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Iran

May 3, 2026

Tehran 5:43 pm

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Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Soldiers from Iran's land, navy, air force and special forces parade on the occasion of National Army Day in Tehran, capital of Iran on April 18, 2025, in Tehran, Iran.

Analysis

How Iran is rebuilding its bruised military as ceasefire masks recalibration

Iran is using the fragile truce to recover by blending redeployment and reverse engineering into broader preparedness for renewed conflict.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 22, 2026 in Washington, DC.

US sanctions Iran’s shadow banking channels moving oil proceeds from China

The latest sanctions come as the Trump administration weighs Iran's latest proposal to end the war.

Ibrahim AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Without exit strategy, Israel faces emboldened Hezbollah, limited options on Iran

While President Donald Trump remains undecided on striking Iran again, the Israeli military is sinking deeper into its Lebanon quagmire with a reinforced Hezbollah.

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

Latest News

Trump faces three paths ahead in Iran war as Hormuz standoff intensifies

This photo obtained by AFP from the Iranian news agency Tasnim shows an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) boat allegedly taking part in an operation to seize ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, on April 21, 2026.

In defiant message, Iran’s Khamenei threatens US but appeals to Gulf

AFP via Getty Images

US blockade tests Iran's limits, but will global pain force Trump’s hand?

QESHM ISLAND, IRAN - APRIL 28: Boats navigate the sea on April 28, 2026 on Qeshm Island, Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's latest proposal for ending its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz calls on the United States to end its naval blockade of Iran's ports, and sets aside questions about what to do with Iran's nuclear program. The United States has not formally responded to the latest proposal, which was delivered by Iran's foreign minister to Pakistan two days ago. (Photo by Asghar Besharati/Getty Images

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Benjamin Houghton

In Durham, reporting on China in the Middle East

Rahim Rahimov

In Baku, reporting on Middle East-Caucasus ties

Mehrnaz Samimi

In Washington, DC, reporting on Iranian culture

Iraq economy

Iran’s economic policies lacking vision

Efforts to conceive and execute a coherent economic policy were never going to be easy, but six months into the Raisi administration, the task is growing harder because of internal disagreements over both philosophy and bureaucratic turf.

Yemenis displaced by conflict receive provisions to meet basic needs at a camp in Khokha district on Jan. 31, 2022.

The Takeaway: Yemen’s future may be affected by Iran talks

Iran and Israel; Iran and China; Iran and Turkey; Hamas alternative to "Fauda"; and more … all in less than 1,400 words.

ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images

Iran says conditions present for 'win-win' agreement with US

Though direct talks with the United States remain a non-starter, Tehran's top nuclear negotiator has shared some hope with Iranian lawmakers.

Iran's former top nuclear negotiator and former presidential candidate Saeed Jalili talks to the media after registering his candidacy for the June presidential elections, at the Interior Ministry in the capital Tehran, on May 15, 2021.

Iranian supreme leader’s aide suggests pursuing 90% enrichment

In a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, the hard-line former chief negotiator reportedly proposed ramping up enrichment to 90%.

Oil tanker SC Hong Kong is seen off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on July 2, 2012.

Next phase of China-Iran ties depends on nuclear talks

Iran and China's long-term strategic partnership awaits any new outcome of the JCPOA.

US President Joe Biden meets with Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, in the White House on Jan. 31, 2022, in Washington, DC.

Iran on the agenda as Qatar emir meets Biden

There is potential Doha could play a role in brokering a US-Iran prisoner exchanging following press reports of Iran-Qatar talks on the topic.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wears a face mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on June 18, 2021.

Khamenei says max pressure led to US 'humiliation'

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that despite hardships brought about by Washington's maximum pressure strategy, Iran’s economy is enduring.

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images

Iran urged to release rights defender Narges Mohmmadi

Narges Mohmmadi was sentenced to eight years in prison following a five-minute trial.

Ali Shamkhani (R) meets with Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Tehran on Dec. 6, 2021.

Top Iran security official retracts comments on talks with US

The powerful politician had faced piling pressure from hard-liners over suggesting that Iran could at some point directly engage with the United States if a “good deal” was within reach.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi looks on during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not pictured), Moscow, Russia, Jan. 19, 2022.

Ex-UN officials, rights experts urge probe of Iran's 1988 mass killings

More than 450 people signed an open letter calling for the UN human rights office to investigate the Iranian president's involvement in the1988 massacre, which Ebrahim Raisi denies.

JASPER JACOBS/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

Iran state broadcaster hacked with images of dissident group

The faces of Mujahedin-e-Khalq leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi briefly disrupted state TV programming.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with IAEA director general Rafael Grossi at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Tehran, Nov. 23, 2021.

Iranian press calls direct talks with US a 'trap'

The merits of talking with the United States are being debated in Iranian media after recent comments by the foreign minister.