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Politics & Security

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Australia clamps down on Iranian visa holders as war fears rise: What to know

The move could affect over 7,000 Iranians who currently hold visitors visas but who have not yet arrived in Australia.

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, 12:44 pm

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

Iran has outlined five conditions for a ceasefire, most of which are seen as nonstarters by the Trump administration.

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

Latest News

Analysis

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

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.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

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

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.

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

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.

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 21: Singer Kelly Rowland (R) is interviewed by co-host Pete Hegseth during "Fox And Friends" at FOX Studios on March 21, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Trump stuns Pentagon by naming Fox News host Pete Hegseth defense chief

The president-elect’s made-for-TV decision to name Fox News host Pete Hegseth is reinforcing broad doubts about the seriousness of Trump's foreign policy.

US investor Steve Witkoff attends the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024.

From golf to the Gulf: Who is Trump’s new Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff?

Trump's long-time friend will face a tough job in trying to quell a regional war that has been raging since Oct. 7, 2023, between Israel, Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 13: U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participate in a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on November 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. The two leaders had a meeting in the Oval Office before speaking to the media at the news conference. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

After Trump win, Turkey hopeful on Syria reconciliation, US withdrawal

Ankara expresses hope for mending ties with Damascus as well as a potential US military exit from northern Syria following Trump’s victory.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-sentences-4-people-to-death-on-charges-of-spying-for-israel/

Iran arrests 7, kills 4 over alleged Israel links in southeast

According to a spokesperson, an elite military unit killed four “terrorists affiliated with the Zionist regime” and arrested seven others in the province that is home to a separatist group.

Secretary-General of Fatah’s Central Committee Jibril Rajoub looks on during an interview in Paris on July 27, 2024.

Interview

Senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub calls for 'Marshall-like plan' to rebuild Gaza

Potential unity with Hamas represents a key dilemma for the Ramallah-based government, which would lose legitimacy with the Western world but gain legitimacy with the Palestinian people.

Jibril Rajoub

Jibril Rajoub

Fatah Central Committee Secretary-General

Olivier Doulier/Getty Images

CIA official arrested for top-secret leak on Israel plans to attack Iran: What we know

Asif W. Rahman was charged in a federal court in Virginia last week with two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (C) inspects a guard of honour during a ceremonial reception at the President House a day after the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 11, 2023. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP) (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

What to make of Saudi-Iranian flurry of diplomatic activity, military channels?

A high-level military meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran on Sunday marked another in a series of recent diplomatic engagements between the two nations.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee leaves Trump Tower on November 18, 2016 in New York City.

Trump picks Mike Huckabee, staunch ally of settlers, as ambassador to Israel

“There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” Mike Huckabee said in 2008, and he has insisted over the years on referring to the occupied West Bank as Judea and Samaria.

AMAURY FALT-BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

US slaps sanctions on Sudan's Barakallah as UNSC convenes

Humanitarian and UN organizations are warning of intensifying fighting in Sudan as the armed forces make some gains against the rebels.

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid delivered from Jordan cross into Gaza.

Despite missed deadline to boost Gaza aid, US says Israel arms flows to continue

The Biden administration will not follow through with threatened consequences after Israel missed a deadline to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Analysis

Are Turkey's Erdogan and his nationalist ally about to fall out over Kurds?

For weeks assorted Turkish officials have been leaking claims that there is indeed daylight between the president and his ally of a sort that may even result in an unraveling of their nine-year partnership that has helped keep the AKP in power.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture