Eight US Marines injured in Iranian missile attack in Strait of Hormuz: report

Marines suffered smoke inhalation and possible traumatic brain injuries, says NBC News, citing three US officials

Eight US Marines were injured two weeks ago when an Iranian anti-ship cruise missile struck a vessel they were operating on in the Strait of Hormuz, NBC News reported on Sunday, citing three US officials.

The report said the Marines were not seriously injured but suffered smoke inhalation and possible traumatic brain injuries after experiencing concussion-like symptoms, including headaches.

Seven of the Marines were enlisted personnel, while the eighth was an officer. All eight returned to duty shortly after the Sept. 14 attack, according to the officials.

The Marines were operating as part of a battalion landing team when the Iranian missile struck the vessel, they said.

The officials said the vessel was not a US Navy ship but declined to specify its type, referring to it only as a maritime vessel.

The Pentagon has faced growing scrutiny over casualty figures since the US-Israel war with Iran began in February, with the number of injured and killed troops subject to changes in reporting and classification.

Read: Trump attends dignified transfer of four US troops killed in Middle East

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Defence Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) had recorded 861 US service members as injured in the conflict.

The eight Marines were added to the database nearly 10 days after the September 14 attack, while a US official attributed delays in reporting to symptoms that may appear later and the system’s lack of real-time updates.

We 'did not come to New York to sell a war': Iranian foreign minister

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with NBC News said that "President Pezeshkian and I did not come to New York to sell a war. We came to forge peace."

Told @MeetThePress:

President Pezeshkian and I did not come to New York to sell a war. We came to forge peace.
Iran nonetheless remains steadfast in the face of any aggression—even if it comes to an apocalyptic war. At the same time, we are ready for real diplomacy.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) September 27, 2026

He stated that Iran "nonetheless remains steadfast in the face of any aggression-even if it comes to an apocalyptic war. At the same time, we are ready for real diplomacy."

When asked if they trusted US President Donald Trump, Araghchi said "we trust ourselves. We are ready for diplomacy, we are ready for war at the same time. They have tested us in both cases; they have tested us in their aggression twice, and they are welcome if they want to test us once again."

Iran insists on diplomatic solution after Trump rejects peace plan

Iran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the ​United States and Israel, after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening ‌the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," Araghchi posted on social media. "Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock."

Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan, and argued that desperation was driving the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway.

"They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they're losing ​so badly," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Read more: Iran Guards claim seizure of US underwater drone in Hormuz, US denies

Keeping the door to diplomacy open, however, Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Sunday that he expected US negotiators to engage in more talks this ​week.

Araghchi said mediators facilitating Tehran's talks with Washington had not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan.

"We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views ⁠to us, and we will make a decision based on them," Araghchi posted.

The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which ​have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the US controls the waterway.

The commander-in-chief of Iran's army, Amir Hatam, said the war was at a critical and decisive stage, adding that Tehran would not accept ​a situation in which it was unable to trade while foreign powers used the region's strategic waterways.

"If Iran cannot trade, if Iran cannot live, no one will be able to trade or live," he said, in comments reported by state media.

Saudi Arabia drawn deeper into war

Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Since then, it has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading the conventional forces of Iran and damaging its already ​ailing economy.

Iran and its allies have responded by extending the conflict throughout the region. Iran has struck US allies in the Gulf with drones and missiles, while its Houthi allies in Yemen have hit Saudi interests.

Saudi Arabia, the ​largest of the Gulf states, has been drawn deeper into the war this month as Houthi fighters have advanced in Yemen, routing forces of the Saudi-backed government and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.

The Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly fired into Saudi ‌Arabia and, ⁠in a possible sign of further escalation, parents in Riyadh received notices from schools on Sunday saying classes would shift to remote learning for the week, according to people who received the messages.

The notice did not give a reason for the decision. Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yemen's health ministry, meanwhile, said seven people were killed and 40 wounded, including children, in a strike on shops at a market at the Mawiya junction in Taiz province, in the southwest.

Later, Yemen's internationally recognised government said its forces had targeted a Houthi military camp and vehicles at the same junction.

Conflict disrupts oil, harms global economy

The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the ​Strait of Hormuz during the brief flurry of diplomacy in ​New York, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old ⁠conflict that has disrupted oil flows through a critical shipping lane and taken a toll on the global economy.

Araghchi told reporters at the UN on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

"If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait ​of Hormuz, everything is now prepared," Araghchi said. If the US agreed, the warring parties could start broader talks "on mutually agreed subjects."

That could potentially include ​discussions of Iran's nuclear programme. Trump ⁠has cited preventing Tehran from ever acquiring a nuclear bomb as a key goal, along with ending its ability to attack its neighbours and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leadership.

US envoy to the United Nations Mike Waltz said on Sunday in an interview with CNN's State of the Union that Trump rejected the Iranian proposal because it required immediately lifting sanctions and releasing frozen assets.

"So the bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with ⁠a promise that ​they would then talk," Waltz said. "The president's just not confident that the Iranians are coming in good faith and that they will truly ​negotiate the end of their nuclear programme."

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show "Face the Nation", said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear programme and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion".

"Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against ​pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that "we're not supposed to develop nuclear weapons".