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

politics and security cover image

Politics & Security

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi (L) and US President Donald Trump pose during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025.

Trump threatens to 'blow up' Oman as US-Iran talks stall

“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up,” Trump said in surprising comments on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (R) shakes hands with Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, during a news conference on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.

With Hungary’s ICC U-turn, Israel loses a key European ally

Hungary’s parliament voted to remain in the International Criminal Court, reversing a planned withdrawal and marking a shift in Budapest’s approach to Israel and the EU.

Iraqis walk past portraits of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, including one on a banner calling for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Sadr City, east of Baghdad on October 29, 2025. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Iraq on 11 November 2025, which will determine the 329 members of Iraq's Council of Representatives, who are responsible for electing the country's president and approving the appointment of the prime minister. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by

Iraq’s Sadr moves to place his militia under state control: What to know

Muqtada al-Sadr is the first militia leader to heed new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s call to place weapons in the hands of the state as US pressure continues.

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Who was Mohammed Odeh, Hamas military commander killed by Israel in Gaza?

Odeh was killed in a Tuesday strike in the Palestinian enclave just days after he assumed his leadership position.

Latest News

White House calls Iranian report on Hormuz, MOU 'complete fabrication'

Vessels are seen anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula on May 17, 2026.

Jared Szuba

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

Analysis

'Very bad news’: Israel alarmed as Trump pushes ahead toward Iran deal

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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

Israel strikes near Lebanon’s Qaraoun dam as war intensifies: What to know

A partial view shows a drainage vacuum hole on the lake of Qaraoun in Lebanon's southern Beqaa Valley on April 5, 2019.

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

Yemen Hadi

US welcomes Yemen's leadership shakeup as president cedes power

The exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's transfer of power to a newly formed presidential council comes days after a nationwide cease-fire took hold in Yemen.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter ship, which was hit by a missile off the coast of Ukraine's port city Odessa, sails on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 25, 2022.

Drifting sea mines bring Ukraine war to Turkey’s Bosporus Strait

At least three mines thought to have crossed the Black Sea have been spotted around the north mouth of one of the world’s busiest maritime channels.

Iran covid

Iran lifts COVID-related travel bans

All vaccinated people will be able to visit the Islamic Republic following the end of the ban imposed during the Omicron wave.

Victoria Jones/Getty Images

Iran hard-line press says Tehran will release US prisoners for unfrozen assets

The US State Department has denied reports from three hard-line outlets that billions of dollars in Iranian funds are to be unblocked in exchange for Tehran releasing three imprisoned Iranian-Americans.

Israel's centrist former television anchor Yair Lapid, the prime minister's main challenger, votes at a polling station, in the fourth national election in two years, Tel Aviv, Israel, March 23, 2021.

Israel’s Yair Lapid battered by security, coalition crises

Instead of basking in the success of the regional Negev summit, Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid must face security challenges and severe coalition crisis.

Egyptair

Egypt expands airline routes throughout Africa

Egypt's air route expansion linked to strengthening ties with African countries.

West Bank fence

Terror attacks bring work on separation fence back to Israeli agenda

With so few Palestinians offered working permits in Israel, the government prefers looking the other way on those who slip through the separation fence and enter clandestinely into the country.

Iranians visit the spot in the courtyard of Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad on April 6, 2022, where a day earlier a Muslim cleric was killed.

Three Iranian clerics stabbed, one killed in attack at shrine

The attack of three Iranian clerics has put authorities on alert about a possible backlash.

UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese.

Interview

Israel’s occupation has crossed the ‘red line of legality,’ says new UN rapporteur

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the newly appointed UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, speaks about her plans to address human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, while fending off a smear campaign launched against her by Israel.

Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrives for the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Ireland, Nov. 1, 2021.

Egypt rallies African climate consensus ahead of COP27

Egypt has intensified climate policy discussions with African countries ahead of COP27.

Mourners pray over the bodies of children killed on their way to school after regime forces shelled the village of Maaret al-Naasan, Idlib province, Syria, April 4, 2022.

Syrian regime, Russian forces escalate attacks in Idlib amid stalled war in Ukraine

The residents of Idlib in northwest Syria fear a military escalation at the battlefronts where the regime and opposition are escalating their military activities.

blinken

Analysis

The Takeaway: Trump's revenge as Biden deal with Iran stymied by IRGC sanctions

Russia backs Syrian attacks on opposition; Turkish inflation soars as result of Ukraine war; Iran-linked mob attacks Kurdish party offices in Iraq; new generation runs for election in Lebanon; Egypt rallies Africa climate consensus.

Andrew Parasiliti

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Andrew Parasiliti , Elizabeth Hagedorn