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Middle East

  • • Live Updates
    People walk in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, August 17, 2026.
    • Live Updates
    Majid Asgaripour/WANA News Agency/Reuters
    Live Updates2 min ago US threatens sanctions on countries that don’t cut economic ties to Tehran
  • The US is set to tighten the economic screws on Iran despite US sanctions having already drained the country's economy.
    Majid Asgaripour/WANA News Agency/Reuters
    Trump is trying to tighten the screws on an Iran numb to economic pain
  • FILE PHOTO: Adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mohsen Rezaei attends a farewell ceremony for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 during Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran, for international delegates at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran, July 3, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Foreign media in Iran operate under guidelines set by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which regulates press activity and permissions ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL. NO ACCESS FOR ISRAELI MEDIA. NO USE BBC PERSIAN. NO USE VOA PERSIAN. NO USE MANOTO. NO USE IRAN INTERNATIONAL. NO USE RADIO FARDA. DIGITAL: NO USE BBC PERSIAN. NO USE VOA PERSIAN. NO USE MANOTO. NO USE IRAN INTERNATIONAL. NO USE RADIO FARDA./File Photo
    • Live Updates
    Mohammed Salem/Reuters/File
    Live Updates2 min ago August 23, 2026 — Bessent promises ‘economic D-Day’ ahead of expected Iran sanctions
  • A girl crosses a busy road at the Islamic Revolution Square in Tehran on July 21.
    Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
    Iranian women defy efforts by hardliners to enforce wearing of hijab
  • Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on August 10, 2026.
    • Live Updates
    Ali Saeedi/Getty Images
    Live Updates2 min ago August 22, 2026 — Iran military leader vows Tehran ‘will not submit’ as US plans economic squeeze
  • A defaced portrait of Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on a wall in the capital Damascus on June 2, 2025.
    Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images
    What the death sentence for former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad tells us about the future of the country
  • Israeli soldiers stand guard outside a Palestinian house in the village of Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, on Thursday.
    Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images
    Trapped and cut off: Palestinian families under settler siege in the West Bank
  • A satellite image shows the damaged vessel Caroline Bezengi at sea off the coast of Oman, August 13, 2026. Pléiades Neo © Airbus DS 2026/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.
    Airbus/Reuters
    Huge oil spill off the coast of Oman now covers hundreds of square miles
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  • MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 9: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One on August 9, 2026 at Morristown Airport in Morristown, New Jersey. President Trump spent the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)
    Eric Lee/Getty Images
    Trump’s Iran strategy depends on economic pain. The pain is mounting
  • Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a cornerstone laying ceremony for the Atarot Heritage Center at an abandon airport in East Jerusalem near the separation wall with the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on July 5, 2026. (Photo by ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images)
    Ilia Yefimovich/AFP/Getty Images
    Netanyahu calculates upsetting Trump is his least-bad option
  • thumb_22880046_145805_thumb.jpg
    • Video 2:28
    Video 2:28
    CNN
    Video Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza peace plan 2:28
  • Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with France's President in Damascus on July 7.
    Ludovic Marin/AFP/Pool/Getty Images
    Syria agrees deal with Russia over future use of two key Mediterranean bases
  • Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz are visible near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 22, 2026.
    Majid-Asgaripour/WANA/Reuters
    Rather than capitulating to the US, Iran toughens its demands over the vital Strait of Hormuz
  • Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Yaroun, a Lebanese border village with Israel, in south Lebanon, Sunday December 10, 2023.
    Hassan Ammar/AP/File
    The Americans losing homes to Israel’s war in Lebanon
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  • A satellite view of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a vital trade route linking the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Suez Canal, and Mediterranean. It is also a hotspot for piracy and regional conflict, raising risks for global shipping, energy markets, and international commerce.
    Gallo Images/Getty Images/File
    Saudi Arabia braces for attacks on ports and airports by Iraqi militias working with Iran-backed Houthis
  • clipped thumbnail - israel-strikes-war-south-lebanon-return - CNN ID 22872463 - 00:01:36;14
    • Video 4:11
    Video 4:11
    Clipped From Video
    Video Lebanese families return to ruins in West Zawtar after Israeli strikes 4:11
  • Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
    Reuters
    An agreement on the Strait of Hormuz is taking shape – but not one Trump wants
  • The brother of slain Palestinian activist Odeh Hathalin touches a poster calling for accountability following his killing in the occupied West Bank last year.
    Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images
    Israel charges settler over killing of Palestinian activist in West Bank in rare prosecution
  • Palestinians search among rubble, damaged tents and household belongings after an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of western Gaza City, Palestine, on July 30, 2026. The overnight strike hit the Matter family home and destroyed the residential building and the nearby Al-Zuhour displacement camp, where local authorities said around 35 displaced families had been sheltering.
    Mohammed M. Skaik/AFP/Middle East Images/Getty Images
    Trump announces a breakthrough in Gaza - but there are major caveats. Here’s what we know
  • An armed member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran, Iran, on February 11.
    Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
    Why Iran chose to restart the fight after the US stopped firing
  • Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman looks on during a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on November 18, 2025. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived at the White House to fanfare and a jet flyover Tuesday, in his first visit to the United States since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
    Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
    Saudi Arabia is getting dragged into a war it has tried desperately to avoid
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by U.S. President Donald Trump (L), speaks during a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 7, 2025 in Washington, DC.
    Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
    Why this time around, Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump might not go to script
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