US creates task force to block Iran's land shipments

Summary

The US military has set up a task force to restrict Iran's land and Caspian Sea shipments, extending pressure from its months-long naval blockade to overland routes.⁠12

On November 6, US forces carried out limited strikes on an Iranian air-defence site, which Trump described as 'minor'.⁠3

Trump said talks were continuing, and Qatar called reports that Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement false and misleading.⁠45

In Africa, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the largest in the country's history, the WHO said.⁠6

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that keeping global warming within 1.5C is no longer achievable and urged taxing the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies.⁠7

On the Iran question, reports say Trump's aides see the January swearing-in of the new Congress as the deadline for any renewed attack, leaving Washington's next decision on Iran to be made before then.⁠8