Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Politics & Security

A giant billboard depicts late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (2nd L), and his son Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, with Arabic writing that reads: "Thank you Iran," in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, on June 15, 2026.

Khamenei says Hezbollah's agenda 'strategic mandate' for Iran

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s comments come as Lebanon and Israel move forward with a US-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah in the south, though the Iran-backed group is resisting calls to turn over its weapons.

Trump Netanyahu

On eighth visit, Israel’s Netanyahu seeks to repair ties with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to focus on Iran in his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump, while the US leader is more likely to want to discuss Lebanon and Syria.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon on July 14, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

Zaidi to meet Erdogan as Turkey-Iraq ties take off, Kurds feel sidelined

The Iraqi prime minister's visits to Ankara and Riyadh underscore Baghdad's push to deepen regional ties as Turkey seeks closer cooperation on energy and security.

US President Donald Trump takes questions from the media during a bilateral meeting with President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office of the White House on July 21, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Trump says Iran seeks talks after strikes halted

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the two sides have communicated only through intermediaries.

Latest News

Iran summons French ambassador after detaining 2 diplomats: What to know

Iranian security forces stand guard in front of the French Embassy in Tehran in this undated image.

Analysis

Zaidi’s test in Tehran

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is welcomed to the Saadabad Palace in Tehran by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, July 23, 2026.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Analysis

Iran war puts Turkey’s inflation fight, lira under fresh pressure

Vendors sell dry food as people shop by a banner reading " No to Inflation" near the New Mosque area in Istanbul's Eminonu district on Nov. 6, 2018.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

US unveils new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sales

The Biden administration on Thursday blacklisted entities in China, Hong Kong, Iran, India and the United Arab Emirates over their alleged involvement in Iran’s petrochemical trade.

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) speak to the media following talks at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, Sept. 12, 2022.

Israel’s Lapid ducks calls from PA head Abbas

Reports say that unlike President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Yair Lapid avoided requests for a phone call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Jewish New Year.

Iran protest

The Takeaway: Iran's protesters shift to rooftops in response to crackdown

Iran strikes Kurds in Iraq; Turkish drones complicate Central Asia disputes; cosmetic surgery booms in Syria; Egypt pushes reef protection ahead of COP27; and the politics behind Israel PM backing two-state solution.

Iran shop

Iran says enemies causing ‘sedition’ in the country with protests

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi calls recent protests “sedition," and police arrest a former president's daughter.

ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish families gather to remember children killed by gun violence

Activists say rising gun ownership and poor regulation are posing a growing risk to innocents.

Supporters of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clash with Iraqi security forces in Liberation Square in the centre of Iraq's capital Baghdad on Sept. 28, 2022, during a parliament session in the nearby high-security Green Zone across the Tigris river.

Clashes rock Baghdad's Green Zone as Iraqi parliament re-elects speaker

Iraqi parliament re-elected Mohammed al-Halbusi as parliament speaker amid protests and rockets in the Green Zone.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Weakened by split, Israel's Arab parties must work the field

After years of campaigning on social media and in TV studios, Arab politicians are now rallying for support in Israel.

Smoke billows on the horizon in the village of Altrun Kupri, in the Sherawa region, south of Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan, where a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party is located, on Sept. 28, 2022.

Tehran strikes Kurdish opponents in Iraq as protests over Mahsa Amini’s death convulse Iran

Iran ramps up its bombing campaign in northern Iraq in what Iraqi Kurds argue is an attempt to divert the world's attention from the killing of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

AFP via Getty Images

Israel won’t recognize Russian referendums in occupied Ukraine

Prime Minister Yair Lapid came out publicly and slammed the Russian referendums called a sham by Ukraine and by its allies.

Palestinian protesters clash with Palestinian security forces following the arrest of two members of Hamas, Nablus, West Bank, Sept. 20, 2022.

Palestinian Authority steps up arrests in Nablus under Israeli, US pressure

Clashes broke out between the Palestinian security forces and citizens in Nablus, in the wake of the arrest of a wanted person by Israel, in a move further deepening the popular anger against the Palestinian Authority.

Yemeni scouts participate in an official parade marking the eighth anniversary of the Houthi takeover of Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 20, 2022.

Yemen's Houthis mark 8th anniversary of Sanaa takeover

In a new display of military power, the Houthis used helicopters for the first time to commemorate the 8th anniversary of their capture of Sanaa.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid gives a speech during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, New York, Sept. 22, 2022.

Israel's Arab voters unimpressed with Lapid’s UN speech on two-state solution

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Yair Lapid also addressed Israeli Arab citizens, boasting that his coalition included an Arab party and that his government included Arab ministers.