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Iran

March 22, 2026

Tehran 3:10 am

13°C

Traffic rolls along a main throughfare under a banner with images of past and present leaders that reads in Farsi, "Domino fall", as daily life returns to the streets following nationwide protests, in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 2026. Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years. Limited internet access briefly returned in Iran before dropping again, a monitor said January

Analysis

Iran’s longest-ever internet blackout leaves 99% offline: What to know

Facing a historic internet blackout, Iranians are locked in a struggle with authorities to find loopholes to get around this communications crackdown, leading to "shutdowns within a shutdown."

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrive for a documents signing ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 17, 2025. (Photo by Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV / POOL / AFP) (Photo by VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Unclear chains of command in Iran complicate Russia’s diplomatic play

Multiple power centers in Tehran and the rising influence of the IRGC could complicate Moscow’s ties with Iran and its hopes of playing a mediating role in the conflict.

Anton Mardasov

By Anton Mardasov

Saeed Jalili, the radical presidential candidate of Iran, among supporters at Shahada airport on July 2, 2024.

Analysis

Meet the hard-liner who could replace Larijani as Iran’s wartime security chief

As Iran weighs a successor to its slain security chief, Ali Larijani, the choice may determine whether the Islamic Republic deepens confrontation or preserves its narrowing pathways to easing tensions.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Soldiers board a US Marines CH-53 Super Stallion during an airfield seizure exercise as part of the US-Philippines Balikatan joint military exercise at San Vicente Airport in Palawan on May 1, 2024.

How deployment of 4,000+ US Marines could change war in Iran

Two flotillas bearing thousands of US Marines will give Trump more options to open the Strait of Hormuz, but deploying them to the Gulf will necessitate expanding a war that's already widely unpopular at home.

Latest News

Iran’s Hormuz choke hold leaves West divided as energy markets reel

Indian vessel 'Nanda Devi' carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) arrives at Vadinar Port in the Jamnagar district of Gujarat state on March 17, 2026 after Iran allowed it to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy corridor that remains disrupted by the Middle East war.

Why a Kharg Island blockade could be Iran’s greatest economic threat

A picture taken on March 12, 2017, shows an Iranian tanker docking at the platform of the oil facility in the Khark Island, on the shore of the Gulf.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera commentators go dark on social media: What to know

This picture taken on August 11, 2025, shows the headquarters of the Qatari state-funded news television network Al Jazeera in the capital Doha. (Photo by Karim JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Narrow opening: Can Lebanon’s push for talks shift Israel’s war calculus?

France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) wearing sunglasses shakes hands with Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam prior to their meeting at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, on January 23, 2026. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / 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

Iranian youth use their mobile phones as they rest at a park in Tehran, Iran, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. - RC1A55C54480

Iranians rail against Apple, Google over pulling of apps

US tech giants Apple and Google have removed Iranian-developed apps from their online stores, sparking a backlash.

Netanyahu’s outdated Iran agenda

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu campaigns for the breakup of the Iran deal, ignoring the fact that a US withdrawal from the pact won’t be in Israel’s interest.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump confer s Argentinia's President Mauricio Macri walks past them at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/John MacDougall/Pool - RC18A478F480

Europeans: Trump can win on Iran without ending nuclear deal

Envoys to Washington say trans-Atlantic cooperation against Tehran needs to build on the 2015 nuclear accord, not undermine it.

Can Iranian threat shield Netanyahu from police investigations?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a master at using his UN speeches to convince his Israeli electorate that he is the only person capable of defending the country from the Iranian threat.

A member of Peshmerga forces shows his ink-stained finger during Kurds independence referendum in Sheikh Amir village, Iraq September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - RC19A8F11230

What's next after Kurdish independence vote?

Millions in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region voted in today's independence referendum, despite threats by Iraq, Turkey, Iran and the United States.

Gas flares from an oil production platform at the Soroush oil fields in the Persian Gulf, south of the capital Tehran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo - S1BEUBPCZOAA

Iran’s oil minister has big plans for likely last term

Having begun yet another — and likely his last — term as Iran’s minister of petroleum, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh faces surmountable challenges in pushing the country’s energy sector into the 21st century.

Iran reacts to Kurdish referendum

The Iraqi Kurdistan referendum on independence received top coverage in Iranian media, drawing condemnation from both sides of Iran's political sphere.

Iraqi girls play in a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Ari Jalal - RC1CE6912440

Is Iran seeking to impose its influence in Iraq's liberated Sunni areas?

The opening of a school in Ninevah province under the name of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, stirred a wide debate within political and public circles in Iraq, as some saw the move as an attempt to provoke some Iraqis.

Participants attend the round of Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Mukhtar Kholdorbekov - RC18D4821F20

Latest Syria peace talks solidify final de-escalation zone

Russia, Turkey and Iran met with opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to ink an agreement on the four safe zones.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani delivers remarks at a news conference during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, U.S. September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith - RC16C2DAA980

Iran looks to Europe over fate of nuclear deal

At this stage, Iran believes only the European signatories to the nuclear deal can prevent it from collapsing, whether the United States walks away from it or not.

A picture taken on March 22, 2017 near the town of Maardes in the countryside of the central Syrian province of Hama, shows an armoured vehicle carrying rebel fighters, and bearing the flag of the Tahrir al-Sham rebel alliance. / AFP PHOTO / Omar haj kadour (Photo credit should read OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Is this beginning of the end for Idlib's jihadi groups?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is facing several setbacks in Idlib including internal discord as foreign powers plan a military offensive against them.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY OF CYRIL JULIEN
A picture shows an Iranian Sunni mosque in the Teis district of the southern Iranian coastal city of Chabahar on May 11, 2015. Chabahar, located on the coast of Sistan-Baluchistan (south-east), is open to the Oman Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is Iran's gateway to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east, the Central Asian countries to the north, and Turkey and the Gulf countries in the west. AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Imag

Tehran's Sunnis still waiting for their own mosque

The campaign pushing for Iranian authorities to allow the construction of a purpose-built Sunni mosque in Tehran is gaining steam.