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

Tanzanian High Commissioners and foreign ambassadors visit the construction site of the Julius Nyerere Hydro Power Project, in Rufiji, Aug. 14, 2022.

Egypt, Tanzania push ahead on Julius Nyerere dam project

Egypt is working to consolidate its influence in Central and East Africa amid the stalled negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Fighters loyal to the Government of National Unity are pictured in a street in Tripoli, following clashes between rival Libyan groups, Libya, Aug. 27, 2022.

Political battle in Libya reaches Supreme Court

The eastern-based House of Representatives has launched an offensive on the judiciary that threatens to politicize one of the sectors of the country that had been able to remain to some extent outside the national rifts and that could turn the conflict very legal in nature.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

Gazans, Syrians both torn as Hamas restores ties with Syrian regime

Hamas has announced the restoration of relations with the Syrian government, but Hamas circles are not in agreement on the news.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry participates in a panel talk at the 2018 Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17, 2018 in Munich, Germany.

Not enough to declare intentions on two state solution, says Egypt’s foreign minister

Sameh Shoukry, in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, says Egypt “will do everything possible to protect our interests” in the Nile Dam dispute with Ethiopia.

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, holds a news conference on the creation of a constitutional committee for the country, at the United Nations offices in Geneva, on Oct. 2, 2019.

Syria still risks economic collapse, says UN envoy

Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, says that the country faces a ‘crisis of epic proportions for the Syrian people.’

A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran shows demonstrators gathering around a burning barricade during a protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran on Sept. 19, 2022.

Iran intensifies crackdown on protests amid internet outage

Videos trickled in of Iranian police opening fire on protesters, who appeared to be standing their ground despite a nationwide internet blackout.

Iran protest

US lets firms expand internet services in Iran amid blackout

The American move to support internet freedom in Iran comes as protests continue over the death of Mahsa Amini.

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi shake hands during a meeting in New York.

Iraqi prime minister emphasizes Iraq's role in regional stability at UN

The Iraqi prime minister highlighted Iraq's main issues and the country's regional and international significance at the UN General Assembly.

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.

Seeking US support, Lapid backs two-state solution at UN

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's address to the United Nations backed the two-state solution.

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 Lapid praised by left, lambasted by right, over backing two-state solution

Prime Minister Yair Lapid took quite a lot of fire Sept. 22, after expressing his support for the two-state solution in his UN General Assembly speech.

Mourners take part in a funeral of people killed in reported artillery fire by Syrian government forces, in the opposition-held city of al-Bab, on the border with Turkey in the northern Aleppo province, Syria, Aug. 19, 2022.

Tensions high between narcotics division, FSA factions in Syria's al-Bab

An armed group affiliated with the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army stormed a house in the city of al-Bab belonging to a police officer after one of their drug shipments was confiscated.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi meets Jordanian King Abdullah at the UN General Assembly's high-level week in September 2022.

Interview

Iraq’s political class must address 'crisis of trust,' says PM

In an exclusive interview, Mustafa al-Kadhimi also discusses Iraq’s shift to regional hub for diplomacy and economic progress despite strong political headwinds.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi

Mustafa al-Kadhimi

Prime Minister of Iraq