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

Iran cover image

Iran

July 14, 2026

Tehran 7:13 pm

38°C

Analysis

As Trump prioritizes Hormuz, Israel fears Iran rebuilding nuclear program while preserving ballistic missile threat

Israel is worried that the United States is centering the Strait of Hormuz, deprioritizing the threat of a nuclear Iran.

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

Analysis

'The word belongs to the battlefield': Why Iran, US are drifting back to conflict

Iran no longer seeks a return to the prewar status quo, insisting that any future negotiations begin with the new regional balance created by the conflict rather than seek to restore the old one.

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

US President Donald Trump gestures as he steps off Air Force One to board the new Qatari-gifted Boeing plane, en route to the United States following his participation in the NATO Summit at Royal Air Force Mildenhall on July 8, 2026, in Mildenhall, England.

Trump says US to strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site

Satellite imagery has detected recent construction at the underground facility.

Latest News

Explainer

Trump’s Hormuz playbook echoes Iran’s attempts to monetize waterway

The Liberian-flagged container vessel MSC Reef is seen docked along a pier at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman, on June 28, 2026.

Oil climbs after US strikes Iran, Trump vows to control Strait of Hormuz

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Trump says US to resume naval blockade of Iran's ports

U.S. President Donald Trump returns to Joint Base Andrews on July 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump, switched from the old Air Force One to the new Air Force One while stopping in the U.K. at RAF Mildenhall Air Force Base was returning from his visit to Ankara, Turkey where he attended the NATO summit. (Photo by Win McNamee/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

Palestinian Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh welcomes Hamas members who went missing in Egypt a few years ago, after their arrival in Gaza City February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RC18F17FF320

Egypt may find Gaza more appealing without Haniyeh

Although tensions between the Egyptian authorities and Hamas were expected to escalate amid reports that Egypt had banned Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh from returning to Egypt and subsequently to Gaza, Egyptian analysts expect relations to be more relaxed in Haniyeh's absence.

Head of the Guardian Council Ahmad Jannati delivers a sermon during Tehran's Friday prayers August 21, 2009. Hardline Iranian cleric Jannati urged the judiciary on Friday to arrest the leaders of post-election unrest, in what appeared to be a reference to defeated moderate presidential candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN POLITICS RELIGION) - GM1E58L1HAE01

US sanctions Iranian Guardian Council members, holds off on UN snapback penalties

The Trump administration is coming under pressure from anti-Iran deal advocates to find a way to trigger the "snapback" of UN sanctions this year.

A woman walks past parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. Picture taken February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2I4F99WETN

Iran’s parliamentary elections a vote on Rouhani's economy

Iranians head to the polls Feb. 21, with Reformists largely sidelined, to elect their 11th parliament since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

A general view of the Iranian parliament in Tehran, Iran June 25, 2019. Nazanin Tabatabaee/West Asia News Agency via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY - RC1189997B90

Far-left current rises from among Iranian hardliners

Iran’s ultraconservatives have given birth to their worst nightmare — a group so left-leaning that hardliners consider them would-be communists.

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaks with the media on the sidelines of a security conference in New Delhi, India, January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Alasdair Pal - RC29GE9EYNMU

Iran says Zarif met with US senator for ‘public diplomacy’

Iran’s foreign minister says his weekend meeting with a US senator in Germany was a diplomatic effort to get his nation’s voice heard by the American people.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduces Dr. Scott Gottlieb before a Senate Health Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein - RC17DAB50AD0

Intel: Why Trump is calling a Democrat’s Iran meeting illegal

President Donald Trump doubled down on his accusation today that Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., violated the law by meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the annual Munich Security Conference over the weekend.

Missiles and drone aircraft are seen on display at an exhibition at an unidentified location in Yemen in this undated handout photo released by the Houthi Media Office on September 17, 2019. Houthi Media Office/Handout via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC167A191840

Report: Yemen’s Houthis now sporting deadlier drones

Yemen's Houthis are using newer and deadlier drone models that discharge explosives and shrapnel, according to a report.

Khamenei tells Iranians voter turnout a religious duty

Iran’s supreme leader has called on the nation to vote in the Feb. 21 general elections to serve both their country and their religion.

Iran controversial director's new political drama lambasted by moderates

The new film of Ebrahim Hatamikia criticizing Reformist-backed President Hassan Rouhani was warmly welcomed by radicals, but interpreted by others as an unexpected shift in the controversial director’s loyalties.

Members of Iran's influential experts assembly attend a session in Tehran on March 12, 2019. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s most powerful hard-line clerics to reunite in Assembly of Experts election

As Iranians decide who to support in the upcoming parliamentary election, another race will be held concurrently: the midterm election for the Assembly of Experts, which chooses and oversees the supreme leader.

With election rivals barred, Iran’s hard-liners resort to infighting

Less than a week to Iran’s parliamentary elections, the country’s hard-liners have yet to reach consensus before finalizing a list of endorsed candidates.

A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling during an anti-Israel protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence, in the southern Gaza Strip December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RC2PPD972T6H

Egypt shows diplomatic finesse forging Gaza cease-fire

Hamas' agreement to refrain from attacks, for now, puts Gaza on the back burner for Israeli elections.