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Iran

May 16, 2026

Tehran 7:19 pm

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Women shop from a street vendor at Enghelab Square in the capital Tehran on Nov. 11, 2025.

Analysis

From hoarding to unemployment: Iran's economy buckles under US pressure

Iran's fast-rising inflation is driving aggressive state market controls, exposing deeper structural strains from war, sanctions and declining consumer confidence.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Explosions rattled buildings in Dubai and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the Middle East financial hub on March 13, 2026.

Analysis

How the Iran war is exposing a growing Saudi-UAE divide

Reports on Emirati and Saudi strikes suggest Gulf monarchies moved beyond passive defense — but followed sharply different strategies.

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

US President Donald Trump talks to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he departs the Al Bateen Executive Airport on May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Analysis

‘A reckless act’: Netanyahu sparks UAE fury by claiming secret visit

Just as UAE-Israeli relations were deepening through cooperation against Iran, the Israeli prime minister publicly embarrassed Abu Dhabi by revealing his March visit.

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

Latest News

Uptick in Chinese tankers transiting Hormuz amid Trump-Xi summit

Jag Vasant, an Indian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that transited through the Strait of Hormuz amid the Middle East war, remains docked at an offloading terminal along the coast in Mumbai on April 1, 2026.

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

Iran looms large over Trump’s China visit, but breakthrough unlikely

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (C) is escorted by China's Vice President Han Zheng (R) upon his arrival at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing on May 13, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

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

Esteghlal and Persepolis fans sit separately during their Iran Serie A soccer match at the Azadi (freedom) stadium in Tehran October 14, 2007. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN) - GM1DWJHVHFAA

Uncertainties abound as Iran moves to privatize its two biggest soccer clubs

Iran’s Cabinet has given the green light to the privatization of the popular Esteghlal and Persepolis soccer clubs, but from the debts to the losses, the process promises to be rocky at best.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu leave a commemoration ceremony for Armistice Day, 100 years after the end of the First World War, at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, France, November 11, 2018. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS - RC14BD6A5800

Erdogan gets his wish from Trump in Syria, but now what?

Ankara fears that US President Donald Trump’s sudden decision to exit Syria could become a pyrrhic victory, as four main concerns could widen security vulnerabilities and trouble Turkey's president domestically.

Israeli soldiers chat as they stand near the Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights on the border line between Israel and Syria, October 15, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1DE3AFB000

Israel concerned over American exit of Syria

US withdrawal from Syria leaves Israel alone in the campaign against Iranian entrenchment there.

A policeman inspects the wreckage of a car bomb which exploded in front of a police station in the city of Chabahar, on December 06, 2018 in southern Iran. - A suicide bomber killed at least two people outside the police headquarters in the port city of Chabahar in restive southeastern Iran, according to a revised official toll. (Photo by STR / TASNIM NEWS / AFP) (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

How insecurity in Iran's southeast could benefit UAE, Pakistan

Regional rivalry over maritime trade has intensified speculations in Iran about possible Emirati-Pakistani involvement in the recent terror attack in the southeastern port of Chabahar.

Turkish observation posts are seen on the Turkish side as Kurdish protesters gather to protest near the border wall separating Turkey from Syria in the western Syrian countryside of Ras al-Ain on December 20, 2018. - Syrian Kurdish forces said they will keep fighting the Islamic State group in eastern Syria unless they come under Turkish attack, after their US allies announced their withdrawal. (Photo by Delil souleiman / AFP) (Photo credit should read DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Iranian analysts welcome US withdrawal from Syria

Iran's government has not officially reacted to Trump's announcement of a US withdrawal from Syria, but Iranian analysts have welcomed the news.

U.S. President Donald Trump visits Section 60 in Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, U.S., December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC1FCDFDEB70

House Democrats prepare to take on Trump over Iran sanctions

Democrats and advocacy groups are preparing to confront the Donald Trump administration about obstacles to humanitarian exemptions in the Iran sanctions regime.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shake hands as they attend a news conference after talks on forming a constitutional committee in Syria, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, December 18, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - RC1C28C75F90

Despite difficulties, Russia optimistic about Syria's Constitutional Committee

Though the UN has yet to confirm who will serve on Syria's Constitutional Committee, the Astana trio is optimistic about the committee's overall prospects, especially after the United States announced it will withdraw its troops from Syria.

U.S. and Turkish soldiers conduct the first-ever combined joint patrol outside Manbij, Syria, November 1, 2018. Picture taken November 1, 2018. Courtesy Arnada Jones/U.S. Army/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC17C4EA11D0

US diplomats shaken by Trump decision to exit Syria

US President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw from Syria humiliates US envoys who have said the United States would maintain a presence indefinitely to prevent the return of the Islamic State and to counter Iran’s influence.

Iranian authorities under fire after deadly school blaze

A fire at a primary school in the southeastern Iranian border town of Zahedan has killed at least four children, leaving the nation in grief as well as outraged over government negligence of some regions.

What made this Iranian TV host lose his job?

A young state TV host is fired from his job after he criticized one of the most outspoken cinema critics of Iran.

A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop, before the start of the U.S. sanctions on Tehran, in Basra, Iraq November 3, 2018. Picture taken November 3, 2018. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani - RC153985B7A0

Iran faces budget deficit, but no shortage of means to cover it

Having stabilized the Iranian rial in recent weeks, the Rouhani administration is poised to fill its projected budget deficit by reducing the flow of money going to the National Development Fund while pushing the official and open market rates closer to each other.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a news conference in Vienna, Austria, July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger - RC1BB998E3E0

Hard-liners attack Rouhani over outreach to Europe on JCPOA

Iranian hard-liners show no sign of compromise with moderate President Hassan Rouhani, reigniting their attacks on him for his push to maintain the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.