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Iran

July 3, 2026

Tehran 11:59 pm

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Iranians walk past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Getty

Analysis

Iran set to bury Khamenei, but his hard-line legacy may endure

The elaborate funeral for the late supreme leader is becoming more than a farewell; it serves as a carefully staged test of regime continuity after his decades-long rule.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

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

Nathan Howard / AFP via Getty Images

As Trump touts nuclear progress, US-Iran talks show little momentum

With a final nuclear agreement far from reach, the US-Iran conflict risks settling into a new status quo.

Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026, in Muscat, Oman.

Oil falls below $71 as US-Iran talks continue, Gulf exports rebound

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an X post on Wednesday that Iran and the United States had made "positive progress."

Latest News

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

This photograph taken on Feb. 8, 2023, shows a large banner with a portrait of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.

Belgium looking into Iran's request for prisoner swap

Belgium and Iran seemingly advance toward a prisoner exchange deal, though Brussels is warning that contrary to Tehran’s statements this could take time.

This picture taken on June 15, 2019, shows tanker ships in the waters of the Gulf of Oman

Iran's IRGC seizes oil tanker in Gulf of Oman

Open-source reports indicated the Advantage Sweet was bound for Houston, Texas, when the United States said it was seized by Iran's IRGC navy on Thursday afternoon.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP) (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany scrambles to stop Iran from executing dual citizen

After a top Iranian court upheld the death sentence of dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, German Foreign Minister Annalean Baerbock says Berlin is making every possible effort to stop the execution.

Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, January 21, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0)

Iranian senior cleric Soleimani killed in attack

The shooting occurred as anti-clerical sentiments are high in Iran amid the popular protests, but the motive behind the attack is not yet known.

Belgian Manon Vandecasteele sits blindfolded in a cell during a protest action for her uncle Olivier Vandecasteele, who is imprisoned in Iran, on the Grand-Place in Tournai on April 22, 2023. - Belgium on April 18, 2023 said it had formally asked Iran to repatriate jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from Tehran, after a disputed prisoner exchange treaty entered into force. Iran arrested Vandecasteele, 42, in February 2022 and sentenced him to 40 years for spying, in a move condemned as "hostage diploma

Iran blacklists EU, UK officials as it ups armed support for Russia

Iran's tit-for-tat measure marked the latest episode in its tensions with Western adversaries and coincided with fresh allegations of its military assistance to Russia in the war against Ukraine.

This picture taken on August 5, 2022 shows Israeli Iron Dome defence missile system battries, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, in the city of Ashdod in southern Israel. - Israel's army said its air strikes in Gaza today killed an estimated 15 enemy combatants, warning that the operation against the Islamic Jihad militant group was not over. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Multi-front war with Iran proxies irks Israel despite deterrence

Unlike the surprise multi-front attack against Israel in 1973, the threats Israel faces today are much more splintered, but no less deadly.

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

An Iranian man works at an oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf, on February 23, 2016. - Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh dismissed an output freeze deal between the world's top two producers Saudi Arabia and Russia as "a joke", the ISNA news agency reported. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran and GCC verge upon new era of oil ties

Bijan Khajehpour

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics

Men walk past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

In Iran, hardliners successfully orchestrate takeover of state TV

Iran's state TV has been taken over by hard-line figures who use it to transmit ideological and hard-line views targeting the Reformists and opposition, including in entertainment shows.

Son of late Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi with Israel's Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel at the opening ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, April 17 2023. Curtsy of Israel's Intelligence Ministry.

Iran hard-liners lash out at shah Pahlavi's son over Israel visit

Reza Pahlavi's trip to Israel and his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be part of his campaign to garner support for regime change in Iran, as the opposition camps were scrambling for unity.

An Israeli soldier walks on the turret of a Merkava Mark IV battle tank stationed at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon in the vicinity of the village of Shtula on April 6, 2023. - The Israeli army said it intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon on April 6 after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site drew warnings of retaliation from around the region. (Photo by Oren ZIV / AFP) (Photo by OREN ZIV/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s defense chief warns of multi-front war, says Iran 'driving force'

According to the Israeli Defense Ministry's data, Hezbollah received $700 million from Iran last year as well as “knowledge and strategic weaponry” such as precision-guided munitions.

The USS Florida sails during "Giant Shadow," a Naval Sea Systems Command/Naval Submarine Forces exercise to test the capabilities of the Navy's future guided missile submarines Jan. 22, 2003 off the coast of the Bahamas.

US Navy denies Iran's claim on harassing submarine in Gulf waters

The Iranian navy said it forced a US-guided missile submarine to surface as it sailed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Shlomi Amsalem/GPO/Israeli Foreign Ministry

Israel's new embassy in Turkmenistan sends message to Iran

After a visit to Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen traveled to Turkmenistan to inaugurate Israel’s permanent embassy in Ashgabat.