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May 20, 2026

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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Breaking | Last Updated: May 19, 2026, 6:15 pm

Senate advances resolution to limit Trump's Iran war powers

The measure marks a symbolic win for Democrats and a growing number of Republicans who have questioned the Trump administration's war with Iran.

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

Latest News

US extends Russian oil sanctions waiver as Iran war squeezes supply

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.

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

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

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.

Iran’s judiciary files lawsuit against Telegram founder

Iran’s judiciary has filed a lawsuit against the Russian founder of the most popular messaging app in Iran.

Iranian media say Barzani fixer for West, Israel

Iranian officials accuse the West and Israel of being behind the independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraqi-Kurdistan

Iranian youth use their mobile phones as they rest at a park in Tehran, Iran, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - RC1A55C54480

Iranians rail against Apple, Google over pulling of apps

US tech giants Apple and Google have removed Iranian-developed apps from their online stores, sparking a backlash.

Netanyahu’s outdated Iran agenda

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu campaigns for the breakup of the Iran deal, ignoring the fact that a US withdrawal from the pact won’t be in Israel’s interest.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump confer s Argentinia's President Mauricio Macri walks past them at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/John MacDougall/Pool - RC18A478F480

Europeans: Trump can win on Iran without ending nuclear deal

Envoys to Washington say trans-Atlantic cooperation against Tehran needs to build on the 2015 nuclear accord, not undermine it.

Can Iranian threat shield Netanyahu from police investigations?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a master at using his UN speeches to convince his Israeli electorate that he is the only person capable of defending the country from the Iranian threat.

A member of Peshmerga forces shows his ink-stained finger during Kurds independence referendum in Sheikh Amir village, Iraq September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - RC19A8F11230

What's next after Kurdish independence vote?

Millions in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region voted in today's independence referendum, despite threats by Iraq, Turkey, Iran and the United States.

Gas flares from an oil production platform at the Soroush oil fields in the Persian Gulf, south of the capital Tehran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo - S1BEUBPCZOAA

Iran’s oil minister has big plans for likely last term

Having begun yet another — and likely his last — term as Iran’s minister of petroleum, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh faces surmountable challenges in pushing the country’s energy sector into the 21st century.

Iran reacts to Kurdish referendum

The Iraqi Kurdistan referendum on independence received top coverage in Iranian media, drawing condemnation from both sides of Iran's political sphere.

Iraqi girls play in a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Ari Jalal - RC1CE6912440

Is Iran seeking to impose its influence in Iraq's liberated Sunni areas?

The opening of a school in Ninevah province under the name of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, stirred a wide debate within political and public circles in Iraq, as some saw the move as an attempt to provoke some Iraqis.

Participants attend the round of Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Mukhtar Kholdorbekov - RC18D4821F20

Latest Syria peace talks solidify final de-escalation zone

Russia, Turkey and Iran met with opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to ink an agreement on the four safe zones.