattacks on critical European infrastructure.

In a recent case that pointed to an escalation of such activity, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August using a drone laden with explosives.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal wrote on X that “we will not be intimidated.”

FILE -Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna speaks during a meeting of foreign ministers and state secretaries from the Nordic-Baltic Eight, in Chisinau, Moldova, Oct.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja, File)