United Nations

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

Speaking exclusively to Al-Monitor, UNRWA’s Tamara Alrifai said the upcoming Turkey office would help the agency to expand its operations not only in Gaza but also in Syria.

In this handout photo released by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on November 10, 2025, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (L) is accompanied by AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami during a visit to a facility in Tehran. (Photo by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran / AFP)

Iran stops IAEA inspections following UN watchdog's reprimand

The IAEA Board of Governors approved a resolution on Thursday demanding Iran provide access to attacked nuclear facilities and information on its uranium stockpiles.

UN Security Council votes for US resolution on the Gaza peace plan

UN Security Council endorses US plan for Gaza security force

The US-drafted resolution also endorses the Trump-led Board of Peace and references possible statehood for the Palestinians.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa waits to meet with France's president, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 24, 2025.

Exclusive

US pushes UN vote to revoke Sharaa sanctions before White House visit

The Trump administration's effort to delist the Syrian leader has faced resistance from China.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Latest News

Sudan PM orders state of alert as atrocity claims mount in Darfur

EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

US military to start Gaza ceasefire monitoring as international force plans stall

Smoke billows following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on Oct. 19, 2025.

FIFA, Arab League, World Bank: Who's pledging what toward Gaza’s $70B reconstruction?

ABDELRAHMAN RASHAD/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

UNESCO backs Egypt's Khaled el-Enany as next director-general, first Arab in post

Khaled El-Enany, Egyptologist and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, speaks during an interview with AFP at a hotel in Paris on April 10, 2025.

President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas speaks to the media with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured), following talks at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, Aug. 16, 2022.

Abbas to demand recognition of Palestinian state at UNGA

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly meeting with details of a new initiative defending the two-state solution.

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

Republicans push Biden to deny Raisi’s visa request

President Ebrahim Raisi’s planned address to the UN General Assembly comes weeks after the Department of Justice charged an Iranian national with plotting to kill former US official John Bolton.

A school girl walks past the Al-Nkhba School.

Israel revokes licenses of six schools in East Jerusalem

Israel has canceled the permanent licenses of six Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem, alleging that their textbooks contain "incitement" against it and its army.

The flag of Iran is seen in front of the building of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Headquarters ahead of a press conference by Rafael Grossi, Director General of the IAEA, about the agency's monitoring of Iran's nuclear energy program on May 24, 2021 in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA has been in talks with Iran over extending the agency's monitoring program. Meanwhile Iranian and international representatives have been in talks in recent weeks in Vienna over reviving the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal.

Analysis

The Takeaway: Iran deal’s fate could again hinge on IAEA probe

Hamas sits out Gaza war; Israel pursues Islamic Jihad in West Bank; Gaza’s eroding beaches; Turkey’s Alevis fear attacks; Iran trains Russians on drones.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Andrew Parasiliti

By Elizabeth Hagedorn , Andrew Parasiliti

:oading barley onto a cargo ship Sormovo-2 in the international port of Rostov-on-Don.

Turkey under pressure to crack down on Russian shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain

Ukraine’s growing pressure on Turkey to act against Russian shipments of “stolen” Ukrainian grain highlights the importance of establishing a safe export corridor under UN auspices.

Mourners at the funeral of Quds Force Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaee in Tehran, May 24, 2022.

Iran urges UN to condemn colonel's 'terrorist assassination'

In a letter, Iran obliquely blamed Israel for the killing, the last in a chain of similar attacks that Tehran has vowed to avenge.

People wave flags and chant slogans during a gathering to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring in Martyrs Square, Tripoli, Libya, Feb. 17, 2021.

Human rights, dissenters face uphill struggle in Libya

In a rare case brought against human rights activists, Libya’s Internal Security Agency accused seven activists of apostasy and contempt of Islam, resulting in condemnation by the United Nations and Amnesty International.

A convoy transporting humanitarian aid crosses into Syria from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on Jan. 18, 2022.

Possible closure of Turkey-Syria crossing alarms aid groups

Fears are mounting about a looming humanitarian catastrophe amid concerns that Russia will close the last border crossing through which UN and NGO aid passes to reach millions of needy in north Syria.

UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese.

Interview

Israel’s occupation has crossed the ‘red line of legality,’ says new UN rapporteur

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the newly appointed UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, speaks about her plans to address human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, while fending off a smear campaign launched against her by Israel.

Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories

Odessa Archaeological Museum.

Culture

Egyptian antiquities at risk in Ukraine

Two weeks into the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Egyptian archaeologists are seeking protection of Egyptian antiquities at the Odessa Museum in Ukraine.

UN special representative Volker Perthes addresses the media in Khartoum on Jan. 10, 2022.

Sudanese public widely rejects new UN initiative

A number of Sudan's major civilian groups have shown skepticism toward UN efforts to help.

Israel's UN Envoy Gilad Erdan together with Holocaust survivors, after the UN General Assembly adopted an Israel-sponsored resolution against Holocaust denial, New York, Jan. 20, 2022.

UN adopts historic Israeli-sponsored resolution to combat Holocaust denial

Israeli leaders expressed satisfaction over the UN General Assembly approving an Israeli-initiated resolution against Holocaust denial.