Russia-Ukraine crisis

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Feb. 13, 2025.

How US-India trade deal could impact Mideast energy, trade routes

The United States and India struck a trade agreement on Monday that eases months of tension between the two countries and could influence Gulf oil flows and economic integration.

MAXIM SHIPENKOV / AFP via Getty Images

UAE President meets Putin in Russia to discuss nuclear energy, trade, Iran

The visit of Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed comes a day after the Kremlin hosted President Ahmed al-Sharaa to discuss the future of Russian military bases in Syria.

SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP via Getty Images

European Union adds IRGC to terror list, expands sanctions

As the extent of the killing of protests is gradually revealed, the European Union has decided to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

Ramil Sitdikov / AFP via Getty Images

Putin offers $1B in frozen assets for Gaza Board of Peace — will US unfreeze them?

It remains unclear how such an arrangement could be implemented, since any contribution from frozen assets would require formal unblocking by the US government.

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UAE, Russia host first joint business forum despite Ukraine war sanctions

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan walk at the Kremlin following their talks in Moscow on August 7, 2025. (Photo by Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

Russian leak signals Su-35s for Iran moving to production: What to know

Russian Sukhoi Su-35S fighter aircrafts, Su-34 military fighter jets and Su-30SM jet fighters fly over downtown Moscow during a military parade on June 24, 2020.

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Iran rial hits record low 1.13M to dollar as UN snapback sanctions resume: What to know

Iranians drive next to a billboard displaying pictures of nuclear scientists, centrifuges and a sentence reading in Farsi, "Science is the power," at the Enqelab Square in Tehran, on Aug. 29, 2025.

From F-35s to Ukraine: Erdogan-Trump talks signal reset, but sanctions obstacles remain

US President Donald Trump (L) greets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) upon his arrival at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2025.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian efforts to stir Circassians against Russia divide diaspora in Turkey

A heated debate has erupted in the Circassian diaspora over calls to establish a Circassian battalion against Russia in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) holds a joint press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (L) and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom (R) following meetings at the State Department in Washington, DC, Dec. 8, 2022.

Breaking | Last Updated: December 8, 2022, 3:49 pm

US confident Sweden, Finland will soon join NATO despite Turkey's holdup

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the two Nordic states had taken "tangible steps" to address Turkey's security concerns.

Brittney Griner

Inside UAE, Saudi roles in facilitating release of Brittney Griner

A high-level Gulf source with access to the details of the exchange told Al-Monitor that the exchange happened at a UAE airbase at 5:00 pm Abu Dhabi time (8:00 am ET).

People pose for a photo as artist JR, in partnership with For Freedoms, Vital Voices, and the Woman, Life, Freedom global coalition of Iranian women leaders.

TIME magazine names Iranian women ‘heroes of the year’

Iranian women are leading the protests in Iran that began after an Iranian Kurdish woman was allegedly beaten to death over her head covering.

People demonstrate outside the Iranian Embassy in Ukraine on Oct. 17, 2022, in Kyiv.

Iran sent more drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, US suggests

Tehran sent additional UAVs, but no ballistic missiles thus far, the White House said.

AKP party supporters attend the "Unity, Will, Victory" rally at the Galatasaray's Nef Stadium in Istanbul on Nov. 27, 2022, six months ahead of Turkey's next presidential elections.

Al-Monitor/Premise poll finds tight race for Erdogan in Turkey's elections

As the battle for Turkey’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections intensifies, an Al-Monitor poll predicts a tight race between the country’s leading opposition bloc and the ruling alliance.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses a press conference with the NATO Secretary General after their meeting at The Foreign Ministry in Istanbul on Nov. 3, 2022.

Turkey asks Finland to resume defense sales amid NATO talks

Speaking ahead of the Finnish defense chief's visit to Turkey, the top Turkish diplomat has complained that his country is still under de facto defense sales restrictions from Finland.

Harvested wheat in Qursaya island, Cairo, Egypt, May 16, 2022.

Egypt buys first Ukrainian wheat shipment since Russian war began

Egypt's General Authority For Supply Commodities is believed to have purchased 175,000 tons of wheat, through private talks with importers, making it the first Ukrainian wheat purchase since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talk.

Turkey presses Finland, Sweden for ‘asset freeze,’ extraditions

Ankara demands “concrete steps” from Sweden and Finland before giving the nod to NATO's Nordic enlargement, including an “asset freeze,” a demand that hasn’t been expressed publicly before.

HENRIK MONTGOMERY/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

Top Turkish, Swedish, Finnish diplomats to talk NATO enlargement

Turkey, Sweden and Finland will hold a new round of talks for the Nordic accession to NATO, but Ankara appears to be waiting for more from the Nordic states.

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish exporters, tourism sector cut prices

Amid the dramatic slump of the lira, Turkish exporters have sold goods at lower prices, while the country’s imports, chief among them energy, have grown more expensive, official data show.

Iranians walk past Iran's Shahed 129 drone displayed during celebrations in Tehran to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on Feb. 11, 2016.

Breaking | Last Updated: November 15, 2022, 4:21 pm

US sanctions target production, transfer of Iranian drones to Russia

The US Treasury Department targeted the Iranian manufacturer of the Shahed-series drones used in recent Russian attacks in Kyiv, Odesa and the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.