Iran Talks Stall at the UN, Trump Spends the Weekend at the Presidents Cup

President Trump is at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago today, serving as honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup final round, which is scheduled to begin just after noon Eastern. The USA TODAY Network's Golfweek reported he requested a 15-minute speech at some point during the event, according to The Hill. It's unclear if he'll repeat his 2017 move of personally handing the trophy to the winning team, something he did as honorary chair at Liberty National.

The Americans need it. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker is blaming himself after his team trails the International squad by three points heading into Sunday's 12 singles matches, according to the Associated Press, via The Washington Post. The U.S. has won every Presidents Cup since a 2003 tie in South Africa.

Iran rejects nothing, gets rejected instead

A day before teeing off at Medinah, Trump rejected Iran's seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and enter a ceasefire, The Hill reported Saturday. Today, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is booked on CBS's "Face the Nation" and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is on NBC's "Meet the Press."

That follows a rough week at the UN General Assembly. Pezeshkian told the Assembly on Wednesday, September 23 that Iran will "never bow our head or bend at the knee" to the U.S., and said Iranians have been "the victims of terrorism," directly countering Trump's own UNGA remarks branding Iranians as terrorists, according to CNN. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the same day that U.S.-Iran talks on the sidelines of the Assembly "did not yield any major breakthrough."

Special envoy Steve Witkoff described Tuesday's session differently, calling it "lengthy" and saying mediators shuttled between the two delegations all day, per a post on X reported by Fox News. Witkoff said the round was "successfully completed" and that talks would continue, but stopped short of claiming a deal.

While diplomats talked, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved to squeeze Iran's economy further. Starting September 23, Iranian airlines faced an effective shutout from international operations, with Washington threatening secondary sanctions against any foreign airport, fuel supplier, or ticket seller that keeps servicing them, Fox News reported. Azerbaijan Airlines and Turkish Airlines have already halted or restricted flights to Baghdad, Muscat, and Baku.

That's the backdrop for today's Sunday show lineup: Attorney General Todd Blanche, Bessent, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are all scheduled, according to The Hill.

A packed sports calendar

Saturday, Trump flew Air Force One over Neyland Stadium for the Tennessee-Texas game, where he sat for a halftime interview with Clay Travis of Sport & State, according to Daily Wire. Trump told Travis he expects the House to pass the Protect College Sports Act once it's back in session.

That game came roughly two weeks after Trump flew to Doonbeg, Ireland to attend the Irish Open at his own Trump International Golf Links, following the 25th anniversary observance of the September 11 attacks. He met Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin on trade and foreign policy and had a brief sit-down with President Catherine Connolly, the Associated Press reported via Breitbart.

Add it up, per Daily Mail's tally: the College Football Playoff championship in January, Game 3 of the NBA Finals in June, the FIFA World Cup final in July, the IndyCar Freedom 250 in August, the Irish Open this month, Saturday's college football game, and today's Presidents Cup. Medinah marks the first time in 2026 Trump has attended a marquee golf event at a course he doesn't personally own.

DidTrumpGolfToday.com, an independent tracker cited by Daily Mail, estimates Trump has golfed 137 times over his current term's first 611 days, putting the taxpayer cost at roughly $191 million. That's an outside estimate, not a government audit, though a 2017 Government Accountability Office report found four trips to Trump's Palm Beach property cost about $13.6 million, or $3.4 million per trip, mostly in Secret Service lodging.

Defenders of the schedule, including past hosts like Joe Biden, who served as honorary Presidents Cup chairman in 2022 without attending, argue these appearances come with the job. Presidents have long attended marquee sporting events, and honorary-chair duties are largely ceremonial rather than personal recreation. Whether that distinction holds up against the dollar figures is a fair question taxpayers are entitled to ask.

The open question heading into next week: does Witkoff's "lengthy" round of talks produce anything concrete, or does Rubio's "no breakthrough" stand as the final word? Pezeshkian's and Araghchi's Sunday interviews, plus any follow-up from Bessent's sanctions push, will be the next data points.