Trump rejected Iran’s offer for seven-day pause and Hormuz reopening
British authorities have arrested five men near RAF Fairford, a U.K. air base used by U.S. forces in the war against Iran, NPR’s Up First newsletter reported on September 28, 2026. Three suspicious vehicles were stopped near the base as part of the operation, and investigators are examining several possible motives and connections.
NPR correspondent Lauren Frayer told Up First that police are treating a possible Iran connection as only one of several lines of inquiry. British officials are also weighing the broader threat from hostile states, Frayer said. She noted that RAF Fairford has previously been a target of anti-war protests. The five suspects can be held for up to 14 days without charge under U.K. terrorism laws, the newsletter reported. NPR’s Up First said it would air analysis from national security expert Juliette Kayyem on Morning Edition about how investigators assess a suspected plot and why U.S. and British officials may be describing the case differently.
Separately, President Trump said he rejected an Iranian offer for a seven-day pause in fighting and an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had sought relief from the U.S. naval blockade on its oil exports and access to billions of dollars frozen abroad in exchange for reopening the waterway, according to NPR. NPR correspondent Aya Batrawy told Up First that oil is moving through the strait but not at prewar levels. Recent Kpler data shows flows averaging about 13 million barrels a day last week, compared with roughly 15 million to 17 million before the war, she said. “There is an absence of peace in the Gulf,” Batrawy said, with Washington’s Gulf allies “paying the heavy price” of that continued uncertainty.
CNN returned to the White House TV pool after a dayslong dispute over press access, NPR reported. The pause meant major moments, including Trump’s U.N. appearance and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, went without the usual pooled television coverage. NPR’s Mara Liasson reported that fights with the media may play well with Trump’s media-skeptical base, but they can also cost him the wall-to-wall coverage he typically seeks. Liasson said the dispute fits a broader question about why Trump is taking positions that run against majority public opinion just weeks before the midterms.
In a separate development, CNN is getting new owners with close ties to Trump, NPR reported. NPR’s David Folkenflik reported on the unease inside the network as Paramount moves to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company.
Mass shootings across South Africa have killed nearly 40 people in recent days, NPR reported. The attacks in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban struck a restaurant, tavern and house party. Police have not announced motives in the latest cases.
Born in 1947, the year before Israel’s creation, Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour said he didn’t always think of himself as Palestinian. “In the early 1970s, I started to discover I’m a Palestinian,” he told NPR. “So my art took a 90-degree turn.” Living under Israeli occupation, he said, made politics impossible to escape. But he also believed beauty was part of how art reached people: “If you don’t speak to the hearts of the people, if you don’t speak to the feelings of the people, then you don’t reach people.” Beauty, he said, was “an important way to reach these hearts.”
Mansour died on Aug. 24 at 79 and was buried in Bir Zeit, in the occupied West Bank, near the olive groves of his ancestors.
Therapist and mom of three Cassidy Freitas says finding small moments to reset can help regulate your emotions, according to NPR. In her new book, Mom Needs a Moment, she offers a few techniques for parents: in moments of high stress, pause and take a few intentional breaths before considering what is really driving your emotions; when parental guilt sets in, think about what you would say to a friend in the same situation and offer yourself the same grace; and every parent loses their cool sometimes — acknowledge what happened, own the mistake and take time to reconnect with your child.
Scientists in Canada discovered two new sea spider species in the Salish Sea — the first found there in more than a century, NPR reported. Stanford professor Bryant Lin spent years studying lung cancer before becoming a Stage IV patient himself — just as new treatments are changing the disease’s outlook. D.C.’s Rat Rangers lead nighttime safaris through trash-strewn alleys to teach residents a simple lesson: If you want fewer rats, start with the humans.