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March 7, 2026

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President Donald Trump departs following an event celebrating the 2025 MLS Cup in the East Room of the White House on March 5, 2026

Analysis

US war aims murky as Trump eyes role in Iran’s postwar future

While his officials insist the war isn't about regime change, President Donald Trump says he wants a hand in picking Iran's next leader.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

Christopher Pike/Getty Images

UAE to freeze billions in Iranian assets following strikes

The UAE's move to freeze Iranian assets will hit Iran’s economy hard, as it is straining under high inflation, unrest and now a war.

United Arab Emirates

Osama Al Maqdoni / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA, Mossad bolster Iran’s Kurds as US, Israel seek to ignite military revolt

Israel hopes Iran’s Kurds, and other minorities, will mobilize to help bring down the Iranian regime.

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

Sam / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Hormuz risk halts energy flows but Iran keeps moving oil — for now

While much of the world’s attention has focused on threats to Gulf oil exports and surging prices, the escalating conflict also exposes a key vulnerability for Tehran's own oil industry.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Next phase of US airstrike campaign in Iran to target missile manufacturing

Plumes of smoke rise following an explosion on March 5, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

Iran’s communications blackout limits assessment of war’s humanitarian toll

A man walks past destroyed buildings following airstrikes in central Tehran on March 4, 2026.

Middle East evacuations gather pace as explosions rattle Abu Dhabi airport

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - MARCH 03: Passengers disembark from an Emirates passenger plane arriving at Frankfurt Airport from Dubai International on March 03, 2026 in Frankfurt, Germany. The flight is among the first to begin ferrying the thousands of German tourists who have been stranded across the Middle East following the U.S.-Israeli air attacks against Iran and the ensuing Iranian missile and drone attacks against the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and other states in the region. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty

United Arab Emirates

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

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper speaks during a joint news conference with Japan's Defense Minister Taro Kono at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC2XFE9HT6N6

Pentagon doesn’t clarify ‘imminent’ threat to kill Soleimani

Statements from the Pentagon throw into question Trump's justification for the US strike on Qasem Soleimani.

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at a campaign town hall meeting in Dover, New Hampshire, U.S., January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder - RC29DE9KKN4S

Intel: Warren threatens Trump with insider trading probe over Soleimani strike

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen urged an insider trading investigation into President Donald Trump for reportedly telling Mar-a-Lago guests about the Soleimani strike in advance, according to a joint letter sent to the chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday.

What will happen first: Iranian nuclear bomb or fall of the regime?

Israel is concerned not only about Iran enriching uranium to assemble a nuclear bomb but also about the possibility of Iran developing a missile that could carry such a bomb.

Rescue teams are seen on January 8, 2020 at the scene of a Ukrainian airliner that crashed shortly after take-off near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran. - Search-and-rescue teams were combing through the smoking wreckage of the Boeing 737 flight from Tehran to Kiev but officials said there was no hope of finding anyone alive. The vast majority of the passengers on the Ukraine International Airlines flight were non-Ukrainians, including 82 Iranians and 63 Canadians, officials said. (Photo

Iran makes arrests in plane crash probe amid public fury

Iran's judiciary says arrests have been made in connection with the crash of a Ukrainian plane last week that Tehran blamed on a "human error" by its armed forces.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaks to reporters upon his arrival at the airport in New Delhi, India, January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi - RC2RFE9JIN9F

Iran’s next moves depend on US

Iran is likely to choose a measured response to US actions, as long as Washington does the same in return, while at the same time trying to increase US costs of staying in the region.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian take part in meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Brussels, Belgium, May 15, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Pool - RC1DC146CCD0

European powers trigger Iran deal dispute mechanism

The step by the United Kingdom, France and Germany is intended to buy time to resolve the impasse over Iran reducing its adherence to the nuclear deal to protest a lack of sanctions relief, but analysts fear it could hasten the accord’s demise.

Hamas policemen in Gaza City stand guard during a mourning ceremony organised in honour of slain Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani (portrait) killed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in a US air strike a day earlier, on January 4, 2020. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas-Fatah division deepens with Soleimani’s assassination

Palestinians express conflicting opinions over the US assassination of Iran's Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq, while faction leaders praise him as a martyr.

REFILE - REMOVING EXTRA WORD Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) questions Defense Secretary nominee Mark Esper during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Esper's nomination in Washington, U.S. July 16, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott - RC15A0083B70

Senate Armed Services Chairman Inhofe endorses Iraq sanctions

Key Republican leaders are lining up behind President Donald Trump’s threats to hit Iraq with crippling sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for travel to New Orleans, Louisiana from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis - RC29FE97O1SV

Europeans rebuff Trump call to abandon nuclear deal amid growing rift on Iran

The United States and Europe continue to be divided on Iran, with points of contention including how to react to the Iran protests and how the United States has doubled down on pressure after the Soleimani killing.

Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Hassan Rouhani of Iran and Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey attend a news conference following their talks in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC1179072220

Can Iran mobilize allies to end US Mideast presence?

Iran seeks an end to the US presence in the Middle East, but can it bring Russia and Turkey on board?

Iranian people gather to show their sympathy to the victims of the crash of the Boeing 737-800 plane, flight PS 752, in Tehran, Iran January 11, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY - RC2TDE9E5L0J

Protests continue in Iran over plane crash

Iranians' outrage continues unabated since their government admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian plane, killing 176 people.

U.S. Army soldiers keep watch on the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq January 1, 2020. DoD/Lt. Col. Adrian Weale/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC217E9GTDSL

Foreign troops' future in Iraq uncertain as clashes continue

Tension between Tehran and Washington has some Iraqis worried about foreign troops withdrawing from Iraq, although the United States had said it has no intention of leaving the country in Iranian hands.