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July 15, 2026

Tehran 3:52 pm

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A ship sails off the coast of Ajman on July 10, 2026.

Interview

Why Strait of Hormuz no longer rattles oil markets as much: IMF

The fund's Middle East director, Jihad Azour, told Al-Monitor that the big Gulf energy producers now have more capacity to absorb the shock.

Jihad Azour

Jihad Azour

Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund

A general view of the Iranian Embassy on July 13, 2026, in London, England.

Analysis

How UK's IRGC designation raises stakes for Iran and Europe

Following Britain's designation, Iran has presented a unified front in which all institutions are projecting the IRGC as an integral component of national sovereignty.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A photograph shows a damaged building in the aftermath of a drone strike in the Seef district of Manama on March 10, 2026.

Bahrain sentences 3 to life in prison over ties to Iran's IRGC: What to know

The sentencing comes as Bahrain continues to crack down on individuals allegedly spying for Iran, at a time when the IRGC has resumed its strikes against US assets in the Gulf.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, DC, July 14, 2026.

Trump hosts Iraqi PM Zaidi as Iran war intensifies

President Donald Trump emphasized Iraq’s “tremendous oil reserves” and possible deals with US companies.

Latest News

Trump retreats from Hormuz 20% fee plan in pivot to Gulf investment deals

SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

Oil prices climb to $85 as US-Iran attacks intensify, Hormuz traffic stalls

AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As Trump prioritizes Hormuz, Israel fears Iran rebuilding nuclear program while preserving ballistic missile threat

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

Analysis

'The word belongs to the battlefield': Why Iran, US are drifting back to conflict

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

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

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - OCTOBER 07: Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence participate in the vice presidential debate moderated by Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today Susan Page (C) at the University of Utah on October 7, 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The vice presidential candidates only meet once to debate before the general election on November 3. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

US vice presidential candidates debate Iran policy

Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris took on Iran issues like the nuclear deal and the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

File Picture dated June 25, 2007 shows Iranian opposition human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, at the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran.
Mohammadi an aide to Iranian Nobel peace winner Shirin Ebadi has been arrested before the anniversary of Iran's disputed presidential election, Ebadi's rights groups said on June 11, 2010. / AFP / BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian rights defender Narges Mohammadi released from prison

Mohammadi served more than eight years in prison on a dubious national security conviction.

Denmark summons Iranian ambassador over controversial divorce reports

Danish media reported that imams are forcing Iranian women in Denmark to accept divorce terms, and Denmark's foreign minister thinks Iran may be involved.

Iran parades, tortures ‘thugs’ in show of ‘police power’

In recent days, the Iranian police have been conducting “maneuvers of power” in street parades, humiliating and torturing arrested “thugs” before the public eye.

Iranian flags flutter during an inauguration ceremony for new equipment and infrastructure on February 25, 2019 at the Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern Iranian coastal city of Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman. - With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar, only about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's

India works to boost influence in Iran as Beijing-Tehran ties warm

India is seeking to remain involved in the development projects at Iran's ports, especially since Chabahar Port helps India gain access to an important geopolitical region.

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises behind houses after shelling in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region's main city of Stepanakert on October 7, 2020, during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran protests spillover shelling from Armenia-Azerbaijan war

Shells and rockets from the conflict from Nagorno-Karabakh region have reportedly landed in northwestern Iran, which does not back either side.

An Iranian youth, wearing a protective mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, checks the currency exchange rates in Tehran on June 22, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian currency dips to historic low amid sanctions, pandemic, foreign policy decisions

Iran has seen the rial’s value fall by almost half this year as the currency now stands at a record low against the US dollar, triggered by ongoing sanctions, coronavirus restrictions and, according to some experts, Iran's foreign policy adventures since the 1979 revolution.

US Daniel Levinson (L) shows a picture of his father, ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson, holding his grandson Ryan during a press conference with his mother Christine at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, 22 December 2007. The wife of the former agent missing in Iran since March said today she has received "no answers" about his fate at the end of her trip to the Islamic republic in search of her husband, who Washington says went missing on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. The Tehran government reiterated earlie

US judge orders Iran pay $1.45 billion to family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead

Iran has been ordered to pay Robert Levinson's family $1.35 billion in punitive damages and $107 million in compensatory damages.

Iran criticizes Turkey’s role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has called on Turkey to help resolve the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia rather than "add fuel to the fire."

A Russian S400b4 anti-aircraft rocket system roll past during the second night of rehearsals in preparation for the WWII Victory Parade in front of a banner informing of a national vote on constitutional changes in Moscow on June 18, 2020. - Russia's President Putin on June 24 will preside over a massive military parade to mark Soviet victory in World War II, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The banner read as "Our decision". (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTS

Russia may sell S-400 to Iran after UN embargo expires, ambassador says

Russia’s ambassador to Iran said Saturday that the Kremlin may sell its S-400 missile defense system to Tehran after the UN arms embargo expires later this month.

Mask-clad school children have their body temperatures measured, as part of new COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic school precautions, as they enter Nojavanan school in Iran's capital Tehran on the first day of schools re-opening on September 5, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hits highest coronavirus death toll since July

Officials in Iran are scrambling to address the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune is docked at the El Palito refinery after its arrival to 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 by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Third, final Iranian tanker arrives in Venezuela

Iran sent three tankers carrying more than 800,000 barrels of fuel to the South American country, successfully evading US sanctions in the process.