Features

Features A woman holds an Iranian flag as part of a pro-government campaign in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The 60-day Deadline for an Iran Peace Deal is Expiring. Here's Where Things Stand

The deal that US President Donald Trump signed at Versailles in June set an ambitious 60-day deadline for ending the war with Iran and reaching an accord on…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features People walk in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, August 17, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Battered by War, Iran’s Rulers Wary of More Economic Pain and Unrest if US Tightens Pressure

Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could…

Features US President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at the Nassau County Police Academy Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York, on August 14, 2026. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)

Trump Wants More Economic Pressure on Iran. What Are his Options?

US President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to hit Iran hard economically, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would impose…

Asharq Al Awsat (Washington )
Features Ukrainians use Telegram channels to track incoming Russian missiles and drones. Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP

The Ukrainian Social Media Channels Tracking Russian Missiles

The chances of a missile attack on Kyiv that night were around 50 percent, according to the administrator of a social media channel monitoring Russian air…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features This handout picture released by the US Navy on May 8, 2019 shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) while conducting a replenishment-at-sea with the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE 9), while MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters assigned to the "Nightdippers" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 5, transfer stores between the ships. (Jason WAITE / Navy Office of Information / AFP)

US Pulls Last Aircraft Carrier in Asia as Trump Focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere

President Donald Trump's war against Iran is stretching the limits of US aircraft carriers and leaving the western Pacific without one of the key American…

Features CCTV footage shows, as witnesses say, Jewish settlers throwing rocks on the road in Qusra, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 12, 2026 in this screengrab taken from a handout video- REUTERS

Palestinians Besieged in West Bank Village Fear Israeli Settlers will Seize Their Homes

From inside his home in the West Bank town of Qusra, Qusai Abu Rida watched on Friday as Israeli settlers moved from where they had erected a tent in front of…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features News coverage showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch is seen on a screen at Seoul Station in Seoul on August 12, 2026. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

Why is North Korea Ramping Up Criticism of Japan?

North Korea has stepped up a campaign of rhetoric against Japan's military ‌buildup and its security ties with the United States and South Korea, saying…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Mazen bin Turki Al-Sudairi (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Mazen Al-Sudairi Brings Financial Expertise as Saudi Market Expands Globally

Mazen bin Turki Al-Sudairi will lead the board of Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority after a royal order appointed him chairman with the rank of minister,…

Asharq Al Awsat (Riyadh)
Features A general view of parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon, March 24, 2026. (Reuters)

From War Amnesty to Prison Amnesty... What Has Changed in Lebanon in 35 Years?

The Lebanese parliament's landmark approval of an amnesty law on Wednesday, 35 years after the 1991 amnesty, has revived debate on the different circumstances…

Soubhi Amhaz (Beirut)
Features Palestinian cancer patient Elham Al-Sakafi, 38, speaks to a doctor after receiving nutritional intravenous fluids at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, August 6, 2026, according to medics. (Reuters)

Gaza Cancer Patients Face Rising Death Rate Amid Israeli Curbs, Doctors Say

Gaza cancer patients are dying at two to three times the pace they did before the start of the war in the territory, as Israel blocks many from travelling for…

Features A view of a building destroyed by the June earthquakes; in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, 05 August 2026. (EPA)

The Perfect Storm That Turbocharged Venezuela’s Twin Quakes

A dangerous cocktail of tectonic positioning, loose earth and shoddy construction contributed to the unprecedented damage caused by Venezuela's twin…

Features The headquarters for the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, August 7, 2026. (Reuters)

China Missile Test Deepens Pacific Divide Over Growing Militarization

China's test of a nuclear-capable missile last month has exposed the limits of Pacific leaders' ambition to make the region an "Ocean of Peace", free from the…

Features FILE - US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

One year after Putin-Trump Summit, 'Spirit of Anchorage' Dissipated

In the year since Donald Trump hosted Vladimir Putin on US soil for a summit designed to broker an end to Russia's offensive on Ukraine, the diplomatic…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on March 19, 2026. (AFP)

Pleasing No One: Netanyahu Puts Election First with Gaza Decision

Faced with a divisive US-led Gaza plan just before elections that could end his career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to choose between…

Features A banner with a picture of US President Donald Trump next to an Iranian missile system at Azadi Square in Tehran, Iran, July 30, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran's Leaders Think They Have Trump Cornered, But Their Strategy Carries Great Risks

The Strait of Hormuz is, by some accounts, named for a Zoroastrian deity destined to emerge victorious after a 9,000-year standoff with an adversary. Iran's…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A drone view shows vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)

Will Trump Make Concessions over Hormuz?

To reach a deal with Iran that reopens the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump may need to do something out of character — compromise,…

Features US-Israel attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 followed by Iran’s almost-immediate closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has stranded thousands of sailors. (Tomas Munita for The New York Times)

The Iran War’s Forgotten Captives: Sailors Trapped in the Arabian Gulf

Washington: Peter Eavis and Jenny Gross Trapped on a commercial ship anchored four miles off Iran’s coast, about two dozen merchant seamen are entering…

Features An Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is displayed during the inauguration of a new artillery plant of ammunition maker Rheinmetall, in Unterluess, Germany August 27, 2025. (Reuters)

Report: US Has Used ‘Virtually All’ of Its Long-Range Precision Missiles During Iran War

The US Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar…

Features A Palestinian woman stands on the roof of a house damaged during the war, surrounded by destroyed buildings, in Gaza City, August 1, 2026. (Reuters)

After Deadly Day, Gazans Say Trump’s Touting of Plan Jars with Grim Reality

Palestinians in Gaza said on Monday Donald Trump's touting of a deal aimed at disarming Hamas and ending the war was out of touch with their worsening reality,…

Features Spanish soldiers question a migrant, following mass crossings of migrants on foot and by sea from Morocco into Spanish territory, in Ceuta, Spain, August 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Burden of History and Current Challenges in the Migration Crisis Between Morocco and Spain

In July 2002, Morocco and Spain nearly went to war after a group of Moroccan gendarmes “seized” a small, uninhabited islet known in Spanish as Perejil Island…

Michel Abou Najm (Paris)
Features  A woman walks past a mural depicting a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader tollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the US and Israel strike on Feb. 28, at Azadi (Freedom) street in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP)

Iran’s Leaders Show a United Front Over the War but Are Divided Over What the Goal Is

With escalating attacks against US bases and regional countries over the past week, Iran's leaders are showing considerable unity over their war strategy:…

Features Cargo ship docked at Damietta Port (Damietta Port Authority on Facebook)

Mystery Over Who Targeted Egypt’s Damietta Port Raises Questions

Cairo is pressing ahead with an investigation into a drone attack on two vessels at Egypt’s northern port of Damietta, as Iran, Israel, and Yemen’s Houthis…

Asharq Al Awsat (Cairo)
Features A Palestinian man looks for his belongings amid the debris of a destroyed building following an Israeli strike at the Al-Jalaa street in Gaza City on July 24, 2026. (AFP)

Hamas Agrees to Deal with Israel: What We Know

Hamas said on Friday it agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli…

Features Damietta seaport in northern Egypt (Port Authority)

Analysts: Egypt Drone Attack Message that US Interests 'Vulnerable' Anywhere

A drone strike on the Egyptian port of Damietta, the first attack on the country since the US-Iran war broke out, could be a high-risk message for American…

Asharq Al Awsat