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Politics & Security

Anwar AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

Upcoming Lebanon-Israel talks will see higher-level participation, discuss security ‘framework’

The third round of talks between Lebanon and Israel will stretch over two days and include diplomatic and military officials.

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not surprised by President Donald Trump’s suspension of Project Freedom and move toward talks with Iran, but analysts say Washington may not be fully weighing Israel's concerns in negotiations with Tehran.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MAY 06: A man poses for a photograph in front of the newly unveiled, Turkish made intercontinental ballistic missile Yildirimhan at the SAHA International Defence and Aerospace Expo on May 06, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. The International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition, showcased Turkish and foreign companies new products and technology. The expo was dominated by UAV products as modern warfare increasingly shifts to drone and unmanned technologies. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Analysis

From drones to deterrence: Turkey's ICBM missile signals bigger ambitions

Turkey’s planned test of a 6,000-kilometer missile could boost Ankara’s defense industry prestige, strengthen its deterrence messaging and feed a powerful domestic narrative of technological self-reliance, but it also raises questions about cost, timing and NATO protection.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

A woman walks past a banner featuring Iran's late supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C), next to newly elected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran on April 19, 2026.

Analysis

Why Iran's wartime behavior risks lasting rupture with Gulf states

Iran's rhetoric and policies toward Gulf states have sharply escalated, raising questions about whether years of painstaking regional rapprochement can survive mounting distrust and maritime confrontations.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Latest News

Iraq’s Sadr says 'exclude' armed groups from next government as pressure builds

Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr gives a speech in Iraq's central holy shrine city of Najaf on August 30, 2022.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

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

US strikes Iran tankers as UAE reports fresh missile, drone attacks

Getty

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

GHULAM RASOOL/AFP via Getty Images

Pakistan conducts strikes inside Iran as China, Turkey call for restraint

The region is already at a boiling point as the Israel-Hamas war continues to reverberate across the Middle East, with attacks in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

The container ship, A Daisen, with the destination 'DJJIB ARMED GUARD' seen at sea on Jan. 17, 2024, in Djibouti.

Yemen's Houthis hit another US-owned cargo ship as strikes fail to deter

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed they hit a US-owned bulk carrier with at least one naval missile in the Gulf of Aden, defying Washington and setting the stage for a prolonged tit-for-tat with the US military.

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Pakistani and Iranian flags flutter on the closed Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan on February 25, 2020 as fears over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus escalate following an outbreak in neighbouring Iran. - The Iranian outbreak where at least 15 people have already died -- the highest death toll in any country outside of China -- has aggravated already frayed nerves in neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP) (Photo by BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran-Pakistan tensions simmer after strikes, IRGC officer killed in southeast

Iran is seeking to contain the damage to its relationship with Pakistan following a deadly Iranian military strike in Pakistani territory targeting a dissident group.

A meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on May 7, 2023.

Alarmed over Ethiopia-Somaliland deal, Arab FMs rally behind Somalia, Egypt

Somalia denied entry to an Ethiopian flight heading to Somaliland, as a controversial deal signed between the latter and Ethiopia continues to be a source of concern in the region.

Houthi soldiers attend a military parade marking the ninth anniversary of the Houthi takeover of the capital Sanaa on Sept. 21, 2023.

US redesignates Yemen’s Houthis as terror group amid Red Sea attacks

The Biden administration stopped short of branding the Houthis with the more severe Foreign Terrorist Organization label, which aid agencies warned would hinder their life-saving work in Yemen.

ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images

West Bank violence peaks with 344 killed, nearly 6,000 arrested amid Gaza war

Hundreds have been killed in the West Bank since Israel stepped up its raids and arrests in the territory in conjunction with the war in Gaza.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Iraq, KRG leaders cancel meetings with Iran's FM at Davos over missile row

Tensions between Baghdad and Tehran have flared since the Monday attack, which Tehran claimed targeted an Israeli "spy cell" in the city.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman during a meeting as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on January 17, 2024.

Davos 2024: Blinken says Palestinian statehood could help isolate Iran

The US secretary of state called former President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal "a big mistake."

Protesters hold a banner and Kurdish flags during a demonstration outside the United Nations (UN) office, a day after several areas in the city were hit by a missile attack launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region early on Jan. 16, 2024.

How Iran chose easy targets in Iraq's Erbil to avoid Israeli reprisal

As the Islamic Republic and its hardcore loyalists chanted in triumph, debates heated up as to whether the attack was meant only for domestic propaganda and flexing about a promised "revenge" that seemed to have been exacted on the wrong, easy target.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses a press conference in Tel Aviv on Jan. 9, 2024, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East.

Blinken says stay on the job as federal employees protest Gaza

The organizers behind Tuesday’s “Day of Mourning” said federal employees at more than two dozen agencies planned to take off work to protest the administration's handling of the Gaza war.

This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen's Houthi fighters' takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo in the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah, on Nov. 20, 2023.

Davos 2024: Red Sea attacks ‘a crisis whole world needs to respond to,’ says US

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that since mid-November, 50 nations have been impacted by nearly 30 attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Houthi militants.

Turkey-backed Syrian fighter sits at a position on the outskirts of the town of Marea.

Turkey's operation in Syria could happen in 'upcoming months': Erdogan

The Turkish president’s comments come after the top Turkish diplomat leveled rare public criticism at Russia.