Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Politics & Security

A woman walks past a banner featuring Iran's late supreme leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C), next to newly elected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran on April 19, 2026.

Analysis

Why Iran's wartime behavior risks lasting rupture with Gulf states

Iran's rhetoric and policies toward Gulf states have sharply escalated, raising questions about whether years of painstaking regional rapprochement can survive mounting distrust and maritime confrontations.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr gives a speech in Iraq's central holy shrine city of Najaf on August 30, 2022.

Iraq’s Sadr says 'exclude' armed groups from next government as pressure builds

The cleric's call comes as Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi tries to form a government amid political divisions and US demands to curb the influence of Iran-backed actors.

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

The findings cast doubt on Israel’s wartime gains and put pressure on Netanyahu’s campaign strategy ahead of elections.

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

Latest News

US strikes Iran tankers as UAE reports fresh missile, drone attacks

Getty

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

Popular Mobilization Forces

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

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

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

ISIS resurgence in Iraq sees fresh attacks, clashes after commander killed

The Islamic State is suspected of killing soldiers in eastern Iraq in the latest sign of the group’s persistence.

SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, Greece reach understanding on contentious Aegean marine park plan

The announcement comes a day after Turkish-Greek leadership summit in Ankara between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Smoke rises over Gaza as an Israeli tank takes position along the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, May 13, 2024.

Analysis

Netanyahu buys time in Rafah, balances Israel's far right and Biden's 'red lines'

As the Israeli military steps up its eastern Rafah operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon have to decide whether to cross the American red line: a full-scale invasion of the Gazan city.

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

ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

ICJ to host hearing on Israel's Rafah operation

The International Court of Justice will conduct hearings this Thursday and Friday to discuss a new request by South Africa to order Israel to stop its Rafah operation.

A United Nations vehicle drives by as Palestinian girls share a food ration in Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Gaza Strip, March 31, 2024.

HRW says Israel launched 8 airstrikes on aid workers in Gaza

The report comes amid outrage following the killing of a foreign UN worker in Israeli fire on an aid convoy in Rafah.

An Israeli army battle tank takes a position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Hamas movement.

Israel unlikely to achieve 'total victory' over Hamas, US official says

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the United States and Israel are “struggling over what the theory of victory is” in the Palestinian enclave.

Protesters gather as a man holds up a sign demanding that soldiers from the United States Army leave Niger without negotiation during a demonstration in Niamey, on April 13, 2024.

Pentagon delegation heading to Niger to discuss US withdrawal

Hopes have faded in Washington that the roughly 1,100 American troops based at a remote drone base in central Niger will be allowed to remain in the country.

AL-MONITOR Staff

By AL-MONITOR Staff

A man films with his phone a damaged trailer truck that was carrying humanitarian aid supplies.

Israeli settlers attack aid convoy of 98 trucks heading to Gaza from Jordan

Israeli settlers have repeatedly attacked and vandalized aid trucks heading to the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is quickly deteriorating.

The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022, in Arlington, Virginia.

Pentagon intelligence officer resigned over US support for war in Gaza

US Army Maj. Harrison Mann is the first Defense Department official to have publicly linked his resignation to US support for Israel's war in Gaza war.

This handout photograph taken and released by the Turkish Presidency Press Service on May 13, 2024 shows Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan posing before a meeting in Ankara.

Erdogan rebukes Greek PM for calling Hamas ‘terrorists,’ says 1,000+ members being treated in Turkey

Erdogan’s comments came after the Greek prime minister told the news conference that “particularly in the Middle East there are differences with Turkey.”

AFP via Getty Images

Israel ramps up attacks on northern Gaza as 60,000 flee Rafah

As the Israeli military expanded its operation in Rafah, the government faced strident criticism over its failures on and since Oct. 7 at Memorial Day observances around the country.

Female security guards stand by as Kuwaiti lawmakers attend a parliament session at the National Assembly, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Feb. 6, 2024.

Inside Kuwait's political turmoil as parliament dissolves, new government forms

The Kuwaiti emir’s move to dissolve parliament and appoint a government a few days later further deepens years of political instability in the Gulf nation.