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Iran

October 21, 2026

Tehran 4:53 am

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Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrive to hold a press conference after a meeting in Tehran on October 19, 2026. The Russian foreign minister arrived in Iran on October 19, in his first visit since the outbreak of the Middle East war as Moscow seeks to play a mediating role. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How Lavrov's Tehran visit tests limits of Russia's influence over Iran

As Tehran looks for an off-ramp from renewed conflict, Moscow is positioning itself as a diplomatic partner while pushing Iran to deliver on long-delayed economic deals.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Ships are anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on Oct. 2, 2026.

IRGC claims it downed US drone, set two tankers ablaze near Hormuz

Iran has stepped up attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.

Safin HAMID / AFP via Getty Images

Iran says deal reached with Iraq to expel Kurdish separatists: What to know

Iran said an agreement was reached with Iraq to expel or hand over members of Kurdish separatist groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

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

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

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

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

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

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

Mohammad Ali Karimi, a nominee for AFC Player of the Year, speaks at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 28, 2012.

Iran’s legendary soccer player under fire for backing protests

Ali Karimi’s name is being chanted out loud by his fans on the street since the day he threw his support behind the ongoing anti-government protests in Iran that started Sept . 16.

Khamenei

Khamenei breaks silence on Iran protests, lays blame on US

In his first speech since the outbreak of protests Sept. 16, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States and Israel of promoting unrest in the country.

BBC

BBC plans to stop radio broadcasts in Arabic, Persian

Many Arabic journalists were saddened, but the BBC’s international radio audience has shrunk. The Iranian government is currently in a row with BBC Persian over its coverage of protests.

Iran protest

Iranian IRGC commander killed during fighting with protesters

The incident occurred in the Sistan and Baluchistan province, which was the site of a violent crackdown against protesters last year.

AFP via Getty Images

Iran vows to strike back if US destroys more of its drones over Iraq

Iran has vowed to respond to any “hostile actions” after an Iranian drone was reportedly shot down en route to Erbil.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks during the IAEA's General Conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 26, 2022.

Analysis

Will Iran's shift on IAEA help break deadlock in nuclear talks?

Iranian protesters shift tactics in response to government crackdown.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Afghan Iran protest

Civil disobedience grows as Iran continues to crush protests

Working around the state's internet crackdown, Iranians were resorting to strikes, as women walked without hijabs in public in defiance of the hard-line establishment.

Smoke billows following an Iranian cross-border attack in the area of Zargwez.

US confirms American citizen killed in Iranian rocket attack in Iraq

Omar Mahmoudzadeh's family confirmed to Al-Monitor that he died in an Iranian strike Thursday in the Iraqi-Kurdish town of Koya.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

US unveils new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sales

The Biden administration on Thursday blacklisted entities in China, Hong Kong, Iran, India and the United Arab Emirates over their alleged involvement in Iran’s petrochemical trade.

Iran protest

The Takeaway: Iran's protesters shift to rooftops in response to crackdown

Iran strikes Kurds in Iraq; Turkish drones complicate Central Asia disputes; cosmetic surgery booms in Syria; Egypt pushes reef protection ahead of COP27; and the politics behind Israel PM backing two-state solution.

Iran shop

Iran says enemies causing ‘sedition’ in the country with protests

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi calls recent protests “sedition," and police arrest a former president's daughter.

Smoke billows on the horizon in the village of Altrun Kupri, in the Sherawa region, south of Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan, where a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party is located, on Sept. 28, 2022.

Tehran strikes Kurdish opponents in Iraq as protests over Mahsa Amini’s death convulse Iran

Iran ramps up its bombing campaign in northern Iraq in what Iraqi Kurds argue is an attempt to divert the world's attention from the killing of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.