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November 5, 2026

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Feature

Emboldened Democrats gear up to challenge Trump over Iran war, Gulf business ties

Democrats are weighing options to enforce Congress’ authority to declare war.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

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

An aerial view shows a campaign billboard depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party and President Donald Trump in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 26, 2026, on the eve of Israel's legislative elections.

Explainer

Democrats’ midterm sweep tests US-Israel ties as Eisenkot vows reset

Political sources describe the Democrats' midterm victory as a political blow to both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Latest News

From Tehran to Tel Aviv, Democrats’ midterm triumph sparks Middle East reactions

The sun sets on the US Capitol on Election Day evening on Nov. 3, 2026 in Washington.

'Generational wipeout': Democratic gains to reshape Trump's final years

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Gulf markets gain, oil falls as Democrats win Congress

Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

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

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

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

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

Workers produce face masks as the demand for their production rapidly increased and struggles to meet orders, at a Turkish manufacturer's facility in Istanbul, Turkey, January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC2EQE9GQX3A

Turkey enjoys PR win with coronavirus aid shipment to US

Turkey ships face masks and other personal protective equipment to the United States and evacuates a Turkish COVID-19 patient from Sweden.

Refugees from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, walk past tents at Nowruz refugee camp in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, August 17, 2014. Proclaiming a caliphate straddling parts of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State militants have swept across northern Iraq, pushing back Kurdish regional forces and driving tens of thousands of Christians and members of the Yazidi religious minority from their homes. Picture taken August 17, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said (SYRIA - Tags: POLIT

Intel: US watchdog calls on State Department to add Syria to list of religious freedom violators

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should designate Syria as one of the world’s worst religious freedom offenders and put Iraq, Turkey and Egypt on a special watch list, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended in its annual report.

A view shows the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit in the background and the Israeli barrier in the foreground in the village of Bilin, where a Friday anti-Israel weekly protest is held, as the area is seen empty of Palestinian demonstrators amid concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RC2PNF9HQOZQ

Netanyahu's annexation plan can't be stopped

Annexation of the Jordan Valley is a long-standing Israeli objective, going back to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement overlooking the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, located in an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the region's capture in the 1967 Middle East war, February 20, 2020. Debbie Hill/Pool via REUTERS - RC2E4F9ALPB6

Can anyone stop Netanyahu’s annexation plans?

A formidable array of figures is working in public and behind the scenes to block Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex West Bank lands.

Fighters of the Manbij military council, allied to Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), take an overwatch position in the southern rural area of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria June 1, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said/File Photo - S1AEUACQAIAC

Syrian Kurdish parties resume talks, in secret

Rival Kurdish parties in northeastern Syria have began US-sponsored reconciliation talks after repeated delays in the past and in the hope of joining the UN-sponsored peace process to resolve the Syrian conflict.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends a news conference, a day ahead of the first meeting of the new Syrian Constitutional Committee at the Untied Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - RC198A0C39B0

Iran pushes back against US plan for snapback sanctions

Iran’s foreign minister said United States is dreaming if it thinks it can claim it is still a participant in the nuclear deal in order to trigger snapback sanctions.

Workers set up a natural gas pipeline during a dust storm at Iraq's border with Iran in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani - GF10000380312

Iraq receives another short waiver to US sanctions on Iranian gas

The United States granted Iraq 30 more days to continue importing Iranian gas in contrast with longer sanctions waivers in the past.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, U.S., April 22, 2020. Nicholas Kamm/Pool via REUTERS - RC2T9G9GMFQP

Intel: Pompeo links Iran satellite launch to erosion of nuclear deal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Iran’s recent launch of a military satellite into orbit last week during a phone call today with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Netanyahu notches up international blitz on West Bank annexation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was confident that President Donald Trump will let the Israeli government annex parts of the West Bank, as stated in the American peace plan.

Iraqi soldiers search for IS along Tigris River

Iraqi army soldiers look for IS fighters in Samarra, where IS has been active during the coronavirus lockdown in the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at the ministry of foreign affairs in Cairo, Egypt, January 10, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS - RC1A495CFE00

Intel: Egypt’s medical aid to US fails to stem outrage over American prisoners

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry by phone on Thursday to discuss “continued collaboration on key regional issues and bilateral COVID-19 assistance."

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC2HIF91AUNH

Intel: Biden vows to back Armenian genocide resolution as president

Former Vice President Joe Biden marked Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on Friday with a pledge to back a resolution recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s massacre of more than 1 million mostly Christian Armenians as a genocide.