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

Iran cover image

Iran

September 9, 2026

Tehran 6:32 pm

30°C

AFPTV / AFP via Getty Images

Brent crude sails past $100 as Middle East war intensifies

The Iran war escalated this week as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked four southern Saudi Arabian cities and oil facilities.

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

Latest News

US hits 27 Iranian airlines with latest sanctions

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)

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

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

Iran identifies perpetrators as it probes scientist’s killing

The Iranian government said it has identified those linked to the assassination of one of its top nuclear scientists and will retaliate after the investigation is concluded.

Iranian president rejects bill calling for breaches of nuclear agreement

Hassan Rouhani said the bill would harm Iran's diplomatic efforts. Parliamentarians put forward the initiative following the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Swedish-Iranian academic faces 'imminent' execution in Iran

Rights groups are urging Iranian authorities to halt their planned execution of Ahmadreza Djalali.

Iran MPs vote for nuclear deal breaches after scientist’s assassination

Four days after a top Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated, the country’s conservative parliament overwhelmingly adopted a draft bill calling for significant breaches of Tehran’s obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran vows revenge after nuclear scientist's assassination

A number of Iranian officials have said they will continue the path that the assassinated scientist was on.

Students of Iran's Basij paramilitary force burn posters depicting US President Donald Trump (top) and President-elect Joe Biden, during a rally in front of the foreign ministry in Tehran, on November 28, 2020, to protest the killing of prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh a day earlier near the capital. - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani accused arch-foe Israel of acting as a "mercenary" for the US and seeking to create chaos, blaming it for the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist. (P

Nuclear scientist's assassination puts Tehran at crossroads

As Iran investigates the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, fingers are already pointing at Israel and the United States, whose outgoing administration clearly wants to minimize the chances of reviving the nuclear deal.

TOPSHOT - Iranian electoral posters and fliers are pictured on the last day of election campaign in Tehran on February 19, 2020. - Iran's electoral watchdog today defended its decision to disqualify thousands of candidates for a crucial parliamentary election in two days, as a lacklustre campaign neared its end. Conservatives are expected to make an overwhelming resurgence in Friday's election, which comes after months of steeply escalating tensions between Iran and its decades-old arch foe the United State

Iran hard-liners set up roadblocks around Reformist candidates for president

Half a year away from Iran’s presidential election, the country’s hard-liners are already hard at work to ensure the next president is on their side.

Australian-British academic reportedly released from Iranian prison

Kylie Moore-Gilbert was arrested in 2018 and charged with espionage, which she denied throughout her harsh confinement in Iran's notorious Evin and Qarchak prisons.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech during the inaugural session of the new parliament following February elections, in Tehran on May 27, 2020. - The 11th legislature since the Islamic revolution of 1979 opened as the country's economy, which has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus, gradually returns to normal. Rouhani, who is in the final year of his second and final term, called on MPs, collectively and individually, to place the "national interest above special interests", "party intere

Iran's president says post-Trump de-escalation with US can be 'easy'

President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran could ease tensions with the new US administration, only one day after Iran’s supreme leader expressed disappointment at negotiations.

Talks ‘got us nowhere’: Iran’s supreme leader casts doubt on future negotiations

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments come as the Trump administration ramps up its maximum pressure campaign on Iran.

Iran taps into emergency fund to compensate Ukraine flight victims

The Islamic Republic is to pay families of the victims of the Ukrainian flight it downed earlier this year. But the payment has been secured not from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for the missile attack but from an emergency fund meant for the public interest.

Iran to pursue legal action against US over medical sanctions

Tehran has struggled to contain the spread of the disease and accused Washington of cutting off access to a life support system.