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Iran

May 8, 2026

Tehran 1:42 am

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In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on May 4, 2026, the Iran-flagged tugboat Basim sails near a ship anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

What to know about Iran's 'Persian Gulf Strait Authority' to control Hormuz traffic

The establishment of an entity seeking to control maritime transportation in the Strait of Hormuz is the latest sign that Iran wants to formalize authority in the strategic waterway.

Popular Mobilization Forces

US sets expectations for Iraq’s next PM to confront Iranian militias

The Trump administration is cautiously sizing up Iraq’s new prime minister-designate, Ali al-Zaidi, as a potential partner in pushing back on Iranian influence.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China in Beijing on May 6, 2026. Credit: Telegram

Analysis

China shores up Iran support as Trump seeks exit

China understands how badly Trump wants an exit from the conflict. But timing is critical: if no agreement is reached before Trump arrives in China on Thursday, Beijing would be better positioned to set the agenda.

Joyce Karam

An Iranian woman holds up an image of Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Iran president says he held official meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei: What to know

The president’s announcement marks the first public confirmation of a meeting between a senior official and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since the start of the war.

Latest News

Iran, China discuss Hormuz reopening amid potential US-Iran talks

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, second right, talks to his Iranian Counterpart Abbas Araghchi, left, during the bilateral meeting in Beijing, Wednesday, May 6, 2026.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Benjamin Houghton

In Durham, reporting on China in the Middle East

Rahim Rahimov

In Baku, reporting on Middle East-Caucasus ties

Mehrnaz Samimi

In Washington, DC, reporting on Iranian culture

Lebanese men watch the head of the country's Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah during a televised speech, at a coffee shop in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, on August 30, 2020, on the tenth day of the month of Muharram which marks the peak of Ashura. - Ashura is a 10-day period of mourning in remembrance of the seventh-century martyrdom Imam Hussein, who was killed in the battle of Karbala in modern-day Iraq, in 680 AD. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Ge

Nasrallah says Hezbollah would not be part of Iran nuclear talks

The Shiite party's leader also said Hezbollah has doubled its missile supplies.

Women, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, walk along a street in Iran's capital Tehran on November 8, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranians increase pressure on government to purchase vaccines

Puzzled by their government’s reluctance to purchase coronavirus vaccines, Iranians launched campaigns for their “basic right to live” at a moment when the pandemic is raging and neighboring countries have started vaccinating their citizens.

Iranians hold their national flag and posters bearing portraits of Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) and the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) during a rally in Tehran's Azadi Square (Freedom Square) to mark the 36th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 2015. Iranians gathered in cities and villages all over the country to mark the 36th anniversary of the revolution which transformed the country from a US-backed monarchy into a cleric-ruled republi

Does Iran have a plan for a successor to Khamenei?

Recent rumors regarding a decline in Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s health have led to renewed speculation about who will succeed him.

Flight victims' families reject Iran’s compensation, demand justice

Families of the victims of the downed Ukraine Airlines flight warned the Iranian government that they will not accept any planned compensation and rather will fight for justice.

US show of force in Persian Gulf ahead of anniversary of Soleimani killing

A guided-missile submarine and two cruisers are the Pentagon's latest warning to Iran.

The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javad Zarif, speaks during a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez (out of frame), in Havana, on November 6, 2020. - Cuba and Iran's foreign ministers met in Havana on Friday to reinforce their mutual support in the face of crippling US sanctions. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP) (Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s Zarif says he won’t run for president

Iran’s foreign minister ruled out any possibility about his nomination in the country’s next presidential election, a race that hard-liners are already attempting to make entirely one-sided.

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Woman sets self on fire after city demolishes shelter, Iranians outraged

The demolition of a single mother’s shanty at the hands of Iranian authorities and her despairing self-immolation have recharged an uproar over the Islamic Republic failing the needy citizens it once promised to raise from poverty.

Can the US force Iran out of Syria? Not likely, former officials say

The outgoing Trump administration appears to have made little if any progress in achieving its goal.

Iran suspends flights from UK after new virus strain emerges

Iranian officials have grown alarmed over the new strain of the coronavirus that appears much more contagious.

A member of the Iraqi security forces inspects the damage outside the Zawraa park in the capital Baghdad on November 18, 2020, after volley of rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital breaking a month-long truce on attacks against the US embassy. - According to the Iraqi military, four of the rockets landed in the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are based. Another three rockets also hit other parts of Baghdad, killing one girl and wounding five civilians. All seven r

Rockets target US Embassy in Baghdad ahead of anniversary of Soleimani killing

At least one Iraqi civilian was injured in the strike, the US State Department said.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 10: An exhibition on human rights violations in Iran in Trafalgar Square on October 10, 2020 in London, England. The exhibition, held by Anglo-Iranian communities in the UK, marked the World Day against the Death Penalty. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Iran to execute man arrested as teenager, Amnesty says

Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee, who was arrested at the age of 16, has spent more than a decade on death row.

Iran's Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi delivers a speech at an official ceremony to kick-start works for a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr power plant, on November 10, 2019. - Bushehr is Iran's only nuclear power station and is currently running on imported fuel from Russia that is closely monitored by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Satellite photos show construction at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility

The Iranian nuclear deal, which US President-elect Joe Biden will seek to rejoin, called for a ban on nuclear activity at Fordo.