Features

Features Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. NASA Earth Observatory/AFP/File

Facts about Strait of Hormuz Shipping Blockade

Here are the latest key facts and figures about the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route virtually paralyzed by the Middle East war. …

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Some 90 percent of Iran's crude exports pass through Kharg Island, making it a potentially crucial pressure point for Tehran. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/AFP

What Could Trump Achieve by Threatening Iran's Kharg Island?

A scrubby island in the Gulf that is roughly one third the size of Manhattan, Kharg Island is the nerve center of the Iranian oil industry -- and at the heart…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features  A UNIFIL vehicle drives past a Lebanese soldier, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)

UN Peacekeepers in the Crossfire Between Israel and Hezbollah

United Nations peacekeepers, who for decades have served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, have seen three of their comrades killed and several others…

Features Israelis take shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming strikes by Iran, in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Hidden Battle…Iran Conflict Shows How Digital Fight is Ingrained in Warfare

As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But…

Asharq Al Awsat (Tehran)
Features This photograph taken on March 26, 2026, shows a cat rescued from Beirut's southern suburbs by Lebanese NGO Animals Lebanon. (AFP)

Beirut Rescuers Risk Their Lives to Save Animals

Armed with thick gloves and small plastic crates Kamal, Khalil and Reem jump on two mopeds and head into Beirut's southern suburbs, which see almost daily…

Features  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to US President Donald Trump speaking to the media, as Trump departs the White House for Florida, in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2026. (Reuters)

‘JD or Marco?’: Iran War Raises 2028 Stakes as Trump Weighs Vance vs. Rubio

As the war in Iran threatens to imperil President Donald Trump's legacy, the political stakes also are rising for two of his top lieutenants: Vice President JD…

Features An Israeli artillery unit fires towards Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Victory and Defeat Scenarios for Iran’s Proxies in Lebanon and Iraq

The future of Iran’s regional allies, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed factions in Iraq, is increasingly uncertain as a widening conflict reshapes…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features Streaks of light illuminate the sky during an interception attempt, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, March 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Questions Over Israel’s Interceptor Stockpiles as Middle East War Drags on

The ability of Israel's highly sophisticated air defenses to keep intercepting Iranian attacks is coming under scrutiny as the Middle East war drags on into a…

Features Map showing the Strait of Hormuz, alongside a 3D-printed model of US President Donald Trump (Reuters)

Middle East Power Struggle Faces Defining Moment

Perhaps the worst-case scenario long feared in decision-making circles has come true. With the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Washington and Tel…

Joe Macaron
Features FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump looks at Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaking following the official signing of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, during a world leaders' summit on ending the Gaza war, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

Why Pakistan Has Emerged as a Mediator between US and Iran

As fears of a wider regional conflict escalate following US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began in late February, Pakistan has emerged as an unexpected…

Asharq Al Awsat
Features A woman holds a poster depicting Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei during an anti-US and anti-Israeli rally, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

With Top Figures Dead, Who Is Now Running Iran?

Iran's veteran ‌supreme leader and a host of other top figures and Revolutionary Guards commanders have been killed in US-Israeli strikes, but the ruling…

Features A satellite imagery taken on February 1, 2026, shows a new roof over a previously destroyed building at Isfahan nuclear site, Iran. (2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)

Report: Iran Hardliners Ramp up Calls for a Nuclear Bomb

The debate among Iranian hardliners over whether Tehran should seek a nuclear bomb in defiance of an escalating US-Israeli attack is getting louder, more…

Features  Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Sheibani (Iranian media)

Sheibani, an Iranian Diplomat with Intelligence Clout

Only weeks after Iranian diplomat Mohammad Reza Sheibani returned to Beirut as ambassador, his name has become the focus of a diplomatic crisis. Lebanon’s…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Features Zolghadr speaks in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, December 2020.

Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr: A Man with Strong Connections at the Heart of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr was not an unfamiliar figure when he was appointed on Tuesday as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. One week after…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Features Iranian Ambassador to Syria Mohammad Reza Sheibani, shows his ink-stained finger as he votes in the first round of the Iranian presidential election on June 14, 2013 at the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus. (AFP)

Expulsion of Iran Ambassador Tests Diplomacy between Beirut and Tehran

Diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Iran have entered a new phase with Beirut’s unprecedented withdrawal on Tuesday of its approval of the accreditation…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beirut)
Features PMF chief Falih al-Fayadh and his chief of staff Abdulaziz al-Muhammadawi. (PMF file photo)

Falih al-Fayadh, a ‘Cunning’ Player Who Survived Saddam and the US

Despite his “modest and calm” appearance, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces chief Falih al-Fayadh is widely seen, including by rivals, as a “cunning” operator…

Fadhel al-Nashmi (Baghdad)
Features Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi adjusts glasses during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 17, 2025. (Reuters)

‘A Top Person’: Who Is the US Dealing with in Iran?

He is, according to President Donald Trump, a "top person" in the Iranian system who is "most respected" and is in an unenviable position. But who is the…

Features  Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, left, waves to residents as he visits the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 12, 2024. (AP)

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Is Floated as a Possible US Contact in Talks as War Rages

Long before he became Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf went on a charm offensive for almost two decades, portraying himself as a hard-liner…

Features A worker operates a wheel loader to convey heaps of raw coal into train carriages, excavated from an open-cast mine on the outskirts of Dhanbad, in India's Jharkhand state on August 13, 2025. (AFP)

Back to Black: Facing Energy Shock, Asia Turns to Coal

Asian countries are ramping up use of polluting coal to tackle energy shortages and price spikes linked to the Iran war, but the crisis could have an…

Features Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Five Options Under Consideration to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Luke Broadwater, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt* Washington: As the United States presses ahead with its military campaign against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz…

Features An aerial view of Diego Garcia Island where the joint military base between Britain and the United States is located. (AP)

What to Know About Diego Garcia After Iran Targets the Remote Island’s Key US Military Base

Iran has launched missiles at Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean island that is home to a strategic UK-US military base. Britain condemned “Iran’s reckless…

Features A picture shows damaged buildings and destroyed vehicles following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Haret Hreik neighborhood in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 21, 2026. (AFP)

How Iran’s IRGC Rebooted Lebanon’s Hezbollah to Be Ready for War

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) rebuilt Hezbollah's military command after it was mauled by Israel in 2024, plugging gaps with Iranian officers before…

Features In this image from video circulating on social media, protesters dance and cheer around a bonfire as they take to the streets of Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP, File)

A Wave of Executions Is Feared in Iran After 3 Young Men Were Hanged This Week

A 19-year-old star wrestler and two other young men were hanged in Iran this week, raising alarm among rights groups that a wave of executions may be underway…

Features US President Donald Trump (R), with Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L), responds to a question from the news media as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 20 March 2026. (EPA)

Trump’s Iran War Rattles US Swing Voters Ahead of Midterms

Donald Trump's war with Iran is weighing on independent US voters, a crucial bloc likely to determine if the president's Republican Party maintains control of…