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Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026, in Muscat, Oman.

Oil falls below $71 as US-Iran talks continue, Gulf exports rebound

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an X post on Wednesday that Iran and the United States had made "positive progress."

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Kiros has taken a hard stance against Israel and opposes all aid to the country as pro-Palestinian candidates make further inroads in the party.

Latest News

Explainer

Saudi FM concludes China visit amid Trump-MBS friction: What to know

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud before a family photo for the attendees of a meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority nations at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on November 20, 2023. The international community must take urgent action to stop the "humanitarian disaster" unfolding in Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations on Novembe

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

People inspect a site hit by airstrikes at a parking garage in the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah - RTSW2U6

Is Turkey’s shift on Assad beginning of the end of Syria’s war?

Turkish deputy prime minister says "we just have to work with what we have"; no sectarian divide in Aleppo; the Syrian Kurdish fault line.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, the interior minister, arrives to a military parade in preparation for the annual Haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah. - RTX2O8NJ

How Washington, Riyadh can work together to counter terrorism

It would behoove Washington and Riyadh to take steps to reassure each other in the fight against terrorism.

A member of Libyan forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar holds a weapon as he sits on a car in front of the gate at Zueitina oil terminal in Zueitina, west of Benghazi, Libya September 14, 2016. Picture taken September 14, 2016. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori - RTSNU2U

US strike rekindles debate over Trump plans for Libya

Barack Obama made a show of battling the Islamic State in conjunction with Tripoli's UN-backed unity government. Will the new president drop the GNA for an anti-Islamist strongman?

(First row From L) Russian Ambassador to France Alexander Orlov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, French President Francois Hollande, French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Desir pose for a family picture during the Mideast peace conference in Paris, France, January 15, 2017. REUTERS/Bertrand Guay/POOL TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTSVNHB

After Paris — a Moscow conference on Mideast peace?

Palestinians are now developing a follow-up strategy to the Paris II conference, and are hoping for a Moscow conference in the near future.

U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller - RTSKAJX

US pastor in Turkish jail while Gulen dominates talks

Turkey’s prime minister has asked the US president-elect to hand over exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen in the interest of furthering US-Turkey relations even as Ankara continues to hold American pastor Andrew Brunson on terror charges.

Confusion over US presence at Astana Syria talks

A Russian invitation to the Trump transition team to send a representative to Syria peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana Jan. 23 has caused confusion and revealed limited interactions between the incoming and outgoing US administrations.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RTSW3K1

Trump's UN nominee reassures advocates of Iran deal, two-state solution

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered a measured counterpoint to Donald Trump's inflamed rhetoric during her confirmation hearing Jan. 18.

Turkish military vehicles drive in the Syrian rebel-held town of al-Rai, as they head towards the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi - RTX2Y60D

US backs Turkish offensive with airstrikes around al-Bab

After repeated appeals from Turkey for the United States to help Turkish troops and their rebel proxies to capture al-Bab, US airstrikes are resuming in a move that could help diffuse growing tensions between the NATO allies.

A man walks past the Trump Towers building in Istanbul on July 30, 2015. US billionaire Donald Trump handily leads all fellow Republicans in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats trump him in head-to-head matchups, a poll said July 30. AFP PHOTO/ OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Why Ankara’s honeymoon with Trump may be short-lived

By blasting the Obama administration over Gulen and the Syrian Kurds, the Turkish government is signaling to the incoming Trump administration its demands for improved ties.

Family picture during the Mideast peace conference in Paris on January 15, 2017. Foreign ministers and representatives from around 70 countries are seeking to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. REUTERS/Bertrand Guay/POOL - RTSVMCD

What the world is telling Palestinians, Israelis and Trump

European diplomats believe the international attendance at the second Paris conference reflects broad support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iran President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference in Rome, Italy, January 27, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi - RTX246ST

Rouhani: Nuclear deal renegotiation 'meaningless'

Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian hard-liners found a new target to attack: Ali Akbar Nategh-Nuri. Meanwhile, President Rouhani dismisses a renegotiation of the nuclear deal, a point brought up by figures close to President-elect Trump, as “meaningless.”

People dine at a coffee shop as an image of newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed on a monitor in Tel Aviv, Israel November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX2SSCC

For Israel, more unknowns than knowns with Trump

The Israeli right and defense establishment have found it hard to determine with any certainty what direction US President-elect Donald Trump will take on policy.