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

Iran cover image

Iran

July 14, 2026

Tehran 7:06 am

30°C

US President Donald Trump gestures as he steps off Air Force One to board the new Qatari-gifted Boeing plane, en route to the United States following his participation in the NATO Summit at Royal Air Force Mildenhall on July 8, 2026, in Mildenhall, England.

Trump says US to strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site

Satellite imagery has detected recent construction at the underground facility.

The Liberian-flagged container vessel MSC Reef is seen docked along a pier at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman, on June 28, 2026.

Explainer

Trump’s Hormuz playbook echoes Iran’s attempts to monetize waterway

On Monday, Trump declared that the United States would become the "guardian" of the strategic waterway, reimpose a blockade on Iranian shipping and seek reimbursement equivalent to 20% of all cargo transiting the strait.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Oil climbs after US strikes Iran, Trump vows to control Strait of Hormuz

US Central Command said in a statement early on Monday that it struck dozens of Iranian targets overnight as Iran targeted American bases across the Gulf.

U.S. President Donald Trump returns to Joint Base Andrews on July 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump, switched from the old Air Force One to the new Air Force One while stopping in the U.K. at RAF Mildenhall Air Force Base was returning from his visit to Ankara, Turkey where he attended the NATO summit. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump says US to resume naval blockade of Iran's ports

President Donald Trump countered Iran's attempts to collect tolls on shipping via the Strait of Hormuz by announcing the US would do so at a rate of 20% for all cargo transiting the waterway.

Latest News

Analysis

Why Iran is making infrastructure next front in Mideast conflict

A view of the B1 bridge is pictured, a day after it was destroyed by a strike in Karaj, around 20miles (35kms) southwest of Tehran, April 3, 2026.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

How Iran war could impact oil markets in 2027

Igor IVANKO / AFP via 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

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce on July 4, 2018, in Vienna, Austria.

Iran's Rouhani says problems with US ‘resolved’ in Vienna talks

President Hassan Rouhani said most issues with the United States have been resolved, but he hinted a deal may not happen until after his term ends.

Kharg

Iran navy's largest ship sinks after fire in Gulf of Oman

The Navy said the crew safely evacuated before the Kharg sank near the southern Iranian port city of Jask.

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images

Prominent activist accuses Iran interrogators of sexual abuse

Narges Mohammadi, known for her long struggle for human rights in Iran, said prison authorities and interrogators regularly use sexual harassment and abuse as a tool to break dissident women in custody.

Iran's former parliament speaker Ali Larijani delivers a speech after registering his candidacy for Iran's presidential elections, at the Interior Ministry in capital Tehran, on May 15, 2021, ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for June.

Prominent disqualified candidates urge Iranians to still vote

Despite being disqualified to run by the country's Guardian Council, several major Reformist and centrist figures are still calling on citizens to go to the polls.

An Iranian medical staff works with samples at the Avicenna embryology and infertility centre in Tehran on June 29, 2016.

Iran to open fertility research center in Algeria

Iran and Algeria have improved relations in recent years, leading to concerns from Morocco and Iranian government critics.

Iran's former parliament speaker Ali Larijani delivers a speech after registering his candidacy for Iran's presidential elections, at the Interior Ministry in capital Tehran, on May 15, 2021, ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for June.

Tehran hard-liner council bans leading centrists from presidential race

Iran's Guardian Council disqualified all the major moderate contenders from the country's presidential election, paving the way for a one-sided race and an anticipated victory for hard-line judicial chief Ibrahim Raisi.

A woman walks past the sign of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a press conference by Rafael Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, about the agency monitoring of Iran's nuclear energy program on May 23, 2021, in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA has been in talks with Iran over extending the agency's monitoring program. Meanwhile, Iranian and international representatives have been in talks in recent weeks in Vienna over reviving the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal.

Iran, IAEA extend inspection agreement by one month

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency extend an understanding to keep the nuclear talks alive.

Canada protest

Iran rejects Canadian court's decision on responsibility for downed passenger plane

A court in Ontario, Canada, ruled that Iran's 2020 shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which killed 55 Canadians, was a terrorist act.

Police guard the Grand Hotel on the day the JCPOA Iran nuclear talks are to resume on April 27, 2021, in Vienna, Austria. Representatives from the United States, Iran, the European Union and other participants from the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are meeting both directly and indirectly over possibly reviving the plan. The JCPOA was the European-led initiative by which Iran agreed not to pursue a nuclear weapon in exchange for concessions, though the United States, under the administ

Rouhani claims US has agreed to lift key Iran sanctions

Iran's president said the United States has agreed to remove substantial economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic following marathon talks in Vienna.

Raisi and Larijani

Raisi, Larijani likely top candidates for Iran's presidential election

Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body that gets to decide a final list of candidates, is winnowing down the number of candidates allowed to run in the June 18 election.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

As Iran's election campaign picks up, boycott gains momentum as well

Only one month out from Iran's presidential election, calls are growing for a boycott of the vote, widely seen as an undemocratic process with dim prospects of genuine change.

A handout photo made available by the office of Iran's supreme leader shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greeting Ismail Haniya (L), Palestinian Hamas premier in the Gaza Strip, during a meeting in Tehran, Feb. 12, 2012.

Hamas representative in Iran: latest round of fighting is strategic shift for group

Khaled al-Qaddumi claims that while the militant group and the Islamic Republic share common goals, the fighting was not instigated by Tehran.