Iran-US tensions

People walk past a branch of Turkish bank HalkBank on Dec. 1, 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Supreme Court clears path for Turkey’s Halkbank trial over Iran sanctions

The Turkish president personally raised the Halkbank case with US President Donald Trump at the White House, as Ankara pushes for a settlement to avoid a drawn-out legal battle.

Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, addresses members of parliament in Tehran on March 2, 2025.

Analysis

Reeling from Israel war, Iran expands espionage law, bans Starlink use

Iran has officially enacted a sweeping new espionage law imposing harsher measures — including the death penalty — for collaboration with Israel, as rights activists decry what they say is a new campaign of arbitrary arrests and deeper repression.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A woman walks past a deactivated Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile in front of a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran's Bahrestan Square on Sept. 27, 2025, as part of an exhibit to mark the "Sacred Defense Week" commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

US targets Iran's military tech with sanctions after allies trigger snapback

New sanctions aim to increase pressure on Iran to restrict the IRGC’s relentless development of ballistic missiles and military aircraft, but risk pushing Tehran further into the orbits of Russia and China.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 30: A U.S. Army soldier looks onto Baghdad from a guardhouse on the perimeter of the International Zone on May 30, 2021 in Baghdad, Iraq. Coalition forces based in Baghdad's International Zone are part of the U.S.-led Military Advisor Group of 13 nations supporting the Iraqi Security Forces. The United States currently maintains 2,500 military personnel in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Alpha Company 769th brigade Engineer Battalion, Louisiana National Guard is providing for

US troops in Iraq shift to Erbil to focus on ISIS in Syria

The US mission against the Islamic State is relocating its headquarters and most of its troops from Baghdad to Erbil as the prime minister's coalition faces reelection in November.

Latest News

Analysis

How far will China, Russia go in shielding Iran from UN sanctions?

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) welcomes Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov (L) and Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazeem Gharibabadi.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

How Afghanistan's Bagram base became focal point of US-China-Iran rivalry

Taliban military vehicles parade to celebrate the third anniversary of Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, at the Bagram Air Base, in Bagram, Parwan province on Aug. 14, 2024.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Analysis

UN snapback sanctions deepen Iran’s 'sense of siege,' fuel fears of reprisal

Iranians walk past shops in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on Aug. 13, 2025.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

US, Saudi Arabia wrap up drone drill after Iran’s top security chief visits Riyadh

A US Army Mobile Low, Slow, Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat System (MLIDS) vehicle equipped with counter-drone sensors and weapons. Similar systems were fielded during the Red Sands 2025 exercise in Saudi Arabia.

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi (R) meets with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Muscat, on April, 25, 2023. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s FM visits Qatar, Oman as indirect talks with US see momentum

Qatar and Oman have maintained communications with Iran and Saudi Arabia, also playing a mediating role between Washington and Tehran.

The official welcoming ceremony of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran, Uzbekistan ink major deals during rare visit by Uzbek president

The Islamic Republic offered to share its "experience" in overcoming international sanctions in the first visit by an Uzbek leader to Tehran in 20 years, marked by multiple trade and energy agreements.

Women walk along a mural painting behind which appears a giant billboard bearing a picture of the 'Fattah' hypersonic missile, in Tehran on July 7, 2023. Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveiled an intermediate range ballistic missile on June 6 capable of travelling at hypersonic speeds of up to 15 times the speed of sound, state television reported. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

In new purge, Iran expels independent, Reformist professors

Iran's hard-line government is forcing its own critics out of universities.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan arrives at Damascus airport, on April 18, 2023. - Bin Farhan's is the first visit to Syria's capital by a Saudi official since the start of the country's civil war in 2011. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi FM to visit Iran in first after China deal, Iranian press reports

The visit will be the first in years during which Saudi Arabia and Iran were locked in a bitter conflict that has been felt across the region.

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.

Interview

Oman FM says US, Iran 'close' on prisoner deal

Oman's foreign minister told Al-Monitor that the two sides are ironing out the details on a deal to release the prisoners.

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi

Foreign Minister of Oman

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (L) receives a commemorative decoration from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after a joint press statement at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on June 12, 2023.

Iran's Raisi hails 'new world order' in meeting with Maduro in Venezuela

Iran and Venezuela talked business as their economies continue to be battered by sanctions from abroad and skyrocketing inflation at home.

Iran drones

US: Iran drone factory in Russia could be operational next year

Iran has already been shipping drones via the Caspian Sea to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, White House says.

Presidents Nicolas Maduro and Ebrahim Raisi during their meeting in Tehran. June 11, 2022

Iran's president travels to Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela in anti-US blitz

The visit will take the Iranian president to three leftist countries with which Tehran shares both American sanctions and a vigorous anti-American agenda.

B-1B

Israel, Jordan, Saudi join US bombers in show of force to Iran

Two US Air Force B-1B bombers dropped munitions at target ranges in Jordan and Saudi Arabia before returning to Europe in the Pentagon's latest regional exercise aimed at deterring Iran.

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi watches combat drones alongside high-ranking officials and commanders during a military parade marking the country's annual army day in Tehran on April 18, 2023. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

UK MPs alarmed by report on British colleges helping Iran develop drones

British lawmakers demand that the government provide answers about whether international sanctions were breached.

Photo of Fattah hypersonic missile as it was unveiled on Iran's Press TV on June 6, 2023

Iran unveils first hypersonic missile 'Fattah,' says no system can intercept it

Boastfully adding to its already massive stockpile of long-range projectiles, Tehran appeared headed for a fresh collision course with Israel and its Western adversaries, which remain unnerved by Iran's missile program.

Iranian soldiers stand next to an Iranian Kheibar missile (R) and a Shahab-3 missile (L) during a rally marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) day, in street at the capital Tehran, on April 29, 2022. - An initiative started by the late Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Quds Day is held annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

US sanctions target Iran's ballistic missile ties with China

The latest barrage of US economic sanctions came just hours after Iran unveiled what it claimed to be its first hypersonic missile.