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August 29, 2026

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Analysis

Israel’s Lebanon dilemma: Confront Hezbollah without angering Trump, triggering Iran

Israeli sources point out that the pilot project for Israel's withdrawal and the Lebanese military taking control over the area is not working because of the government's reluctance to search for Hezbollah's weapons in private homes.

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

Demonstrations in Tehran, Iran

Analysis

How Iran is readying for economic protests as Trump escalates pressure

Iranian authorities are bracing for unrest as US pressure collides with a battered economy, fuel price indecision and fresh memories of bloodshed.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

US President Donald Trump arrives at Myrtle Beach International Airport on Aug. 21, 2026, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Trump says Hormuz mine-free as Iran, Oman agree to clear them

The US president again says Hormuz is clear of mines as Iran and Oman announce their plan to clear the strait.

BAY ISMOYO / AFP via Getty Images

China warns US not to interfere with Iran trade: What to know

China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing was firmly opposed to what it called “illegal unilateral sanctions” and would take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its rights.

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Israel recalibrates Syria policy, explores path to security deal

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (C) watches as US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack prepares to sign an agreement in Damascus on September 16, 2025. Shaibani announced on September 16 a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly violence in July. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

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

In 'warning shot,' US threatens sanctions on Iran’s trading partners

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent addresses the audience during opening remarks at the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism at the State Department on July 16, 2026 in Washington, DC. Bessent spoke alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as they discussed the rise of far-left political terrorism as a transnational threat. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

Oil falls 1.8% as traders await 'toughest' sanctions on Iran

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

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

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1926A26F60

Trump: Israel’s friend in words, not in deeds

US President Donald Trump's isolationist policies in Syria and Afghanistan, coupled with placating gestures toward the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than a push for peace with the Palestinians, are endangering Israel’s security.

Riad Darar and Ilham Ahmed co-chair's of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) are seen during the third meeting in Tabqa, Syria July16, 2018. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RC150A9F38B0

Kurdish lobby struggles to slow US pullout from Syria

An upstart Syrian Kurdish delegation urging the Donald Trump administration to slow the Pentagon pullout from Syria faces significant hurdles to get its message in front of a wary US administration.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro attend a news conference after an agreement-signing ceremony between Turkey and Venezuela at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero - RC149F4F7600

Intel: How Venezuela is driving US, Turkey further apart

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks after a Republican policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1EFB276880

Intel: How McConnell is forcing Democrats to side with Trump on Syria

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., managed to rebuke both President Donald Trump and Democrats with one vote.

House Foreign Relations Committee Democratic Ranking member Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) speaks with reporters after a closed intelligence briefing with CIA Director Gina Haspel on the death of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 12, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas - RC1BF7613400

Intel: How the latest freshman-establishment spat is laying bare Democrats’ Palestinian problem

An escalating feud between freshman Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Minn., and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is laying bare Democrats’ gaping divide over Israel.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.
An Iranian employee checks the food shelves at a shopping mall in northwestern Tehran February 3, 2012. With just a month to go before a parliamentary election, Iran has been hit hard in recent months by new U.S. and European economic sanctions over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West says is aimed at making a bomb. Picture taken February 3, 2

Intel: How the Europeans’ new Iran sanctions work-around helps Trump

The European Union launched its much-anticipated Iran trade mechanism today to an audible meh from the Donald Trump administration.

Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sit at the back of a truck in Deir al-Zor, Syria May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Rodi Said - RC1BB08864D0

Intel: Why US plan to have Europeans run Syria safe zone is no sure bet

The Donald Trump administration has asked European allies to participate in a safe zone to protect the US-backed Syrian Kurds.

Kurdish official Aldar Khalil, who played a key role in establishing Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish region in 2013, poses during an interview in Qamishli on December 22, 2018. - Khalil urged on December 22, 2018, the United States to stop Turkey launching an offensive against Kurdish areas in northern Syria, after Washington announced the withdrawal of American troops. Washington has for years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, as

Why Kurds seek talks with Assad regime

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Aldar Khalil, a leading figure of the Movement for a Democratic Society, speaks of the general landscape in Syria and voices his opinion about the US withdrawal of forces and potential talks with the Assad regime.

Maduro gives Erdogan a new lifeline

President Erdogan's vocal support for Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro is being echoed in the Turkish media, with TV channels broadcasting programs on past CIA coups.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (R) meets with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Tehran, Iran October 22, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - S1AEUIMBOZAA

US 'coup' in Venezuela equally abhorred by Iran's hard-liners, Reformists

Iran's rival Reformist and hard-line political camps, which rarely see eye to eye, are now both expressing solidarity with Venezuela's incumbent president, blaming the United States for the crisis that has gripped the oil-rich South American nation.

Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib canvasses a neighborhood before Election Day in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook - RC1D480CE1E0

Top Democrat on foreign affairs shoots down pro-Palestinian trips

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is unwilling to approve a proposed congressional delegation to the West Bank.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testifies to the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about "worldwide threats" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC18CD6A93F0

US intel assessment suggests Trump's Iran policy not working

A new US intelligence assessment suggests that the Donald Trump administration’s Iran policy is not achieving its goals and may in fact be counterproductive.