TRUMP REJECTS IRAN'S SEVEN-DAY DEAL, PENCILS THEM IN FOR MONDAY

Iran's foreign minister went to the UN General Assembly with a package deal. Lift the naval blockade, drop the sanctions on Iranian oil, unfreeze the money, hold a regional ceasefire, and within seven days Hormuz reopens and nuclear talks restart. Trump's response, delivered to reporters on the White House lawn before boarding Marine One, was that he rejected their deal. He told Axios the terms were something he might have signed a year ago and that Tehran "overplayed their hand." Then he said he expects talks with Iran again this week, possibly Monday, run through Qatari mediators. Killing the deal and booking the next session inside the same weekend is a choice. The spin is where it falls apart. Trump says the US has total control of the strait and bragged that 29 ships came through in one night and more than 20 million barrels over the weekend. The strait is still functionally blockaded by Iran, which is the whole reason anyone is at the table. Araghchi says he heard about the rejection from Trump and not from the mediators, and pointed out the president says a lot of contradictory things. Asked whether airstrikes could restart, Trump said he's always thinking about it. The Wall Street Journal reports he's weighing a resumed bombing campaign after the November 3 midterms, which puts the war neatly on the election calendar.

Why you should give a shit: A fifth of the world's oil and gas moved through Hormuz before this war started, so every round of Trump and Tehran haggling through Qatari middlemen gets billed to you at the pump, the only poll either side is actually reading.