Food security

Farmers roast harvested wheat using fire in a field on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, on May 18, 2026.

Analysis

How Syria’s wheat fields turned into first battleground over reconstruction

A battle over wheat prices could be the first political contest over who reconstruction will benefit.

Haddon Barth

By Haddon Barth

Speaker of the Parliament of Iran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (R) arrives at the Burgenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne on June 21, 2026.

Iran rejects Trump's claim frozen funds will buy US soybeans: What to know

Trump said Wednesday that the US would release “some” Iranian frozen funds and would use them to purchase corn, wheat and soybeans from American farmers.

French Trade & Invest Commissioner for United Arab Emirates and Middle East and Business France's regional director for the Middle East Axel Baroux. — Business France

Interview

Franco-Gulf investment holds firm despite Iran war, French official says

French investors are reallocating capital toward strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and technology rather than pulling out of the region altogether.

Axel Baroux

France’s trade and investment commissioner for the UAE and Middle East

Janti Soeripto helps at a community kitchen serving hot meals to displaced families arriving from El-Fasher.

Interview

As Sudan war drags on, US-Iran conflict compounds humanitarian crisis in Darfur

Save the Children US President and CEO Janti Soeripto said delivering aid in Sudan remains extremely difficult, with supply trucks often delayed for weeks or months even after entering the country.

Janti Soeripto

President and CEO of Save the Children US

Latest News

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran war deepens Gaza crisis as prices soar, aid falters

Children and families gather to receive free meals shortly before Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan at a displacement camp in central Gaza City, on Feb. 27, 2026.

Daoud Kuttab

By Daoud Kuttab

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

'No meaningful protection': Israel’s new Gaza aid rules raise data, security risks

People walk through a heavily damaged street in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 12, 2025.

Iranians work at a food store in Tehran on May 13, 2021.

Nationwide protests in Iran as food prices increase

Subsidy cuts have led to nationwide protests in Iran.

Egyptian men work in a bakery at a market in Cairo, on March 17, 2022.

What do rising wheat prices, India’s export ban mean for Egypt?

Egypt is seeking to import wheat from India due to the Russian war on Ukraine.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

US announces $800M in Syria aid as border-access vote looms

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the international community to ensure the latest Syria aid "actually reaches those in need."

French rice farmer Bernard Poujol holds a stalk of rice in a rice field, Saint Gilles, France, Oct. 12, 2017.

Egyptian scientist creates new rice variety that requires less water

An Egyptian scientist and head of the National Rice Development Project at the Ministry of Agriculture invented a new type of rice that does not need much water, after the Egyptian government announced that the country is suffering from water poverty.

Flags of Azerbaijan (L) and Israel.

Israel's Liberman talks wheat, strategy in visit to Azerbaijan

Officially, the visit of Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to Azerbaijan focused on exporting wheat to Israel, but reports suggest that the minister also discussed strategic and energy issues.

Iraq food

Iraq grapples with rising food costs as a result of Ukraine war

Ripple effects from the Russian invasion of Ukraine are driving the Iraqi government to allot additional funds to ensure the food supply is stable.

Iraq politics

US urges Iraqi government formation as stalemate drags on

The deadlock has left Iraq without a new budget amid the economic uncertainty stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine.

FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images

Tunisian grocers offer chance to mitigate economic crisis

Small grocery shops are a lifeline for Tunisian communities and families and one entrepreneur sees them as agents of change to a cash-free economy.

Workers collect onions during the harvest on a farm, in the Polatli district of Ankara on Aug. 6, 2019.

Turkey’s farmers call for urgent support as food alarm grows

Turkey’s agricultural producers are grappling with exorbitant cost increases that threaten further blows to the country’s food production amid an already galloping inflation.

A farmer ploughs a wheat field in the countryside of the northeastern city of Qamishli, on Sept. 18, 2021.

Syria’s bread basket lies empty

Deir ez-Zor province in eastern Syria is facing a water and bread crisis that is likely to become even worse during the month of Ramadan.

An Egyptian man arranges fruits at a shop in a market in Cairo, on March 17, 2022. Soaring bread prices sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have bitten into the purchasing power of consumers in Egypt, a leading importer of wheat from the former Soviet states.

Middle East reels from historically high food prices

World food prices in March reached their highest levels ever, according to the United Nations.

Tunisian man holding a baguette is carried by fellow protesters during a demonstration in Tunis on Jan. 18, 2011.

New Tunisian law targets those spreading 'fake news' about food shortages

Tunisia’s president says he is waging a war on speculators hoarding food, but his new decree-law also includes an article that forbids the spreading of “false news and information” about food shortages and the supply chain.