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July 4, 2026

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Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

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

Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026, in Muscat, Oman.

Oil falls below $71 as US-Iran talks continue, Gulf exports rebound

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an X post on Wednesday that Iran and the United States had made "positive progress."

Latest News

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Explainer

Saudi FM concludes China visit amid Trump-MBS friction: What to know

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud before a family photo for the attendees of a meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority nations at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on November 20, 2023. The international community must take urgent action to stop the "humanitarian disaster" unfolding in Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations on Novembe

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

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

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

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

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

US Army Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla arrives to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

New CENTCOM chief visits Israel as Iran nuclear talks drag on

Gen. Michael Kurilla's visit comes as Israel seeks a Plan B in case the Vienna talks fail.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters while departing the Senate Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2022.

Harris stresses US-Emirati partnership after MBZ meeting

The visit by Vice President Kamala Harris and other US officials come as relations between Washington and Abu Dhabi hit a rough patch.

United Arab Emirates

A Syrian worker is pictured at a makeshift refining installation in the Tarhin area near the Turkish-controlled city of al-Bab, in the north of the Aleppo province, on Nov. 19, 2021.

US eases sanctions on investment in Kurdish, Turkish areas of Syria

ISIS

US targets Islamic State financiers in Turkey, Syria, Indonesia

The US hit five individuals with economic sanctions over aiding jihadi recruits via money transfer.

BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

US announces $800M in Syria aid as border-access vote looms

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the international community to ensure the latest Syria aid "actually reaches those in need."

Iraq Turkey

Pentagon: Iran-backed militias, PKK coordinated vs. Turkish troops in Iraq

Turkey’s targeting of veteran PKK cadres in Iraq has pushed the Kurdish guerrillas to collaborate with an unlikely partner, a new Pentagon report suggests.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s Kavala conviction earns sharp rebuke from US

The State Department expressed concern over Turkey's "continued judicial harassment" after a court in Istanbul sentenced philanthropist Osman Kavala to life in prison.

JAVED TANVEER/AFP via Getty Images

US watchdog says Afghanistan belongs on religious freedom blacklist

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom also recommended the State Department designate Syria as a "country of particular concern" and place Egypt, Iraq and Turkey on a special watchlist for religious freedom offenders.

US Senator John Kennedy, R-LA, speaks during a full committee markup to vote, on the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 4, 2022.

Analysis

GOP senators warn Biden against taking Iran's IRGC off terror list

The Republican letter comes as nuclear talks remain at a standstill over Iran's insistence that the United States delist the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Israel planes

Republican lawmakers urge Biden to hurry warplane sales to Israel

Republicans have been voicing increasing concern as the Biden administration approaches a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

A view of The Crossing apartment building in the Navy Yard neighborhood on April 8, 2022 in Washington, DC. The building, which was raided by the FBI on April 6, is the home of two men accused of posing as federal law enforcement employees and ingratiating themselves with U.S. Secret Service agents.

Men accused of posing as US federal agents investigated for Iran ties: report

Yemen Hadi

US welcomes Yemen's leadership shakeup as president cedes power

The exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's transfer of power to a newly formed presidential council comes days after a nationwide cease-fire took hold in Yemen.