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

politics and security cover image

Politics & Security

Iranians walk past a wall decorated with the image of assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the national flag, in central of Tehran on Sept. 14, 2026.

Iran seizes assets of 394 people accused of spying for 'hostile enemy'

The crackdown comes amid heightened tensions in the region as the US and Iran trade threats.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Netanyahu is distancing himself from Trump ahead of Israeli election

No meeting has been announced between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit in New York.

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

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi

Rubio meets Iraq’s PM as remaining US troops prepare exit

The meeting in New York comes less than two weeks before remaining US troops are set to leave Iraq.

Latest News

Exclusive

Turkey, US resume F-16 talks ahead of expected Trump-Erdogan meeting

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Ezgi Akin

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

Iran threatens to expand war with new weapons if US attacks resume

Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

How a new Baluch militant coalition raises pressure on Iran-Pakistan border

A picture of Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who was killed during Israeli strikes on Tehran in June, is displayed Zahedan, the capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, during a media tour organized by the Iranian government on Dec. 18, 2025.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

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

Iraq politics

Iraq's parliament sets date for selecting president from Kurdish ranks

The selection of Iraqi president have been delayed because of the sharp division between the two main Kurdish parties over which candidate should fill the role reserved for their group.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Analysis

The Takeaway: Done deal? Iran nuclear talks appear back on track

Putin opens door to Syrian fighters in Ukraine; Egyptian students’ harrowing escape from Ukraine; Hamas keeps quiet on Ukraine while building mega-mosques; Lebanon’s cancer crisis; and more … in about 1,300 words.

Andrew Parasiliti

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Joe Snell

By Andrew Parasiliti , Elizabeth Hagedorn , Joe Snell

Demonstrators carry placards during a gathering by cancer patients to protest against the shortage of medicine that is threatening the treatment of tens of thousands of patients, outside the headquarters of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 26, 2021.

In Lebanon, deterioration of health system endangers cancer patients' lives

Faced with the shortage of medication and the increase in hospital costs, cancer patients in Lebanon are finding it increasingly difficult or impossible to afford treatment.

Children play on a swing on the first day of Eid al-Adha, in the opposition-held southern city of Daraa, Syria, Aug. 21, 2018.

Child kidnappings haunt civilians in Syria’s Daraa

Civilians in Syria’s southern province of Daraa are living in constant fear amid increasing cases of kidnappings.

Erdogan Putin

Will Erdogan draw lessons from Putin's Ukraine mistakes?

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watches Russian forces flounder in Ukraine, he may be rethinking his own ambitions — or concluding that Turkey is in a better spot than ever.

Russian rapper Oxxxymiron

In Istanbul, fleeing Russians mull next step of self-exile

Thousands of Russians fearing the political and economic fallout of the Ukraine war have fled to Istanbul, with most planning to travel on to Europe or former Soviet republics.

RONEN ZVULUN/AFP via Getty Images

Mixed feelings in Israel over Bennett’s mediation efforts on Ukraine

The Israeli opposition is criticizing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as overeager to drag Israel into the Russia-Ukraine quagmire.

Saudi drones

Middle East struggles against drones, despite billions in defense spending

Military unmanned aircraft, both custom-designed and retrofitted, pose an increasing threat to security in the region, and states' defense capabilities have not kept up with advances in attack technology.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo

By Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo

Richard Ratcliffe protests outside the Foreign Office while on hunger strike, part of an effort to lobby the UK foreign secretary to bring his wife home from detention in Iran, on Oct. 25, 2021 in London, England.

Iran releases Iranian-British citizens as nuclear talks wrap up

Two Iranian-British citizens are on the way home after the United Kingdom settled a decades-old debt to Iran.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s pro-Western policy reversal reveals Erdogan’s dilemma

Turkey's position over the Russian invasion of Ukraine has resonated as a pro-Western shift in Ankara’s foreign policy, but Erdogan needs to go the extra mile.

Sub-Saharan migrant women learn how to use a computer at a center run by the Organization for the Support of Migrants, Medenine, Tunisia, June 15, 2021.

Tunisia activists claim authorities target sub-Saharan students

Sub-Saharan students in Tunisia decry racially motivated arrests as police impunity increases.

Mahmoud Abbas addresses UNGA in New York

Abbas strips Palestinian rivals of diplomatic passports

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has taken to revoking the diplomatic passports of his political opponents and granting them to his supporters.