Iran - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Iran cover image

Iran

February 25, 2026

Tehran 9:56 pm

13°C

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Oil, markets digest escalation risks ahead of US-Iran talks

With critical US-Iran talks scheduled for Thursday, markets continue adjusting to the risks posed by an escalation in the Middle East should diplomacy falter.

A member of the security forces stands guard during a rally marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran on Feb. 11, 2026.

New Zealand slaps 40 Iran officials with sanctions over protest crackdown

New Zealand is the latest country after Australia, the United States, Germany and others to sanction Iran over the crackdown.

Fires are lit as protesters rally on Jan. 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

Analysis

Iran’s student protests enter fourth day as campuses test limits to regime control

Iran's universities have reopened, but things aren't back to normal, as students chant for regime change and assert alternative political visions in plain view.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s IRGC tests new weapons as second US aircraft carrier nears region

The drill was at least the third conducted by Iranian forces in the past two weeks.

Latest News

Analysis

Israel fears Trump will clear path for partial Iran deal on nuclear standoff

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

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

Analysis

Iran scrambles to shape endgame amid growing US military pressure

(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

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

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

AFP via Getty Images

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

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

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)

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

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

JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images

Iran criticizes Europe over nuclear talks comments

Tehran has criticized the three European signatories to the nuclear deal for their recent joint statement questioning Iran's intentions.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel capitalizes on deadlock in Iran nuclear talks

Hezbollah and the Lebanon-Israel gas talks; US-Israel friction over report on killing of Shireen Abu Akleh; Al-Monitor Pro webinar to feature UAE Minister of the Future Al-Roumi

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Iran's political attache at the permanent mission to the Vienna-based international organizations Khodayar Rouzbahani.

Iran dismisses 'baseless' IAEA report, claims full transparency

Iran reasserted its defiance of the IAEA's additional safeguards checks and said the agency's latest assessment was void of new content.

Military drone

US sanctions Iranian company over drone shipment to Russia

The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against three companies and one individual involved in drones used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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.

Analysis

The Takeaway: Hopes dim for Iran deal before US midterms

Hamas, Islamic Jihad tensions escalate; Netanyahu-Liberman square off ahead of elections; Egypt expands green initiatives ahead of COP27; Qatar’s neighbors benefit from World Cup; Syria’s Christians hold service in Idlib.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Andrew Parasiliti

By Elizabeth Hagedorn , Andrew Parasiliti

Iran's coach Carlos Queiroz looks on during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup semi-final football match.

Culture

Who is Carlos Queiroz, the man who could be Iran’s coach at the World Cup in Doha?

Iranian state media reported that the veteran Portuguese coach will again lead the Iranian men’s national soccer team in Doha this year. However, the deal may not be complete yet.

GENT SHKULLAKU/AFP via Getty Images

Iran condemns Albania for severing relations

Albania accused Iran of conducting a cyberattack against its government. The eastern European country hosts an Iranian dissident group, which has harmed bilateral relations.

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.

Cameras missing from US Navy drones briefly seized by Iran, Pentagon says

It remains unclear whether Iran's navy took the cameras or whether they became dislodged when hauled onto the deck of the frigate IRIN Jamaran in the Red Sea last week.

An exhibition calling for an end to executions in Iran on Trafalgar Square on October 10, 2020, in London, England.

Iran revokes death penalties handed to three protesters

The executions were reduced to jail terms in a controversial case that had drawn a furious public backlash.

Baquer Namazi

Baquer Namazi, American held by Iran, requires life-saving surgery

The Namazi family urged Iran to grant furlough to Siamak Namazi so that he can be by his ailing father’s side as he undergoes emergency surgery.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: September 2, 2022, 11:06 am

US calls Iran’s latest nuclear deal offer 'not constructive'

Iran insisted it put forward “a constructive approach aimed at finalizing the negotiations.”

Congress Iran nuclear

Breaking | Last Updated: September 1, 2022, 5:45 pm

Bipartisan lawmakers pressure Biden over Iran nuclear deal

House members opposed to the emerging nuclear deal with Iran are requesting the administration provide them with the full text of any proposed agreement.