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Iran

August 19, 2026

Tehran 6:10 pm

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Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz

Analysis

How failing US-Iran diplomacy is giving way to fresh confrontation

Iran's dismissal of secret talks with Washington comes as diplomacy is in impasse, the Strait of Hormuz remains contested and Iranian commanders signal a potentially more aggressive military posture.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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Defense bill could keep sanctions pressure on Iran

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of June 8.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), speaks as his supporters wave Kurdish (L) and Turkish national (R) flags in the background, during an election rally for Turkey's June 7 parliamentary election, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 6, 2015. Turkey's Kurdish-rooted opposition party, which could scupper Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions for sweeping new powers, accused the President on Saturday of a lack of respect for supporters killed in a bomb attack in an election rally an

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Senators John McCain (R-AZ) (center), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) (right) speak before Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin E. Dempsey, John Kerry, U.S. secretary of state, and Charles 'Chuck' Hagel, secretary of defense, arrive to present the administration's case for U.S. military action against Syria to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on September 3, 2013. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged quick congressional action authorizing the use of military force against Syria

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A worker works at the Fuel Manufacturing plant at Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility 440 km (273 miles) south of Tehran April 9, 2009. REUTERS/Caren Firouz (IRAN POLITICS ENERGY) - RTXDTQ0

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The issue of inspections of Iranian military facilities and the interrogation of Iranian scientists has quickly become the most controversial aspect of the nuclear negotiations in Iran.

A Shi'ite fighter keeps watch in Al Hadidiya, south of Tikrit, en route to the Islamic State-controlled al-Alam town, where they are preparing to launch an offensive on Saturday, March 6, 2015. Iraqi government forces and Iran-backed militiamen entered a town on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's home city Tikrit on Friday, pressing on with the biggest offensive yet against Islamic State militants that seized the north last year. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT

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EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

A man holds a picture of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic as government supporters protest against opposition demonstrations during the holy day of Ashura, in Tehran December, 30 2009. REUTERS/Caren Firouz (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR28FLB

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Islamic Jihad's coffers run dry

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An Iranian couple sit on the bank of Zayandeh roud river, which was completely dry in recent years, in the historic city of Isfahan some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran, on April 21, 2015. AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

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Societal and economic factors have led to a decline in marriage rates, despite the government's desire to see an increase in population.

Iranian secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani (L) speaks to reporters at the Damascus airport on September 30, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

P5+1 asked to interview Iran’s security council secretary

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