U.S. Secretary of State Rubio will visit Colombia, Ecuador and Peru next week.

On the afternoon of Sept. 4, China's Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Colonel Jiang Bin said recent Taiwanese defense reports exaggerate a "mainland threat" and serve as an excuse for the Democratic Progressive Party to stoke war anxiety. He reiterated that the PLA routinely conducts ships-and-aircraft combat-readiness patrols around Taiwan to carry out anti-secession and anti-interference operations to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and warned any attempt to pursue independence by force would fail.

Three senior Iranian sources said US sanctions and a blockade are beginning to have an impact. Washington has sought in recent weeks to step up economic pressure to force concessions in future talks; six months of conflict have so far failed to secure the concessions the US seeks. The sources said new US measures have left Iran more vulnerable despite decades of sanctions-evasion, leaving Tehran with only a few channels to access foreign currency or procure goods. They highlighted US efforts to sever other countries’ international financing networks long relied on by Iran as a real and immediate threat. If the economic campaign breaks the months-long stalemate it would bolster US policymakers’ confidence, but Iran has warned it could respond to economic pressure with military escalation, raising near-term risk.