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Iran

May 8, 2026

Tehran 6:55 pm

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Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

The findings cast doubt on Israel’s wartime gains and put pressure on Netanyahu’s campaign strategy ahead of elections.

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

Getty

US strikes Iran tankers as UAE reports fresh missile and drone attacks

Strikes on Iranian tankers and fresh exchanges in the Gulf escalate tensions as Washington awaits Tehran’s response to a deal proposal.

In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on May 4, 2026, the Iran-flagged tugboat Basim sails near a ship anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

What to know about Iran's 'Persian Gulf Strait Authority' to control Hormuz traffic

The establishment of an entity seeking to control maritime transportation in the Strait of Hormuz is the latest sign that Iran wants to formalize authority in the strategic waterway.

Latest News

US sets expectations for Iraq’s next PM to confront Iranian militias

Popular Mobilization Forces

Analysis

China shores up Iran support as Trump seeks exit

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China in Beijing on May 6, 2026. Credit: Telegram

Joyce Karam

Iran president says he held official meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei: What to know

An Iranian woman holds up an image of Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

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

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Amid nuclear talks, Iran says 6.5kg of uranium enriched to 60%

Iranian government spokesperson Ali Rabiei made the announcement as world powers met in Vienna for the latest round of talks aimed at restoring the landmark nuclear accord.

An Iranian man walks by posters of presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi outside a campaign office in Tehran on June 7, 2021.

Iran's presidential hopefuls promise big on economy, but can they deliver?

While candidates for the election this Friday have a long list of promises to fix the economy, inefficiencies in Iran's political structure limit the president's ability to make lasting change.

Supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi hold posters of him during an election campaign rally in the capital, Tehran, on June 10, 2021.

Iran's Reformists asked to put forward presidential candidate

Former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi has called on Reformists to pick a candidate.

Kanopus-V satellite

Iran to acquire Russian high-resolution recon satellite

Russia is set to give Iran a satellite that could spy on Tehran's potential military targets.

Ebrahim Raisi

Who is Ebrahim Raisi, the front-runner in Iran's presidential race?

Here’s what you need to know about Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative cleric seen as the heavy favorite to replace outgoing President Hassan Rouhani.

Putin and Rouhani

Rouhani praises Putin, hails expanded ties with Russia

Rouhani's expression of gratitude came a few weeks after his foreign minister was caught in a leaked audio, complaining about Russian attempts to put a spike in the wheel of the 2015 multilateral talks that culminated in the Iran nuclear deal.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran's hard-liners take page from China's election playbook

Iran's hard-liners have long been disillusioned with a system in which all citizens are encouraged to vote.

China's President Xi Jinping (C) speaks during a meeting with delegates of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization security secretary summit at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China, May 22, 2018.

China-Iran cooperation goes slow in context of nuclear talks

Beijing and Tehran are deepening ties across sectors, but progress will depend on the Vienna talks and Iran’s elections.

The flag of the European Union is on display at the Grand Hotel on the day the JCPOA Iran nuclear talks are to resume on May 25, 2021, in Vienna, Austria.

Iran nuclear deal talks to resume in Vienna this weekend

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said talks aimed at reviving the nuclear deal will resume this weekend in Vienna.

Abbas Araghchi, political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, leaves the 'Grand Hotel Wien' after the closed-door nuclear talks in Vienna on June 2, 2021, where diplomats of the UK, the EU, China, Russia and Iran hold their talks.

Rouhani lashes out at hard-line media over criticism of US nuclear talks

The US and Iran are unlikely to reach an agreement at the Vienna nuclear talks before the June 18 Iranian presidential elections.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran expects to restore oil output within month of US lifting sanctions

A senior official at the National Iranian Oil Company said that if the United States lifts sanctions on Iran, the country expects to restore its crude oil output to pre-sanctions levels in a matter of months.

Women supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi hold up his posters during an election campaign rally in the city of Eslamshahr, about 25 kilometers south of the center of the capital, Tehran, on June 6, 2021. The 60-year-old ultra-conservative Raisi, widely seen as the favorite to win the June 18 presidential election, heads the judiciary and is a "hodjatoleslam," one rank below that of ayatollah in the Shiite clerical hierarchy.

Poll highlights deep voter apathy ahead of Iran election

An Iranian polling organization found that only one out of three eligible Iranians were planning to vote in the upcoming presidential election, suggesting it will be marred by the lowest turnout ever in the history of the Islamic Republic.