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Iran

February 23, 2026

Tehran 9:55 pm

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy.) In this handout photo obtained from the U.S. Defence Department, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) sails alongside Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7) in the Arabian Sea, Feb. 6, 2026. According to the U.S. government, the Abraham Lincoln

Analysis

Iran scrambles to shape endgame amid growing US military pressure

With Washington tightening deadlines and deploying assets, Tehran is mounting a rapid diplomatic campaign while preparing for what is increasingly seen as some level of unavoidable confrontation.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Oil, gas and Iran nuclear impasse: Can business deals sway Trump’s calculus?

As Iran-US nuclear negotiations continue, Tehran has been pushing the idea of striking business deals rather than military sites, with proposals spanning oil and gas to aviation.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands amid debris outside the Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba, after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran on June 19, 2025. Israel's defence minister warned that Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed to exist" after a hospital was hit in an Iranian missile strike on June 19, spiking tensions in the week-old war. (Photo by Marc Israel SELLEM / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Despite warnings from Israel's defense elite, Netanyahu pushes for Iran strike

Although Israeli advisers warn against appearing to drag the US into war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not hidden his desire to help topple the Islamic Republic.

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

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on upon his arrival to deliver a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks with Washington pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program, in Geneva, on Feb. 17, 2026.

Iran's FM says US didn’t demand zero enrichment in nuclear talks

The top Iranian diplomat said the two sides have instead discussed “confidence-building measures" related to its nuclear program.

Latest News

Iran, Russia hold naval drills as Araghchi briefs Saudi FM on nuclear talks

This handout photo made available by the Iranian Army Office on March 11, 2025 shows the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer Baotou (133) during joint military drills between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman.

US readies warships, jets, tankers for potential weekslong Iran war

DENMARK-NORWAY-US-FRANCE-NATO-ARMY-DEFENCE-EXERCISE Picture taken on September 24, 2025 from the French Navy frigate Bretagne shows F-18 fighter jets on the deck of the the world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford as both ships are taking part in the NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise in the North Sea. According to NATO, more than 10,000 sailors, soldiers, aviators and marines from 13 allied nations took part in the large-scale multinational enhanced Vigilance Activity, running from September 22 to

As Hezbollah vows to defend Iran, Lebanon braces for potential spillover

Joseph EID / AFP via Getty Images

Israel steps up Iran war preparations, keeps plans within small inner circle

Members of the Israeli security forces check the apparent remains of an Iranian ballistic missile lying on the ground in the Golan Heights, Northern Israel, on Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Photo by Michael Giladi / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL GILADI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Sabena Siddiqui

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

A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Benjamin Houghton

In Durham, reporting on China in the Middle East

Rahim Rahimov

In Baku, reporting on Middle East-Caucasus ties

Mehrnaz Samimi

In Washington, DC, reporting on Iranian culture

Iranian employees of Saipa auto plant assemble a Tiba (Gazelle) car in the central city of Kashan on May 9, 2010. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the largest automobile factory in the Middle East with a capacity of producing 150,000 cars a year, creating 4,000 jobs directly and 20,000 indirectly in the region. The Saipa factory will produce a new small car called Tiba costing between 80 and 90 million Rials (8,000 to 9,000 USD) for lower-middle class population. AFP PHOTO/ISNA/ALIREZA SOTA

Iran's SAIPA signs $497 million car deal with Russia, Belarus

Iranian carmaker SAIPA will export vehicles to Belarus and Russia following a similar agreement with Venezuela.

This US Navy handout screenshot of a video shows fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy swarming Greek-owned oil tanker Niovi as it transits the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's IRGC seizes second oil tanker in Gulf waters in six days, says US Navy

The incident happened off UAE coast of Fujairah and involved a Panama-flagged Niovi vessel.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, on the right, received his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi at the presidential palace in Damascus on May 3, 2023

Iran's President Raisi meets Assad in Syria, first such visit in 13 years

The two countries are expected to sign several economic agreements in a show of friendship.

India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (L) and Jammu and Kashmir state governor Satya Pal Malik (R) attend a ceremony to celebrate India's 73rd Independence Day, which marks the end of British colonial rule, in Srinagar on August 15, 2019. (Photo by Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP) (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran-India meeting in Tehran focuses on de-dollarization, averting sanctions

Iran urged India to launch a rial-rupee mechanism in bilateral trade, as the Islamic Republic pursues the "look to the East" policy as a strategy to mitigate the onerous impacts of US sanctions on its oil-dependent economy.

A woman walks past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran steps up hijab crackdown on women, shuttering businesses

In Iran's capital Tehran, some 150 such shops have been forced to close by authorities in the past two weeks alone.

Families of wrongfully detained Americans hold a demonstration on May 4, 2022, in Washington, DC.

Iran IRGC unit hit with US sanctions for hostage-taking

The sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization come as several Americans remained unlawfully jailed in the country.

Lebanon Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) and Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meet in Beirut on October 7, 2021. (Photo by anwar amro / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran FM in Lebanon, urges vote on president without 'foreign interference'

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks with Lebanese officials as the country faces a deepening political and economic crisis.

This photograph taken on Feb. 8, 2023, shows a large banner with a portrait of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele.

Belgium looking into Iran's request for prisoner swap

Belgium and Iran seemingly advance toward a prisoner exchange deal, though Brussels is warning that contrary to Tehran’s statements this could take time.

This picture taken on June 15, 2019, shows tanker ships in the waters of the Gulf of Oman

Iran's IRGC seizes oil tanker in Gulf of Oman

Open-source reports indicated the Advantage Sweet was bound for Houston, Texas, when the United States said it was seized by Iran's IRGC navy on Thursday afternoon.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP) (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany scrambles to stop Iran from executing dual citizen

After a top Iranian court upheld the death sentence of dual citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, German Foreign Minister Annalean Baerbock says Berlin is making every possible effort to stop the execution.

Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, January 21, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0)

Iranian senior cleric Soleimani killed in attack

The shooting occurred as anti-clerical sentiments are high in Iran amid the popular protests, but the motive behind the attack is not yet known.

Belgian Manon Vandecasteele sits blindfolded in a cell during a protest action for her uncle Olivier Vandecasteele, who is imprisoned in Iran, on the Grand-Place in Tournai on April 22, 2023. - Belgium on April 18, 2023 said it had formally asked Iran to repatriate jailed aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from Tehran, after a disputed prisoner exchange treaty entered into force. Iran arrested Vandecasteele, 42, in February 2022 and sentenced him to 40 years for spying, in a move condemned as "hostage diploma

Iran blacklists EU, UK officials as it ups armed support for Russia

Iran's tit-for-tat measure marked the latest episode in its tensions with Western adversaries and coincided with fresh allegations of its military assistance to Russia in the war against Ukraine.