Middle East

Stories from Iran International. Show all stories · All sources

• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Kayhan attacks Ghalibaf’s role in talks. Didn’t Khamenei approve it?

  An editorial questioning Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf’s role as Iran’s lead negotiator has raised an awkward question in Tehran: who exactly is Kayhan criticizing, given that senior officials have said the parliament speaker was given the job with the Supreme Leader’s approval?

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  China’s turn to Iraqi crude shows growing impact of Iran oil blockade

  China’s independent refiners are turning to Iraqi crude to replace dwindling Iranian supplies as a US blockade chokes Tehran’s exports, forcing some of Iran’s biggest oil customers to seek barrels elsewhere.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Tehran divided over $2 billion plan to prop up rial

  Iran’s central bank is offering as much as $2 billion in cash dollars to the public in an effort to slow the rial’s slide, triggering a fierce debate over whether the intervention can stabilize the currency or merely burn through increasingly scarce foreign reserves.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Rubio says Iran missed deal chances as Tehran digs in on enrichment

  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran had failed to take advantage of repeated opportunities to reach an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, while also saying Tehran had “lost complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Parsian Exchange transferred millions of dollars for Iran despite sanctions

  Iran’s Bank Parsian, under US sanctions, used its foreign-exchange arm to move millions of dollars abroad through a network of intermediaries, according to an Iran International investigation based on leaked internal correspondence and transaction records.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Iran protester recounts torture, mock execution after January arrest

  “Write your will.” Those were the words Iranian protester Erfan Nabian says he heard in solitary confinement before he was handed a sheet of paper and asked what he wanted for his final meal before his execution.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Family of executed January protester says Iran concealed burial site

  The family of Alireza Raisi, executed this week over the January protests in Isfahan, still does not know where he was buried after security agents took his father blindfolded to the burial site, a source close to the family told Iran International.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Iran lawmaker named in alleged illegal treasure excavation

  A senior hardline Iranian lawmaker has been named in an allegation involving unauthorized excavation for antiquities and treasure, while parliament is also examining a reported excavation case involving an unnamed member of the legislature.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Iran’s own surveys reveal demand for ‘fundamental change’

  Two surveys emerging from within or around Iran's political establishment paint a bleak picture of public confidence: deep skepticism toward state institutions, single-digit trust in political officials and overwhelming demand for change.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  Iran says economy holding up as pressure mounts on oil, rial

  Iran’s central bank chief has rejected what Tehran portrays as a US prediction of economic collapse, even as the rial trades near record lows and Iranian oil exports have fallen to zero.

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• Iran International2026-10-07✓ Read

  How Iran’s 2022 crackdown was coordinated from the top

  Iran’s repression of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising was coordinated from the top through a functioning chain of command linking senior authorities to security forces on the streets, Amnesty International says.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  ‘Let ’em take out Los Angeles’: Trump’s Iran remarks ignite backlash

  President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego has sparked a backlash from California officials and prompted the White House to insist that he was misunderstood as he defended the mounting costs of the war with Tehran.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  ‘Hugging actors are married’: Tehran theatre navigates contact restrictions

  A theater production in Tehran displayed a notice to spectators before a performance saying two actors who embrace on stage are married, underscoring the restrictions governing physical contact between men and women under the Islamic Republic.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Iran executes nearly two people a week since January protests

  Iran has executed nearly two people a week in political and security cases since the January protests, including over protest- and war-related accusations, while another 194 people face death sentences, an Iran International review of cases shows.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Iran, US back to ‘square one’ as diplomacy stalls

  Rhetoric is hardening on both sides of the Iran-US standoff, with even Iranian analysts traditionally optimistic about diplomacy warning that relations are slipping back to “square one” as military and economic pressure intensifies.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Three Iranians spied on Iran International journalists in UK, prosecutors say

  Three Iranian men spied on Iran International journalists to assist Iranian intelligence services and prepare for serious violence against at least one target, prosecutors told a London court Tuesday.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Iranians cross into Armenia to earn what they cannot at home

  Economic crisis is driving some Iranians across the border to Armenia for construction, taxi and delivery work, turning a longtime holiday destination into a source of income for families struggling to make ends meet at home.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Houthi gains reversed at Bab al-Mandab, but Iran’s leverage runs deeper

  Saudi-backed Yemeni forces on Monday reversed weeks of Houthi gains around Bab al-Mandab, the strategic strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, exposing vulnerabilities in the Iran-backed group even as fighting elsewhere showed how far Yemen remains from a decisive shift.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Tehran police warn cafes over live music, DJs and hookah

  Police in Tehran have warned cafes that they could face closure or lose their licenses for hosting live music, using DJs or serving hookah, extending a broader campaign of enforcement against businesses over entertainment, mandatory hijab rules and support for protests.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Clothes, diaries, dolls: Iran forces raid slain protesters’ rooms

  Clothes, diaries, books and childhood dolls are being taken from the bedrooms of protesters killed in Iran, as security forces extend pressure on families seeking accountability into the most private spaces of their grief nearly nine months after the January 2026 killings.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Iran releases cleric who called for replacing Islamic Republic on bail

  Iranian authorities have released hardline cleric Mohammad-Bagher Kharrazi on bail after about a month in detention, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Iran sentences 38-year-old to death as January protest executions mount

  Hadi Abbasian, a 38-year-old resident of northeastern Iran, has been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Bojnurd after being arrested over his support for the nationwide protests in January, according to information obtained by Iran International.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  Why Iran’s oil minister quit at a critical moment for exports

  Iran’s oil minister left office as exports fell sharply and questions mounted over billions of dollars in sanctioned crude sales, bringing disputes over oil intermediaries, corporate management and political pressure into focus.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  IRGC commander, son helped build new oil-sales network

  Senior IRGC commander Hossein-Reza Sadeghi and his son Saeed played central roles in efforts to preserve an IRGC Intelligence oil-sales network and shift its financial operations from the United Arab Emirates to Russia, an Iran International investigation found.

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• Iran International2026-10-06✓ Read

  IRGC commander says his wife founded Minab school hit in February strike

  The school struck in February in Iran’s Minab was founded by the wife of senior IRGC commander Ali Fadavi as part of a wider educational project linked to the Guards’ navy, according to his remarks and an earlier Iranian media account.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Iran says US talks ‘meaningless’ as third tanker hit near Hormuz

  Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that talks with the United States were meaningless, even as President Donald Trump remained open to direct negotiations, while a third tanker in two days was struck near the Strait of Hormuz.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Pezeshkian nominates missile-industry veteran as defense minister

  Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi as defense minister, moving to fill a post left vacant since Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan activate defense pact over Houthi attacks

  Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan activated collective deterrence measures Monday and agreed to rapidly deploy forces and military capabilities to the kingdom, as Saudi-backed Yemeni troops advanced against the Iran-backed Houthis.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Netanyahu predicts Iran’s fall, top general warns of new war

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted the eventual fall of Iran’s leadership while the Islamic Republic’s top armed forces commander warned a new conflict would engulf the region, sharpening exchanges over the prospect of renewed fighting on Monday.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Two more January protesters executed in Iran

  The Islamic Republic executed two more people detained in connection with the January 2026 protests, bringing to seven the number put to death in the Alikhani Square case in Isfahan, rights groups and the judiciary reported Monday.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Iran escalates Starlink threats over fears of losing internet control

  Iranian authorities have stepped up warnings against Starlink as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and the prospect of renewed public protests grows, signaling mounting concern over citizens’ access to satellite internet.

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• Iran International2026-10-05✓ Read

  Iran workers face delayed wages, lost benefits and job fears

  Workers across several sectors in Iran say employers are delaying or splitting wage payments, cutting benefits and warning staff they could lose their jobs for protesting, as inflation and rising living costs deepen pressure on households.

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