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May 12, 2026

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A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows an Panamanian tanker docking at the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf.

Breaking | Last Updated: May 11, 2026, 4:31 pm

US hits China-linked Iran oil trade with sanctions ahead of Trump trip

The sanctions come after the United States rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war.

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - MAY 2: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to journalists before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on May 2, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago resort. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

Trump calls Iran response 'piece of garbage,' set to meet military advisers

A US Navy nuclear submarine reached port in Gibraltar on Sunday in an unsubtle signal from the Pentagon.

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not surprised by President Donald Trump’s suspension of Project Freedom and move toward talks with Iran, but analysts say Washington may not be fully weighing Israel's concerns in negotiations with Tehran.

Latest News

China’s overland trade routes offer Iran wartime economic lifeline: What to know

CN-STR / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Iran's wartime behavior risks lasting rupture with Gulf states

A woman walks past a banner featuring Iran's late supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C), next to newly elected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran on April 19, 2026.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

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

US strikes Iran tankers as UAE reports fresh missile, drone attacks

Getty

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

Benny Gantz (C), A former IDF Chief and the head of Israeli Resilience party speaks to supporters during an election campaign event in Tel Aviv. Israelis will vote in a parliamentary election on April 9, choosing among party lists of candidates to serve in the 121-seat Knesset

In Washington, Gantz all about US snapback sanctions on Iran

Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz is in Washington today busily encouraging the administration to move ahead with its snapback sanctions move.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference to announce the Trump administration's restoration of sanctions on Iran, on September 21, 2020, at the US State Department in Washington,DC. - Standing behind Pompeo are (L-R), National security adviser Robert O'Brien, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft. The United States said Monday it was imposing sanctions on Iran's defense ministry and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro under a UN authority w

US imposes sweeping new Iran sanctions as Security Council ignores snapback attempt

Nearly every UN Security Council member state says the United States lacks the legal authority to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Rouhani calls US snapback push ‘final point of failure’

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is preparing a new package of sanctions on Iran.

Bahraini police arrive to disperse protestors during clashes following the funeral of Ali Abdulghani, 17, whose family says died of injuries suffered in a police chase, in the Shiite village of Shahrakkan, south of Manama on April 5, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP via Getty Images)

Bahrain claims it foiled Iranian-backed terrorist attacks

Bahrain has charged 18 people with allegedly plotting attacks in the country with support from Iran.

This picture taken on August 25, 2019 shows damage inside a media centre of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah in the south of the capital Beirut, after two drones came down in the vicinity of its building earlier in the day, with (L to R) pictures of Iran's former and current Supreme Leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seen next to a computer terminal. - Hezbollah said on August 25 that one of the drones was rigged with explosives and caused damage to its media centre, but den

US imposes sanctions on Iranian intelligence, Hezbollah-linked targets in Lebanon

New US sanctions affect 47 individuals and entities in Iran as well as three targets in Lebanon.

Iran dismisses US push for snapback sanctions

Iranian officials have rejected the idea that the United States will implement the snapback sanctions that were rejected.

Pompeo: US to return to UN to ensure Iran sanctions enforced

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the international sanctions on Iran will return this weekend, despite opposition from most of the Security Council.

High unemployment forces Iranian Kurds into smuggling, with deadly consequences

A new wave of deadly violence targeting Iranian Kurdish smugglers in the country's mountainous border region has renewed focus on decades-long state neglect of the minority group.

A man holds a phone while reading a story published on Tasnim News Agency's website about the recent news of a US-brokered deal between Israel and the UAE to normalise relations, in Iran's capital Tehran on August 14, 2020. - Iran strongly condemned the agreement, blasting it as an act of "strategic stupidity" that would only strengthen the Tehran-backed "axis of resistance". The Israel-UAE deal marks only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation, an historic shift making the Gu

Arab deals with Israel predictably rile Iran

The normalization of ties between Israel and two Arab states has left the Islamic Republic uneasy in a region where it is surrounded by more adversaries than allies.

This picture taken on March 14, 2020 shows a general view of Hafte Tir square in Iran's capital Tehran. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hard-liners slam European ‘meddling’ in execution case

Iran's staunchest loyalists are expressing rage at European states that have condemned the execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari.

A woman holds a portrait of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari during a demonstration on the Dam Square in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on September 13, 2020, against its execution in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz and against the Iranian government. - Iran said it executed wrestler Navid Afkari, 27, on September 12, 2020 at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz over the murder of a public sector worker during anti-government protests in August 2018. Reports published abroad say Afkari was condemned on the

Iranian activists condemn execution of wrestler

Many activists have spoken out against the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari.

TOPSHOT - A worker of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA waves an Iranian flag as the Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune docks at the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, in the northern state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 25, 2020. - The first of five Iranian tankers carrying much-needed gasoline and oil derivatives docked in Venezuela on Monday, Caracas announced amid concern in Washington over the burgeoning relationship between countries it sees as international pariahs. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo

Iranian fuel tankers reported off coast of South Africa

The tankers are reportedly bringing oil to Venezuela and may be taking the longer African route to avoid US forces following a seizure in August.