Iran Deal

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Iranian Foreign Minister, flashes victory sign during an election rally in support of Iranian presidential election candidate Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran, Iran, on June 24, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. After the election with a historically low turnout on Friday, Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's presidential election candidate and former reformist member of the Iranian parliam

Analysis

What’s behind Javad Zarif's resignation from Iran’s new government?

Zarif's sudden resignation came in response to apparent interference by the powerful hard-liners and stirred debate on the deadlock for meaningful reform within the existing frameworks of the Islamic Republic.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Meet Tim Walz, Harris’ VP: Progressive favorite with mainstream views on Israel, Iran

Walz voiced opposition to the Iraq War and traveled to Israel and Syria while in Congress and has sought to address division over pro-Palestinian protests in the Democratic Party as governor of Minnesota.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, on July 15, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel runs several scenarios, prepares for attacks by Iran, Hezbollah

Israeli security experts estimate that Iran will opt for a coordinated attack with Hezbollah, but will try to avoid an all-out war.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to address a joint gathering of Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the US Capitol, Washington, DC, July 24, 2024.

Analysis

Netanyahu delivers defiant speech, remains weak leader as Israel struggles in Gaza

Apart from hollow slogans, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered no solutions for freeing the hostages, ending the Hamas war or administering Gaza.

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

Latest News

Analysis

Israel’s Yemen attack against Houthis warning to nuclear Iran

Debris litters a loading dock a day after Israeli strikes on the port of Yemen's Houthi-held city of Hodeida on July 21, 2024.

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

Analysis

Can Iran's new president challenge country's powerful hard-liners?

Iranian reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian (C-R) and Iran's former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (C-L) gesture after voting in Tehran on July 5, 2024. Polls opened on July 5 for Iran's runoff presidential election, the interior ministry said, pitting reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili in the race to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a May helicopter crash. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Analysis

US rejects limited Israeli war in Lebanon, continues 2000-lb bomb freeze

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - JUNE 25: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant walk into the Pentagon on June 25, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. Their meeting comes a day after Gallant and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down together to discuss Gaza and Lebanon. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

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

Iran’s Reformist, hard-liner candidates clash over foreign policy in last debate

An Iranian woman without wearing mandatory headscarves walks past electoral posters in Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. People in Iran are increasingly showing less interest in casting their vote in the snap presidential election scheduled on June 28 after the disqualification of several candidates by the country's religious Guardian Council. Voter turnouts have hit historically lo

Analysis

Hezbollah, Israel not seeking full-blown war but risk of miscalculation at peak

CORRECTION / Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Khiam in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on June 19, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by RABIH DAHER / AFP) / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by RABIH DAHER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [June 19] instead of [June 8]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your onlin

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

Former foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, delivers a speech during an electoral campaign rally to support Masoud Pezeshkianin in Tehran, Iran, on June 19, 2024. Iran is holding snap presidential elections to choose the next president after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. (Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by HOSSEIN BERIS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Could Zarif tilt Iran's election toward long shot Reformist Pezeshkian?

By enlisting Mohammad Javad Zarif, Masoud Pezeshkian is sending a signal to the United States and the West, as well as to Iranians, about a possible change of course in Iran's foreign policy if he pulls off an upset next week.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

US joins Europeans in rare censure of Iran at UN nuclear watchdog

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors has voted to censure Iran for the first time since November 2022.

Iranians participate in the 12th term parliamentary elections and the 6th term Assembly of Leadership Experts' voting at a Tehran polling station on March 1, 2024.

What Iran's elections could signal about potential for US escalation

The sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has plunged the country into new uncertainty, but it’s unlikely to derail Washington's quiet push to dial back tensions with Tehran.

This handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on Aug. 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran.

Understanding Iran's increasingly open rhetoric about atomic bombs

Several Iranian officials and military generals have recently abandoned earlier reservations on nuclear policy, sending out the message that the country could be turning into an atomic weapons possessor to deter Israel.

Iran war heads

Analysis

With US on its side, Israel expects any imminent Iran attack to be 'measured'

Diplomatic efforts are reportedly underway to contain any military escalation, clarifying limits to Iran to avoid all-out war.

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

CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla (L) and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi meet in Tel Aviv, May 30, 2023.

CENTCOM chief begins Israel visit, coordinating for possible Iran attack

CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla, on a regional tour, discussed preparations for a possible retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel.

A pedestrian walks past a branch of a Lloyds Bank in London on Feb. 24, 2021.

Analysis

Iran's use of 2 UK banks to evade sanctions tests West's financial systems

The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Lloyds Bank and Santander UK provided accounts to companies with links to Iran’s intelligence services.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

A picture taken on Nov. 10, 2019, shows an Iranian flag in Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Iran begins building 4 more nuclear power plants amid IAEA warnings

Western officials have long suspected Tehran of looking to produce nuclear weapons, though Iran denies this.

A seal on the exterior of the US Department of Treasury building, March 13, 2023.

Who are the Iranians sanctioned by US, UK for murder plots against dissidents?

One of the plots culminated in the 2019 assassination of Iranian government critic Mas’ud Vardanjani in Istanbul, according to a statement by the US Treasury Monday.

Rafael Grossi

Davos 2024: IAEA chief says monitoring of Iran nuclear sites 'not at a good place'

Asked by Al-Monitor if Iran was close to enriching weapons-grade uranium, Grossi responded, “They are already there.”

France's Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna (2R) meets with soldiers of the French contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), outside the Pine Residence, the French Ambassador's official residence in Beirut, on December 18, 2023. France's top diplomat is in Lebanon on December 18, for talks on de-escalating near-daily exchanges of fire on the Israel border, which have triggered fears of all-out conflict. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Image

Breaking | Last Updated: January 11, 2024, 4:42 pm

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna out as France changes cabinet

With French President Emmanuel Macron still in charge of his country's foreign policies, Colonna's exit is unlikely to affect Paris' Middle East positions.

People wave Hezbollah and Iranian flags at a rally in Baalbek, Lebanon, May 13, 2022.

Britain hits Iran and its foreign proxies with fresh sanctions

The measures, coordinated with the United States, also target Iran's shipping sector and drone exports.