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Iran

July 18, 2026

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People wave flags of Kurdistan during a march in Erbil, Iraq, on April 21, 2026, expressing support for the unity of Iranian Kurdish parties and condemning Iranian missile strikes and military actions against Kurdish groups in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Analysis

Why Iran's Kurdish front is becoming a growing wartime concern

A Friday Iranian strike on a Kurdish dissident base underscores Tehran's concern that its oldest internal security challenge has now become a wartime vulnerability.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement brandish their weapons as they rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon in Sanaa on April 10, 2026.

Yemen's Houthis raise Red Sea stakes for Trump

With President Donald Trump ratcheting up his threats, will Iran play its Houthi card?

The sun sets behind overhead power lines in Kuwait City, June 19, 2024.

Iran strike damages Kuwait power, desalination plant: What to know

Kuwait, the world’s most water-stressed country, urged residents to reduce electricity and water use following the attack.

Latest News

Ahmadinejad denies alleged Mossad plot to install him as Iran leader: What to know

BEIRUT, LEBANON - OCTOBER 13: Lebanese people wave flags and hold portraits of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (not pictured) as he arrives in southern suberb of Beirut on October 13, 2010 in Lebanon. The controversial visit is seen as a boost for key ally Hezbollah. According to reports Mr Ahmadinejad may visit the border with Israel - the site of recent deadly clashes between Israeli and Lebanese forces. (Photo by Salah Malkawi/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 flags flutter during an inauguration ceremony for new equipment and infrastructure on February 25, 2019 at the Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern Iranian coastal city of Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman. - With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar, only about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's

India works to boost influence in Iran as Beijing-Tehran ties warm

India is seeking to remain involved in the development projects at Iran's ports, especially since Chabahar Port helps India gain access to an important geopolitical region.

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises behind houses after shelling in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region's main city of Stepanakert on October 7, 2020, during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran protests spillover shelling from Armenia-Azerbaijan war

Shells and rockets from the conflict from Nagorno-Karabakh region have reportedly landed in northwestern Iran, which does not back either side.

An Iranian youth, wearing a protective mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, checks the currency exchange rates in Tehran on June 22, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian currency dips to historic low amid sanctions, pandemic, foreign policy decisions

Iran has seen the rial’s value fall by almost half this year as the currency now stands at a record low against the US dollar, triggered by ongoing sanctions, coronavirus restrictions and, according to some experts, Iran's foreign policy adventures since the 1979 revolution.

US Daniel Levinson (L) shows a picture of his father, ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson, holding his grandson Ryan during a press conference with his mother Christine at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, 22 December 2007. The wife of the former agent missing in Iran since March said today she has received "no answers" about his fate at the end of her trip to the Islamic republic in search of her husband, who Washington says went missing on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. The Tehran government reiterated earlie

US judge orders Iran pay $1.45 billion to family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead

Iran has been ordered to pay Robert Levinson's family $1.35 billion in punitive damages and $107 million in compensatory damages.

Iran criticizes Turkey’s role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has called on Turkey to help resolve the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia rather than "add fuel to the fire."

A Russian S400b4 anti-aircraft rocket system roll past during the second night of rehearsals in preparation for the WWII Victory Parade in front of a banner informing of a national vote on constitutional changes in Moscow on June 18, 2020. - Russia's President Putin on June 24 will preside over a massive military parade to mark Soviet victory in World War II, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The banner read as "Our decision". (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTS

Russia may sell S-400 to Iran after UN embargo expires, ambassador says

Russia’s ambassador to Iran said Saturday that the Kremlin may sell its S-400 missile defense system to Tehran after the UN arms embargo expires later this month.

Mask-clad school children have their body temperatures measured, as part of new COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic school precautions, as they enter Nojavanan school in Iran's capital Tehran on the first day of schools re-opening on September 5, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hits highest coronavirus death toll since July

Officials in Iran are scrambling to address the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Iranian-flagged oil tanker Fortune is docked at the El Palito refinery after its arrival to Puerto Cabello in the northern state of Carabobo, Venezuela, on May 25, 2020. - The first of five Iranian tankers carrying much-needed gasoline and oil derivatives docked in Venezuela on Monday, Caracas announced amid concern in Washington over the burgeoning relationship between countries it sees as international pariahs. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Third, final Iranian tanker arrives in Venezuela

Iran sent three tankers carrying more than 800,000 barrels of fuel to the South American country, successfully evading US sanctions in the process.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: U.S. President Donald Trump look on during a ceremony to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired four-star Army general Jack Keane in the East Room of the White House March 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Gen. Keane currently works as an analyst on Fox News. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Iranians call COVID-19 diagnosis 'lesson' for Trump

To many Iranians, the news that US President Donald Trump has the novel coronavirus is poetic justice.

Two Iranian fuel tankers reach Venezuelan territory

The Associated Press reported that two Iran-flagged ships reached Venezuela and a third is on its way without US interference. Together they are carrying 815,000 barrels of fuel.

Employees walk past a lighted Twitter log as they leave the company's headquarters in San Francisco on August 13, 2019. - Twitter on August 13 said that by the end of the year users will be able to follow a small number of interests the same way they follow people. The feature will be rolled out internationally as the one-to-many messaging platform makes a priority of being an online venue for conversations rather than a pulpit for one-way broadcasting to the masses. (Photo by Glenn CHAPMAN / AFP) (Photo by

Twitter says it closed Iranian government accounts focused on US election

The social media company said it received the information on Tehran's purported activity during the first US presidential debate from the FBI.

Iranian women, wearing protective masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shop in the capital Tehran on August 4, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran to issue fines for those not wearing masks

Struggling to slow a third wave of the coronavirus, Iran is hoping issuing fines will help.