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.

AO/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Iran to launch missile drill as Araghchi signals conditional IAEA cooperation

Ahead of a missile exercise planned for Thursday, Iran’s foreign minister said that the return of IAEA inspectors will be possible should it be approved by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

MOUNEB TAIM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

US sanctions 4 ICC officials over Israel case

The sanctions against four of the court's officials come as Israel prepares for a military offensive in Gaza City.

People who fled the Zamzam camp for the internally displaced after it fell under RSF control queue for food rations in a makeshift encampment in an open field near the town of Tawila in Sudan's western Darfur region on April 13, 2025.

UN: Sudanese children 'skin and bones' as 250,000 in El Fasher face starvation

The warnings come as reports claim that Colombian mercenaries have taken control over the nearby Zamzam refugee camp.

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa holds a joint press conference with the Turkish president following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, on Feb. 4, 2025.

As Trump warms to Syria, US pushes UN to lift Sharaa sanctions

The move comes as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa prepares to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next month.

People carrying aid parcels walk along the Salah al-Din road near the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, used by food-seeking Palestinians to reach an aid distribution point set up by the privately run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF, on June 25, 2025.

Analysis

As US envoys head to Gaza, details scant on Trump's 'food centers'

Despite criticism, the Trump administration is sticking with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as its answer to the growing humanitarian catastrophe.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Cholera, hunger plague Sudan’s Darfur region amid RSF siege: What to know

As hunger and health crises worsen in Darfur, Sudan’s political divide is also deepening, with the Rapid Support Forces pushing a parallel government while over 300,000 civilians remain under siege in El Fasher.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose for the media at a hotel prior to an E3 meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 NATO summit on June 24, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands.

Analysis

Iran maneuvers to avert E3's snapback sanctions as deadline looms

France, Britain and Germany have warned that unless significant progress is made on curbing Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, they will move to reinstate UN sanctions by the end of August.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)

US to withdraw from UNESCO over 'anti-Israel rhetoric'

The State Department slammed the UN organization's “globalist, ideological agenda."

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi talk.

As Iran deadline looms, here’s what to know about UN snapback sanctions

As the October JCPOA snapback deadline approaches, Western powers are weighing the use of the mechanism, while Iran warns that such a move would undermine progress toward a renewed nuclear deal.

Members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol the road near the border with Israel in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqura on March 19, 2025.

UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon comes under attack: What to know

A group of men blocked a UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon, citing the absence of a Lebanese army escort, leading to brief clashes in the latest incident involving local residents and the UN peacekeeping mission.

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights Situation in the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese (L).

US sanctions UN official overseeing Palestinian rights

The sanctions come on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Donald Trump.

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi arrives to an extraordinary IAEA's Board of Governors meeting at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on June 23, 2025. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP) (Photo by JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Limiting inspectors or bargaining chip: Why Iran suspended IAEA cooperation

Iran’s latest move raises doubts about the oversight of its nuclear program and could mean a shift away from the nonproliferation framework it has long been bound to.

By Rosaleen Carroll

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