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Iran

May 9, 2026

Tehran 10:14 am

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China’s overland trade routes offer Iran wartime economic lifeline: What to know

Cargo rail traffic between China and Iran has reportedly surged since the US blockade began in April as Tehran seeks overland trade alternatives to help buy time.

A woman walks past a banner featuring Iran's late supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C), next to newly elected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran on April 19, 2026.

Analysis

Why Iran's wartime behavior risks lasting rupture with Gulf states

Iran's rhetoric and policies toward Gulf states have sharply escalated, raising questions about whether years of painstaking regional rapprochement can survive mounting distrust and maritime confrontations.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

The findings cast doubt on Israel’s wartime gains and put pressure on Netanyahu’s campaign strategy ahead of elections.

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

Getty

US strikes Iran tankers as UAE reports fresh missile, drone attacks

Strikes on Iranian tankers and fresh exchanges in the Gulf escalate tensions as Washington awaits Tehran’s response to a deal proposal.

Latest News

What to know about Iran's 'Persian Gulf Strait Authority' to control Hormuz traffic

In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on May 4, 2026, the Iran-flagged tugboat Basim sails near a ship anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

US sets expectations for Iraq’s next PM to confront Iranian militias

Popular Mobilization Forces

Analysis

China shores up Iran support as Trump seeks exit

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China in Beijing on May 6, 2026. Credit: Telegram

Joyce Karam

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

Can the US force Iran out of Syria? Not likely, former officials say

The outgoing Trump administration appears to have made little if any progress in achieving its goal.

Iran suspends flights from UK after new virus strain emerges

Iranian officials have grown alarmed over the new strain of the coronavirus that appears much more contagious.

A member of the Iraqi security forces inspects the damage outside the Zawraa park in the capital Baghdad on November 18, 2020, after volley of rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital breaking a month-long truce on attacks against the US embassy. - According to the Iraqi military, four of the rockets landed in the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are based. Another three rockets also hit other parts of Baghdad, killing one girl and wounding five civilians. All seven r

Rockets target US Embassy in Baghdad ahead of anniversary of Soleimani killing

At least one Iraqi civilian was injured in the strike, the US State Department said.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 10: An exhibition on human rights violations in Iran in Trafalgar Square on October 10, 2020 in London, England. The exhibition, held by Anglo-Iranian communities in the UK, marked the World Day against the Death Penalty. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Iran to execute man arrested as teenager, Amnesty says

Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee, who was arrested at the age of 16, has spent more than a decade on death row.

Iran's Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi delivers a speech at an official ceremony to kick-start works for a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr power plant, on November 10, 2019. - Bushehr is Iran's only nuclear power station and is currently running on imported fuel from Russia that is closely monitored by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Satellite photos show construction at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility

The Iranian nuclear deal, which US President-elect Joe Biden will seek to rejoin, called for a ban on nuclear activity at Fordo.

Iran's Khamenei says nuclear deal can be reentered ‘without delay’

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there should be no delay in removing sanctions and reentering the nuclear deal.

Iran's Christians face renewed fears ahead of Christmas

The case of Dabrina Bet Tamraz and her parents highlights a string of crackdowns against Evangelical and Protestant Christians across the country that have forced many to flee.

Iran nuclear deal parties discuss salvaging the accord

The nuclear deal's remaining signatories met virtually in an effort to preserve the landmark agreement.

A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows a view of an oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

US sanctions companies in UAE, China over Iranian petrochemical sales

A slew of new sanctions in Trump administration's final weeks could complicate Biden's pledge to rejoin the Iranian nuclear agreement.

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on October 24, 2020, shows him wearing a protective face mask as he gives a speech in the capital Tehran during a meeting of the national staff to discuss the issue of the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (Photo by - / KHAMENEI.IR / AFP) / XGTY / === RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / KHAMENEI.IR" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS === (Photo by

Iran’s Khamenei vows ‘definite’ revenge for US killing of Soleimani

Iran’s supreme leader said revenge for the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani is a definite plan, as he called on regional nations to push for the ouster of US forces.

A woman stands in front of a makeshift memorial at the Boryspil airport outside Kiev, on January 11, 2020, as she pays tribute for the victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed near the Iranian capital Teheran. - Ukraine demanded on January 11, 2020 that Iran punishes those guilty for the downing of a Ukrainian airliner and compensate victims while praising Tehran for cooperating with the "objective" investigation. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AF

Iran not forthcoming on investigation into downed airliner, Canada’s government says

Iranian officials have accused Canada of exploiting the incident for political purposes.

TOPSHOT - A worker of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA waves an Iranian flag as the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune docks at the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, in the northern state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 25, 2020. - The first of five Iranian tankers carrying much-needed gasoline and oil derivatives docked in Venezuela on Monday, Caracas announced amid concern in Washington over the burgeoning relationship between countries it sees as international pariahs. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo

Iran using disguised ship to load Venezuelan oil

The tanker reportedly hid its real name. The United States sanctions the oil industries of both Iran and Venezuela.