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Iran

May 8, 2026

Tehran 4:01 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

Iran sentences Kameel Ahmady, British-Iranian anthropologist, to prison

Ahmady, who is ethnically Kurdish, had researched child marriage and female genital mutilation in Iran.

US Daniel Levinson (L) shows a picture of his father, ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson, holding his grandson Ryan during a press conference with his mother Christine at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, 22 December 2007. The wife of the former agent missing in Iran since March said today she has received "no answers" about his fate at the end of her trip to the Islamic republic in search of her husband, who Washington says went missing on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. The Tehran government reiterated earlie

US sanctions Iranian officials over Robert Levinson’s abduction

The US government believes Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai were involved in the abduction, detention and probable death of the retired FBI agent.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 25 : The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani arrives to meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations on September 25, 2019 in New York City. The United Nations General Assembly, or UNGA, is expected to attract over 90 heads of state in New York City for a week of speeches, talks and high level diplomacy concerning global issues (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Rouhani under fire for signaling nuclear deal reentry

Conservatives have rejected the idea of holding new talks with the United States.

Rouhani, Biden hint at pathways to resume Iran deal

The Iranian president wants Biden to reverse Trump policies, not start a new round of talks; the US president-elect makes clear US regional partners will also have their say.

Taxis line up to pick up customers at a taxi station in the Iranian capital Tehran on July 3, 2019. - The Iranian economy is struggling in part because of the crippling US sanctions targeting Iran's oil sales, banking transactions and major industries like steel and petrochemicals. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s budget banking on US lifting sanctions

The projected reliance on oil revenues is wildly optimistic, likely making the budget a wish list, at best.

US deploys long-range bombers, aircraft carrier to Middle East to deter Iran

The B-52 deployment comes amid the return of the USS Nimitz to the Persian Gulf.

Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and had been implicated in anti-government protests, speaks during his trial at Iran's Revolutionary Court in Tehran on June 2, 2020. - Iran said it has sentenced to death Ruhollah Zam. The court has considered 13 counts of charges together as instances of 'corruption on earth' and therefore passed the death sentence, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said. (Photo by ALI SHIRBAND / MIZAN NEWS / AFP) (Photo by ALI SHIRBAND/MIZA

Death penalty upheld for Iran journalist defector who turned from establishment

Ruhollah Zam, the son of a regime-connected cleric, was charged in June with "corruption on earth" for inciting violence in Iran's 2017 protests.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden (2nd L) arrives at a meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee members as he is welcomed by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) (L) July 16, 2015 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Vice President Biden was on the Hill to pitch the Iran nuclear deal. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) (3rd L) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) (4th L) also attended the meeting. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

High stakes for Iran, US as Tehran waits to see Biden approach

Iran has made it clear that if the new US administration of Joe Biden wants to reenter the nuclear deal, no preconditions are acceptable to Iran.

Iran sanctions US envoy to Yemen in retaliation for US blacklisting

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on Christopher Henzel, the US ambassador to Yemen.

Iran’s Rouhani suggests nuclear deal’s fate is in Biden’s hands

President Hassan Rouhani said Iran will resume full compliance with the nuclear deal as soon as his incoming American counterpart uses his signature to rejoin the same accord.

Iran makes arrests in nuclear scientist's killing, official says

Iranian parliamentary adviser Hossein Amir Abdollahian said some of the "perpetrators" had been identified and arrested.

A medical professional prepares a syringe with a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, before it is administered to a patient at Croydon University Hospital in south London on December 8, 2020. - Britain on December 8 hailed a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as it begins the biggest vaccination programme in the country's history with a new Covid-19 jab. (Photo by Dan CHARITY / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DAN CHARITY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran accuses US of blocking coronavirus vaccine purchases

Iranian officials said US sanctions have impeded their attempts to secure the purchase of coronavirus vaccines for their country, which remains the hardest-hit in the Middle East.