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Iran

October 19, 2026

Tehran 11:57 am

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shoppers walking through the Tajrish Bazaar, a traditional market in Tehran

Analysis

As Iran’s oil lifeline runs dry, can it outlast Trump's economic siege?

The country's last barrels of crude stockpiled beyond the reach of a US naval blockade fell to zero in October, raising the stakes for Tehran amid mounting economic distress.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi holds a press conference in Tehran on November 30, 2025.

Analysis

Turkey turns to Iran to contain Houthis as Saudi defense commitments grow

Ankara is trying to contain the fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis through Tehran’s help, but Iran may see an advantage in allowing the Houthis to maintain pressure on the kingdom.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, New York, on Oct. 9, 2026.

Window for diplomacy with Iran may be closing as Trump again threatens Pickaxe Mountain

Israel still wary of Damascus, writes Ben Caspit from Israel; our correspondent in Tehran and Amberin Zaman explain how Iran and Turkey look to exploit Azerbaijan’s headscarf controversy; Qatar’s top diplomat offers energy assistance to Lebanon, Beatrice Farhat reports from Beirut.

A vessel transits the Gulf of Oman

Analysis

How much oil can cushion another Middle East supply shock?

Global oil inventories stood at 3.35 billion barrels in October, the lowest level on record since January 2017, according to Kpler.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Latest News

Analysis

How hijab dispute is opening new front in Iran-Azerbaijan tensions

A woman walks past a wall painting in the colours of the Iranian flag in Tehran on February 25, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Trump rules out US troops in Iran, leaves Pickaxe Mountain strike on the table

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 7, 2026 in Washington, DC.

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

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)

Analysis

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

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.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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 Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (L) waits to make a statement next to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R), following nuclear talks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne) April 2, 2015. Iran and world powers reached a framework on curbing Iran's nuclear programme at marathon talks in Switzerland on Thursday that will allow further negotiations towards a final agreement. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool - RTR4VXHZ

Differences emerge in US, Iran interpretations of nuclear deal

The statements issued by Iran and the United States after the Lausanne agreement have important discrepancies on key issues that need to be resolved before the June 30 deadline.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan after a news conference in Ankara June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SXID

Turkey reluctantly welcomes Iran deal

Observers say Iran deal will increase Tehran’s regional influence at a time when Ankara’s influence has waned.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, attends a news conference in Tehran February 7, 2011. REUTERS/STRINGER (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTXXKFA

IRGC supports nuclear framework deal

The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has thrown his support behind Iran's nuclear negotiators and the framework deal announced on April 2, despite expressing doubts about the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) looks at the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, as they deliver statements in Jerusalem April 1, 2015. Netanyahu said on Wednesday it was not too late for world powers still locked in nuclear negotiations with Iran to demand a "better deal". REUTERS/Debbie Hill/Pool - RTR4VQDZ

Israel, Republicans clash with Obama over Iran deal

Israeli officials reject the US assumption by which a deal with Iran would draw it closer to the West and assist in resolving other Middle East conflicts.

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif gestures as he speaks during a news conference at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne) on April 2, 2015, after Iran nuclear program talks finished with extended sessions. Iran and world powers reached a framework agreement on Thursday on curbing Iran's nuclear programme for at least a decade after eight days of marathon talks in Switzerland. The tentative agreement clears the way for talks on a future comprehensi

Zarif defends nuclear framework deal

While most officials and media in Iran have been supportive of the framework deal, some have expressed opposition.

A Saudi man explores a website on his laptop in Riyadh February 11, 2014. Syria's civil war has led to a new, greater threat of Islamist radicalism in Saudi Arabia that requires a more aggressive "war of ideology" on the Internet, says the man responsible for online monitoring in the kingdom. Remarks by the head of the Saudi Ideological Security Directorate (ISD) suggest that the unit, known for keeping tabs on liberal activists and women drivers as well as Islamist extremists, is turning its focus increasi

Saudi Arabia embraces high-tech lobbying

Saudi Arabia is tapping politically connected digital image-makers amid escalating tensions with Iran.

S-300 air defence mobile missile systems drive through Ukraine's Independence Day military parade in the centre of Kiev August 24, 2014. Armoured vehicles and soldiers, some of them hardened in battle, paraded on Kiev's main square on Sunday to mark Independence Day in a defiant show of the military force Ukraine's government hopes will defeat pro-Russian separatists in the east. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY MILITARY) - RTR43I1W

Russia eyes Iranian arms deal after Lausanne

Russian officials are promoting the prospect of major arms sales to Iran after the Lausanne agreement, but any such deals appear to be an impossibility in the near term.

(L-R) Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wu Hailong, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifat arrive to deliver statements following nuclear talks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne) April 2, 2015. Iran and world powers reached a framework on curbing Iran's nuclear programme at marathon talks in Switzerland on Thursday that will allow further n

Is Netanyahu responsible for Iran deal?

Instead of objecting to progress toward an Iranian nuclear deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should claim partial responsibility for removing or at least postponing the threat to Israel's security.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (2nd L), the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi (2nd R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) wait with others for a meeting at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel March 28, 2015, in Lausanne. Iran and major powers are close to agreement on a 2- or 3-page accord with specific numbers that would form the basis of a long-term settlement aimed at ending a 12-year standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions,

Iran framework agreement should boost regional diplomacy

The P5+1 and Iran agree on "detailed political agreement" for nuclear deal; Saudi Arabia, Iran hasten Yemen’s collapse; Netanyahu, Erdogan weigh in on Yemen.

Major-General Amos Yadlin, Israel's chief of military intelligence, speaks at the annual Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv December 15, 2009. Israel is parlaying civilian technological advances into a cyberwarfare capability against its enemies, Yadlin, a senior Israeli general, said on Tuesday in a rare public disclosure about the secret programme. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS SCI TECH) - RTXRVGO

Yadlin says Iran deal‎ isn't a bad agreement

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Yadlin claims that Israel should not panic when faced with the Iranian agreement, but focus on clarifying several of its clauses and rehabilitating ties with the United States.

(L-R) German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifat, Russian Deputy Political Director Alexey Karpov and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are seen following nuclear talks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne) April 2, 2015. Iran and world powers reached a framework on curbing Iran's nuclear programme at marathon talks in Switzerland on Thursda

Iran, P5+1 reach 'historic' framework deal

Iran and six world powers announced a more detailed political agreement for a final Iran nuclear accord than was expected after turbulent nuclear talks.

BERLIN, GERMANY - JULY 03: Roderich Kiesewetter, member of the parliamentary investigation committee into the activities of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) in Germany, gives a statement to the media during a meeting of the commission, on July 3, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. The commission convened following revelations last year that the NSA had for years eavesdropped on the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leading German and European politicians. Recent documents released by fo

Germans deny signing GOP letter on Iran

Two German lawmakers tell Al-Monitor they never even saw the joint letter circulated by hawkish House members.