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Politics & Security

A shop owner counts Iranian banknotes at a store in the capital Tehran on Jan. 7, 2026.

How Iran stands to win major financial relief in Trump-backed deal

Iran will receive some upfront sanctions relief despite the Trump administration's pledge of “no dust, no dollars.”

Lebanese army forces set up a checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Ghandourieh in southern Lebanon on June 15, 2026.

Senate bill adds restrictions on US effort to train Lebanon army: What to know

Lawmakers want to know the number of Lebanese special forces recruits, their equipment and religious background as part of a planned $36 million DOD train-and-equip project aimed at dismantling Hezbollah.

Jared Szuba

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

A Turkish police officers patrols at the scene of a motor-bike bomb explosion, next to a police station on Oct. 6, 2016, in Istanbul.

Turkey captures alleged ISIS-K media chief near Afghanistan-Pakistan border

The capture comes as Turkish authorities intensify raids against Islamic State networks following recent attacks and alleged plots.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks with Tehran's Chamber of Commerce, June 17, 2026.

After US-Iran deal, Ghalibaf says Tehran seeks deeper ties with China

“China must believe and will believe that we are not just a customer or a trading partner, but a partner in every sense,” Ghalibaf said.

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Read the full 14-point US-Iran deal

Trump

Syrian Kurd commander Kobane kicks off European tour amid scrutiny from Damascus

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on January 24, 2019. - Any deal between Syria's Kurds and the Damascus regime should respect the "special status" of Kurdish-led forces who fought the Islamic State (IS) group, Kobani said. The SDF control around a third of Syria after expelling jihadists from a large northeastern swathe of t

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun to visit White House this month, Trump says

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun speaks during a government meeting at the Presidential Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 5, 2025.

Who is Fahd Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Lebanon?

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji meets with Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Hathloul Al-Dosari, the new Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut on June 17, 2026.

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

President Xi Jinping held talks with President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran on his state visit to China on Feb. 14, 2023.

As sanctions bite, Iran's Raisi talks business in China

The trip came at a moment of increasing international isolation, which has left Iran with fewer options than ever before in selling its lifeline oil.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

In Turkey, Israel's foreign minister meets Erdogan, promises earthquake aid

Meeting with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged and thanked Jerusalem for its assistance to the victims of the recent earthquakes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) speaks with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022. - Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states held a landmark meeting to discuss issues from the Iran nuclear negotiations to the global shockwaves of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE's Abdullah bin Zayed visits US, days after meeting Assad

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed will meet with US Secretary of State Blinken at the State Department on Tuesday.

US sailors recover part of a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

US general reveals Chinese balloons have flown over the Middle East

A senior CENTCOM official said the high-altitude balloons have posed no threat to troops, and he expressed interest in obtaining similar ones to fill gaps in the United States' intelligence collection.

Jared Szuba

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

Nurse anaesthetist Abdelbaset Khalil (2nd L) stands with others on the rubble of his house following a deadly earthquake, near the hospital in the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on February 11, 2023. - Following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria on February 6, toppling hundreds of buildings and leaving a death toll of at least 3,581 in Syria, supplies have been slow to arrive in the war-torn country where years of conflict have

Did US pressure force Turkey to let Syrian-Kurdish earthquake aid into rebel-held northwest?

Ankara relents, allowing the first humanitarian aid and disaster relief to enter devastated northwest Syria from the country's Kurdish-run northeast.

US special envoy to Iran Robert Malley.

Pentagon, State Department officials in Saudi Arabia to talk Iran strategy

Like its predecessors, the Biden administration wants Gulf Cooperation Council states to share air defense intel to defuse potential attacks by Iran, but will they work together?

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, visits the affected neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo on February 13, 2023 following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab states, militias pour aid into Syria as earthquake death toll exceeds 5,000

The Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces are among the militias that delivered aid to Syria.

Turkey earthquake rubble

In Turkey, fears grow of Erdogan postponing elections as earthquake toll passes 30,000

As public anger over the government's earthquake response grows, speculation about the possible postponement of Turkey’s elections in May is heating up.

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

US pushes UN vote on aid routes into earthquake-ravaged Syria

Six days after Syria's earthquake, the United States called on the UN Security Council to greenlight the use of additional aid corridors through a new resolution.

Syria In Crisis

A Palestinian clears debris at a petrol station following Israeli strikes in Gaza City, early on February 13, 2023. - Israel hit Gaza with air strikes in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave at the weekend, the army said, as unrest persisted in the occupied West Bank. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel strikes Gaza, as unrest grows in West Bank

A Palestinian was killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank on Monday, hours after Israel carried out strikes in Gaza in response to rocket fire from the territory, its military said

Israelis protest

Mass protests in Israel as Knesset begins controversial judicial overhaul

Insults were heralded, shouts of "shame," and tables thrown inside the Knesset, as tens of thousands of Israelis protested outside the chamber against unpopular judicial reforms by the Netanyahu government.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speak to the media prior to a meeting, in the Treaty Room of the US State Department in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraq's FM: We are in touch with the US, Iran to reduce tensions

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Fuad Hussein discusses US-Iraq economic relations, regional economic integration and sanctions on Russia and Iran.