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Iran

August 31, 2026

Tehran 4:06 am

31°C

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian

Analysis

Can Iran turn postwar vulnerability into a regional security pact?

After a war that demonstrated both the reach and the limits of Iran's military deterrence, Iran's leadership is on the quest for security arrangements beyond the battlefield.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Ali Saeedi/Getty Images

Oil prices fall after Iran steps up truce efforts, US says Hormuz mines cleared

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in an interview on Thursday that Iran was preparing a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Abbas Araghchi and Sheikh Mohammed al-Thani

Qatar PM meets Pezeshkian, Rezaee as Doha seeks US-Iran mediation

Iran has recently signaled a desire to re-engage with the US but is hampered by internal divisions, said one expert.

Latest News

Qatar PM heads to Tehran amid flurry of regional diplomacy

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Thani

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

Fred TANNEAU / 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

GHULAM RASOOL/AFP via Getty Images

Pakistan conducts strikes inside Iran as China, Turkey call for restraint

The region is already at a boiling point as the Israel-Hamas war continues to reverberate across the Middle East, with attacks in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

Pakistani and Iranian flags flutter on the closed Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan on February 25, 2020 as fears over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus escalate following an outbreak in neighbouring Iran. - The Iranian outbreak where at least 15 people have already died -- the highest death toll in any country outside of China -- has aggravated already frayed nerves in neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP) (Photo by BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran-Pakistan tensions simmer after strikes, IRGC officer killed in southeast

Iran is seeking to contain the damage to its relationship with Pakistan following a deadly Iranian military strike in Pakistani territory targeting a dissident group.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq, KRG leaders cancel meetings with Iran's FM at Davos over missile row

Tensions between Baghdad and Tehran have flared since the Monday attack, which Tehran claimed targeted an Israeli "spy cell" in the city.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman during a meeting as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on January 17, 2024.

Davos 2024: Blinken says Palestinian statehood could help isolate Iran

The US secretary of state called former President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal "a big mistake."

Protesters hold a banner and Kurdish flags during a demonstration outside the United Nations (UN) office, a day after several areas in the city were hit by a missile attack launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region early on Jan. 16, 2024.

How Iran chose easy targets in Iraq's Erbil to avoid Israeli reprisal

As the Islamic Republic and its hardcore loyalists chanted in triumph, debates heated up as to whether the attack was meant only for domestic propaganda and flexing about a promised "revenge" that seemed to have been exacted on the wrong, easy target.

A Shahab-3 surface-to-surface missile is displayed next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a street exhibition by Iran's army and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard force to celebrate "Defense Week", marking the 41st anniversary of the start of 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, at the Baharestan Square in Tehran, on Sept. 25, 2021.

Iran strikes inside Pakistan following IRGC missile attacks in Iraq, Syria

Tasnim news agency reported that sites belonging to Jaish al-Adl in Balochistan were struck with missiles and drones.

SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

Who is Peshraw Dizayee, Kurdish-Iraqi businessman killed in Iran's attack?

Iran claimed it targeted “spy bases” belonging to Israel’s spy agency in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, but several civilians were also killed in the strike.

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran.

Iran’s IRGC strikes 'spy centers' in Iraq with ballistic missiles

The IRGC also said it struck Syria in response to the recent ISIS attack in Iran.

An Iranian woman holds a portrait of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei duringa demonstration against the Saudi-led coalitions Operation Decisive Storm against the Huthi rebels in Yemen, outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on April 13, 2015. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Will Iran manage to dodge ripple effects of Red Sea tensions?

The Islamic Republic has condemned the Western coalition strikes targeting its favored Houthi rebels in Yemen, yet it appears to have no appetite for an escalation that could threaten its very survival.

This picture taken on Oct. 31, 2022 shows a view of an oil tanker, seized by Iranian naval forces at the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

Turkey says tanker seized by Iran carrying Turkish oil purchased from Iraq

The ship was seized by the Iranian navy off the coast of Oman.

A woman touches victims' portraits as mourners attend an outdoor vigil for the victims of Ukrainian passenger jet flight PS752.

Downed Ukrainian jet families struggle to hold Iran accountable

The families' quest for justice remains futile four years after the tragedy, as Iran continues to defy international pressure and obstruct independent probes.

People disperse near the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2024.

How Gaza war is complicating Iran's pledge to revenge deadly bombings

Despite a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State, Iranian officials continued to point fingers at Israel and the US as the main culprits yet kept vague their promise for revenge, as the region remains on edge due to the Gaza war.