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Politics & Security

This photograph taken during a press tour organised by the Lebanese army shows Lebanese soldiers standing atop military vehicles in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, on November 28, 2025. It was the first guided tour the army gave journalists since a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon army chief to visit US Tuesday to shore up support: What to know

The Lebanese army is seeking international and regional support to boost its capabilities and enable it to continue clearing the areas in southern Lebanon as part of a disarmament plan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart following their talks in Moscow on December 17, 2025. (Photo by Ramil Sitdikov / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Iran FM heads to Turkey in last-ditch effort to avoid US escalation

Ankara is stepping up efforts to ease Iran-US tensions, as Turkey's top diplomat meets with a US envoy ahead of the Iranian foreign minister's Friday visit to Turkey.

SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: January 29, 2026, 11:45 am

European Union adds IRGC to terror list, expands sanctions

As the extent of the killing of protests is gradually revealed, the European Union has decided to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses foreign ambassadors to Iran, in Tehran on Oct. 5, 2025.

Iranian officials vow 'harsh' response as Trump threatens action: What to know

Iranian officials signaled openness to a nuclear deal but warned they would retaliate against any US military strike.

Latest News

Analysis

After Trump’s rebuke, can Maliki rebound in Iraq, or does Sudani become favorite?

(L to R) Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid; Qais al-Khazali, head of the "Asaib Ahl al-Haq"; one of the member factions of the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) paramilitaries; Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani; and former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki attend an event commemorating the 21st anniversary of the group's creation at a hotel in Baghdad on May 3, 2024.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

EU nears terror listing of Iran’s IRGC as France, Spain flip: What to know

HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey declares Somalia unity a priority after Israel's Somaliland recognition

HASSAN ALI ELMI/AFP via Getty Images

Rubio says 'thousands' killed in Iran, US prepping for threats against personnel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine US policy towards Venezuela on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Jan. 28, 2026.

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

US President Joe Biden (L) listens to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he joins a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023.

Day 67 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Tuesday, Dec. 12

A picture obtained by AFP from Iranian News Agency ISNA on June 13, 2019, reportedly shows fire and smoke billowing from Norwegian-owned Front Altair tanker said to have been attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman

Houthi missile hits Norwegian-flagged tanker in latest Red Sea attack

Iran-backed rebels hit a Norwegian-owned chemical tanker with a cruise missile, but the ship had no clear connection to Israel, signaling the Houthis may be widening the aperture of their attacks.

BERLIN, GERMANY - MARCH 16: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to speak to the media following talks at the Chancellery on March 16, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. Netanyahu's one-day visit to Berlin is being accompanied by protests, including both by people angry over Israel’s policies towards Palestinians as well as those critical of possible new legislation in Israel supported by Netanyahu that would undermine the independence and the power of Israel's Suprem

Analysis

Germany's double approach to Israel: Expand Gaza aid, mum on cease-fire

Germany has seen significant spike in antisemitic attacks since the the war. Chancellor Olaf Scholz called this week on the Netanyahu government to do whatever it can to limit the number of casualties in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid convoys.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Virginia, Arlington, aerial photograph of the eastern entrance of the Pentagon.

Key Pentagon policy officials to step down amid widening Middle East crisis

Mara Karlin, who oversaw the drafting of the Biden administration's national defense strategy and has filled in as the Pentagon’s no.-3 top official, and Dana Stroul, the department’s Middle East policy director, are both stepping down as Congressional dysfunction threatens to hold up their replacement.

Washington Connection

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during his visit to an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) centre, at the Palmachim Airbase near the city of Rishon LeZion on July 5, 2023.

Report: Netanyahu sets up secret team to discuss ‘day after’ in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set up a team to discuss possibilities for the day after the war in Gaza, according to a recent Channel 13 report.

A picture taken in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on Dec. 11, 2023.

Day 66 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Monday, Dec. 11

A truck carries Iranian drones during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Tehran, Iran, Sept. 22, 2023.

Iran unveils new Karrar drones upgraded with air-to-air missiles

Iran’s drone fleet has raised concerns among the United States and its allies.

CNN's Becky Anderson interviews Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian over a videocall during the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital on December 11, 2023. (Photo by SALIM MATRAMKOT / AFP) (Photo by SALIM MATRAMKOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s FM confirms US messages on Iraq, dodges questions on protests

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Washington has been dispatching weekly messages to Iran to rein in militants in Iraq and Syria attacking its forces.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Ghana's Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, British Secretary for Foreign Affairs James Cleverly, the Deputy Chairperson for the African Union Commission Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Kenya's Foreign

France, Germany, Italy push for EU sanctions against Hamas leaders

In a letter to the European Union Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell, the foreign ministers of the three countries stress they would like to see more Hamas leaders sanctioned.

An aid convoy bearing the Jordanian flag enters the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas, Nov. 20, 2023.

Middle East countries join global call for strike in solidarity with Palestinians

Several countries in the region observed a strike in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and to demand an end of the Israeli war.

Gen. Joseph Aoun (R), Lebanese Army chief of staff, arrives at the Hamat airbase, north of Beirut, June 12, 2018.

What fate awaits Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun as another Beirut void looms?

Another leadership position might soon be vacant in Lebanon amid bickering over the legality of extending the term of the soon-to-retire commander of the military.

A ball of fire rises above a building during an Israeli strike in Rafah

Day 65 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Sunday, Dec. 10