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Politics & Security

US President Donald Trump arrives for the G7 Leaders' Summit at the Hotel Royal, Evian Resort on June 15, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France.

Feature

Trump’s Iran deal sidesteps fate of detained Americans

The White House declined to say whether the release of the six Americans would be included in a final deal.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Latest News

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

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

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

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

Jared Szuba

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

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

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.

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

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks with Tehran's Chamber of Commerce, 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

New Israeli Knesset (parliament) speaker Amir Ohana (C) speaks as his partner Alon (L), their children, and newly-sworn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) attend a toast in his honour at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Dec. 29, 2022.

Cheers, jeers as Amir Ohana becomes Israel's first LGBTQ Knesset speaker

Ultra-Orthodox Knesset members are being criticized by their religious leadership for voting in favor of appointing openly gay Amir Ohana as Knesset speaker.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, Astana, Kazakhstan, Oct. 13, 2022.

Erdogan presses for 'concrete steps' in Syria during call with Putin

President Erdogan tells his Russian counterpart Putin that the Syrian government needs to be "constructive" for "concrete results" in Syria.

Iran protest

Iran's Khamenei strikes conciliatory message on hijab

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that women in loose hijabs are 'our daughters' and urged that they not be ostracized.

Syria Assad

The Takeaway: Regional embrace of Syria's Assad puts US in tight spot

Plus, the US responds to Itamar Ben-Gvir's controversial holy site visit, and President Joe Biden names ambassadors to Jordan and Oman.

Supporters of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah attend a televised speech by the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital Beirut's southern suburbs on Jan. 3, 2023 marking the third anniversary of the US killing of top Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Hezbollah's Nasrallah refutes health rumors, slams Ben-Gvir

Hassan Nasrallah praised internal efforts to choose a Lebanese president, but criticized attempts to link the issue to geopolitical developments.

A picture shows a newspaper stall with a view of Etemad newspaper's front page bearing a title reading in Farsi "The night of the end of the JCPOA ", and cover photos of Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian his deputy and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, in the capital Tehran on August 16, 2022. - The European Union and United States said they were studying Iran's response to a "final" draft agreement on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord with major powers the EU presented at talks in Vien

Analysis

Iran deal becomes latest casualty of Russia's war in Ukraine

US, European and Iranian diplomats explain how the negotiations on a return to the Iran nuclear deal have been eclipsed by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Cavusoglu

First call between Turkish, Israeli FMs overshadowed by Ben-Gvir

Turkey's foreign minister told his newly appointed Israeli counterpart that the Israeli security minister's visit to the Jerusalem holy site was "unacceptable."

Sistani

Iraq's Sistani calls on world not to abandon Afghans

Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, asked the international community and the Muslim world to stand with the people of Afghanistan following a meeting with Afghan Shiites.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani attends the "Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership" in Sweimeh by the Dead Sea shore in central-west Jordan on Dec. 20, 2022.

Iraqi prime minister sees tensions spike with political allies

Differences are growing between Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani and his political ally in parliament, the Coordination Framework.

Demonstrators raise Syrian opposition flags and placards as they rally against a potential rapprochement between Ankara and the Syrian regime, al-Bab, on the border with Turkey, in Syria's northern Aleppo province, Dec. 30, 2022.

Syrian opposition-controlled areas protest Ankara-Damascus rapprochement

Syrians are speaking out against a potential Turkish-Syrian rapprochement, with opposition-held areas holding vigils and protests across Aleppo and Idlib governorates.

Protesters raise yellow flags showing the face of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) -- currently prison in Turkey, and the red-star flag of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK - Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan), during a demonstration calling for his release and condemning recent Turkish strikes on Kurdish areas, in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Dec. 6, 2022.

Turkey’s overtures to Assad all about crushing Syrian Kurds’ autonomy

Turkey’s security establishment remains immutably opposed to the consolidation of any form of Kurdish autonomy in Syria that would mirror Kurdish gains in neighboring Iraq.

US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Yael Lempert looks on during the Negev Forum's first Steering Committee meeting in the town of in Zallaq, south of the Bahraini capital of Manama on June 27, 2022. -(Photo by MAZEN MAHDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden names US ambassadors to Jordan, Oman

The US president has nominated Yael Lempert as US ambassador to Jordan, Ana Escrogima as US ambassador to Oman and named Dorothy Shea, currently the US ambassador to Lebanon, for deputy US representative to the United Nations