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Iran

June 30, 2026

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Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

While the deal with Lebanon allows the Israeli military to maintain a presence there, security experts warn that it also gives the weakened Hezbollah the time it needs to recover.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Members of the crowd wave Iranian flags during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri.

3 IRGC members killed in twin attacks as Iran intensifies Kurdish crackdown

At least three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in separate armed attacks across Iran, including one in western Iran near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, where authorities have intensified their crackdown on Kurdish groups.

Latest News

Oman's sultan meets Macron in first France visit since 1989: What to know

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tarik pose during a meeting with business leaders in Paris on June 29, 2026.

Traffic plummets through Strait of Hormuz after Iran, US trade fire

AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why the Hormuz oil shock never became an energy catastrophe

A tourist boat passes near crude oil tankers, bulk carriers, and other vessels anchored off Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat, Oman, June 19, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Sabena Siddiqui

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

A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Benjamin Houghton

In Durham, reporting on China in the Middle East

Rahim Rahimov

In Baku, reporting on Middle East-Caucasus ties

Mehrnaz Samimi

In Washington, DC, reporting on Iranian culture

Saeed Jalili, ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator and Iran's presidential candidate, waves to the crowd after casting his vote at a polling station in Tehran during Iran's presidential election on June 28, 2024.

Polls close in Iran's election with vote marred by apathy, discontent

The four candidates, who are all approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are running at a time of economic crunch and discontent with the government inside Iran.

An Iranian cleric walks past a banner and posters with the image of presidential candidate, conservative Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as he walks along a street days before the national snap elections, in Tehran on June 26, 2024. Six candidates are vying in the June 28 snap elections to succeed the ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran election: With 4 candidates left, hard-liners rally behind Ghalibaf, Jalili

Hard-liner Saeed Jalili and Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian topped two recent polls, though many Iranians say they don't plan to vote amid widespread opposition to the government.

ABDEL GHANI BASHIR/AFP via Getty Images

Iran claims Saudi Arabia won't let Iranian pilgrims vote

Iranian worshippers resumed Umrah pilgrimages to holy sites in Saudi Arabia in April after the two countries resumed relations last year.

A man gestures as he holds up a small election flag during a campaign rally for reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian at Afrasiabi Stadium in Tehran on June 23, 2024 ahead of the upcoming Iranian presidential election. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Does China have favorite in Iran's presidential election?

The question of whether Iran's next president will maintain the country's current anti-West, anti-US position while pursuing improved relations with Beijing is foremost in China's mind.

Pictured are participants of the 19th Asia Cooperation Dialogue Ministerial Meeting held June 24, 2024, in Tehran.

US cautious on Iran’s Bahrain frozen funds claims, warns of sanctions

The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Monday that officials from Iran's and Bahrain’s central banks held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the release of Iran's “foreign exchange resources in Bahrain.”

An Iranian woman without wearing mandatory headscarves walks past electoral posters in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. People in Iran are increasingly showing less interest in casting their vote in the snap presidential election scheduled on June 28 after the disqualification of several candidates by the country's religious Guardian Council. Voter turnouts have hit historically lo

Iran’s Reformist, hard-liner candidates clash over foreign policy in last debate

Masoud Pezeshkian fiercely attacked his hard-line rivals in an intense live debate over their support behind the takeovers of the Saudi and British embassies and their sabotage against the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US sanctions 'shadow banking network' used by Iran's military

The sweeping new sanctions come days before Iran holds elections to replace its late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.

NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, chairs a session of North Atlantic Council (NAC) with Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Sarajevo, on February 1, 2024. (Photo by Elvis BARUKCIC / AFP) (Photo by ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP via Getty Images)

Interview

NATO's deputy chief says Iran helping Russian 'threat to European security'

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana warned of Iran's destabilizing influence reaching as far as Venezuela and Cuba while also sounding the alarm on Wagner's widespread presence in Sahel.

Mircea Geoana

Mircea Geoana

NATO Deputy Secretary-General

Iranian presidential candidate Saeed Jalili arrives to attend an election campaign rally in Tehran on June 18, 2024.

Runoff seen likely in Iran's election as Jalili, Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf lead polls

The Islamic Republic is still facing the key challenge of voter apathy according to the latest opinion polls, while fierce factional rivalries characterized the live debates seen by only one out of every four Iranians.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for a news conference on January 9, 2020 in Ottawa, Canada. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canada had intelligence from multiple sources indicating that a Ukrainian airliner which crashed outside Tehran was mistakenly shot down by Iran. (Photo by Dave Chan / AFP) (Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How significant is Canada's designation of Iran's IRGC as terrorist organization?

Iranian Canadians have been advocating for designation of the IRGC for years, including after the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Former foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, delivers a speech during an electoral campaign rally to support Masoud Pezeshkianin in Tehran, Iran, on June 19, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Could Zarif tilt Iran's election toward long shot Reformist Pezeshkian?

By enlisting Mohammad Javad Zarif, Masoud Pezeshkian is sending a signal to the United States and the West, as well as to Iranians, about a possible change of course in Iran's foreign policy if he pulls off an upset next week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the ceremony of signing an agreement on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway.

Russia, Iran inaugurate Rasht-Caspian Railway: What we know

The railway was launched at a ceremony attended by Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash, and senior Russian and Azerbaijani officials.