June 2024
- Exclusive
- Immigration
Iran open to talks with Australia on accepting failed asylum seekers
Iran wants to revive talks after Labor threatened to put the Islamic Republic on a blacklist of countries banned from travelling to Australia.
- Andrew Tillett and Michael Read
May 2024
- Opinion
- Iran
President’s death shows an Iran with few cards left to play
The death of president Ebrahim Raisi opens the way for a dynastic succession to Iran’s supreme leadership. The regime’s chief goal now is protecting the status quo.
- Patrick Gibbons
- Analysis
- Iran
How sanctions played havoc with Iran’s ageing helicopters
The US-made Bell 212 carrying the country’s president and foreign minister was almost 30 years old when it crashed into a mountainside.
- John Paul Rathbone, Sylvia Pfeifer and Philip Georgiadis
April 2024
‘Iran is broke’: How clerics crippled the Islamic Republic
Behind all of Iran’s posturing, there seems to be a backstop. The country cannot afford all-out war because its economy is on its knees.
- Melissa Lawford
Iran oil exports hit six-year high as West considers tougher sanctions
Iran’s success in exporting its crude underscores the difficulties facing the West as it seeks to build pressure on Tehran following its attack on Israel.
- Malcolm Moore and Najmeh Bozorgmehr
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Market aftershocks from Iran’s attack depend on one thing
Investors are treading water as they wait for Israel’s response to the largely failed strike. But shareholders need to start thinking through two scenarios.
- Updated
- James Thomson
Iran is now caught up in a mess of its own making
The Tehran regime’s use of proxy forces has left it boxed into a regional fight that it does not really want.
- Patrick Gibbons
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
‘Cartel of aggression’ trades on timidity and self-interest
The West has enormous economic leverage over China and Russia. But fear of their own consumers prevents governments from using it.
- Simon Johnson and Oleg Ustenko
February 2024
Iranian sanctions-evasion operation in the heart of London
Two banks, Lloyds and Santander UK, provided accounts to an Iranian sanctioned petrochemicals company near Buckingham Palace
- Miles Johnson, Stephen Morris and Lucy Fisher
Biden orders more strikes as US hits Houthi cruise missile
The US said it had targeted Iranian-backed armed groups for a third straight day, and destroyed an anti-ship missile fire by Houthi militia in Yemen.
- Jon Gambrell and Tara Copp
Middle East tensions raise election risks for Biden
Joe Biden’s Middle East foreign policy juggle risks turning into an election nightmare.
- Matthew Cranston
January 2024
Five maps that show why the Red Sea is so important
The Houthi attacks on shipping and the US-led response have highlighted the global significance of this narrow stretch of water.
- Ingrid Fuary-Wagner, Jenny Wiggins and Les Hewitt
- Opinion
- Opinion
Wary of war, meddling Iran is vulnerable to more sanctions
A military attack would play into Tehran’s hands. But the Biden administration’s relaxing of pressure has allowed Iran to fund an escalation of conflict.
- Patrick Gibbons
October 2023
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
As evil goes global, so must we
The world’s most odious regimes are supporting Hamas. Democracies should enable Ukraine to deliver a knockout blow against global authoritarianism.
- Misha Zelinsky
September 2023
Australia sanctions Iranian morality police, broadcaster
A year after Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in police custody for failing to wear a hijab, Penny Wong has unveiled fresh sanctions against Islamic hardliners.
- Andrew Tillett
February 2023
Australia slaps fresh sanctions on Myanmar, Iran
The Albanese government targets top military officers as it unleashes travel bans and asset freezes on the Myanmar junta and Iran’s hardline regime.
- Hans van Leeuwen
January 2023
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Letters: Legislate Indigenous Voice, delay vote
Indigenous Voice and referendum; stamp duty bracket creep; Labor’s climate politics; submarines: nuclear or not?; Iran and Afghanistan; Victorian Liberals.
Kronos string quartet still ‘wild and scary’ after 50 years
Violinist David Harrington formed Kronos in 1973 to make a noise like Jimi Hendrix, and on the eve of an Australian tour he’s still shaking up the classical music establishment.
- Michael Bailey
December 2022
Australia imposes sanctions on Iran, Russia
The sanctions include men who were involved in the attempted assassination of former Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
- Opinion
- Dictators
The year the world reached ‘peak autocrat’
With the big three of the dictators’ club – Iran, Russia and China – facing domestic turmoil and sanity making a comeback at the ballot box, the long democratic winter is starting to break.
- Misha Zelinsky