Features

Features Garbage litters the ground next to makeshift shelters housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on April 20, 2026. (AFP)

Rats, Fleas Plague Gaza’s Displaced as Temperatures Rise

As springtime temperatures rise in Gaza, a surge in rats, fleas and other pests has compounded the misery of hundreds of thousands of displaced people still…

Features Petro Hurin, 76, one of hundreds of thousands of "liquidators" brought to clean up the aftermath of the explosion that tore apart reactor Four of the Chornobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine on April 26, 1986, reflected in a mirror as he stands in his house in the village of Khutory, Cherkasy region, Ukraine April 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Chornobyl First Responder Says Few Survive 40 Years on

Petro Hurin says his health has never been the same since he was sent 40 years ago to clear the Chornobyl site in the wake of the world's worst nuclear…

Features Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral for colleagues who were killed in a US airstrike in Anbar, in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP)

Driven by the Pressures of War, Iran Gives Its Field Commanders More Power Over Factions in Iraq

Iran has granted its commanders greater autonomy over armed factions in Iraq, allowing some groups to carry out operations without Tehran’s approval, a shift…

Features Female members of Iran's Basij militia are seen during a government rally in support of Mojtaba Khamenei. (The New York Times)

For Iran, Flexing Control Over Hormuz Is a New Deterrent

Mark Mazzetti, Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes* The United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on the argument that if Iran one day got a…

Features Commuters drive past a giant billboard referring to the Strait of Hormuz along a busy street in Tehran on April 19, 2026. (AFP)

Allies Fear a Rushed US–Iran Framework Deal Could Backfire, Leaving Technical Deadlock

European allies fear an inexperienced US negotiating team is pushing for a swift, headline-grabbing framework deal with Iran that could entrench rather than…

Features People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty traditional main bazaar during Iranian New Year, or Nowruz, holidays in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP)

Iranians Expect No Post-War Respite Under Military Rule

Iranians striving to maintain a semblance of normal life after weeks of US and Israeli bombing and a deadly crackdown on protesters in January remain daunted…

Features An Iraqi fish farmer stands over dead fish floating in a tank at his farm in the town of Zubaydiya, near the city of Kut in southern Iraq on April 14, 2026. (AFP)

Iraq Fish Die-off Leaves Farmers Mourning Lost Livelihoods

On the banks of Iraq's Tigris River, Haidar Kazem mourned 300 tons of the fish he had carefully raised in ponds wiped out by a flood of polluted water. Water…

Features Revolutionary Guard speedboats are seen during maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz. (Tasnim)

Why Iran’s ‘Mosquito Fleet’ Remains a Potent Threat in the Strait of Hormuz

Iranian warships sunk by US and Israeli attacks litter naval harbors along the Gulf coast, but what is sometimes called a “mosquito fleet” lurks in the shadows…

Features The United Nations needs structural reform (Photo by Reuters)

When Does Peace Become the Rule Rather than the Exception?

It has become common among analysts to say that the world has entered a new global order, where the logic of “might makes right” has replaced the “power of…

Antoine El Hac
Features President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Friday, April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Iran War Has Revealed Trump's Pressure Point: The Economy

Seven weeks of war have failed to topple Iran’s theocratic rulers or force them to meet all of President Donald Trump's demands, but for US adversaries and…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features  A woman reacts as emergency personnel search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike carried out just before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

In Final Moments Before Truce, Israeli Strike Kills Lebanese Man’s Family

Hassan Abu Khalil's family miraculously survived six weeks of war in southern Lebanon, but tragedy struck in the final minutes before a ceasefire came into…

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Features FILE PHOTO: A member of the People's Liberation Army stands as the strategic strike group displays DF-5C nuclear missiles during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

How China’s Weapons Transfers to Iran Have Evolved Over Decades

Washington: David Pierson For much of the last two decades, China has maintained a delicate balance in its military relationship with Iran, offering often…

Features Sudanese refugees, who have fled the violence in their country, line up to receive food rations from World Food Program (WFP), in Adre Chad July 20, 2023. (Reuters)

A Look at Sudan’s War by the Numbers

Sudan is entering a fourth year of war between the military and paramilitary forces. The fighting has pushed many people into famine, caused a huge…

Features This image from an Airbus Defense and Space's Pléiades Neo satellite shows a truck that analysts believe was carrying highly enriched uranium to a tunnel in the compound of the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, in Isfahan, Iran, June 9, 2025. (AP)

Iran Nuclear Program ‘Badly Damaged’ But Not Wiped Out

The United States and Israel may have obstructed the path towards a future Iran-built nuclear bomb by severely damaging Tehran's nuclear and ballistic…

Asharq Al Awsat (London) Asharq Al Awsat (Tehran)
Features US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (out of frame) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (AFP)

Rare Precedents for Lebanon-Israel Talks

There are few precedents for the direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials that began in Washington on Tuesday. - 1949, Fragile armistice - The…

Features Ships and a boat in the Strait of Hormuz on April 12, 2026 (Reuters)

What Does a ‘Blockade of the Blockade’ in the Strait of Hormuz Mean?

When Iran moved to close the Strait of Hormuz, it did not physically seal the waterway — for example, by fully mining it. Instead, it barred ships and oil…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features Haifa Kenjo, who fled Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, holds her 15-day-old daughter Shiman inside the tent she uses as a shelter and where she gave birth to her in Beirut, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Baby Born in Tent on a Beirut Roadside Struggles to Survive, Her Family Displaced by War

All that newborn Shiman knows of the world is a flimsy tent along Beirut’s waterfront — the stench of mildewed blankets, stings of swarming insects and screams…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features  People stand next to a Synagogue, which was damaged in a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 7, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran, Lebanon Bore Brunt of Missiles and Drones Launched During War

Some three-quarters of the airstrikes during the Middle East war targeted sites in Iran or Lebanon, according to an AFP analysis of data from ACLED, a non…

Features A person holds a placard representing a US flag, with an image of Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on a billboard in the background, on the day of a ceremony marking 40 days since Ali Khamenei was killed in Israeli and US strikes, in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

US-Iran: More Than Four Decades of Enmity

The United States and Iran have been sworn enemies since the 1979 revolution and the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. On Saturday, the arch-foes…

Features A man gestures with picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei next to Iranian and Iraqi flags from a atop a truck during celebrations welcoming the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square on April 8, 2026.(AFP)

Iran Revolutionary Guards Officers Reject Iraqi Calls to Halt Attacks

Iraqi sources said officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who oversee armed factions in Iraq, have rebuffed attempts by Shiite politicians to halt attacks…

Ali Saray (London)
Features  Protesters wave Hezbollah and Iran's flags during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP)

Lebanon Heads to Historic Israel Talks with Few Hopes Except to Staunch Bloodshed

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has called for historic direct talks with longtime foe Israel since war erupted a month ago - a month in which Israel's…

Features  Government supporters walk past a billboard depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as they gather to mark the 40th day since the killing of his father, slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP)

By the Numbers: US Thrashed Military Targets in Iran, but Some Capabilities Remain

Since the ceasefire between Iran and the US was announced, leaders in President Donald Trump's administration have been quick to say Iranian military and arms…

Features A man rides a motorcycle past the President house as Pakistan gears up to host the US and Iran for peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 9, 2026. REUTERS/Waseem Khan

Five Things to Know about the US-Iran Talks in Islamabad

The United States and Iran are holding their highest-level talks in years in Islamabad in a Pakistan-brokered bid to turn a fragile two-week ceasefire into a…

Asharq Al Awsat