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Politics & Security

Milak border crossing near the town of Zabol, Iran

Third Sunni cleric killed in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province: What to know

Iran says it is stepping up its crackdown on armed groups in the impoverished province as Sunni clerics have been reported killed there and in the predominantly Kurdish northwest.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

CENTCOM chief meets Saudi Arabia's MBS amid Houthi gains in Yemen

The low-profile meeting between the Pentagon's commander in the Middle East and Saudi crown prince comes as Yemen's Houthis seized the high ground overlooking a vital economic waterway.

People swim next to the Russian-flagged cargo ship OMSKIY-107, which was attacked off the Black Sea coast and eventually ran aground off the shore of the Sile district, Istanbul, Sept. 3, 2026.

Why Turkey has few options to protect Black Sea shipping

The Russia-Ukraine drone war is hitting Turkish commercial interests, exposing the limits of Ankara’s ability to protect shipping while remaining outside the conflict.

Erik Marmor

Analysis

Once Netanyahu’s top challenger, Bennett loses ground to Eisenkot: What to know

Facing the popular Gadi Eisenkot, the Together party of former premiers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid is sinking in Israeli opinion polls.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

Latest News

Analysis

What does Houthi advance mean for Yemen’s southern separatists?

Yemeni separatists

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Analysis

Houthi gains in Yemen are testing Saudi Arabia’s security strategy

boats and a container ship near the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Iran, misreading Trump’s resolve, escalates conflict in Yemen ahead of US midterms

Supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement, arrive with their weapons to rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon, in Sanaa on April 8, 2026, following the announcement of a ceasefire in the Middle East war.

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.

Analysis

Iran’s Raisi visit to China, high on optics but falls short on immediate deals

The first visit in 20 years for an Iranian president to China was big on optics but short on deliverables.

Arash Karami

By Arash Karami

Iraqi women's rights activists lift placards during a rally near the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad on Feb. 5.

Honor killings in Iraq rekindle efforts to criminalize domestic violence

There is once again outrage and calls for legal reforms in Iraq to protect women from being murdered at the hands of family members.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd R) chats with United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) in Sde Boker, Israel on March 28, 2022.

Analysis

UAE diplomacy guides response to Syrian, Palestinian crises

UAE steps up on Syria in wake of earthquake; Netanyahu settlement threat is déjà vu for Abu Dhabi.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) disembarks his plane at Paris-Le Bourget Aiport, north of Paris as he arrives for his visit to Paris, on March 8, 2022. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken heads to earthquake-hit Turkey in first visit

The US secretary of state will view earthquake relief efforts at Incirlik Air Base and meet with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.

Iraq elections

Iraqi parliament's attempt to amend electoral law met with anger

The controversial amendment, which will benefit Iraq's larger political parties at the expense of independent ones, is causing political division in the country between the ruling coalition and Sadrists, among others.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army official website on September 11, 2020, shows an Iranian navy warship during the second day of a military exercise in the Gulf, near the strategic strait of Hormuz in southern Iran. (Photo by -/Iranian Army office/AFP via Getty Images))

US Military: Iranian drone hit Israeli-owned tanker in Arabian Sea

The drone attack on the Campo Square tanker is at least the fourth suspected Iranian attack targeting a commercial vessel linked to Israeli businessmen in just two years.

DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images

Four US troops, working dog wounded in Syria raid against Islamic State

A senior IS official was killed in a raid in northeast Syria that injured US troops and a working dog, who were transported to Iraq for medical treatment.

Syria In Crisis

A road sign points the way to the West Bank settlement of Homesh, northern Samaria, West Bank, April 19, 2005.

Biden ices Netanyahu as differences grow over settlements, judicial overhaul

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that at some point there would be a heavy diplomatic price to pay vis-a-vis the Biden administration over his government’s push for settlement expansion.

A Lebanese security official holds a handful of confiscated captagon pills in his palm at the judicial police headquarters in the city of Zahle in Lebanon's central Bekaa valley on July 21, 2022. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)

Three Lebanese soldiers killed in Bekaa drug raid

Lebanon plays a big role in the Captagon trade, though authorities are trying to crack down on drugs.

Smoke rises from a Saudi Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, on March 26, 2022, following a reported Yemeni rebels attack.

Security Briefing: Pentagon officials discuss GCC missile defense in Riyadh

In this week's Security Briefing newsletter, our Pentagon Correspondent Jared Szuba recaps the latest on US-GCC meetings in Riyadh on security ties and Iran policy.

Jared Szuba

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

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Tunisian President Kais Saied (R).

West looks away as Tunisia’s Saeid 'dismantles' democracy

Along with expanding his presidential powers, President Kais Saied has nearly picked apart Tunisia's once-fledgling democracy; Western countries have barely responded.

Cohen, Zelenskyy meet in Kyiv

Israeli foreign minister meets Ukraine's Zelenskyy in Kyiv

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is the first high-level Israeli to visit Kyiv since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.