Iran-US tensions

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport on Aug. 2, 2026 in Morristown, New Jersey.

Trump’s strategy on Iran may pay off as deal appears imminent

Through far-sighted diplomacy and a durable new regional architecture, Trump has cornered Iran between alignment and atrophy — and a deal may now be imminent.

Two brothers watch oil tankers, general cargo ships, bulk carriers, and fishing boats anchored in the waters off Muscat near the Strait of Hormuz on June 18, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.

Analysis

Why Iran is fighting to keep Hormuz at center of US negotiations

As Washington seeks a broader deal with Iran, Tehran says the Strait of Hormuz is the only issue on the table, reflecting a wider struggle over maritime security and regional power.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (2nd L), Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (2nd R) and Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi (R) walk inside a building in Muscat, Oman, on June 22, 2026.

Explainer

The emerging Iran-Oman Hormuz deal: What's at stake?

A framework that gives Tehran a formal role in determining how ships move through the waterway could strengthen its hand in future negotiations with the US.

TOPSHOT - This aerial photograph shows boats anchored off Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula near the Strait of Hormuz on June 27, 2026. Iran launched attacks on US sites in the Gulf in response to American strikes on the country, state media said on June 27, after Washington accused Tehran of attacking one of its cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The trading of fire raised questions about efforts to keep the crucial waterway open while Washington and Tehran negotiate a final settlement to a war that beg

Analysis

Another US-Iran truce, same Hormuz standoff: What comes next

Since February, two major diplomatic efforts have produced temporary pauses in fighting, but neither has translated into a lasting agreement.

By Rosaleen Carroll

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

Latest News

Analysis

Lacking leverage over Trump, Israel stays quiet on US-Iran talks

US President Donald Trump (C) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on Oct. 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

US military options narrow as Trump calls off Iran strikes: What to know

US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listen to questions from the press during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026.

Explainer

Iran-Oman Hormuz route talks near 'completion': What to know

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L), Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (2nd L) and Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi (R) attend a meeting in Muscat, Oman, on June 22, 2026.

Iran hangs 2 over alleged Mossad ties as executions mount: What to know

This photograph shows a banner featuring photos of Iranian protesters allegedly killed by the regime during a demonstration at the Ergife Palace Hotel to condemn the silence of Western governments in the face of the growing wave of Iranian political executions, in Rome, on July 16, 2026.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (C) addresses parliament in the capital, Tehran, on Sept. 3, 2019.

Rouhani says nuclear talks will be handed to successor

Iran's president said the next administration will take up the nuclear negotiations.

Journalist and Author Masih Alinejad.

Who is Masih Alinejad, target of an alleged Iranian kidnapping plot?

Prosecutors say the four Iranian defendants plotted to forcibly take the Brooklyn-based author and activist to Iran where her "fate would have been uncertain at best.”

A picture taken on June 20, 2018, shows a propaganda billboard for the pro-Iran Hezbollah Brigades militia.

IRGC official urged Iraq militias to continue hitting US, report

The IRGC intelligence chief's visit to Iraq last week followed one by top commander Ismail Ghaani.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) meets with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi

Zarif's final defense for Iran deal infuriates hard-liners

Iran's foreign minister faced scathing attacks from hard-liners in parliament after his upbeat assessment of the status of the nuclear talks.

KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images

Iran says US prisoner swap negotiations underway

The Iranian comments followed US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley's pledge that the United States would not accept a partial deal that does not bring home all four detained Americans from Iran.

Pompeo and Jansa

Pompeo speaks at conference by controversial Iran opposition group

Slovenia's prime minister and other former US officials also speak at virtual event held by Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

A picture obtained by AFP from the Iranian news agency Tasnim on January 31, 2021, shows Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (C) of the Taliban in Tehran.

Iran hosts Afghan government, Taliban for talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif celebrated the looming US withdrawal from Afghanistan during the event.

pmu march in baghdad

The Takeaway: Does Iran want to scuttle nuclear deal talks with militia attacks in Iraq?

Also: Fresh reporting from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Gaza; high oil prices may undercut GCC reforms; a cure for termites in Egypt; and more.

A picture taken on January 13, 2020, during a press tour organized by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State, shows a bulldozer clearing debris from Ain al-Asad military air base in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

Militias launch spate of attacks on US positions in Iraq

Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base was hit with the second rocket attack in just over 48 hours.

US Department of the Treasury

US Treasury Department removes Iranians from designated individuals list

A Treasury official told Reuters the move was unrelated to the talks on Iran's nuclear program. The Biden administration also removed some Iranian citizens from the list in June.

Iraqi mourners attend the funeral of a fighter of the Hashid Shaabi paramilitary alliance following US airstrikes on the Syrian-Iraqi border, on June 28, 2021, in the northern Ninevah province.

Iraq-Syria border strikes on pro-Iran ‘militias’ spark retaliation

Airstrikes on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border near Qaim conducted by the United States were followed by retaliatory strikes by Iran-linked groups against a Kurdish-led SDF base housing coalition forces in eastern Syria.

Smoke rises from buildings following an airstrike by Syrian government forces in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, on Oct. 31, 2017.

US forces in Syria come under attack after airstrikes on Iran-backed militias

Renewed fighting in Iraq and Syria is bound to set off scrutiny in Congress.