Biden approves national security memo aimed at helping Trump on China, Iran, North Korea and Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has approved a new national security memorandum that is meant to serve as a roadmap for the incoming Trump administration as it looks to counter growing cooperation among China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, the White House said Wednesday. ...

Iran to shut offices, colleges and schools in Tehran because of air pollution

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced Tuesday that all governmental offices, universities, and schools in the province of Tehran will be closed for two days because of poor air quality, state TV reported. The capital city of Tehran — home to over 10 million people — saw the...

Analysis: Collapse of Syria's Assad is a blow to Iran's 'Axis of Resistance'

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — For Iran’s theocratic government, it keeps getting worse. Its decadeslong strategy of building an “Axis of Resistance” supporting militant groups and proxies around the region is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gaza triggered...

Ousted Syrian leader Assad flees to Moscow after fall of Damascus, Russian state media say

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow and received asylum from his longtime ally, Russian media said Sunday, hours after a stunning rebel advance seized control of Damascus and ended his family’s 50 years of iron rule. Thousands of Syrians poured...

Global reaction to Assad's sudden ouster from Syria ranges from jubilation to alarm

Across the Middle East and beyond, the fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of jihadi militants set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm. Expatriate Syrians and many residents across the Middle East exulted at the overthrow of a leader who led his country...

Iran, a close ally of Assad, says Syrians should decide their country's future without foreign intervention

Alone against a renewed insurgency, Assad may face the end of his rule without his strongest allies

BEIRUT (AP) — The last time Syrian President Bashar Assad was in serious trouble was 10 years ago, at the height of the country’s civil war, when his forces lost control over parts of the largest city, Aleppo, and his opponents were closing in on the capital, Damascus. Back then,...

Trump says US should stay out of fighting in Syria as opposition forces gain

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military should stay out of the fast-escalating conflict in Syria, where a dramatic rebel offensive reached the capital and threatened the rule of Syria's Russian- and Iranian-allied president. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,"...

IAEA chief: Iran is poised to 'quite dramatically' increase stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Friday. The comments from Rafael Mariano Grossi came...

Iran poised to 'quite dramatically' increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, UN nuclear agency head warns