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October 16, 2026

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People attend the funeral ceremony of Mahan Setareh, a member of the paramilitary Basij force who was killed in the recent Israeli attacks on June 26, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. A cease-fire between Israel and Iran has brought an end to 12 days of daily aerial attacks that started with Israel's strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites on June 13. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Female commander in Iran's Basij units assassinated: What to know

Violence in the Sistan and Baluchistan province has become a regular occurrence, marked by clashes with armed groups and ambushes on Iranian security forces.

Ships 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 July 14, 2026.

Analysis

What's behind Iran’s intensifying attacks on shipping in Hormuz?

With renewed tanker attacks, Tehran is betting to make Hormuz passage costly enough for Washington and strengthen the tool with election-related pressure President Trump is currently facing.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

This picture shows the border wall between Iran and Afghanistan at the Milak border crossing near the town of Zabol, in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan, on Dec. 17, 2025.

Iran’s IRGC says 5 killed in Baluchistan after dismantling ‘militant cell’: What to know

Iran’s IRGC announced a new operation against armed militants in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, which is witnessing almost daily attacks and clashes.

A giant electoral poster for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party with the slogan "no surrender" is displayed on the facade of a building in Tel Aviv on Sept. 29, 2026

Exclusive

In bid to win over Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu may strike Yemen before elections

Attacks on Iran or its Yemeni proxy before the elections cannot be ruled out, but the Israeli prime minister appears more inclined to support Saudi Arabia against the Houthis in Yemen.

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

Latest News

Analysis

Putin offers to help end Iran war, but can Russia deliver?

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands during a meeting in Turkmenbashi on Oct. 8, 2026.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Trump offers Iran path to nuclear deal while keeping up military pressure

US President Donald Trump speaks at the "Golden Age of American Innovation Summit" at the Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on Oct. 8, 2026.

Analysis

Deal or war? Israel fears fallout from Trump’s next move on Iran

GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA - OCTOBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up an appearance at a campaign rally at Pinnacle Bank Expo Center on the Nebraska State Fairgrounds on October 05, 2026 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Trump is campaigning for incumbent U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Gov. Jim Pillen ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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

Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province witnesses uptick in attacks

A Baluch Iranian man rides a bicycle in Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan on Dec. 18, 2025, during a media tour organized by the Iranian government.

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

Iranian olive branch offers diplomatic paradigm shift

To resolve regional crises before they become even worse, Iran and its Arab neighbors must engage in dialogue based on a new paradigm for conflict resolution.

Landscape

Khamenei warns Iranians not to rely on the US

Ahead of the anniversary of the US Embassy takeover, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned against relying on the United States.

Will Iran's nuclear diplomacy lead to regional solutions?

Will progress on regional issues be achieved if Iran's role in the region is recognized?

IRGC head warns of 'sedition' post-nuclear deal

The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, warned that the United States will use the post-nuclear deal climate in Iran to gain influence in the country.

Iran sees 'battle of the brands' as US franchises look to enter

Bootlegs of American franchises in Iran may very well fall victim of the nuclear deal as Western companies consider expanding their businesses there.

Lebanon's Hezbollah members stand at attention in front of a picture of Hassan al-Haj, one of Hezbollah's top commanders who was killed fighting alongside Syrian army forces in Idlib province, during his funeral in his hometown of al-Luwaizeh, southern Lebanon October 12, 2015. Lebanon's Hezbollah on Monday buried a commander described as the group's most important military figure to be killed in the four-year-long Syrian war. Hassan al-Haj was killed in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, where the Irani

The Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle

It seems that Russia, through its military intervention in Syria, is complementing the Iranian-Hezbollah axis there, instead of replacing it, as Hezbollah sources confirm that coordination is ongoing between Moscow, Iran and the party.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan poses as he casts his ballot at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey November 1, 2015. Turks began voting on Sunday amid worsening security and economic worries in a snap parliamentary election that could profoundly impact the divided country's trajectory and that of President Tayyip Erdogan. The parliamentary poll is the second in five months, after the ruling AK Party founded by Erdogan failed to retain its single-party majority in June. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RTX1U7U8

Turkey’s dispiriting elections

Erdogan offers an uncertain democratic future for Turkey; Syria Contact Group avoids divisions over Assad’s fate; Iranian and Russian support pivotal in Syrian military campaign to retake Aleppo.

How to get Iran to improve its human rights

The arrest of another Iranian-American dramatizes efforts by Iran’s security establishment to undercut President Hassan Rouhani but also jeopardizes economic gains from the nuclear agreement.

After Iranian, Russian military advances Syrian opposition suffers setback in Aleppo

Regime forces were able to retake large swathes of Aleppo’s southern countryside from the opposition, whose weaponry is insufficient in the face of Iranian and Russian ground and air support.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, makes remarks during hearings on "Corruption, Global Magnitsky and Modern Slavery - A Review of Human Rights Around the World", on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 16, 2015. Representatives from the State Department and human rights organizations testified on countries like Iraq, Malaysia and Cuba. REUTERS/Mike Theiler - RTX1KL3A

State Department nominees face grilling over Iran deal

Congressional angst over the JCPOA could spell trouble for diplomatic nominations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) and his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem walk before they start a meeting in Tehran August 5, 2015. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with officials from allies Iran and Russia that are expected to focus on efforts to end the civil war in his country. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT,

Iran enters Syria talks without preconditions

Iranian officials have entered the negotiations to find a political solution to the Syrian civil war though they will not accept conditions for President Bashar al-Assad's removal.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.
Food items are placed in trolleys as customers stand in line to pay for their goods at a shopping mall in northwestern Tehran February 3, 2012. With just a month to go before a parliamentary election, Iran has been hit hard in recent months by new U.S. and European economic sanctions over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West says is aimed at mak

You won't believe what some Iranians have found in their bottled water

Iran is being plagued by an increasing number of scandals involving violations of food safety standards.