Middle East

When the State Decides but Cannot Enforce
Op-edWhen the State Decides but Cannot Enforce

After Hezbollah once again turned Lebanon into a battlefield at the behest of the Iranian regime, all eyes turned to see whether the Lebanese state could undertake tangible measures to counter this existential risk. Hours after Hezbollah lobbed rockets into Israel on March 2, the Lebanese government convened an emergency meeting at the ...

Iran Accuses U.S. and Israel of Seeking to Divide the Country as War Escalates
Iran Accuses U.S. and Israel of Seeking to Divide the Country as War Escalates

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday accused the United States and Israel of attempting to weaken and divide the country as the regional war continues to intensify, while insisting that Tehran’s military actions are defensive and warning that international institutions have failed to intervene. During a press ...

Qatar arrests 313 People for Sharing Attacks Footage, 'Rumors'
Qatar arrests 313 People for Sharing Attacks Footage, 'Rumors'

Qatari authorities have arrested more than 300 people for sharing images and what they described as "misleading information" during days of attacks by Iran, the interior ministry said on Monday. The arrests echo measures across the Gulf as Iran targets airports, military bases, energy installations and residential areas with daily drones and ...

Trump Says Decision to End Iran War Will Be “Mutual” With Netanyahu
Trump Says Decision to End Iran War Will Be “Mutual” With Netanyahu

U.S. President Donald Trump said the decision on when to end the ongoing war with Iran will ultimately be made in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while emphasizing that the final call will rest with the United States. In a phone interview with The Times of Israel published Sunday, Trump described the decision-making ...

Iran Strikes Gulf Energy Infrastructure as Regional War Drives Oil Prices Higher
Iran Strikes Gulf Energy Infrastructure as Regional War Drives Oil Prices Higher

Iran launched a new wave of strikes across the Gulf on Monday, targeting energy infrastructure and military-linked facilities in several countries as the regional conflict triggered by the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran continues to widen. One of the most significant attacks struck Bahrain’s Al Ma’ameer oil facility, a major petroleum ...

Heavy Clashes Erupt in Eastern Lebanon as Hezbollah Confronts Israeli Airborne Operation
Heavy Clashes Erupt in Eastern Lebanon as Hezbollah Confronts Israeli Airborne Operation

Hezbollah said on Monday it fought Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter across the Syrian border, the second such operation since the outbreak of the latest conflict with Israel. Heavy fighting broke out overnight in eastern Lebanon after Israeli forces carried out what appeared to be an airborne insertion near the ...

Iran Launches Missiles as Khamenei's Son Takes Charge
Iran Launches Missiles as Khamenei's Son Takes Charge

Iran fired missiles at Israel and Gulf nations early Monday after the Islamic republic named Mojtaba Khamenei its new leader to succeed his late father despite threats by the United States and Israel to target him next. Nine days after US-Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, Iranian clerics picked ...

Mojtaba Khamenei Succeeds His Father as Iran’s Supreme Leader
Mojtaba Khamenei Succeeds His Father as Iran’s Supreme Leader

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was elected Iran’s Supreme Leader on Sunday, succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed last Saturday at 86 after more than three decades as the country’s head of state. The elder Khamenei had denied in 2024 that such a dynastic succession could take place, given that the Iranian Revolution ended centuries of ...

Tehran Under Fire: Week One
VideosTehran Under Fire: Week One

Seven days into the U.S.–Israeli offensive against Iran, the conflict continues to escalate. Airstrikes hit Tehran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, and targeted key sites including the Natanz nuclear facility and military bases in Isfahan, Qom, and Kermanshah. This video recaps the first week of the ...

Six Wounded in Israel After Iran Missile Fire
Six Wounded in Israel After Iran Missile Fire

Six people were wounded, some by shrapnel, at blast sites in central Israel on Sunday, according to first responders, after the military said it had detected a new wave of Iranian missiles. A spokesperson for Magen David Adom emergency services said "medics and paramedics are providing medical treatment and evacuating" the wounded to ...

Lebanon’s Government Moves to Rein in Hezbollah, But Is It Enough?
AnalysisLebanon’s Government Moves to Rein in Hezbollah, But Is It Enough?

After Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the regional conflict with its March 2 attack on Israel, the Lebanese government signaled increased urgency to assert state authority and seize the militia’s arsenal. The cabinet’s headline-making decisions include banning Hezbollah’s military and security activities, directing the Lebanese Armed Forces ...

Iran President Apologizes to Gulf Neighbors Triggering Rift Among Country’s Leadership
Iran President Apologizes to Gulf Neighbors Triggering Rift Among Country’s Leadership

Iranian President Masoud Pezeskian faced backlash from conservative hardliners following his speech yesterday, in which he apologized and vowed to stop striking neighboring Arab countries, provided they did not conduct attacks against the Islamic Republic.  In an apparent backtrack, Pezeskian claimed in a prerecorded address, Sunday, that ...