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Politics & Security

An Iraqi police officer stands guard as a man walks beneath a billboard bearing a portrait of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baghdad on March 25, 2026. Iraq will submit a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council over strikes in its territory, the office of the prime minister said on March 25, following an attack in the country's west that killed seven security personnel. Iraq has been drawn into the Middle East war triggered by the US-Israel attack on its neighbour Iran

Breaking | Last Updated: March 25, 2026, 11:18 am

Iran rejects Trump's proposal for ceasefire as US dispatches forces

The news follows a negotiations push by the Trump administration to end the war after more than three weeks of fighting.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the new secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is pictured in this undated photo.

Analysis

Meet Bagher Zolghadr, a hard-line IRGC veteran now Iran's security chief

Zolghardr's appointment suggests a push to strengthen the group’s influence over national security and the war effort.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

An Iranian Kurdish peshmerga member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran inspects the damage sustained at the Azadi Camp following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye, east of Erbil district, on March 3, 2026.

Analysis

Iran's first strike on Iraqi Kurdish forces since war began a warning to US allies

The deadly strike on Kurdish forces underscores Tehran’s readiness to pressure US partners as Erbil is caught between Iran, Baghdad and Washington.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (C) speaks as US President Donald Trump (L) and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) watch during the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit on Oct. 13, 2025 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Analysis

Pakistan emerges as mediator but faces limitations in Iran-Trump standoff

Pakistan has emerged as a potential neutral venue for US-Iran talks, leveraging its ties to both sides, but analysts warn that early back-channel diplomacy faces major hurdles amid ongoing military escalation.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Latest News

Analysis

Israel hedges, intensifies Iran and Lebanon strikes ahead of Trump talks

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the eastern outskirts of the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on March 24, 2026. Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,039 people and displacing more than a million others, and sent ground troops into the country's south. (Ph

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

Lebanon expels Iranian ambassador as war tensions mount

Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mohammad Reza Sheibani (L), shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an undated photo.

As US signals new diplomatic push, Iran rejects Trump's ‘very strong talks’ claim

(L-R) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive for a dignified transfer event at Dover Air Force Base March 7, 2026 in Dover, Delaware.

Journalist who investigated Erdogan’s son jailed on 'disinformation' charges in Turkey

Journalists gather outside the Ankara courthouse on March 10, 2020 behind a banner reading in Turkish "journalism is not crime," to protest over jailing of journalists, sparked by the recent arrest of OdaTV's news director and a journalist's report on the funeral of a Turkish intelligence officer apparently killed in Libya.

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ali Larijani (R) meets with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (L) in Beirut on Nov. 15, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Analysis

As Khamenei's aide visits Lebanon, is Iran signaling de-escalation?

Ali Larijani said he delivered a "message" from Iran's supreme leader to Lebanon's prime minister amid scenarios of a potential cease-fire between Tehran's proxy, Hezbollah, and Israel.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A Middle East Airlines commercial aircraft prepares to takeoff on the tarmac of Beirut International Airport on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iranian officials searched at Lebanon airport: Reports

The officials were accompanying senior Iranian adviser Ali Larijani, who pledged during the visit to support any decision made by the country regarding the war with Israel.

Ed Ram/Getty Images

Israel-Hezbollah war cost Lebanon $8.5B, damaged 100,000 homes: World Bank

The World Bank estimated that about $8.5 billion worth of damages and losses have piled up from the year-long war in Lebanon, which had already been struggling with a devastating economic crisis.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 15: Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives outside the West Wing of the White House September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. Netanyahu is in Washington to participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel euphoric over Trump's cabinet: Will he pick annexation or Saudi deal?

"Everything is ready," a senior source in Israel's settlement enterprise told Al-Monitor. "We just have to get Trump's approval and carry it out."

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

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 13: U.S. President Joe Biden meets with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. President Biden continued the tradition inviting the newly-elected president to meet at the White House after Trump won the presidential election on November 5. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

From State to CIA, here are Trump's key foreign policy, national security appointments

US President-elect Donald Trump has been rolling out his picks for key positions in his administration, many of which will impact Middle East relations.

US Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), newly elected senate majority leader for the upcoming 119th Congress, speaks to reporters at the US Capitol, on Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington.

Analysis

How will Congress' Republican power duo navigate Trump’s Middle East agenda?

Sen. John Thune, an institutionalist, will lead Senate Republicans and work alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass the president's policies.

Megan Mineiro

By Megan Mineiro

In Washington, DC, reporting on US Congress

YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images

French-made military technology used in Sudan war, Amnesty reports

The report is the latest sign of growing foreign interference in Sudan, where the brutal civil war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.

MAXIM SHIPENKOV/AFP via Getty Images

BRICS offers Turkey 'partner country' status, Turkish trade minister says

The Turkish trade minister stopped short of clarifying whether Ankara accepted the offer or not.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrives for a meeting of the board of governors at IAEA headquarters on Sept. 11, 2023, in Vienna, Austria.

In first since Trump win, nuclear watchdog chief Grossi arrives in Iran for talks

As Iran braces for another Trump presidency, which last time saw the dissolution of the Iran nuclear deal, the director of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency holds talks in Tehran regarding the Iranian nuclear program.

A man walks in a street covered in mud in a flooded area in Picanya, near Valencia, eastern Spain, on Oct. 30, 2024.

As floods ravage Spain, Morocco utilizes disaster diplomacy, offers help

Relations between Morocco and Spain are warming after years of tensions, and a railway linkage project is gaining momentum.

Turkish Jandarma soldiers guard the entrance to the Silivri Courthouse while awaiting the court's decision during the ongoing trial of journalists from the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Turkey postpones debate on controversial ‘foreign agent’ law amid public outcry

The move follows criticism from the opposition and civil society over potential threats to free speech and media independence.

Zebulon Simantov reads his old, tattered Hebrew prayer book as he celebrates the Jewish New Year feast of Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 18, 2009, in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Three years after fleeing, Afghanistan's last Jew arrives in Israel

Having fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, heading to Istanbul via Pakistan, Afghanistan's last Jew has now arrived in Israel.