United Nations

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 23: Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh speaks during a meeting on February 23, 2023 at U.N. Headquarters in New York City. The Security Council met to discuss international peace and security issues. The General Assembly continues its Eleventh Emergency Special Session on Ukraine to resume introductions on a new draft resolution and two proposed amendments on the eve of the one year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine.

UAE nominates Lana Nusseibeh for UN secretary-general: What to know

Nusseibeh, who is of Palestinian descent, would become the second Middle Eastern person to serve as UN secretary-general after Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the first woman to hold the position.

United Arab Emirates

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at the UNGA

Explainer

As Guterres exits, here are contenders for UNSG and their Middle East outlook

The next UN secretary-general will inherit a Middle East agenda dominated by crises.

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok chairs an emergency cabinet session in the capital, Khartoum, on Oct. 18, 2021.

Interview

Ex-PM says Sudan risks partition amid US ceasefire push

Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok also called for the United States to impose sanctions that would carry “personal consequences” for the warring sides.

Members of Iran's Basij paramilitary force march with riffles during a military rally named Jan-Fada in Tehran, Sept. 18, 2026.

Iran rallies thousands of volunteer fighters as talks with US stall: What to know

Iran has been leading a volunteer recruitment drive and providing military training to civilians as talks with the US remain stalled.

Latest News

Lebanon PM meets Rubio as Israel talks stall: What to know

SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

Sudan pushes back after US calls army-led government illegitimate

Ebrahim Hamid / AFP via Getty Images

Pezeshkian says Iran open to US talks, region must settle own disputes

TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images

Lebanon's PM calls for international force to replace UNIFIL: What to know

Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

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.

Those displaced by conflict receive food aid in the Tuhayta district of Yemen's war-ravaged Hodeidah province, on June 30, 2021.

Aid agencies sound alarm as US considers relisting Houthis as terror group

The US State Department says it would have to "fully consider the humanitarian implications" of the Houthis' redesignation as a terrorist group.

Iraqis play at the snow-covered Safin Mountain on Jan. 18, 2022, near the city of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish autonomous region.

Rare snowstorm hits Iraq and Syria

Many people in the Kurdistan Region rejoiced while playing in the snow, but such conditions can be dangerous for others, especially those living in displaced people camps.

Sudanese protesters raise a national flag as they rally against the October 2021 military coup, in Khartoum on Jan. 13, 2022.

US diplomats head to Saudi Arabia, Sudan to push UN post-coup dialogue