This is Beirut

Hezbollah Activity Rises as Israel Watches and Tehran Calls for Vigilance

This is Beirut, 11:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Hezbollah Israel Tehran lebanon Iran Beirut

Israeli intelligence services have reported unusual activity by Hezbollah in several parts of Lebanon, while Tehran is urging vigilance and the defense of Lebanese sovereignty, highlighting the fragile balance in a region already on edge. According to the Israeli daily Maariv, the Israeli army has observed intensified movements by Hezbollah ...

Iran Banking on Iraq Vote to Retain Regional Influence

This is Beirut, 09:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Hezbollah Tehran Iran Iraq US

Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with analysts saying Iran will be watching closely as it hopes to retain influence over its neighbor after losing regional leverage during the Gaza war. The past two years have seen Iran-backed groups including Palestinian militants Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Huthis in Yemen suffer ...

Drought in Iran: Tehran’s Main Water Reservoir Nearly Dry

This is Beirut, 02/11 18:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Amir Kabir Dam Water Tehran

Tehran, the capital of Iran, may run out of drinking water within two weeks due to a historic drought that has nearly emptied its main reservoir, state media warned Sunday. The vast metropolis of more than 10 million people, nestled on the southern slopes of the Alborz range, typically sees hot, dry summers, occasionally rainy autumns, and ...

How Venezuela Became America’s Next Battleground — And Why Iran Is in the Room

Salam El Zaatari, 30/10 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Venezuela Iran United States Hezbollah Colombia

There has been no formal declaration of war, no vote in Congress, and no rousing call to liberate a people from tyranny. Yet one of the largest U.S. military build-ups in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War is sitting a few miles off Venezuela’s coastline. Washington calls it a counter-narcotics mission. Caracas fears it is a slow-motion ...

European Intelligence: Iran Rebuilding Missile Program

This is Beirut, 29/10 21:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel Tehran United Nations Iran missiles

Western intelligence agencies have revealed that Iran is actively rebuilding its ballistic missile program in defiance of renewed UN sanctions, with significant assistance from China, according to a CNN report. European intelligence sources said that several shipments of sodium perchlorate, a key ingredient in the solid fuel used to power ...

Iran Declares Major Private Bank Ayandeh Bankrupt Amid Mounting Debt and Sanctions

This is Beirut, 25/10 17:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Bank Ayandeh

Iran declared one of the country's largest private banks bankrupt, with its assets absorbed by the state, official media reported Saturday, in a rare move in the country grappling with international sanctions. Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank had a network of 270 branches across the country, including 150 in the capital, Tehran, alone. But it had ...

Assassination Casts Dark Cloud over Iraqi Elections

Seth J. Frantzman , 23/10 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Iran Iraq Hezbollah Baghdad

In the early hours of October 15, an IED tore through a Chevy Tahoe in Baghdad’s northern outskirts, killing Safaa al-Mashhadani, a candidate in Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Three days later, gunmen opened fire on the office of another candidate, Muthanna al-Azzawi, 25 kilometers south of the Iraqi ...

The Shamkhani Wedding Scandal: How a Leaked Wedding Became Iran’s Mirror of Moral Collapse

Salam El Zaatari, 23/10 11:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Iran wedding Islamic Republic of Iran

In mid-October 2025, a leaked video from a private wedding set Iran ablaze, digitally, politically and morally. It wasn’t just any celebration. The footage showed the daughter of Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, one of Iran’s most powerful men and a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, parading in a strapless white gown at the ...

One Year After Nasrallah’s Death, Hezbollah Struggles to Rebuild

This is Beirut, 20/10 13:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Hassan Nasrallah Hezbollah Hamas Israel Hashem Safieddine lebanon Iran

A year after the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Beirut on September 27, 2024, Hezbollah is quietly attempting to rebuild its shattered leadership and reassert its influence. According to a detailed report by Le Figaro correspondent Georges Malbrunot, the Shia militia now operates in a state of ...

Man in Iran Executed for Spying for Israel

This is Beirut, 19/10 16:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Israel Espionnage Qom Prison

Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Israel, the Islamic Republic's arch-enemy, the judiciary's press agency announced Sunday, marking the latest in a series of such cases since a war broke out between the two countries in June. "The death penalty, imposed on a Mossad spy, was carried out Saturday morning in Qom prison," south of the ...

Art and Faith Unite in Tehran’s Virgin Mary Station

This is Beirut, 19/10 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Tehran Art Culture

Shiite Islam may be the official religion in Iran, but entering Tehran's brand-new Maryam Moghaddas metro station, you could be forgiven for feeling as if you're stepping inside a Christian church. Maryam Moghaddas in Persian translates as "Holy Mary." And the station's vaulted and arched concourse, with a dome decorated with Persian motifs, ...

Iran Says No Longer Bound by 'Restrictions' on Its Nuclear Program

This is Beirut, 18/10 13:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Iran IAEA Iran Nuclear Program

Iran said on Saturday that it was no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear program as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its "commitment to diplomacy." The 2015 deal, signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States, saw the lifting of international ...

iran