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Middle East

Today

Smokes rises from a building of the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran.

Europe, Iran hold talks to de-escalate conflict

As the conflict enters its second week, European foreign ministers are set to meet Iranian officials in Switzerland to push to defuse its war with Israel.

Israel strikes Iran state TV live on air.

Israel bombed Iran’s state TV. Why many Iranians cheered

Most Australians understand little about the reality of living in Iran, under a totalitarian regime that has controlled every aspect of daily life for 46 years.

Whatever happens, the Middle East has been remade

US President Donald Trump’s possible intervention in the Israel-Iran war is the last act in a remarkable reshaping of the Middle East.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold private talks in May.

Europe may resolve the Iran-Israel war as Trump dithers

The Continent’s leaders are filled with fears about a spiralling regional conflict, and have forged ahead with negotiations set to take place this weekend.

People hold signs and chant slogans during a protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini and the government of Iran in Istanbul, Turkey.

Forget nuclear weapons – could this be the end of Iran’s regime?

For 46 years, Western analysts have got it wrong when it came to predicting the regime’s end. This time, however, it could be different.

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Yesterday

Why US strikes on Iran would bring risks at every turn

The largest perils for not only the region but the world may lie in the aftermath, many experts say, just as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Iran claims it shot down an advanced Israeli Hermes drone over eastern Isfahan.

Deep-cover agents, hacked phones: Israel’s secret war inside Iran

The covert campaign that preceded the Jewish state’s attack also involved spy satellites and smuggled miniaturised weapons systems to ensure a precise first strike.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Donald Trump.

Trump says he ‘may or may not’ strike Iran

The US president is reportedly withholding his final order on any attack, as Iran’s supreme leader made his first public comments on the war with Israel.

This Month

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One en route from Calgary, Canada to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

Iran warns US involvement would risk ‘all-out war’

The official’s comment came as Iran and Israel exchanged fire for a sixth day after Donald Trump met his national security team to discuss the escalating conflict.

Additional capabilities have been deployed to US Central Command, which oversees the US military presence in the Middle East.

The vast arsenal Trump could deploy if he strikes Iran

The military assets are huge, but it’s unclear whether the president will deepen US involvement beyond helping Israel defend against Iranian air attacks.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in March.

Iran’s supreme leader is on social media. War watchers are paying attention

While Israel and Iran exchange missiles, social media is giving insights direct from key leaders into the course of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2012 with an illustration reflecting his concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions during an address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Is Iran really developing nuclear weapons?

Experts question Israel’s claim that Tehran had begun a nuclear weapons program, but warn it has become a “threshold” state.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key shipping route but is under threat from the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Two oil tankers collide and catch fire near Strait of Hormuz

The incident adds to anxiety around the crucial shipping route as Iran and Israel hit each other with missiles.

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, gestures in front of U.S. President Donald Trump during the family photograph during the G7 Summit

Trump goads Iran for now, but soon he has to make a choice

After spending the morning trolling on Truth Social, the president held talks in the White House over another Middle East war. The world awaits his next move.

Rather than the suffering Palestinians, Israeli’s target now is more clearly the conservative theocratic state forged by the 1979 Islamic revolution.

By attacking Iran’s nukes, Israel changes the question

After being lambasted by the West for the suffering of Palestinians, Israel has a chance to rebuild its battered standing by focusing on its ultimate enemy.

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Iranians cross into Turkey at the Gurbulak Bazargan border post between the two countries.

Israel widens attacks against Iran, striking broadcaster

An Iranian state news anchor was live on air when an explosion shook the scene, causing falling debris and the sound of screams and breaking glass.

Donald Trump

Trump’s Iran choice: last-chance diplomacy or a bunker-busting bomb

The US could still become directly involved in a new conflict, taking on Iran in exactly the kind of war that the president has sworn he would avoid.

Smoke rises from the building of Iran’s state-run television after an Israeli strike in Tehran.

Trump leaves G7 as Israel presses US on bunker bombs

The US president heads back to Washington to deal with the Middle East crisis as Israel continues its strikes and Iran reportedly indicated it wants to negotiate.

If Ali Khamenei does in fact owe his life to Donald Trump this is a bitter pill indeed for the octogenarian autocrat to swallow, given that the Iranian regime stands accused of ordering Trump’s own assassination on US soil during last year’s presidential campaign.

Why Iran’s supreme leader hasn’t been assassinated (yet)

Regardless of Trump’s involvement or otherwise, it appears that the Israeli decision to hold off on targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader was ultimately a wise one, writes Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

Scenes from the conflict in Israel and Iran over the weekend.

Trump has the best chance to stabilise the Middle East in decades

The US president should do two things to end the Israel-Iran war: he should give Israel bunker-buster bombs and back a two-state solution for Palestinians.

Smoke rises from an Israeli attack on an area in Tehran.

‘No preparation, no thinking, nothing’: Iranians furious with regime

Tehran residents have contrasted the government’s silence on safety measures with its frequent use of text messages to admonish women over insufficiently modest attire.

Will Iran’s hated regime finally implode?

Several times in the past two decades Iranians have tried, only to be beaten back: the regime might be weak, but its people are weaker.

Demonstrators wave Iranian and Hezbollah flags as one holds up a poster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s regime is fighting for survival

Forty years after its war with Iraq, the Islamic republic faces a new existential test.

Iranians participate in an Eid al-Ghadir ceremony and a protest march on Saturday against the Israeli attacks.

Why Putin and Xi will be panicking over Iran

As Iran is weakened, both China and Russia lose a key partner that shares an interest to rage against what they see as US hegemony in the region.

Israeli rescue team evacuate a wounded woman from a site struck by a missile fired from Iran, in Haifa, northern Israel.

Why Israel attacked Iran, and what to watch for next

After decades of tension, a shift in the conflict between the Jewish state and Islamic Republic to open warfare is now be a real possibility.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east