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Iran

May 20, 2026

Tehran 12:31 am

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Baluch Iranian youths cross a street in Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan, on Dec. 18, 2025.

Analysis

Iran tightens wartime crackdown across Kurdish, Baluch ethnic regions

Arrests in Baluchistan and Kurdistan highlight widening wartime security operations that are deepening mistrust between the state and disadvantaged minorities.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A bride and group couple rides in a military jeep arriving for a public mass wedding ceremony at Imam Hossein Square in Tehran on May 18, 2026. Iran said on May 18 that it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that diplomatic exchanges continue despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive. Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict which the US and Israel launched on February 28, but they have held only a sin

Analysis

Israel pushes for full Iran blockade as it awaits Trump's next move

Israel’s preferred strategy, sources told Al-Monitor, calls for a comprehensive naval, economic, land and air blockade of Iran, alongside tighter sanctions and covert activity aimed at destabilizing the regime.

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

A tugboat guides the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin as it arrives at the oil terminal in the port of Matanzas, northwestern Cuba, on March 31, 2026.

US extends Russian oil sanctions waiver as Iran war squeezes supply

The waiver temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian oil for 30 days.

Latest News

Oil swings as UAE nuclear plant strike, Iran diplomacy push roil markets

Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images

Iran confiscates assets of 129 alleged ‘traitors’ in West Azerbaijan province

Amid FARAHI / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Pakistan’s six corridors offer Iran a trade lifeline, could outlast Hormuz crisis

Iranian cargo trucks cross into the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province, on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

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

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

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's leaves after an interview with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler and Reuters Chief Correspondent Parisa Hafezi at The Peninsula hotel on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Darren Ornitz - RC1C6B1C2FF0

Ankara could misplay its hand again

Despite hostile remarks from Ankara, the only way to deal with the Kurdish independence referendum is diplomacy, seasoned diplomats warn.

Uzi Arad, a senior adviser to Israel's prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tel Aviv March 12, 2009. Netanyahu will likely shelve recently revived Israeli peace talks with Syria given its territorial demands and alliance with Iran, Arad said on Thursday. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL POLITICS) - GM1E53D09JW01

Ex-Netanyahu national security adviser urges US to keep Iran deal

Former Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad urges Washington to build on the 2015 Iran nuclear accord rather than abandon it.

United States Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) chairs his first Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington January 21, 2015. Top U.S. Treasury and State Department officials said on Wednesday that, despite reports, Russia had not entered into oil-for-goods deals with Iran in violation of international sanctions. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - GM1EB1M02QO01

Can Congress avoid blowing up the Iran deal?

If President Donald Trump doesn’t certify Iranian compliance with the 2015 agreement later this month, the US Senate only needs a bare majority to reinstate deal-breaking sanctions.

Iranian media takes interest in Catalan independence

Iranian media has given widely positive coverage of the Catalan independence referendum, contrasting its critical coverage of last week's Iraqi Kurdistan vote.

‘The last Iranian Americans’

The Trump administration’s "Travel Ban 3.0" runs the risk of turning current Iranian Americans into the last of their kind.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, September 28, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC1FB3502600

Putin boxed in by Iran, Turkey on Iraqi Kurdish referendum

The Russian president could find himself at odds with Iran if he misplays a weak hand.

Turkey, Iran, Iraq in shaky alignment against Iraqi Kurdistan

Turkey, Iran and Iraq have closed ranks over the independence vote in Iraqi Kurdistan, but how long can their partnership survive?

Culture Alert: October dominated by film festivals in Middle East

A number of film festivals, from short films to documentaries, take place in Beirut, Tehran, Haifa and Istanbul throughout October — where many of the regional countries’ nominees for Oscars will be screened.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas arrive for a meeting in Moscow, Russia, December 23, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov - GF10000274576

Kurdish referendum a double-edged sword for Russia

Although Russia says it respects Iraqi Kurds' desire for self-determination, their independence is probably not in Russia's best interest.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo talks to the audience during the International Poultry and Pork show in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 29, 2017. REUTERS/Nacho Doce - RC1D9C8ECA60

Iran abandons hope for WTO accession

Although many thought Iran might finally be able to join the World Trade Organization following the nuclear deal, the Islamic Repubic appears to have lost hope of becoming part of the influential body.

Thousands turn out in Iran for burial of soldier beheaded by IS

An Iranian soldier who was killed in Syria in August received a large public funeral in Iran.

Palestinians react to opening of first US military base in Israel

The Sept. 18 announcement of the establishment of the first permanent US-Israeli military base in the Negev desert, in southern Israel, is evidence of the strategic military cooperation between the Americans and Israelis.