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

Iran cover image

Iran

May 12, 2026

Tehran 12:06 pm

27°C

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

Iran’s Khamenei pushes Iraq on ousting US forces

The meeting between Iran's supreme leader and the Iraqi prime minister took place at a critical juncture in Iran-Iraq relations and amid the tug of war between Tehran and Washington over influence in Iraqi politics.

Investigators recover voice recordings from Ukrainian airliner shot down by Iran

Iran's civil aviation authority has sent to France the black boxes from a Ukraine jet it shot down.

Iran executes man it says spied for US and Israel

Mahmoud Mousavi Majd was found guilty of reporting the whereabouts of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander killed in a US drone strike.

Zarif's visit to Baghdad foreshadows Iraqi PM's trips to Iran and Saudi Arabia

In today's Iran media review, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Iraq for the first time since Iran’s former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States in January.

The picture illustrates United States 100-dollar bills bearing the portrait of US statesman, inventor and diplomat Benjamin Franklin next to Iran's various Rial banknotes, bearing a portrait of Iran's late founder of Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on January 18, 2012. The Rial's plunge, to 18,000 to the dollar hit a record low on January 18, based on rates in black market trading that the government has tried to ban. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via

History repeats itself in Iran's currency exchange market

The Iranian rial continues to lose value against foreign currency, as exporters face high costs due to sanctions and the government continues a policy of forcing them to accept low exchange rates.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani walks past a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he arrives for a news conference in the capital Tehran, on February 16, 2020. - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani ruled out resigning and vowed to see out his term, even as he admitted he had offered to step aside twice since being elected. Speaking ahead of a general election next Friday, Rouhani also appealed to voters to turn out despite the fact that many moderate and reformist candidates were disqualified f

Iran’s Khamenei nips Rouhani impeachment in the bud

Iranian lawmakers behind a motion to impeach President Hassan Rouhani immediately backpedaled on their bid after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly opposed it.

Iran claims Israeli ‘propaganda’ on nuclear facility attack

In today's Iran media review, Tehran claims that speculation regarding Israeli attacks are "propaganda."

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 15: U.S. President Donald Trump exits the Oval Office and walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. The President is traveling to the Atlanta, Georgia area to visit the UPS Hapeville Airport Hub and deliver remarks on infrastructure. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Intel: Trump joins chorus of Iranians urging halt to imminent political executions

President Donald Trump today joined the online chorus of Iranians warning the government against the imminent execution of three young men sentenced to death after participating in last year’s mass protests against rising gasoline prices.

A picture shows supertanker Grace 1 off the coast of Gibraltar on July 6, 2019. - Iran demanded on July 5, 2019 that Britain immediately release an oil tanker it has detained in Gibraltar, accusing it of acting at the bidding of the United States. Authorities in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on Spain's southern tip at the western entrance to the Mediterranean, said they suspected the tanker was carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP) (Photo cred

Oil tanker sanctioned by US, later found off Iran was hijacked, says captain

A missing crude oil tanker subject to US government sanctions over alleged involvement in Iran’s oil exportation was hijacked, according to the ship’s captain.

Iran's envoy to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo speaks during a Security Council meeting after a vote on the Iran resolution at the UN headquarters in New York on July 20, 2015. The UN Security Council on July 20, unanimously adopted a resolution that will clear a path for international sanctions crippling Iran's economy to be lifted. On condition that Iran respects the agreement to the letter, seven UN resolutions passed since 2006 to sanction Iran will be gradually terminated, according to the text.

Rouhani warns against extension of Iran arms embargo

President Hassan Rouhani urged the remaining signatories of the Iran nuclear deal to stand up for multilateralism by rejecting US calls for the extension of an arms embargo against Tehran.

Iran shipyard incident latest in series of unexplained fires

A huge fire engulfed ships docked at the port city home to Iran's only nuclear power plant.

Ukraine rejects Iranian conclusion of 'human error' in downed passenger plane

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by Iranian forces in January amid their strikes on US military positions in Iraq.