Iran - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Iran cover image

Iran

September 9, 2026

Tehran 4:50 pm

31°C

Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. Iran's top negotiator threatened on September 6 of a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes. The exchanges of fire, which began with US raids last week, come amid a deadlock in the six-month war between the two foes. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images) /

US strikes Iranian tankers after attempted attack on Navy ship

Iran fired ballistic missiles into Jordan in response, targeting a key US air base in escalation after US aircraft destroyed five more oil tankers in Tehran’s fleet.

Forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed government

Analysis

What Houthi setbacks in Yemen mean for Iran's regional influence

The renewed fighting in Yemen is testing one of Iran's most valuable regional partnerships just as Tehran scrambles to preserve its remaining leverage.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

TOPSHOT - Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system are pictured over Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with Israel's public broadcaster reporting that the Iranian supreme leader had been targeted, as the Islamic republic retaliated with barrages of missiles at Gulf states and Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel braces for Iran attack as Trump’s economic squeeze on Tehran intensifies

Skeptical about the effectiveness of the American economic blockade on Tehran to weaken the regime, Israel is preparing for the possibility that Iran could decide to strike the Jewish state during the upcoming high holidays.

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

A picture take on September 14, 2017 shows an Airbus A340 of Mahan Air at the tarmac at Dubai's International Airport. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

US hits 27 Iranian airlines with latest sanctions

The targets include Iranian airlines and operators in Malaysia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, including Mahan Air.

Latest News

Iran to announce new Gulf restricted zone, Hormuz route: What we know

The former chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Rezaei, takes part in a demonstration against American "crimes" following the killing of IRGC Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a US strike on his convoy at Baghdad international airport, Tehran, Iran, Jan. 3, 2020.

Analysis

Could Trump’s oil push in Venezuela upend OPEC’s energy order?

A man walks past a mural depicting oil pumps and the Venezuelan flag, with portraits of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar (L) and former late President Hugo Chavez (R), in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 3, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

How Iran's campaign against US bases is forging a new Gulf defense network

mural of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Who is Amir Yaryab, IRGC’s cyber commander in US crosshairs?

Amir Yaryab

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

Men walk while wearing face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Iranian capital Tehran, on November 30, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hopes to unveil homemade coronavirus vaccine in March

As Iran reports considerable relief from the coronavirus pandemic, hopes are growing that the country’s indigenous vaccine could become available sooner than expected.

Iran's Rouhani attacks domestic critics over sanctions relief

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested today that he would not allow domestic critics of the nuclear deal to delay Iran’s reentry to the deal.

Turkey arrests 11 over abduction of Iranian dissident

Turkish intelligence believe Habib Chaab was lured to Istanbul and abducted by a group working on behalf of Iran.

Iran sentences Kameel Ahmady, British-Iranian anthropologist, to prison

Ahmady, who is ethnically Kurdish, had researched child marriage and female genital mutilation in Iran.

US Daniel Levinson (L) shows a picture of his father, ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson, holding his grandson Ryan during a press conference with his mother Christine at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, 22 December 2007. The wife of the former agent missing in Iran since March said today she has received "no answers" about his fate at the end of her trip to the Islamic republic in search of her husband, who Washington says went missing on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. The Tehran government reiterated earlie

US sanctions Iranian officials over Robert Levinson’s abduction

The US government believes Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai were involved in the abduction, detention and probable death of the retired FBI agent.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 25 : The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani arrives to meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations on September 25, 2019 in New York City. The United Nations General Assembly, or UNGA, is expected to attract over 90 heads of state in New York City for a week of speeches, talks and high level diplomacy concerning global issues (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Rouhani under fire for signaling nuclear deal reentry

Conservatives have rejected the idea of holding new talks with the United States.

Rouhani, Biden hint at pathways to resume Iran deal

The Iranian president wants Biden to reverse Trump policies, not start a new round of talks; the US president-elect makes clear US regional partners will also have their say.

Taxis line up to pick up customers at a taxi station in the Iranian capital Tehran on July 3, 2019. - The Iranian economy is struggling in part because of the crippling US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sales, banking transactions and major industries like steel and petrochemicals. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s budget banking on US lifting sanctions

The projected reliance on oil revenues is wildly optimistic, likely making the budget a wish list, at best.

US deploys long-range bombers, aircraft carrier to Middle East to deter Iran

The B-52 deployment comes amid the return of the USS Nimitz to the Persian Gulf.

Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and had been implicated in anti-government protests, speaks during his trial at Iran's Revolutionary Court in Tehran on June 2, 2020. - Iran said it has sentenced to death Ruhollah Zam. The court has considered 13 counts of charges together as instances of 'corruption on earth' and therefore passed the death sentence, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said. (Photo by ALI SHIRBAND / MIZAN NEWS / AFP) (Photo by ALI SHIRBAND/MIZA

Death penalty upheld for Iran journalist defector who turned from establishment

Ruhollah Zam, the son of a regime-connected cleric, was charged in June with "corruption on earth" for inciting violence in Iran's 2017 protests.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden (2nd L) arrives at a meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee members as he is welcomed by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) (L) July 16, 2015 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Vice President Biden was on the Hill to pitch the Iran nuclear deal. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (3rd L) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) (4th L) also attended the meeting. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

High stakes for Iran, US as Tehran waits to see Biden approach

Iran has made it clear that if the new US administration of Joe Biden wants to reenter the nuclear deal, no preconditions are acceptable to Iran.

Iran sanctions US envoy to Yemen in retaliation for US blacklisting

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on Christopher Henzel, the US ambassador to Yemen.