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Politics & Security

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Lebanon's Aoun to meet Trump in first presidential summit in US since 2009

The visit by the Lebanese head of state will coincide with ongoing US-sponsored Lebanon-Israel talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not shown) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump declares MoU with Iran 'over' as Hegseth cancels trip to Israel

Trump said diplomacy with Tehran was “a waste of time” after renewed attacks around Hormuz, as US defense chief reportedly cancels Israel visit.

Latest News

US airstrikes hit Iran after tankers attacked in Hormuz

In this US Navy released handout, an F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, prepares to take off from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on March 1, 2026 at Sea.

US revokes Iran oil waiver after Hormuz attacks

A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows an Iranian tanker docking at the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf.

Macron's Syria visit eyes to boost France's economic role: What to know

Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images

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

A Sudanese girl who have fled from the war in Sudan with her family carry a box with some of her belongings after arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 13, 2024.More than 550,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan since the conflict exploded in April 2023, according to the United Nations. South Sudan, that has itself recently come out of decades of war, was facing a dire humanitarian situation before the war in Sudan erupted and it is feared to not have the re

Sudan war death toll over 40,000 as 2 million face imminent starvation

New figures on Sudan’s crisis show conditions deteriorating as fighting expands in scope between warring generals.

A man gestures as he holds up a small election flag during a campaign rally for reformist candidate Massoud Pezeshkian at Afrasiabi Stadium in Tehran on June 23, 2024 ahead of the upcoming Iranian presidential election. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Does China have favorite in Iran's presidential election?

The question of whether Iran's next president will maintain the country's current anti-West, anti-US position while pursuing improved relations with Beijing is foremost in China's mind.

Pictured are participants of the 19th Asia Cooperation Dialogue Ministerial Meeting held June 24, 2024, in Tehran.

US cautious on Iran’s Bahrain frozen funds claims, warns of sanctions

The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Monday that officials from Iran's and Bahrain’s central banks held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the release of Iran's “foreign exchange resources in Bahrain.”

An Iranian woman without wearing mandatory headscarves walks past electoral posters in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. People in Iran are increasingly showing less interest in casting their vote in the snap presidential election scheduled on June 28 after the disqualification of several candidates by the country's religious Guardian Council. Voter turnouts have hit historically lo

Iran’s Reformist, hard-liner candidates clash over foreign policy in last debate

Masoud Pezeshkian fiercely attacked his hard-line rivals in an intense live debate over their support behind the takeovers of the Saudi and British embassies and their sabotage against the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Radical Palestinian group, Hamas chief, Khaled Meshaal (2nd R) introduces his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk (L) to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Hamas official in Russia, talks hostages, seeks Moscow mediation in cease-fire

Russia is seeking the release of two of its citizens who are still being held in Gaza. The country hosted Palestinian reconciliation talks earlier this year.

View taken on April 15, 2009 shows Turkey's Dogu Kapi border gate to Armenia, in Kars, Akyaka province on April 15, 2009. Dogu Kapi border gate closed by Turkey during the Azerbaijan and Armenia war in 1993. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey’s Fidan, Armenia’s Mirzoyan hold call as normalization momentum grows

The phone call between the two top diplomats comes amid increasing diplomatic traffic between Ankara and Yerevan.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud meets Zhang Youxia.

Saudi defense chief in China in bid for help with Houthis, boost military ties

China was a major participant in the World Defense Show in Riyadh earlier this year, and Saudi Arabia signed $4 billion in arms deals with the People’s Republic in 2022.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stand during an honor cordon at the Pentagon on June 25, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.

Pentagon hosts Gallant as US seeks to avert Israel-Hezbollah war

Washington's defense chief is warning of "terrible consequences for the Middle East" as Israel and Hezbollah inch toward all-out war, but Israel's defense minister is making no commitments.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US sanctions 'shadow banking network' used by Iran's military

The sweeping new sanctions come days before Iran holds elections to replace its late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.

CORRECTION / Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Khiam in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on June 19, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by RABIH DAHER / AFP) / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by RABIH DAHER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [June 19] instead of [June 8]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your onlin

Analysis

Hezbollah, Israel not seeking full-blown war but risk of miscalculation at peak

While neither Israel nor Hezbollah is interested in war, its prospects seem higher than ever before.

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

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey: UK issues sex-crime warning for travelers, reports 42 cases in 2023

British nationals were the third-largest group of tourists who visited Turkey last year.

Israeli police disperse Ultra-Orthodox Jews blocking a highway during a protest against possible changes regarding the laws on the military draft from which the Ultra-Orthodox community has traditionally been exempt, in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak, on June 20, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

What Israel's Supreme Court ruling to draft ultra-Orthodox means for Netanyahu

Israel's Supreme Court ruled unanimously that there is no justification for the state to exempt young ultra-Orthodox men from military service.