Trump rolls back EV fuel rules as Iran awaits mediators and Zelenskyy cites 55% jet-drone intercepts
Trump cites 25,000 Ukraine war deaths last month and urges a deal; third-country deportation response still due Monday.
5 PM CT video brief · 2:22Presenter voice and image generated with AI tools.Read transcript
I'm Nora Vale with your Evening Update World Brief for Saturday, September 26th. President Trump said he approved new fuel-economy standards that end the Biden-era electric vehicle push. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a major victory for auto workers is coming Monday, when the department finalizes sharply lower standards through 2031. What this means. For you shopping for a new truck or SUV, Washington should stop forcing cars you never asked for. As Americans, we should watch Monday's final miles-per-gallon number and whether sticker prices actually fall. Iran's foreign minister said Tehran saw Trump's initial reaction to its seven-day Hormuz proposal but still awaits a formal reply through mediators. Trump told reporters he rejected the deal, saying Iran wants the strait open because it is losing badly. What this means. For your family at the pump, Hormuz still hangs on the next mediator message. As Americans, we need leverage that ends the blockade, not another calendar without limits on enrichment. On the White House lawn, President Trump said 25,000 people died last month in the Ukraine war, and he again pressed Zelenskyy to settle with Putin before winter. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is intercepting 55 percent of Russia's jet-powered drones as Saturday's strike toll hit at least 16. What this means. Tens of thousands dead each month is why you want an endgame, not open-ended war. As Americans, we should watch whether Patriot licenses and real pressure on Moscow move with the deal talk. At the Supreme Court, there were no new Saturday orders. The response in the third-country deportation case is still due Monday at 4 p.m. Eastern. What this means. Monday's brief still tests whether lower courts can block removals Congress authorized. For your community's safety, watch whether the full Court is asked to act. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Hurricane Nolo, with top winds near 90 mph, has a tropical storm warning and a tropical storm watch in effect for parts of Hawaii. Impacts from a significant Nor'easter will extend through the weekend into Monday especially for the coastal sections of the northeastern U.S. into the Mid-Atlantic. That's your World Brief for this hour. I'm Nora Vale. We'll be back at nine.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said late Saturday that Tehran had seen an initial reaction from President Donald Trump to its seven-day Strait of Hormuz proposal but had not yet received a definitive response through mediators, The Guardian reported with Reuters and AP. Trump told reporters at the White House he rejected the deal, saying Iran wants to reopen Hormuz “immediately because they're losing so badly” and that the United States is “winning tremendously,” Reuters reported. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking to CBS’s Face the Nation, said Iran is ready for nuclear and other talks but would not accept “bullying or coercion,” while Wall Street Journal reporting cited by The Guardian said Trump has told aides he expects renewed strikes after the November midterms.
In his Saturday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian air defenses are currently intercepting 55 percent of the jet-powered drones Russia launches, France 24 reported with AFP. Authorities on both sides said Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed at least 16 people over about 24 hours, with Kyiv reporting at least six dead in Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk — including a 17-year-old girl — and Russia reporting deaths in Krasnodar, Belgorod and occupied Zaporizhzhia. Zelenskyy said Kyiv hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region and a plant supplying Russian forces in Rostov, and he again urged allies to adopt more sanctions on Moscow.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he approved new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards that “TERMINATE” what he called the Biden administration’s “EV Mandate,” and that the rules will mean lower prices for new cars, according to his Truth Social post as reported by CNBC. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said “a major victory for America's auto workers is coming Monday,” and Reuters reported the Transportation Department will finalize sharply lower standards through 2031. The department’s December proposal targeted a fleetwide average of about 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, down from about 50.4 under Biden-era rules, estimating roughly $930 lower average new-vehicle costs but about 100 billion more gallons of fuel use through 2050.
Speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn Saturday before his Tennessee trip, President Donald Trump said 25,000 people died last month in the Ukraine-Russia war, 32,000 the month before, and 33,000 two months ago, with casualties “mostly soldiers, 97% soldiers,” Fox News reported. Trump said he wants Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to “make a deal,” adding he hopes for an agreement “maybe before the heavy winter.” The Associated Press reported Trump’s call for Zelenskyy to “settle” with Putin as both sides traded deadly strikes Saturday; Zelenskyy separately said Friday that Trump had agreed to license Patriot interceptor production in Ukraine, Fox News noted.
As of Saturday evening, the Supreme Court’s public docket for Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D., No. 26A406, still showed only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Sept. 24 order directing respondents to file a response by 4 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 28, with no further Saturday order on the government’s stay application. The application, docketed Sept. 24, seeks a stay of lower-court limits on third-country removals while the case proceeds, after Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Court the latest district order rests on the same flawed premises as earlier rulings, SCOTUSblog reported. The Court’s Term Year 2025 orders page listed no miscellaneous order newer than Sept. 23 as of Saturday evening.
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