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Politics & Security

US President Donald Trump (L) and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia pause for photographs along the West Wing Colonnade at the White House on Nov. 18, 2025, in Washington.

Analysis

Saudi nuclear deal adds new wrinkle if Iran talks resume

Should the United States and Iran return to the negotiating table, the newly reached US-Saudi nuclear deal could give Tehran fresh leverage.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

Iran signs 25 deals at SCO meeting: What to know

Iran's foreign minister urged members of the China and Russia-led bloc to focus more on economic development, while host Kyrgyzstan said progress was a made toward an SCO development blank.

GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Ahead of Trump meeting, Netanyahu lays groundwork for Israel to rejoin Iran war

Reports of an Iranian espionage ring and nuclear centrifuges movement could help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make the case to the Israeli public and Donald Trump to rejoin the war, ahead of a critical election in October.

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

YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

Kuwait hands citizen life sentence for spying for Iran, Hezbollah: What to know

A Kuwaiti court has convicted a citizen of of spying for Iran and sentenced him to life in prison.

Latest News

Jordan intercepts 7 missiles, 6 drones as Iran warns civilians near US bases

Iranians ride their motorcycles past a deactivated Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile in front of a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran's Bahrestan Square on September 27, 2025, as part of an exhibit to mark the "Sacred Defense Week" commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Top ally of Turkey’s Erdogan backs state funding for Ozel’s breakaway party

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Ousted party leader Ozgur Ozel waves to supporters from atop a police water cannon vehicle after being forcibly evicted by police from his party’s headquarters on May 24, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.

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

People demonstrate outside the Iranian embassy in Ukraine on October 17, 2022 in Kyiv, after the city was hit by swarms of kamikaze drones sold by Iran to Russia, leaving at least three dead. (Photo by SERGEI CHUZAVKOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran summons Ukraine's top diplomat after Isfahan drone strike

Iran's summoning relates to a Ukrainian presidential adviser's tweet that implicitly welcomes the suspected Israeli attack over the weekend.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Strikes near Iraqi border mark widening regional battle against Iran

Strikes widely attributed to Israel have hit an Iranian convoy near the Iraqi border after it crossed out of the country.

Palestinians celebrate in Gaza City on January 27, 2023, following a shooting attack by gunman outside an east Jerusalem synagogue. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

In Gaza, Palestinian indifference to Blinken's visit to Israel, West Bank

The armed factions in the Gaza Strip are not paying much attention to the visit of the US secretary of state to the region, and vowed continued retaliation against the Israeli military operations in the West Bank.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

US warns Americans in Turkey of 'imminent terrorist' attacks

The US Embassy in Ankara updated its previous security alert warning its nationals against potential "retaliatory attacks" in response to Quran-burning protests in Europe.

Blinken and Shoukry in Cairo

Blinken seeks detainee progress, but releases are Egypt’s ‘prerogative’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Al-Monitor he raised the cases of individual political prisoners during his two-day visit to Cairo, which included a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

A man walks past an electoral billboard for the Tunisian national election scheduled for January 29, in Tunisia's capital Tunis, on January 25, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Tunisia's elections at 11% turnout, further shakes Kais Saeid's credibility

Tunisian voters headed back to the polls to elect a new parliament after an unsuccessful first roundup, confirming predominant indifference to politics and concerns over their economic and social situation amid a soaring cost-of-living crisis.

Turkish anti riot police officers patrol around the Sultan Ahmet Mosque during snowfall, Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 8, 2017.

Why are foreign mobsters, drug gangs attracted to Turkey?

A wave of foreign mobster violence in Turkey has raised alarm that the country has become a safe haven for criminal kingpins from the region and beyond.

The family of Eli and Natali Mizrahi who died, react at the scene of a mass shooting which happened last night near a synagogue in the neighbourhood of Neve Yaakov on January 28, 2023 in Jerusalem, Israel. Eight people have been shot dead near a synagogue in North Jerusalem, with at least three others injured. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

With second attack in Jerusalem, Israel's Netanyahu is under siege

Only 14 hours after the mass shooting in Jerusalem, which killed seven Israelis, another attack struck as Netanyahu's far-right government looks for a heavy response.

Vehicles of forces loyal to Libya's Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah are parked along the waterfront (with the "That El Emad Towers" complex seen in the background) in the capital Tripoli on May 17, 2022 hours after forces of the rival Tobruk-based government withdrew following heavy fighting between opposing militias. (Photo by MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE and Qatar manage shifting policies, fluid alliances in Libya

Israel protest

Netanyahu more worried about Israel's protests than Palestinians

The Israeli prime minister will receive US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as violence escalates, normalization stalls, and the economy tanks in anticipation of right-wing reforms.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Escalating violence clouds Blinken visit to Israel, West Bank

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first visit to Israel since the election of a new right-wing government comes as the region braces for more unrest following a deadly raid in the West Bank and a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

At least 7 Israelis killed, several injured in Jerusalem synagogue shooting

Israeli police are investigating Friday night's deadly incident outside of an east Jerusalem synagogue.