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Politics & Security

The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, speaks during a commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani (on screen) in the capital Tehran on Jan. 3, 2024.

Analysis

What Qaani's Baghdad visit reveals about Iran's post-war dilemma

The Quds Force commander's Baghdad visit is occurring as Iran faced difficult choices in Iraq where the government is moving to bring powerful armed groups under state control after the recent war.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan met with Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity of Libya, in Tripoli on Aug. 11, 2026.

Turkey’s Fidan heads to Libya as US-backed unification push gathers pace

The Turkish foreign minister will hold talks in both Tripoli and Benghazi as Ankara seeks to preserve its military, maritime, energy and commercial interests while Washington pushes Libya’s rival camps toward a power-sharing arrangement.

Qaani

IRGC chief Qaani reportedly in Iraq ahead of militia deadline

Esmail Qaani, who heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, has been heavily involved in Iran’s relations with Iraqi militias.

lia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza plan while quietly implementing it

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he rejects US President Donald Trump’s Gaza reconstruction plan, Israel is advancing its implementation.

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

Latest News

Syrian court sentences Bashar al-Assad, brother to death for war crimes

Bashar Al Assad

Interview

Israel's deputy FM, Sharren Haskel, bets on a new right after breaking with Netanyahu

Sharren Haskel speaks at an event marking 60 years of diplomatic ties between Germany and Israel hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin, Oct. 16, 2025.

Iran’s Khamenei appoints six military commanders: What to know

image of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

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

TOPSHOT - An Israeli soldier wearing a patch on the back of his flack jacket showing Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a target, stands in front of a self-propelled artillery howitzer in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, as an artillery unit shells southern Lebanon on January 4, 2024. Nasrallah warned Israel against all-out conflict, after Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi, in a visit to the Lebanese border, said troops were "in very high readiness". (Photo by jalaa marey / AFP) (Photo by JALAA M

Analysis

Israel uncertain of Hezbollah's intentions, prepares for all options

While Israel does not expect Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to launch an all-out war, it is preparing for anything to happen.

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

Gallant Blinken

Blinken returns to Middle East as concern of war's escalation grows

The US secretary of state's latest shuttle diplomacy comes amid mounting concerns the Israel-Hamas war could spiral into a wider regional conflict.

TOPSHOT - Palestinian journalists attempt to connect to the internet using their phones in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on December 27, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Power cuts have become a fact of life in war-torn Gaza. But thanks to embedded SIM cards, Palestinians can still access the internet and stay in touch with loved ones abroad. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza journalists killed at rate of 7.5%, higher than US soldiers in recent wars: IFJ

IFJ has recorded the death of 75 journalists in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of an estimated 1,000 working there before the war began.

A picture depicting Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, hangs on a building near the site of a drone strike attributed to Israel targeting Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri in the southern suburb of Beirut on Jan. 3, 2024.

Day 91 of Hamas-Israel war blog: Friday, Jan. 5

Members of a band play music s they participate in a demonstration in support of Somalia's government following the port deal signed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland at Eng Yariisow Stadium in Mogadishu on January 3, 2024. Somalia vowed to defend its territory after a controversial Red Sea access deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway state of Somaliland that it branded as "aggression". (Photo by ABDISHUKRI HAYBE / AFP) (Photo by ABDISHUKRI HAYBE/AFP via Getty Images)

Ethiopia-Somaliland deal receives wide condemnations, including from Egypt, Turkey

Several countries in the region condemned a recent deal giving Ethiopia access to Somaliland’s coast.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US envoy Amos Hochstein, Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 4 2024 Credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO

In Israel, US envoy Hochstein struggles to defuse tension with Lebanon's Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Amos Hochstein that Israel is determined to profoundly change the security situation on its border with Lebanon by both diplomatic and military means.

The Soloturk aerobatic demonstration team of the Turkish Air Force flies an F-16 aircraft over Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Turkish Republic's Founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara, on October 29, 2023. Turkey marked its centenary as a post-Ottoman republic on October 29, 2023, with somewhat muted celebrations held in the shadow of Israel's escalating war with Hamas militants in Gaza. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALT

Ahead of Blinken's trip, Turkey's patience is wearing thin on F-16s sale

Ahead of the US top diplomat’s visit, Ankara has signaled that its patience over its bid to purchase new F-16 fighter jets from the United States is wearing thin.

Erkan Bas (L), leader of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP), and fellow party MPs Sera Kadigil (C) and Ahmet Sik (R) display a portrait of jailed TIP MP Can Atalay, during a swearing-in ceremony at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, June 2, 2023.

Erdogan rivals call Turkey 'banana republic' as high court rulings ignored

Turkish officials’ dismissal of courts has also resulted in the threat of targeted sanctions against them by the Council of Europe.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 27: Actress Cynthia Nixon speaks as she announces a hunger strike calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the White House on November 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. Nixon, who was joined by state legislators, community leaders and activist, demands that President Biden call for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and stops military aid to Israel. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

'Quietly complicit': second US official quits over Biden’s Gaza war handling

Tariq Habash, a Department of Education political appointee, said he could no longer represent an administration that “does not value all human life equally.”

This picture shows people and Iranian emergency personnel at the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani, near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in the southern Iranian city of Kerman on Jan. 3, 2024.

ISIS claims responsibility for twin Iran blasts that left nearly 100 dead

Two Islamic State operatives were responsible for the attacks, according to the group.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

What we know about US strike that killed Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad

The US assassination of a senior Harakat al-Nujaba commander threatened to rekindle opposition to the presence of American troops among factions in Baghdad.

Iraqi-Kurdish peshmerga officers.

US reduces peshmerga funding amid Iraqi Kurdish political tensions

The reduction comes as the KRG has already been struggling financially due to budget disputes with Baghdad, fluctuating oil prices, and the cost of hosting more than a million refugees and IDPs.