Iran - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Iran cover image

Iran

October 20, 2026

Tehran 12:44 am

22°C

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Tehran on Oct. 19, 2026.

Lavrov visits Tehran as Trump praises Russia's role on Iran: What to know

During a meeting with his Iranian counterpart earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed Moscow’s offer to mediate between Tehran and Washington.

shoppers walking through the Tajrish Bazaar, a traditional market in Tehran

Analysis

As Iran’s oil lifeline runs dry, can it outlast Trump's economic siege?

The country's last barrels of crude stockpiled beyond the reach of a US naval blockade fell to zero in October, raising the stakes for Tehran amid mounting economic distress.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi holds a press conference in Tehran on November 30, 2025.

Analysis

Turkey turns to Iran to contain Houthis as Saudi defense commitments grow

Ankara is trying to contain the fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis through Tehran’s help, but Iran may see an advantage in allowing the Houthis to maintain pressure on the kingdom.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, New York, on Oct. 9, 2026.

Window for diplomacy with Iran may be closing as Trump again threatens Pickaxe Mountain

Israel still wary of Damascus, writes Ben Caspit from Israel; our correspondent in Tehran and Amberin Zaman explain how Iran and Turkey look to exploit Azerbaijan’s headscarf controversy; Qatar’s top diplomat offers energy assistance to Lebanon, Beatrice Farhat reports from Beirut.

Latest News

Analysis

How much oil can cushion another Middle East supply shock?

A vessel transits the Gulf of Oman

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Analysis

How hijab dispute is opening new front in Iran-Azerbaijan tensions

A woman walks past a wall painting in the colours of the Iranian flag in Tehran on February 25, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Trump rules out US troops in Iran, leaves Pickaxe Mountain strike on the table

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 7, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Female commander in Iran's Basij units assassinated: What to know

People attend the funeral ceremony of Mahan Setareh, a member of the paramilitary Basij force who was killed in the recent Israeli attacks on June 26, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. A cease-fire between Israel and Iran has brought an end to 12 days of daily aerial attacks that started with Israel's strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites on June 13. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/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

Families of wrongfully detained Americans hold a demonstration on May 4, 2022, in Washington, DC.

Iran IRGC unit hit with US sanctions for hostage-taking

The sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization come as several Americans remained unlawfully jailed in the country.

Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) and Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meet in Beirut on October 7, 2021. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran FM in Lebanon, urges vote on president without 'foreign interference'

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks with Lebanese officials as the country faces a deepening political and economic crisis.

This photograph taken on Feb. 8, 2023, shows a large banner with a portrait of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.

Belgium looking into Iran's request for prisoner swap

Belgium and Iran seemingly advance toward a prisoner exchange deal, though Brussels is warning that contrary to Tehran’s statements this could take time.

This picture taken on June 15, 2019, shows tanker ships in the waters of the Gulf of Oman

Iran's IRGC seizes oil tanker in Gulf of Oman

Open-source reports indicated the Advantage Sweet was bound for Houston, Texas, when the United States said it was seized by Iran's IRGC navy on Thursday afternoon.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP) (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany scrambles to stop Iran from executing dual citizen

After a top Iranian court upheld the death sentence of dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, German Foreign Minister Annalean Baerbock says Berlin is making every possible effort to stop the execution.

Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, January 21, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0)

Iranian senior cleric Soleimani killed in attack

The shooting occurred as anti-clerical sentiments are high in Iran amid the popular protests, but the motive behind the attack is not yet known.

Belgian Manon Vandecasteele sits blindfolded in a cell during a protest action for her uncle Olivier Vandecasteele, who is imprisoned in Iran, on the Grand-Place in Tournai on April 22, 2023. - Belgium on April 18, 2023 said it had formally asked Iran to repatriate jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from Tehran, after a disputed prisoner exchange treaty entered into force. Iran arrested Vandecasteele, 42, in February 2022 and sentenced him to 40 years for spying, in a move condemned as "hostage diploma

Iran blacklists EU, UK officials as it ups armed support for Russia

Iran's tit-for-tat measure marked the latest episode in its tensions with Western adversaries and coincided with fresh allegations of its military assistance to Russia in the war against Ukraine.

This picture taken on August 5, 2022 shows Israeli Iron Dome defence missile system battries, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, in the city of Ashdod in southern Israel. - Israel's army said its air strikes in Gaza today killed an estimated 15 enemy combatants, warning that the operation against the Islamic Jihad militant group was not over. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Multi-front war with Iran proxies irks Israel despite deterrence

Unlike the surprise multi-front attack against Israel in 1973, the threats Israel faces today are much more splintered, but no less deadly.

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

An Iranian man works at an oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf, on February 23, 2016. - Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh dismissed an output freeze deal between the world's top two producers Saudi Arabia and Russia as "a joke", the ISNA news agency reported. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran and GCC verge upon new era of oil ties

Bijan Khajehpour

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics

Men walk past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

In Iran, hardliners successfully orchestrate takeover of state TV

Iran's state TV has been taken over by hard-line figures who use it to transmit ideological and hard-line views targeting the Reformists and opposition, including in entertainment shows.

Son of late Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi with Israel's Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel at the opening ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, April 17 2023. Curtsy of Israel's Intelligence Ministry.

Iran hard-liners lash out at shah Pahlavi's son over Israel visit

Reza Pahlavi's trip to Israel and his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be part of his campaign to garner support for regime change in Iran, as the opposition camps were scrambling for unity.

An Israeli soldier walks on the turret of a Merkava Mark IV battle tank stationed at a position along Israel's northern border with Lebanon in the vicinity of the village of Shtula on April 6, 2023. - The Israeli army said it intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon on April 6 after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site drew warnings of retaliation from around the region. (Photo by Oren ZIV / AFP) (Photo by OREN ZIV/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s defense chief warns of multi-front war, says Iran 'driving force'

According to the Israeli Defense Ministry's data, Hezbollah received $700 million from Iran last year as well as “knowledge and strategic weaponry” such as precision-guided munitions.