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

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Politics & Security

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu attend a signing ceremony with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Nov. 24, 2021. ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s banking watchdog chief submits resignation amid fund scandal

Turkey’s government is facing growing criticism over regulators’ failure to prevent a fund scandal involving more than $20 billion.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Explainer

Iran war pushes up coal use, complicating Turkey’s COP31 pledge

Turkey is asking world leaders at COP31 to back a global push to use more electricity, even as the Iran war has driven up natural gas prices and pushed some power producers back to coal.

Ahmed al-Alwani in an undated photo

Ex-Iraqi MP Ahmed Alwani found dead in Lebanon: What to know

Ahmed al-Alwani was a prominent leader of anti-government protests by Iraqi Sunnis in 2013, and was released from prison last year.

Iranian-made Zolfaghar missiles

Iran unveils new underground 'missile city': What to know

Iran has moved much of its missile stockpile underground as the threat of a new war looms.

Latest News

Turkey bars MP’s wife from travel after his fund scandal criticism: What to know

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

GCC to build military command center in Kuwait as region simmers: What to know

ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images

Hegseth strikes defiant tone, calls House impeachment process 'farce'

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Jared Szuba

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

Explainer

From Oct. 7 inquiry to blocking Netanyahu: Eisenkot's bloc maps out Knesset agenda

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) casts his ballot, next to his wife Sara

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

Richard Ratcliffe protests outside the Foreign Office while on hunger strike, part of an effort to lobby the UK foreign secretary to bring his wife home from detention in Iran, on Oct. 25, 2021 in London, England.

Iran releases Iranian-British citizens as nuclear talks wrap up

Two Iranian-British citizens are on the way home after the United Kingdom settled a decades-old debt to Iran.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s pro-Western policy reversal reveals Erdogan’s dilemma

Turkey's position over the Russian invasion of Ukraine has resonated as a pro-Western shift in Ankara’s foreign policy, but Erdogan needs to go the extra mile.

Sub-Saharan migrant women learn how to use a computer at a center run by the Organization for the Support of Migrants, Medenine, Tunisia, June 15, 2021.

Tunisia activists claim authorities target sub-Saharan students

Sub-Saharan students in Tunisia decry racially motivated arrests as police impunity increases.

Mahmoud Abbas addresses UNGA in New York

Abbas strips Palestinian rivals of diplomatic passports

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has taken to revoking the diplomatic passports of his political opponents and granting them to his supporters.

F-15

Biden administration plans to sell F-15 fighter jets to Egypt

The proposed sale has been in the works for years and is bound to raise opposition on Capitol Hill.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian

Iran says Russia won't block nuclear deal

Iran's top diplomat was in Moscow in what appeared to be a push to bring Russia back onboard the nuclear talks after they were stalled presumably by Russia's "unrelated" demands.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish opposition slams electoral tinkering

The opposition says a proposed amendment to Turkey's election law is designed to look like it will enhance multiparty democracy, but will only help get the ruling party and its allies reelected.

A general view shows a damaged mansion following an overnight attack in Erbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region, March 13, 2022.

IRGC attack narratives diverge as Iraq strives for unity

An IRGC attack on Erbil has sparked outcry and raised concern in Iraq over armed groups that do not recognize the country’s national sovereignty.

Iran nuclear talks at the Grand Hotel on April 15, 2021, in Vienna, Austria.

Analysis

Iran nuclear talks overcome Russian wrench in gears

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s Tuesday visit to Moscow could have played a part in Russia backing down from its original maximalist demands.

Mark Fitzpatrick

By Mark Fitzpatrick

JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Israel, Emirates coordinate positions against Iran nuke talks

The issue of the Vienna talks are sure to be discussed in today's Washington meetings between IDF senior commanders and their American counterparts.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gives a speech during a ceremony for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah for Israeli soldiers, Jerusalem, Nov. 29, 2021.

Israel-Iran conflict escalates to drone war

Tehran blames Israel for attacking last month one of its bases in the west of Iran, allegedly destroying hundreds of drones.

A university student crosses the border from Ukraine by foot in Barabas, Hungary, on Feb. 28, 2022.

Returning Egyptians share nightmares of fleeing war in Ukraine

Egyptian students who fled the Russian war in Ukraine recount the details of their repatriation.