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Politics & Security

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with the head of the Hikmah Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, in Baghdad on May 19, 2026.

Iraqi PM Zaidi holds talks as cabinet deadlock leaves nine posts unfilled

Political disputes caused parliament to fail to agree on a number of ministerial nominees, including those of defense and the interior.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Senate advances resolution to limit Trump's Iran war powers

The measure marks a symbolic win for Democrats and a growing number of Republicans who have questioned the Trump administration's war with Iran.

A rafale fighter jet prepares for take off on the deck of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during the NATO military exercise Neptune Strike 26-2, off the coast of the Greek island of Crete, on April 27, 2026.

UAE, France renew defense pact after Rafale jets controversy

Last month, French newspaper La Tribune reported that the UAE had withdrawn from a proposal to jointly fund development of the Rafale F5 fighter jet.

United Arab Emirates

Baluch Iranian youths cross a street in Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan, on Dec. 18, 2025.

Analysis

Iran tightens wartime crackdown across Kurdish, Baluch ethnic regions

Arrests in Baluchistan and Kurdistan highlight widening wartime security operations that are deepening mistrust between the state and disadvantaged minorities.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Latest News

Vance says transfer of Iran's enriched uranium to Russia 'not currently our plan'

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on May 19, 2026, in Washington, DC.

Jared Szuba

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

Three victims identified in San Diego mosque attack: What to know

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl speaks at a press conference following a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Southern California, on May 18, 2026.

Car bomb in Syrian capital leaves 1 dead, 23 injured: What to know

AFP via Getty Images

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

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) drill held by the Iranian army in Semnan, Iran, on Jan. 5, 2021.

US defense intelligence confirms Iran’s drone use in Ukraine

The Pentagon report comes a day after the UK government turned over weapons and other evidence to the United Nations that Iran had attempted to ship to Yemen's Houthi rebels in violation of international law.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Explainer: Why Syria’s Assad opened two border crossings for earthquake aid

Aid has reached both Syrian government and rebel territory in response to the disaster, but the situation remains dire.

Armenia's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan delivers a joint press conference with his German counterpart at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, on Feb. 7, 2023.

Top Armenian diplomat heads to Turkey for landmark visit

Top Armenian diplomat will pay a rare visit to Turkey after two killer earthquakes.

A rescue dog searches for victims and survivors, in the regime-controlled town of Jableh in the province of Latakia, northwest of the Syrian capital, on Feb. 12, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake.

Hero canines warm hearts as Turkey's earthquake rescue operations drop off

Some 400 search and rescue dogs are still working to find survivors in Turkey, though such operations are winding down.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) walks during a hearing at the Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Jan. 23, 2023.

Analysis

Is Israel's Netanyahu losing control of judicial overhaul battle?

The coming days will tell whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is controlling the push for the judicial overhaul, or whether is he being controlled by the more extremist elements within his coalition.

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

President Xi Jinping held talks with President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran on his state visit to China on Feb. 14, 2023.

As sanctions bite, Iran's Raisi talks business in China

The trip came at a moment of increasing international isolation, which has left Iran with fewer options than ever before in selling its lifeline oil.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

In Turkey, Israel's foreign minister meets Erdogan, promises earthquake aid

Meeting with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged and thanked Jerusalem for its assistance to the victims of the recent earthquakes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022. - Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states held a landmark meeting to discuss issues from the Iran nuclear negotiations to the global shockwaves of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE's Abdullah bin Zayed visits US, days after meeting Assad

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed will meet with US Secretary of State Blinken at the State Department on Tuesday.

US sailors recover part of a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

US general reveals Chinese balloons have flown over the Middle East

A senior CENTCOM official said the high-altitude balloons have posed no threat to troops, and he expressed interest in obtaining similar ones to fill gaps in the United States' intelligence collection.

Jared Szuba

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

Nurse anaesthetist Abdelbaset Khalil (2nd L) stands with others on the rubble of his house following a deadly earthquake, near the hospital in the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on February 11, 2023. - Following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria on February 6, toppling hundreds of buildings and leaving a death toll of at least 3,581 in Syria, supplies have been slow to arrive in the war-torn country where years of conflict have

Did US pressure force Turkey to let Syrian-Kurdish earthquake aid into rebel-held northwest?

Ankara relents, allowing the first humanitarian aid and disaster relief to enter devastated northwest Syria from the country's Kurdish-run northeast.

US special envoy to Iran Robert Malley.

Pentagon, State Department officials in Saudi Arabia to talk Iran strategy

Like its predecessors, the Biden administration wants Gulf Cooperation Council states to share air defense intel to defuse potential attacks by Iran, but will they work together?

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, visits the affected neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo on February 13, 2023 following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab states, militias pour aid into Syria as earthquake death toll exceeds 5,000

The Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces are among the militias that delivered aid to Syria.