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

Iran cover image

Iran

February 26, 2026

Tehran 9:07 am

10°C

Emergency workers check the damage caused to a building from an Iranian missile strike in Beersheba in southern Israel on June 24, 2025. Israel said on June 24 it had agreed to US President Donald Trump's proposal for a ceasefire with Iran, on the 12th day of war between the foes. (Photo by John Wessels / AFP) (Photo by JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia urges diplomats' dependents to leave Lebanon, Israel: What to know

Australia's order comes just a day after the US directed non-essential personnel at its embassy in Lebanon to depart.

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

Latest News

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

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

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

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

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi says Iran will not retreat on demands in nuclear talks

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says that his country will not back down on its positions in the nuclear deal negotiations.

A large screen shows a news program featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking at the opening of the virtual BRICS Summit.

Iran weighs benefits of BRICS membership

While joining the bloc has its upsides, it will be extremely difficult for Tehran to get full benefits from BRICS without the complete lifting of Western sanctions.

Erdogan Putin

Erdogan, Putin set to meet in Tehran

The Turkish, Iranian and Russian leaders are set to meet in Tehran next week amid lingering Turkish threats against Syrian Kurdish groups. Putin and Erdogan will separately discuss the Ukrainian grain crisis.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran's Raisi links regional dust storms to Western hegemony

Tehran recently hosted a regional summit on addressing the dust storms that have ravaged the area over the past two years.

An Iranian woman leaves a pharmacy next to shuttered shops at Valiasr Square, Tehran, Iran, Aug. 16, 2021.

Iranian pharmacy has new take on 'wall of kindness'

The measure helps poor people obtain medicine amid rising inflation in Iran.

Debris from a destroyed car litter the street at the scene of an explosion near a grocery store, following bombardment at in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv on April 18, 2022.

US: Iran aims to send drones to Russia for use in Ukraine

White House releases intel linking Iran to Russia's war on Ukraine just days before President Joe Biden is set to meet Israeli, Arab leaders.

A picture taken on February 18, 2017, shows a general view of a bridge in the Iranian city of Ahvaz during a sandstorm.

UAE, Iran to cooperate to fight dust storms

Dust storms in the region have been severe.

A giant poster featuring Iranian director Jafar Panahi is displayed in front of the Berlinale Festival Palace.

Iran arrests three filmmakers over protests

Iran arrested Jafar Panahi after he was looking into the case of two other filmmakers accused of involvement in anti-government protests.

Iran economy

Unprecedented inflation hammers Iran

Iranians have grown accustomed to high inflation and rising prices, yet recent macroeconomic trends are unprecedented.

Abdollahian

Why IRGC issue won’t go away

Even if the US terrorist designation is not lifted, and there is agreement on the JCPOA, the IRGC will still be the power broker of Iranian domestic politics.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (L) meets Josep Borell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (R), as Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora (C) looks on, at the foreign ministry headquarters in Iran's capital Tehran on June 25, 2022.

Analysis

Ahead of Biden Mideast trip, Iran nuclear deal looms large

US president to blend diplomacy and deterrence in approach to Iran, region.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani.

Iran galvanizes regional diplomacy amid impasse in nuclear talks

Iran's chief negotiator traveled to Oman a day after Qatar's foreign minister visited Tehran in what seemed to be diplomatic efforts for an impetus to US-Iran nuclear talks.