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September 6, 2026

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A man walks past a mural depicting oil pumps and the Venezuelan flag, with portraits of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar (L) and former late President Hugo Chavez (R), in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 3, 2026.

Analysis

Could Trump’s oil push in Venezuela upend OPEC’s energy order?

Washington’s growing role in controlling the Latin American country's crude riches could help reshape an energy order centered on OPEC as the Hormuz crisis pressures Gulf exports.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

After gun found in lake, French police probe link to 2012 Iraqi family murder

A recently discovered Luger pistol may have been used in the mysterious 2012 killing of the al-Hilli family near the Alpine town of Chevaline in eastern France.

AFP via Getty Images

Iraq sentences kidnapper of US journalist Shelly Kittleson to 15 years: What to know

The first sentencing in relation to Shelly Kittleson’s abduction comes as Iraq moves to rein in Iran-backed militias.

Iraqi army troops patrol the Iraq-Saudi Arabia border

Iraq reinforces Saudi border security amid militia tensions: What to know

Iraq is sending the reinforcements in response to Iran-backed militia attacks and as it looks to build security ties with Riyadh.

Latest News

Iraq summons Iran envoy over 'Persian Gulf' post, Baghdad name origins: What to know

Fred TANNEAU / AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Iraq's Zaidi set to make European debut with Macron in France

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi delivers a speech in Baghdad, May 16, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Suadad al-Salhy

In Baghdad, reporting on politics and security

Lyse Mauvais

In Amman, reporting on humanitarian crises

Winthrop Rodgers

In Sulaymaniyah, reporting on Kurdish issues

Militant Islamist fighters on a tank take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. Militant Islamist fighters held a parade in Syria's northern Raqqa province to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitoring service said. The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot previously known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted pictures online on Sunday of people waving black flags

US, Iran security cooperation could help save Iraq

Tehran and Washington must act together to manage the crisis in Iraq before the volatile divide between Shiites and Sunnis becomes an all-out sectarian war and destabilizes the region.

Youths wave Kurdish and Syrian opposition flags from the top of a building during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Kobani near Aleppo July 3, 2012. Picture taken July 3, 2012. REUTERS/Shaam News Network/Handout (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTR34KQ3

Islamic State moves to capture another Turkish border crossing

The Islamic State is attacking Kobani canton, or Ain al-Arab, in an attempt to encircle the Kurdish autonomous region in Syria and capture a third crossing to Turkey.

Search and rescue team members work on one of the scenes of the twin car bomb attacks in the town of Reyhanli of Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border May 12, 2013. Twin car bombs killed 43 people and wounded many more in a Turkish town near the Syrian border on Saturday and the government said it suspected Syrian involvement. The bombing increased fears that Syria's civil war was dragging in neighbouring states despite renewed diplomatic moves towards ending two years of fighting in which more than

Turkey faces threat from returning jihadists

Having lost the proxy war it waged against Syria, Turkey now faces a potential threat to its own peace and stability by Turkish jihadists returning from Syria.

Masked Sunni gunmen pray during a patrol outside the city of Falluja April 23, 2014. Government forces are fighting rebellious Sunni tribes and an al-Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in western Anbar province. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3MDCC

Fallujah key to defeating Islamic State

The residents of Fallujah are not pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi but could be a part of the resistance to IS.

A woman hails a taxi while standing under Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) logos before Iraq's parliamentary elections in Sulaimaniya April 28, 2014. Picture taken April 28, 2014. To match IRAQ-ELECTION/KURDS REUTERS/Jacob Russell (IRAQ - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) - RTR3N0GY

Push for Kurdish independence divides Iraqi Kurds

Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani's call for independence from Iraq has drawn criticism from Iraqi Kurdish politicians who fear a Kurdish state would become a Turkish vassal state.

A general view of the presidential palace is seen during a farewell ceremony for Outgoing Lebanese President Michel Sleiman in Baabda, near Beirut, May 24, 2014.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3QNB0

Lebanon: The summer when everything went wrong

Political, constitutional, livelihood and weather problems are happening simultaneously in Lebanon.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - FEBRUARY 23 : An Iraqi Shiite man carries a picture of Iraq's powerful Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as he takes part in a protest against the bombing of a Shiite holy shrine on February 23, 2006 in the Karradah district in Baghdad, Iraq. Protests against the bombing of the Askariya golden dome Shiite holy shrine continue in Baghdad and other Shiite cities around the country for the second day. The Askariya golden-dome shrine, which hosts the tombs of Imam Ali al-Hadi and

Sistani signals opposition to renewing Maliki’s term

Iraqi Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani has drawn red lines about the candidates for the premiership and demanded that a government quickly be formed, before the scheduled date next month.

Iron rods ready for shipment are piled at Israel Shipyards Port in Haifa February 5, 2014. Three years after Syria plunged into violence, Israel is reaping an unlikely economic benefit. Exports from Turkey have begun to flow through Israel and across the Sheikh Hussein Bridge to Jordan and a few Arab neighbours. The trade is growing enough to encourage long-held Israeli hopes that the Jewish state can become a commercial gateway to the Arab world. Picture taken February 5, 2014. To match Insight ISRAEL-TRAD

Trade, security concerns bring Turkey, Israel closer

Turkish-Israeli relations are still far from normalized, but developments in the region are converging the two countries' security and economic interests.

Turkish trucks and tankers, shuttling between Turkey and Iraq, queue on a road leading to the Habur border gate in southeastern Turkey, before crossing into Iraq with their goods, February 23, 2008. Turkey's exports to Iraq jumped nine percent last year to $2.8 billion and its influence can be felt across northern Iraq in the form of supermarkets, consumer goods, construction firms and traders from all over Turkey. To match feature TURKEY-IRAQ/CONFLICT REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY) - RTR1XKEF

Turkish truckers try to get on the road again

With the dangers and difficulties now inherent in transiting in Iraq and Syria, the Turkish transportation sector is looking for alternative routes to Middle Eastern markets.

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S

Did nostalgia for Islamic caliphate become a reality?

The Islamic State has exploited ideological tendencies of Salafist jihadists to establish its "Islamic caliphate."

Shiite volunteers from Hezbollah Iraq, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), gather together in Baghdad, July 6, 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition should withdraw its support for his bid for a third term and pick another candidate, Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged, amid parliamentary deadlock over the formation of a new government. Maliki has come under mounting pressur

Lebanese Hezbollah unlikely to intervene in Iraq crisis

Although some have expressed concerns that Hezbollah could intervene in Iraq to protect Shiite holy sites from Islamic State militants, a number of Lebanese politicians and sources close to Hezbollah dismiss this possibility.

Residents watch Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on a screen during his televised speech at a festival celebrating Resistance and Liberation Day, in Bint Jbeil May 25, 2014. The event commemorates the 14th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTR3QT8E

Iraq events cause Hezbollah to go on full alert

The fall of western Iraq to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has cut the contiguous bridge from Iran to Lebanon, and Hezbollah fears that ISIS may try to sneak through to Lebanon.