Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

politics and security cover image

Politics & Security

Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, gives a press conference in the autonomous region's capital Arbil on June 25, 2025.

Interview

Barzani calls for enhanced air defense for Kurdistan Region to counter drone attacks

Iraqi Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani backs US-led regional economic integration efforts and lauds US partnership in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor.

Masrour Barzani

Masrour Barzani

KRG Prime Minister

Saddam Hifter meets with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin

Russia’s Putin hosts Saddam Hifter amid instability in Libya: What to know

Moscow has built a strong relationship with Libya’s eastern camp, as Washington and Ankara pursue efforts to reunify the country’s political and military institutions.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Exclusive

Saudi Arabia wants Iran-backed militia 'heads to roll' in Iraq amid talks with Tehran

Riyadh is pressing Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to act against the groups behind attacks on the kingdom as Baghdad struggles to balance ties with Tehran and Washington.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks during a press conference at the site where Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed by a US airstrike in 2020 near the airport upon his arrival in Baghdad, on Aug. 19, 2026.

Iran’s Ghalibaf makes high-level visit to Iraq ahead of disarmament deadline

The Iraqi parliament speaker is calling on his Iranian counterpart to help Iraq export oil through Hormuz amid the regional conflict.

Latest News

With talks stalled, Iran ups threats against Gulf, Europe: What to know

Pedestrians walk past a billboard depicting Iran's late Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2026.

In first, Lebanon to hand over former Syrian general to Sharaa government

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on Aug. 18, 2026, shows Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan (C) during the sentencing of Wassim al-Assad.

Analysis

How failing US-Iran diplomacy is giving way to fresh confrontation

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

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

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Iraq judicial chief highlights arrest warrant for Trump over Soleimani killing

The 2020 US airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad continues to be a sore point between the US and Iraqi governments.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's historic election could move up as Erdogan calculates

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking a favorable vote schedule as he fights to extend his 20-year rule.

Men hold pictures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , during a protest against the reprinting of the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, at the Imam Hussein square in the capital Tehran, on September 10, 2020. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Charlie Hebdo's Khamenei cartoons stir storm between Iran and France

Iran's already frosty ties with France are worsening as the Islamic Republic closed down a key French cultural institute, hard-liners demanded the expulsion of the French envoy and the walls of the French mission were covered with graffiti.

An armed Turkish security officer (L) stands guard near a gate as passengers walk past within a memorial ceremony on June 28, 2017 at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, one year since the triple suicide bombing and gun attack by Islamic State (IS) jihadists. (OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

US slaps sanctions on Islamic State network in Turkey

The US Treasury Department designated four individuals and two entities accused of enabling the terrorist group’s recruitment and financial transfers.

Beirut international airport

Lebanon arrests seven suspects in killing of Irish UNIFIL soldier

Seven suspects have been arrested in relation to the killing of an Irish peacekeeper in south Lebanon and six more are being investigated.

Israeli police vans carrying 19 Palestinian women leave Hadarim prison, near the coastal city of Netanya, Israel, Oct. 2, 2009.

Longest-held Palestinian prisoner released after 40 years in Israeli jail

Imprisoned since 1983 for killing an Israeli soldier, Israeli Arab Karim Younis was freed Thursday and went back to his home village.

New Israeli Knesset (parliament) speaker Amir Ohana (C) speaks as his partner Alon (L), their children, and newly-sworn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) attend a toast in his honour at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Dec. 29, 2022.

Cheers, jeers as Amir Ohana becomes Israel's first LGBTQ Knesset speaker

Ultra-Orthodox Knesset members are being criticized by their religious leadership for voting in favor of appointing openly gay Amir Ohana as Knesset speaker.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, Astana, Kazakhstan, Oct. 13, 2022.

Erdogan presses for 'concrete steps' in Syria during call with Putin

President Erdogan tells his Russian counterpart Putin that the Syrian government needs to be "constructive" for "concrete results" in Syria.

Iran protest

Iran's Khamenei strikes conciliatory message on hijab

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that women in loose hijabs are 'our daughters' and urged that they not be ostracized.

Syria Assad

The Takeaway: Regional embrace of Syria's Assad puts US in tight spot

Plus, the US responds to Itamar Ben-Gvir's controversial holy site visit, and President Joe Biden names ambassadors to Jordan and Oman.

Supporters of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah attend a televised speech by the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital Beirut's southern suburbs on Jan. 3, 2023 marking the third anniversary of the US killing of top Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Hezbollah's Nasrallah refutes health rumors, slams Ben-Gvir

Hassan Nasrallah praised internal efforts to choose a Lebanese president, but criticized attempts to link the issue to geopolitical developments.

A picture shows a newspaper stall with a view of Etemad newspaper's front page bearing a title reading in Farsi "The night of the end of the JCPOA ", and cover photos of Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian his deputy and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, in the capital Tehran on August 16, 2022. - The European Union and United States said they were studying Iran's response to a "final" draft agreement on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord with major powers the EU presented at talks in Vien

Analysis

Iran deal becomes latest casualty of Russia's war in Ukraine

US, European and Iranian diplomats explain how the negotiations on a return to the Iran nuclear deal have been eclipsed by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict