Two more men have been executed in Iran in connection with the January protests with human rights groups condemning growing repression in the country. An Iranian man was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for simply shooting video of protests that first erupted in December 2025.
The shaky video of the incident recalled the famous "Tank Man" protester on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, who single-handedly defied an armored column during pro-democracy protests in 1989 that were subsequently crushed by tanks.
… hours before Iran pulls out of peace talks Portugal’s government condemned the intensification of Israeli attacks on Lebanon today, hours before Iran cited the attacks as its reason for
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says any temporary peace agreement between the United States and Iran must be followed by deeper talks about Tehran’s nuclear stockpiles, missiles and other critical issues.
Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Foresight and a geopolitical strategist, speaks in an RFE/RL interview about the state of Iran negotiations, the market's assessment of the talks, and the broader geopolitical consequences of the standoff.
The United States and Iran exchanged fire for a third time early on June 1 amid ongoing attempts to secure an agreement to end the war and reach a lasting peace deal.
The US President Donald Trump hints at plans to expand the Abraham Accords as an exit strategy from the Iran war, along with announcing the end of the US naval blockade of Iran. This move could shift regional security to Israel, making the US less responsible. A Diplomatic Exit Strategy Disguised as Regional Realignment President […]
As the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to impact and shape the region, journalists from RFE/RL's Central Newsroom and Iranian service, Radio Farda, deliver ongoing updates and analysis.
The revelation that Israel established secret military bases inside Iraq during the recent war against Iran is far more than another episode in the region’s long history of covert operations. It signals a deeper transformation in Middle Eastern geopolitics: the normalization of clandestine cross-border military infrastructures, the erosion of Iraqi sovereignty, and the increasingly blurred […]
As Pakistan pushes for diplomacy between the US and Iran, growing pressure from pro-Israel circles threatens to derail the peace process and weaken Islamabad’s influence. Behind the scenes, lobbying, political maneuvering, and regional rivalries are intensifying tensions at a critical moment. What should have been a path toward de-escalation is rapidly turning into a wider […]
US President Donald Trump said Iran had provided guarantees that it would not develop nuclear weapons, as he asserted Washington was nearing a "very good deal" to end the three-month-old war with Tehran.
By means of pursuing its aggressive policy in the Middle East, Israel intends to redirect the transit of energy resources through its own territory. Control over the routes of hydrocarbon supplies to the world markets inevitably increases the economic and political significance of the territories and countries located along these routes. The Middle East retains […]
To understand where Iran negotiations stand and whether diplomacy can still prevent escalation, RFE/RL spoke with Ethan A. Goldrich, a veteran US diplomat who served under multiple administrations, most recently as deputy assistant secretary of state overseeing Near Eastern affairs from 2021-24.
The ongoing war in the Middle East has seen American defense companies making gargantuan profits; these profits, however, come at the cost of the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iranians who have become the victims of American and Israeli aggression. War is said to be good for business. This, perhaps, can’t be any truer […]
As conflicting signals continue to emerge from Washington and Tehran over reports of a possible interim agreement, the White House has struggled to clarify whether the US and Iran are actually on the verge of a deal.
Internet access in Iran has been partially restored after the government shut down communications at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in late February. Iranians told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that they had been unable to check on their loved ones' safety during months of deadly air strikes.
The Iran war has reshaped global geopolitics by weakening U.S. credibility and the liberal world order, intensifying regional instability in the Middle East, disrupting energy markets and economies, and accelerating the shift of global power toward emerging alliances led by Russia and China. Global Disruption and the Shifting World Order The US-Israeli attack on Iran […]
Just like warmongering Europe, the Gulf petro-monarchies are paying the price for delegating their defense and security to Washington, their enemy disguised as a savior. In reality, if the Gulf States do not break structurally with the current logic, the next regional crisis will find them in the same position – alone, exposed, watching American […]
А war against Iran could be a test of the new South Korean government’s foreign policy in terms of multilateralism, combining international alliances with a stance of self-reliance and “independence.” Diplomatic relations between Iran and South Korea began in 1962. In the past decades, despite Iran-North Korea relations, South Korea and Iran sought to maintain […]
Talks to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz appear, for the first time in three months, to be moderately on track. At least that is the impression conveyed by public statements and leaks from both sides: water is beginning to fill the deep negotiating well, which until now had been practically dry.