Iran

Trump Says Diplomacy With Iran Still Possible

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday diplomacy remains an option with Iran, even as Washington ramps up its military presence in the Middle East and warns that the situation remains volatile. In an interview with Axios published Monday, President Trump said Tehran has signaled a desire to engage in talks, describing repeated outreach from ...

U.S. Intelligence Assesses Iran’s Leadership at Its Weakest Point Since 1979

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran’s ruling establishment is facing its most fragile moment in decades, as President Donald Trump receives multiple intelligence briefings indicating that the government’s grip on power has reached its weakest point since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to reports cited by the New York ...

London Based Persian TV to Air 'Truth' About Iran Protests Despite Threats

Journalists at the Persian-language TV station Iran International in London have been working flat out, vowing to "show the truth" about the protests in Iran, despite threats against them and their families. The private broadcaster, housed in a heavily secured building in west London, was labeled a "terrorist" organization by Tehran in 2022, ...

Qassem Warns Hezbollah May Intervene If Iran Is Attacked

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, delivered a speech amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran on Monday, stating that any attack on Iran would also target his group, and warned that any new war on the Islamic Republic would ignite the region. On the question of Hezbollah’s engagement in a conflict scenario, Qassem left ...

Rubio Praises Iraq’s Detention of ISIS Members, Warns Against Iranian Influence

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday praised the Iraqi government’s “initiative and leadership” in accelerating the transfer and detention of ISIS terrorists to secure facilities inside Iraq. According to a U.S. Department of State press release, Rubio held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani in light of recent ...

U.S. Launches Regional Air Readiness Drill in the Middle East

The United States will conduct a multi-day air readiness exercise across the Middle East, aimed at demonstrating the ability to deploy, distribute, and sustain combat air capabilities throughout the region, according to a statement issued Sunday by U.S. Central Command, as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the region ...

Iran May Have Slaughtered 30,000 Protesters in Intense Crackdown - TIME

As many as 30,000 people may have been killed across Iran during a two-day crackdown on January 8 and 9, TIME reported on Sunday, citing two senior Health Ministry officials and a separate compilation of hospital data shared with the publication.  The figures have not been independently verified and far exceed numbers publicly cited by ...

2026 NDS: America First Ushers in a New Era of Selective Engagement in the Middle East

The newly released 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) marks a dramatic pivot in American foreign policy, embracing what officials call “pragmatic realism” while fundamentally redefining U.S. engagement in the Middle East. Under an “America First” framework, the strategy moves away from large-scale military interventions in favor of ...

U.S. to Sanction Iran’s Shadow Fleet as Details of Protest Crackdown Surface

On Friday, the U.S. announced that it had imposed sanctions on nine vessels and eight entities that are part of Iran’s shadow fleet, according to a press statement from State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott. The imposition of sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet vessels is a move of U.S. escalation against the Iranian ...

UN Rights Chief Urges Iran to 'End Brutal Repression'

The United Nations rights chief decried Friday that "thousands" of people, including children, had died in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests and urged the authorities to "end their brutal repression." Speaking at the start of a UN Human Rights Council urgent meeting on the situation in Iran, Volker Turk urged the authorities in Tehran "to ...