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Iran

April 12, 2026

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) walks with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on June 1, 2022. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Inside Turkey’s role in the US-Iran ceasefire

Turkey used its intelligence networks and rare access to both Washington and Tehran to quietly facilitate the US-Iran ceasefire while advancing its own regional security priorities.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

People gather under a large portrait of Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, during a memorial to mark the 40th day since his father, Ali Ayatollah Khamenei, was killed in US-Israeli joint strikes, on April 9, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.

Analysis

Ceasefire without relief: How Iranians are grappling with post-war repression

Despite the ceasefire, pressure is mounting inside Iran: arrests are rising, the internet remains largely shut down, and millions face deep economic uncertainty.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A woman walks past a digital screen displaying news of US-Iran peace talks along a road in Islamabad on April 10, 2026.

In Islamabad, US set to face a more defiant Iran at negotiating table

Iran's widening ambitions after the war include a bid to exercise permanent control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Latest News

Analysis

Ahead of Washington talks, Israel has little choice but to accept ceasefire in Lebanon

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted an area in Beirut on April 8, 2026. Israel launched a series of strikes on Beirut on April 8, the most violent attack on the Lebanese capital since the start of war. The strikes came as Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel on March 2, claimed it was close to a "historic victory". (Photo by Dylan COLLINS / AFP via Getty Images) /

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

Analysis

Sanctions relief, Pakistan role propel China backing of Iran-US ceasefire

Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting regarding the situation in the Middle East on April 7, 2026, in New York City. A vote on a resolution in the Security Council introduced by Bahrain focusing on reopening the Strait of Hormuz failed after opposition from Russia and China. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Joyce Karam

By Joyce Karam , Rosaleen Carroll

UAE says no more 'niceties' with Iran, seeks clarity on fragile truce terms

TOPSHOT - People watch from a street as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026. Iran's strikes on Gulf neighbours since February 28, following the US-Israeli attack, forced the UAE to shut its airspace, blindsiding travellers who thought they were headed to one of the region's safest holiday destinations. (Photo by Fadel SENNA / AFP via Getty Images)

United Arab Emirates

Lebanon rejects Iran negotiating on its behalf, PM says only Beirut handles talks

This picture taken on April 9, 2026, shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Basta neighbourhood of Beirut the day before. Calls were mounting for the ceasefire between the US and Iran to be extended to Israel's war with Hezbollah, after a massive wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed more than 200 people. (Photo by FADEL itani / 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

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, 350 km (217 miles) south of Tehran, April 8, 2008. Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant, Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, defying the West which fears Tehran is trying to build nuclear bombs. Picture taken on April 8, 2008. REUTERS/Presidential official website/Handout (IRAN). FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. - RTR1Z9PX

Twelve Major Consequences Of Sanctions on Iran

Seyed Hossein Mousavian reviews the futility of the US sanctions policy to affect Iran’s nuclear program or change its relationship with Iran for the better.

A sign post near Kibbutz Merom Golan in the Golan Heights shows the distance from Israel's northern border to other destinations May 2, 2013. Israel's military said on Tuesday it had called up hundreds of reservists for a drill in northern Israel where tensions are high with neighbours Syria and Lebanon, but a military spokesman said there was no change in the overall security situation. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981, a move not re

Israel’s Strategic Reset

Israel is reconsidering its new strategic approach to the region in the context of US policies toward Iran, Syria, Egypt and Israeli-Palestinian peace, writes Ben Caspit.

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Iran Has Reasons to Spoil PKK-Turkey Peace Process

The Kurdistan Workers Party has announced a withdrawal from Turkey, a move that could isolate Iran and end a cease-fire between it and the PKK’s Iranian offshoot, reports Wladimir van Wilgenburg.

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Beirut April 26, 2013. REUTERS/Hassan Ibrahim/Lebanese Parliament/Handout (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RTXZ0YT

Russia Confronts Mideast SalafistsBy Courting Christians, Minorities

Russia is courting Middle Eastern minorities, especially Christians, in a bid to confront Salafist extremism, writes an Al-Monitor correspondent in Beirut.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves to supporters during a ceremony to swear Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) into office, in Caracas April 19, 2013. Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela's president on Friday at a ceremony attended by several countries' leaders, after a decision to widen an electronic audit of the vote took some of the heat out of a dispute over his election. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins (VENEZUELA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXYSR0

Post-Ahmadinejad Iran: A New Challenge to the West

Shlomi Eldar argues that with the upcoming elections in Iran, the international community should try another, more conciliatory approach.

Lebanon Hezbollah parliament members Ali Ammar (C) and Sayyed Nasrat Kashakesh talk to the families of kidnapped Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims, during a sit-in in Beirut's suburbs May 23, 2012. The kidnap by Syrian gunmen of Lebanese Shi'ite pilgrims caused international allies and adversaries of President Bashar al-Assad to sound an alarm on Wednesday about a spread of sectarian violence across Syria's borders. REUTERS/ Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR32IXJ

Iran Counters Saudi Diplomacy In Lebanon

The competition between the Saudi and Iranian axes in Lebanon is high as the alleged Saudi “openness” toward Hezbollah proved to be less than it appeared, writes Jean Aziz.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) tour a technology expo at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) - RTR3F9EE

The Gap Between the US And Israel on a Nuclear Iran

President Obama may not be bluffing in promising to deal with an Iranian nuclear "weapon," he just may not be hearing Israeli wishes to limit Iranian nuclear production "capability," writes Ben Caspit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) speaks with US Secretary of State John Kerry as President Shimon Peres (R) sits beside them during a ceremony marking Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem April 8, 2013. Israel on Monday commemorates the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two.
REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTXYDCL

When Netanyahu Met Kerry,One Year From Now

Ben Caspit argues that one year from now, on Israel's next Independence Day, the political stagnation and lack of negotiations in the Middle East will still persist.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - MARCH 22: (ISRAEL OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum on March 22, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel. This is Obama's first visit as president to the region and his itinerary includes meetings with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders as well as a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

What Really Happened Between Netanyahu and Obama

From confidential, well-placed sources, Ben Caspit discloses the arguments in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chambers hidden behind friendly gestures in public during the US president’s visit.

Sculptures are seen on a hill near the Israeli Syrian border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights March 24, 2013. Israel said it fired into Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (MILITARY POLITICS) - RTXXW5G

Israel and Muslim Brotherhood Face the Same Enemy

As Israel prepares to celebrate its 65th Independence Day free of conventional threats, Iran's nuclear threat still looms, writes Alon Ben David.

A Palestinian looks at a billboard thanking Iran in Gaza City on November 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK BAZ (Photo credit should read PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran Seeks to Retain Influence In Palestinian Affairs

Iran is not giving up on its ties with Hamas, but is looking for alternatives to maintain its leverage in Palestinian affairs, writes Adnan Abu Amer.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes a V-sign during the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the United Nations headquarters in New York September 24, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR38CV7

Is There Method to Madness Of Nuclear Threats?

Akiva Eldar wonders if there is a rational strategy behind the Iranian and Korean "mad leader" images.