Category Archives: Iran

An ideological tug-of-war: the pressures facing Iran’s World Cup squad in US

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Flag bans, travel headaches and a religious regime video among bumps in road, as team prepares to be first to play in country with which it is at war

Iran will present a major challenge to Fifa’s “football unites the world” slogan on Monday by becoming the first country in World Cup history to compete on the soil of a host nation with which it is at war.

The national team’s opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles will kick off amid continuing hostilities between Iran and the US that have intensified in recent days, as a fragile ceasefire has failed to hold and attempts at reaching a negotiated settlement have sputtered.

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Pro-Palestine activists believe ‘sea change’ coming in Labour’s approach to Middle East

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Green surge in local elections and recent polling of Labour members may cause government to toughen stance on Israel

Pro-Palestine activists believe there could be a “sea change” in the Labour party’s approach to the crisis in the Middle East which could result in the government taking a tougher stance on Israel.

Campaigners have pointed to the threat posed to Labour by the Green surge in the local elections, the likely departure of Keir Starmer from No 10, and new polling which shows an appetite among Labour members for a ban on all arms shipments to Israel.

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Trump the unreliable narrator fails to force reality to match his story on Iran

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A cycle of threat, detente and deadlock repeats itself wearisomely as the president’s war in Iran drags on

As the story of the US-Iran war is written direct to social media, Donald Trump may be the genre’s premier unreliable narrator.

Since the war began, Trump has again and again threatened Iran with fearsome consequences if Tehran doesn’t come to the table and sign a peace deal that the US president said was imminent weeks ago. And he has also repeatedly claimed that an Iran deal is “close” – without any result. (A CNN tally put the number of times he’s claimed it at 38.)

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Middle East peace talks in doubt as Iran says it needs to ‘reassess’ after overnight strikes

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US launches attacks in retaliation for downing of US army helicopter, while White House source says deal could still be close

The future of peace talks in the Middle East has been thrown into question after Iran’s foreign ministry said it needed to “reassess” its participation, while Donald Trump said Iran would have to “pay the price” after the two countries traded fire overnight, drawing neighbouring states back into an on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February.

The US launched strikes against Iran in the early hours of Wednesday, in retaliation for what it said was Iran’s downing of a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz. Iran then launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes claiming hits on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

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Trump blames Iran for downing of army helicopter and says US must respond

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US president says crew members are ‘safe and uninjured’ after attack near strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday

Donald Trump has blamed Iran for downing a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz, warning that the US would be forced to respond to the attack.

The US army Apache helicopter gunship crashed off the coast of Oman early on Tuesday, according to US Central Command. The two crew members were later rescued in an unprecedented operation using an unmanned drone boat, the military said.

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Israeli attack on Tyre in Lebanon kills eight as evacuation ordered for Christian quarter

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People flee historic district of ancient city after airstrikes hit residential areas and damage archaeological sites

Israel has bombed the city of Tyre, killing eight and injuring at least 32 people, and struck dozens of other villages in south Lebanon as it issued forced evacuation orders for the historic Christian quarter of the ancient city for the first time.

Israel struck the al-Masaken neighbourhood without warning on Tuesday morning, sending smoke plumes high above the city’s buildings and igniting fires. Further airstrikes were carried out across the city and a series of bombings hit Abbasieh, a village north of Tyre.

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Israel and Iran step back from renewed conflict after Trump calls for halt

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Netanyahu acknowledges pause in fighting in TV speech but vows forceful response to future attacks

Fears of a return to a full-scale regional war in the Middle East eased on Monday as Israel and Iran said they had halted attacks on each other after an appeal from Donald Trump to “immediately stop shooting”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, acknowledged the halt in fighting with Iran in a televised speech, but vowed to respond “with force” to future attacks.

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Complex relationship between Trump and Netanyahu continues to undermine Middle East ceasefire

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Recent exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel highlights diverging views between US president and Israeli PM

The latest eruption of hostilities between Iran and Israel appears to have been contained for now after Donald Trump insisted he called “all the shots” in the Middle East, but in a dangerously fragile region Benjamin Netanyahu has again shown he is ready to take shots of his own.

The exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday was ample demonstration of the inherent instability of the current limbo between war and peace, but it also shone a bright light on the complex and conflicted relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister, frenemies who could determine the fate of the current ceasefire.

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Iran war: who is fighting and why?

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Arch-enemies Israel and Iran have returned to active confrontation while Donald Trump tries to present himself as mediator

Israel and Iran have returned to active war for the first time since a ceasefire was agreed two months ago in an exchange of rocket fire that threatened efforts to end the conflict.

Donald Trump, who started the war in February alongside Israel but has since attempted to present himself as a mediator, told the two sides to stop shooting and said “final negotiations” on peace were proceeding. By late afternoon on Monday, the attacks had stopped.

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Will Iran give up on ceasefire talks as strait of Hormuz blockade continues?

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Chokehold on shipping route draws Houthis in Yemen back into conflict as commenters see ‘no turning back’

Iran’s reversion to large-scale military exchanges with Israel broadened the conflict that began in February not only by making the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah a direct casus belli for Iran for the first time, but also by drawing the Houthis in Yemen back into the conflict with as yet incalculable consequences.

Some in Tehran, buoyed up by past perceived military success and emboldened by the chokehold of the strait of Hormuz, would like to turn this moment into the point of no return in the conflagration with Israel. A minority would welcome the abandonment of ceasefire talks with the US, an outcome for which they have been agitating for weeks.

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Iran launches missiles at Israel in response to strikes on Beirut

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Tehran official had promised ‘decisive and painful’ reply to Israeli bombing of apartment buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs

Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, shattering a fragile ceasefire and marking the most serious escalation since April, after 100 days of war.

A senior Iranian official has promised a “decisive and painful” response to Israel’s airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and, a few hours later, sirens sounded across northern Israel.

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Could this one man have been behind terrorist attacks on Jewish communities across Europe?

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Legal papers, expert investigations and social media posts tell story of how a 32-year-old Iraqi appeared to run ‘proxy’ campaign

On Monday, a slightly dishevelled Iraqi man, shackled and dressed in beige prison overalls, was ushered into a Manhattan courtroom.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, 32, pleaded not guilty to a series of terrorism-related offences, then gestured toward the judge and prosecutors. “I’m a prisoner of war. I’m not a threat,” he told them. “Children and women are being killed by your rockets.”

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Kuwait and Bahrain targeted by Iran after exchange of fire with US

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Iran attacks American bases in Gulf states after Washington shoots down drones and strikes Iranian radar sites

Bahrain has said Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at it and Kuwait, hours after the US and Iran exchanged strikes over the Gulf, the latest in a series of flare-ups that threatened to break the fragile ceasefire.

Air raid sirens rang out on Saturday in Bahrain and people were told to move to a safe location and await further instructions. Kuwait’s military said it was intercepting drones and missiles launched at the country.

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Blackouts, hyperinflation, dissent: Iran considers perilous prospect of peace

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Conditions that led to bloody prewar protests have been made worse, commentators say

Iran is already preparing for the perilous transition from wartime unity to a fractious peace marked by hyperinflation, a 10% contraction in the economy, power cuts and calls for a triumphalist government to end its unprecedented hunting down of dissent.

With peace not yet secured, the debates within the regime about Iran’s future are only just starting to emerge but its rulers are clearly thinking about how after surviving the war, they can survive the peace.

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Two men convicted of wounding journalist in London ‘on orders of Iran’

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Pouria Zeraati of Iran International TV was stabbed three times outside his London home in attempt to ‘silence’ him

Two men have been found guilty of involvement in a targeted knife attack on an Iranian journalist in London said to have been carried out on behalf of the regime in Tehran.

Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin, was working for Iran International, a Farsi-language dissident broadcaster, when he was stabbed in the leg outside his west London home in 2024.

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Friday briefing: How Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have found themselves caught in an escalation without end

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In today’s newsletter: ​Global powers​ are focused on oil markets and elections​ but those living through conflict in the Middle East feel abandoned

Good morning. It’s been another week of brinkmanship via Truth Social and ceasefires broken before they’ve been announced.

While US president Donald Trump claims an agreement with Iran could happen soon, for those living in the Middle East it does not feel like peace is anywhere near. People have seen more bombs dropped in Lebanon this week; and the death toll continues to rise, national economies falter, and displacement abounds.

UK politics | Andy Burnham has signalled he would begin transforming the broken social care system this year if he became prime minister, he has said in an interview with the Guardian, accusing Westminster of “flinching away” from tackling difficult policy problems.

Environment | Humanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival.

Ukraine | The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

England news | The poorest and most nature-deprived communities in England will be further left behind in their access to green spaces if proposed changes to planning laws go ahead, a report finds.

UK news | Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a “peppercorn rent” to the crown estate, a report into royal property arrangements has revealed.

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Hezbollah rejects Israel-Lebanon truce as Trump scrambles to end Iran war

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Group calls ceasefire a ‘roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people’, throwing regional peace talks into doubt

Hezbollah has rejected a US-brokered ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments, throwing the future of a truce in Lebanon and regional peace negotiations into question.

The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, called the plan a “roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people” in a statement on Thursday.

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Oman resists US pressure to break ties with Iran over strait of Hormuz

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Sultanate says talks with Tehran are limited to lawful management of waterway, but Washington has doubts about neutrality

Oman is resisting US pressure to break its links with Iran, and insists it has only been negotiating with Tehran on a future management system for the strait of Hormuz that would be compliant with international law. The aim would be to implement any regime after consulting the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Traditionally Oman, a longtime US ally that shares stewardship of the strait, has adopted the role of a back-channel mediator allowing it to remain neutral in disputes that have led to fissures in other parts of the Gulf.

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US House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran

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Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approval

The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.

The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats. The dissident Republicans were Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Tom Barrett of Michigan.

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Far-right praise for shah’s secret police puts Reza Pahlavi on the spot

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Son of deposed shah forced to distance himself from once-dreaded Savak as some of his ‘fascistic’ supporters glorify it

For decades, the Savak was seen as the most hated symbol of repression that kept Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in power – and a main driving force behind the revolutionary fervor that toppled him in 1979.

Now the deposed monarch’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has been forced to distance himself from the once-dreaded security agency after some of his most vociferous supporters glorified it as the defining emblem in their drive to install him on the throne in a royal restoration.

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