Iran-US tensions

The Ateela 2 oil tanker boat navigates the sea on April 28, 2026, on Qeshm Island, Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz.

Analysis

How long can Iran's economy withstand Trump's naval blockade?

Iranian authorities are denouncing US seizures of the country's oil tankers as piracy, but mounting disruptions to maritime trade are exposing economic fragility beneath Tehran's claims of control and resilience.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

MUMEN KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

Why UAE's decision to leave OPEC is major shift for cartel

The UAE accounts for 12% of OPEC's output, but tensions had been simmering over intragroup rivalries and the country wanting to export more oil.

United Arab Emirates

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Despite Trump pressure to limit Israel's Lebanon attacks, Aoun-Netanyahu meeting still unlikely

As President Donald Trump pressures Israel to limit its strikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah is taking advantage of the situation.

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

Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images

First LNG tanker transits Strait of Hormuz since Iran war began

Latest News

Bahrain strips 69 people of citizenship for 'glorifying' Iran attacks

People walk along an alley at a bazaar in Bahrain's capital, Manama, on March 11, 2026.

Iraq's Shiite alliance nominates Ali al-Zaidi as PM candidate: What to know

Ali al-Zaidi

Turkey’s military spending jumps to $30B, leads Mideast growth in 2025

Turkey's submarines and fast-attack craft ships participate in the live-fire phase of the Blue Homeland-2026 (Mavi Vatan) tactical military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in Antalya on April 9, 2026.

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

People standing on a rooftop watch as a ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City on October 7, 2023 during an Israeli air strike that hit the Palestine Tower building. At least 70 people were reported killed in Israel, while Gaza authorities released a death toll of 198 in the bloodiest escalation in the wider conflict since May 2021, with hundreds more wounded on both sides. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel-Saudi normalization falls casualty of Hamas attack

The US-brokered talks were making progress; that’s probably why Iran gave Hamas the green light.

MBZ Bagheri

Iran's parliament speaker visits UAE, meets MBZ as detente continues

The trip was the latest in a flurry of bilateral diplomacy that has seen top Iranian officials in a chain of meetings with the Emirati leadership, though little progress has been reported on core disputes.

Navy gulf Oman

US sends 1.1 million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to Ukraine

The unprecedented shipment comes as political paralysis in Congress has threatened to interrupt the flow of weapons to Kyiv.

Black smoke billows over the city after drone strikes in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on September 19, 2023, amid Russia's military invasion on Ukraine. Drones attacked Ukraine's western city of Lviv early on September 19, and explosions rang out, causing a warehouse fire and wounding at least one person. Several waves of drones buzzed overhead, starting around 0130 GMT, and an AFP journalist heard numerous explosions and movements of heavy vehicles through the streets during the nightly curfew. (Phot

Analysis

Europe ups pressure on Iran for supplying Russia with drones in Ukraine

The European Union has shifted its focus regarding Iran-made drones beyond the Iranian officials and companies producing them to third parties buying components outside of Iran.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - NOVEMBER 30: Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud ahead of the family photo on the opening day of Argentina G20 Leaders' Summit 2018 at Costa Salguero on November 30, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

Analysis

Iran may be last stop for Saudi-Israel normalization

Negotiations continue in multiple capitals to address the many obstacles to establishing diplomatic relations.

Week in Review

Andrew Parasiliti

By Week in Review , Andrew Parasiliti

Members of the Bahraini armed forces carry the coffins of comrades who were killed the previous day during their battle against the Huthi rebels in Yemen, on September 5, 2015 during an official repatriation ceremony at Isa Air Base in Sakhir, South of Manama. Bahrain announced that five of its soldiers were killed in southern Saudi Arabia where they had been posted to help defend the border with neighbouring war-wracked Yemen. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP

Houthi attack on Bahrain's soldiers tests Yemen's fragile cease-fire, US defense pact

An alleged Houthi drone strike that killed three Bahraini soldiers in Saudi Arabia this week has underscored the limits of Washington's commitment to Gulf states' defense.

Iran

Iran claims to foil mass assassination of IRGC figures, Sunni clerics

Iran has been working hard to portray its intelligence apparatus as a formidable force that is busting one terror network after another, pointing to Israel as the mastermind.

Rescue teams attend to the scene of devastation after an Iranian military plane crashed into a residential building in a heavily built-up suburb on December 6, 2005 in Tehran, Iran. A huge explosion was reported as the plane, carrying 94 people, crashed into a 10-storey block killing all on board. Many deaths are also feared on the ground after the C-130 plane encountered a technical problem shortly after take-off from Mehrabad airport. (Photo by Hossein/Getty Images)

Mysterious fire at Iran's Defense Ministry site north of Tehran

The second such fire in less than a week comes amid high tensions between the United States and Iran, though details surrounding the incident remain unclear.

US Army helicopter crew from the 101st Airborne Division prepares the Apache attack helicopter at the the Camp Udairi airfield in preparation for a mission to Iraq 20 March 2003.

US accuses Iran’s IRGC of harassing helicopter over the Gulf

The first reported tense interaction between the US Navy and Iran's naval forces comes just days after Bahraini soldiers were killed in a drone attack attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels, who receive arms from Iran.

Biden

Iran indicts Biden, Trump over support for exiled group

The current US president and three of his predecessors have been indicted in Iran for their alleged backing of a California-based Iranian pro-monarchy group that Tehran has designated as a terrorist organization.

Evin Prison

Iranian-American dies in Tehran’s Evin Prison due to 'lack of medical care'

Faramarz Javidzad, 60, was taken to hospital after he suffered stomach bleeding, but he was later returned to the prison in the Iranian capital where he later died, according to reports.

Iran drone parade

Iran parades lines of drones, calls for US Gulf pullout

Iran showed off at least 16 drone types, one of which it said was the world's longest range, as President Ebrahim Raisi urged regional cooperation against the American military presence in the Persian Gulf.