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August 9, 2026

Tehran 6:42 am

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif in Mecca after signing the defense pact, Aug. 7, 2026.

Analysis

How Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan pact puts Iran's regional strategy to test

The defense agreement is not an anti-Iran bloc, but it may reflect a deeper regional adjustment to years of Iranian asymmetric warfare as well as uncertainty over US security commitments.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

US President Donald Trump (R) meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, DC, Feb. 11, 2025.

Analysis

Jordan shores up US lifelines as Iran targets Amman’s reliance on Washington

Already a leading recipient of US aid, Jordan has secured fresh funds from the United States as the Iran war tests Amman and Washington's partnerships.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As US rethinks regional presence, Israel shifts focus to destabilizing Iran

Uncertain how to interpret the American regional redeployment, Israel is focusing on efforts to destabilize the Iranian regime and stop its nuclear program.

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

Latest News

Explainer

Iran-Oman deal spurs Hormuz hopes as Red Sea threats evolve

Khaled ZIAD / AFP via 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

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, attends a news conference in Tehran February 7, 2011. REUTERS/STRINGER (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTXXKFA

IRGC responds to Rouhani's comments

Following the president's warning against the consolidation of power, the head of the IRGC has criticized interpretations of strife between the president and his organization, which he credits with maintaining Iran's opposition to the United States.

A policeman lays a floral tribute with thousands of others near the cafe where hostages were held for over 16-hours, in central Sydney December 16, 2014. Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed. REUTERS/David Gray (AUSTRALIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR4I5JB

Iran warned Australia about Sydney attacker

Sydney hostage-taker Man Haron Monis had long been wanted by Iran for fraud.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) arrives with the Islamic republic's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the opening session of a two-day conference on combatting extremism on December 9, 2014 in Tehran. Delegations from 40 countries, including Syria and Iraq, are attending the meetings. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Shiites, Sunnis unite to denounce and condemn extremists

The recent surge of Islamist extremists movements has had a positive effect in uniting Shiite and Sunni clerics, from Tehran to Cairo, to denounce the waves of intolerance and radicalism.

A Shi'ite Houthi rebel walks at a checkpoint in Sanaa December 11, 2014. The Houthis are an armed Shi'ite faction whose fighters had swept down from the north and stunningly captured Sanaa from the army about a month earlier. Their arrival following anti-government protests threatens to further destabilise Yemen, already wracked by political turmoil since the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011. To match Insight YEMEN-HOUTHIS/ REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST TRANSPORT) - RTR4HNFD

Iran's role in Yemen draws Israel, Saudi Arabia closer

The Houthi takeover of the Yemen port city, the tribe's strong ties to Iran and its latest contacts with Palestine Islamic Jihad have both Israel and Saudi Arabia worried.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov (R) walks with Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad upon his arrival in Damascus December 10, 2014.
REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4HEWY

Russia steps up its Middle East policy

Russia has recently increased its diplomatic efforts in the Middle East on a variety of fronts, ranging from Arab-Israeli peace to trade with Lebanon and military cooperation with Sudan.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (L) discusses a newly released Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's anti-terrorism tactics, in a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, in this still image taken from video, on Capitol Hill in Washington December 9, 2014. "Enhanced interrogation" techniques used by the CIA on militants detained in secret prisons were ineffective and never produced information which led to the disruption of imminent terrorist plots, the declassified repo

Iran official calls for UN investigation of CIA torture

Long a target of human rights sanctions, Iran has called for a UN investigation into human rights violations by the United States.

A customer prepares to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in Nice December 5, 2014. Wholesale petrol prices have slumped by 35.5 percent since reaching their peak for the year in June, but in more than half of European Union countries prices after tax have fallen by less than half this amount. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (FRANCE - Tags: ENERGY BUSINESS) - RTR4GVAT

Iran VP: We'll manage even if oil drops to $40

Iranian officials and media outlets have expressed concern over the president’s budget for the next Iranian year, worrying that the administration has been overly optimistic in predicting oil prices.

Rouhani criticizes consolidation of power in government

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has indirectly criticized the economic power and influence of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani gives a news conference on the sidelines of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York September 26, 2014. Rouhani said on Friday "courageous decisions" must be made to clinch a long-term nuclear agreement and that any deal without the lifting of all sanctions against Tehran was "unacceptable". REUTERS/Adrees Latif (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR47VNA

Rouhani speech interrupted by Green Movement chants

Speeches commemorating Student Day were disrupted across Iran's universities by outcries in support of Green Movement leaders and student activists.

Mohammad Javad Larijani (front, on R), secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights and advisor to the chief of the judiciary on international affairs, who is leading Iran's delegation, sits during the United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group meeting to review Iran's human rights record, at the (U.N.) European headquarters in Geneva October 31, 2014. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4CA9W

Iran considers ending death penalty for drug offenses

Iranian judicial officials have once again stated publicly that the country's criminal prosecution and punishment of drug-related crime need to be reformed.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov looks on at the start of two days of closed-door nuclear talks at the United Nations offices in Geneva October 15, 2013. Iran will face pressure on Tuesday to propose scaling back its nuclear programme to win relief from crippling sanctions as talks between world powers and Tehran resume after a six-month hiatus. REUTERS/Fabrice Coffrini/Pool (SWITZERLAND - Tags: ENERGY POLITICS) - RTX14BOO

Russian envoy helps advance Iranian nuclear deal

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has played a highly constructive role in helping to advance an Iran nuclear deal despite tensions between the Kremlin and the West.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari looks on while attending Friday prayers in Tehran February 10, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION MILITARY) - RTR2XM2I

IRGC denies negotiations are source of Iran's security

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps believes that the country's nuclear negotiators derived their strength directly from Iran's military and defensive abilities.