Iran-US tensions

In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on June 18, 2026, vessels are seen anchored in Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz.

Analysis

How competing visions over Hormuz strait threaten fragile Iran-US deal

Iran's latest measures in the strategic waterway expose widening gaps with the US and Gulf states, which could complicate the durability of recent diplomatic breakthroughs.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

In this US Navy released handout, an F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on March 1, 2026 at Sea.

Breaking | Last Updated: June 26, 2026, 5:44 pm

US carries out strikes in Iran after vessel attack

US forces struck Iranian coastal targets after Tehran was accused of attacking a commercial cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images

Iran vows to respond to Israeli military using neighboring airspace: What to know

Iran’s military headquarters said it “considers responding to these dangerous actions as its right” after alleging that Israeli jets have been operating in the airspace of neighboring countries near Iran.

President Donald Trump speaks during a Rose Garden Club dinner at the White House on June 25, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Trump calls Iran’s drone attack on cargo ship 'foolish violation' of ceasefire

The US president stopped short of issuing new threats, but called Thursday's drone attack "foolish."

Jared Szuba

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

Latest News

Analysis

Vance turning us into 'punching bag': Israel fumes over alleged IRGC-CENTCOM channel in Doha

Vance

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

As US talks stall, Hezbollah chief defiant, says Israel to leave Lebanon ’humiliated'

brahim AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

Iran attacks cargo ship off Oman, testing Trump’s Hormuz Strait deal

The Liberia-flagged container vessel MSC Tasman VI and the Singapore-flagged container vessel Wan Hai 353 are docked along a pier at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman on June 19, 2026.

Jared Szuba

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

Explainer

After UAE and Qatar, could Iraq be next to leave OPEC?

A worker at a market for fuel oil and automotive fuel on March 17, 2026, in Erbil, Iraq.

ANDERS WIKLUND/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

Iran releases taped 'confessions' by dual British citizen sentenced to death

Iran's state media outlets have released a video of Alireza Akbari allegedly confessing to his crimes a day after his death sentence was upheld by the country's Supreme Court.

MAZEN MAHDI/AFP via Getty Images

Western allies join US' experimental drone task force in Middle East

Task Force 59 is now fully operationally capable, Fifth Fleet commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told an audience of Navy personnel in Washington on Tuesday.

A picture taken during a guided tour by the US Navy shows a US Navy patrol boat that took journalists on board at an Emirati naval facility near the port of the Gulf emirate of Fujairah to show them an oil tanker that was attacked last week in the Gulf of Oman, June 19, 2019.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 10, 2023, 9:54 am

US Navy seizes load of rifles smuggled from Iran to Yemen

Navy officials say the sea drones deployed by the Fifth Fleet's experimental Task Force 59 are contributing to their ability to monitor Middle Eastern waterways, but won't credit the units with enabling any specific seizures just yet.

Policemen gather with images of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against defamatory cartoons depicting him published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, outside the French embassy in Iran's capital Tehran on January 8, 2023. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

'Death to Khamenei' slogan to be allowed on Facebook, Meta says

Meta’s decision came amid ongoing anti-government protests in Iran, and contrasts with its ruling on calls for Russian president Putin’s death.

Men ride scooters past a billboard depicting (L to R) the late commander of the Popular Mobilization Units Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, Baghdad, Iraq, June 13, 2021.

Iraqi PM condemns former US administration for killing Soleimani

At a ceremony marking the anniversary of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the former US administration for carrying out the strikes.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Iraq judicial chief highlights arrest warrant for Trump over Soleimani killing

The 2020 US airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad continues to be a sore point between the US and Iraqi governments.

A picture shows a newspaper stall with a view of Etemad newspaper's front page bearing a title reading in Farsi "The night of the end of the JCPOA ", and cover photos of Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian his deputy and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, in the capital Tehran on August 16, 2022. - The European Union and United States said they were studying Iran's response to a "final" draft agreement on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord with major powers the EU presented at talks in Vien

Analysis

Iran deal becomes latest casualty of Russia's war in Ukraine

US, European and Iranian diplomats explain how the negotiations on a return to the Iran nuclear deal have been eclipsed by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Lt. Gen. Michael E. Kurilla testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Washington, Feb. 8, 2022.

Analysis

US top Middle East commander tests new model of deterring Iran

As the Pentagon shifts focus to China and Russia, CENTCOM’s chief is banking on experimentation with unmanned surveillance and artificial intelligence to offset a smaller US footprint in the Middle East.

Jared Szuba

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

Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces) paramilitaries supporters raise pictures depicting their late slain commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the slain top commander of the Iranian revolutionary guard corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani with whom he was killed in a US air strike, as they gather in Iraq's central holy shrine city of Karbala on September 16, 2022. (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)

UK relations with Iran take nosedive ahead of IRGC designation

The designation will put the IRGC in a similar legal category as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the eyes of the UK government, outlawing membership in, financial dealings with and encouraging support for the paramilitary organization.

AL-MONITOR Staff

By AL-MONITOR Staff

A member of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi stands guard in front of a banner depicting slain Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (L) and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, near Baghdad's International Airport on January 2, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's pro-Iran militias plan mass demonstrations on anniversary of Soleimani's killing

The PMU had set up a monument of Qassim Soleimani and Abo Mahdi Mohandas on Baghdad's airport boulevard this year, something that the former Iraqi government had blocked

DEBBIE HILL/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Will Biden, Netanyahu find common ground on Iran in 2023?

EU Foreign Policy Chief meanwhile says ‘no alternative’ to JCPOA to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir (R) chats with incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L).

Netanyahu puts Iran, Saudi Arabia at top of agenda

Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated several times that he aspires to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia, but with his pro-settler right-wing partners, the chances of that happening are slim to none.