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Iran

September 14, 2025

Tehran 10:22 pm

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Protesters hold placard against executions in Iran during a rally against the Iranian regime in Rome on July 30, 2025.

Iran executions hit 913 this year as postwar crackdown deepens: What to know

The latest spree comes in the aftermath of the war with Israel and amid deepening domestic crises facing the Islamic Republic, which has repeatedly turned to executions when its survival is on the line.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (C) meets with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi (L) and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi in Cairo, on Sept. 9, 2025.

Iran FM signs preliminary deal with IAEA chief in Cairo amid diplomatic push

The announcement of the agreement comes less than two weeks after the European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal triggered snapback sanctions, which will likely mean the automatic reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran within 30 days.

Chinese President Xi jinping attends a photo session for participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit 2025 on Sept. 1, 2025, in Tianjin, China.

China calls on BRICS to boost multilateral trade as Iran, UAE eye closer ties

The UAE’s and Egypt’s trade with BRICS members is on the rise, while Iran’s efforts to increase economic ties are complicated by sanctions.

A picture obtained on Dec. 14, 2013 from Iran's ISNA news agency allegedly shows the launch of the Pajohesh (research) rocket containing a live space monkey named Fargam (Auspicious) at an undisclosed location in Iran.

Iran eyes launch of 4 satellites, open Chabahar space port by spring 2026

Iran is set to launch four domestic-made satellites into orbit by next March, in the latest milestone for Iran's space program.

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Analysis

Iran turns to China, Russia to bolster air defenses as it preps for next Israel war

Traffic flows past a huge billboard showing a missile falling on Israel with the slogan "The missile has fallen amidst the demons," on a main road in central Tehran on July 16, 2025.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

Old sanctions, new risks: Iran’s economy hampered by war fallout, China reliance

Stacks of Iranian rials and US dollars sit counted on a table in an unofficial currency exchange shop, Tehran, Iran, Aug. 6, 2025.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Iran, IAEA officials meet in Vienna as UN sanctions clock ticks

JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Inside Israel's Yemen operation that decapitated Houthi leadership

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images

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

Elizabeth Hagedorn

State Department Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Andrew Parasiliti

President and Chief Content Officer

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, national security

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

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics

Footage shows crowds gathered the moment the first explosion occurred in Kerman, Iran, Jan. 3, 2023.

Explosions in Iran near Qasem Soleimani‘s burial site, 84 killed

The explosion comes amid concerns that the Gaza war will expand across the region.

An Iranian navy missile is displayed during the army day military parade, outside the mausoleum of the late founder of Islamic republic, Ayatollah Khomeini (poster) in Tehran, April 18, 2007.

Iran hails Houthi rebels, deploys warship as Red Sea simmers

As the Houthi spokesman visited Tehran, the Iranian army dispatched a leading destroyer to the Red Sea, where the United States has been mobilizing an international coalition to end disruptions by the Tehran-backed militant group.

Wang Yi speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East and the Israel-Hamas war at the United Nations headquarters on Nov. 29, 2023.

With confidence at all-time high, can China emerge as Mideast peace broker?

China is riding a wave of support since its Iran-Saudi agreement, but experts say the Palestinian-Israeli brokerage is a different matter.

11/24/2023 Tehran, Iran. Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

2023 in review: Iran sees opportunity in Gaza war, steps up crackdown at home

Iran's theocratic establishment engaged in a flurry of foreign diplomacy to try to ease the international isolation it is facing, while at home it intensified its crackdown on dissent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi hold a meeting in Tehran on July 19, 2022. - Iran's president will host his Russian and Turkish counterparts for talks on the Syrian war in a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SAVOSTYANOV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SAVOSTYANOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

What is behind Iran-Russia de-dollarization deal as sanctions bite?

The long-awaited agreement was one among several solutions the two countries have sought to salvage their battered economies, which remain cut off from key international banking systems.

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Naftali Bennett: Israel attacked Iran drone base, killed IRGC commander in 2022

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accused the current government of ignoring the war Iran is waging against it and letting its leaders off the hook.

An Iranian woman holds a poster with a picture of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, during his funeral ceremony at the Imam Hossein Square in Tehran, Dec. 28, 2023.

Iran executes four alleged spies for Israel as regional tensions flare

The executions follow accusations that Israel was responsible for the death of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria.

Honor guards carry the coffin of Sayyed Razi Mousavi.

Funeral held for Iran's IRGC commander killed by Israel as Tehran vows revenge

Iran said Sayyed Razi Mousavi was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria. The death of the commander, who was mourned in Syria and Iraq, could ignite war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow Dec. 7, 2023.

Iran in tight spot as Russia backs UAE claim on disputed Gulf islands

Russia-Iran ties were in the spotlight again, and Tehran was put in the unwanted position of having to reservedly criticize the key ally, after Moscow supported the Arab stance on three Iran-controlled disputed islands.

Sara Massoumi in an undated photo

Iranian journalist Sara Massoumi sentenced to prison over tweet: lawyer

Sara Massoumi criticized the Islamic Republic over the death of teenage girl Armita Geravand, who some allege was beaten for not wearing the hijab.

Yemeni coastguard members loyal to the internationally-recognised government ride in a patrol boat cruising in the Red Sea off of the government-held town of Mokha in the western Taiz province, close to the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, on December 12, 2023. (Photo by Khaled Ziad / AFP) (Photo by KHALED ZIAD/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran launches new naval unit as Red Sea attacks intensify

Equipped with rocket-launching vessels, the additional force is introduced amid increasing encounters between Iranian and American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SALAM FARAJ An Iraqi money dealer counts Iranian rial banknotes bearing a portrait of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at an exchange office in Baghdad on February 3, 2012. Tens of thousands of Iranian visitors have been finding difficulty in using the Iranian currency in Iraq due to a depreciation of the rial against the dollar. AFP PHOTO/ ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/GettyImages)

How will uncertainty and government policies impact Iran’s economic outlook in 2024?

Bijan Khajehpour

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics