Iran-US threats, Germany elections and AI at the UN
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Why is Iran warning of an imminent US attack and how are Houthi strikes affecting Saudi Arabia?
Hi, I'm Kim Vinnell in Whanganui, New Zealand. It's Monday, September 21st. Today, Iran warns a US attack is imminent as Saudi Arabia grapples with Houthi advances. OpenAI's Sam Altman prepares to address the UN with AI fears front and center at the gathering of world leaders. And another win for the far right in Germany puts Chancellor Merz in a tight spot. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Iran is warning against any big new attack by the United States and its allies, saying it has intel that a move is being prepared. Tehran didn't elaborate on anything specific, but the US State Department did issue a security alert over the weekend, saying there was potential for unforeseen escalation in the Middle East.
All that adds to the anxiety in the region, already on edge after drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, with the Iran-aligned Houthis claiming they struck the capital, Riyadh. Our chief correspondent for Saudi Arabia, Timur Azari, explains why that matters.
It's been many years since Riyadh was targeted on this scale. So it's definitely an escalation and it's just another sign of what a difficult spot the kingdom here is in as it tries to sort of decide what to do in Yemen. It's been 11 years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears and Yemen is still in conflict and the Houthis are still able to take territory and to threaten Saudi Arabia.
Timur says the Houthi attacks have shaken the kingdom.
Since 2022, Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the Houthis. They reached a ceasefire with the group. So Saudi Arabia seemed pretty secure in the belief that the Houthis would stick to that path despite the escalation in the region. And we've really seen that turn on its head in the last few months. And now the conversation is basically about, you know, can we ever engage the Houthis in the political process again? And if we can't, then, you know, probably there's only a military solution. If you look at Saudi strategy over the past sort of decade, it's been predicated on this national transformation strategy where you have huge infrastructure projects and you're really trying to turn this kingdom from a place that exported oil to a place that brings people in and that people visit for tourism.
And that depends on having a region that's relatively stable. And clearly we're not heading in that direction.
The widening conflict in the Middle East is just one of the topics on the agenda as world leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly. They're also going to tackle the risks of artificial intelligence, with Reuters learning that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will also be there to brief leaders. Our UN correspondent at Nieslorkowski at the UN headquarters has more.
One of the really interesting subjects is artificial intelligence. Leaders from leading AI labs have warned about the sort of breakneck speed of AI development. And Antonio Guterres actually has called for coordinated efforts to rein in the speed of AI development for a long time. One important elephant, not in the room, but missing from the room or missing from the conversation, perhaps, is President Xi Jinping of China. He's skipping the General Assembly of the United Nations and is opting for a one-on-one direct conversation with President Donald Trump. in Washington DC on Thursday. This is inevitably going to create a split-screen moment and is going to highlight concerns about where the locus of political power is, whether it is where the two most powerful nations in the world meet in DC or whether it is here in the building behind me.
Let's turn to markets now. With AI high on the agenda this week, here's Mike Dolan from our sister podcast, Morning Bid.
Markets entering the week in reasonably stable format, but they are looking to the TrumpG meeting on Thursday, I think, as the event of the week. We already had a meeting between Scott Besant and the Chinese Vice Premier, He Lingfeng, on Sunday, and that has set out the agenda for that
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