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

politics and security cover image

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi pause during a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of an explosion in a vocational college in Crimea, during their talks in Sochi on Oct. 17, 2018.

Egypt charts middle diplomatic course in Ukraine war

Cairo voted in favor of the US-backed UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion, but is not shutting down ties with Moscow.

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt explores alternative wheat sources amid Ukraine crisis

Egypt is seeking to secure wheat from alternative sources amid an escalated Ukrainian crisis that warns of global shortages.

Osama Rabie, chairman of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority.

Suez Canal Authority remains neutral in Russian-Ukrainian war

The Suez Canal Authority proclaimed neutrality in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and announced that it will not ban Russian and Ukrainian vessels from traversing the canal.

A man waves a flag at a Day of Resistance protest on Nov. 13, 2021, in Omdurman, Sudan.

Sudan resistance groups lay out charter for democratic transition

The decentralized groups of revolutionaries at the forefront of the fight against the coup authorities articulate for the first time a unified political vision.

Women gesture as they take part in a protest ahead of the International Women's Day on Sakarya Street in Ankara on March 6, 2022.

On International Women's Day, Turks march in solidarity with Ukrainians

Women gathered in Istanbul and other cities for the Feminist Night Walk despite bans and demonstrators taken into custody, calling for the reinstatement of the landmark UN accord on violence against women.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani arrives at the Coburg Palais, venue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) meeting aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal, in Vienna on Dec. 27, 2021.

Iran negotiator returns home amid uncertainties in Vienna talks

Hope seems to be fading in Iran for an agreement on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after Russia sought separate sanctions relief guarantees in its own favor.

US President Joe Biden announces a ban on US imports of Russian oil and gas, March 8, 2022, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Biden bans Russian oil imports as Iran talks hit snag

The embargo on Russian energy supplies comes as negotiators in Vienna appear close to striking a deal that would ease sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog meets with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (not pictured) inside Number 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom, Nov. 23, 2021.

Israeli President set for first official visit to Turkey in 15 years

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits Ankara on March 9.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett

Israeli PM offers rare, uncertain diplomatic channel for Putin, Zelenskyy

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's delegation found Russian President Vladimir Putin focused and determined, and neither delusional nor out of control.

Turkey's Cabinet discusses the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 28, 2022.

Ukraine war shakes up Turkey's ties with both Russia and NATO

Ankara has adopted a dual approach on the Ukraine crisis through moves both pleasing its NATO allies and positioning Turkey as a lifeline for Russia amid crippling Western sanctions on the country.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is seen on video screens as he addresses the annual gathering for the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, Sept. 21, 2021.

Ukraine calls on Egypt to support it, abandon neutrality

Ruslan Nechai, charge d'affairs of Kyiv's embassy in Cairo, calls on Egypt and countries in the region to support it with weapons, fuel and financial and humanitarian aid, and abandon the position of "neutrality" regarding the Russian invasion.

People fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

Egypt extends stay of stranded Ukrainian, Russian tourists

Ukrainian tourists stuck in Egypt talk to Al-Monitor about the pain they feel to watch their loved ones and families suffering back home as a result of the Russian war.