Latest Iran News

Long, fraught time line of tensions over Iran's nuclear program ahead of its presidential election

Jun. 25, 2024 01:34 AM EDT

Iran will elect a new president Friday after the death of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi. Whoever takes the helm in the country will inherit Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Here’s a time line of the...

Parliament speaker. The Tehran mayor. A heart surgeon. The race is on for Iran's next president

Jun. 25, 2024 01:21 AM EDT

Six candidates have been approved by Iran's theocracy to run in Friday’s presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash with several other officials in May. Among them, Iran’s parliament speaker stands out as the most...

US and allies clash with Tehran and Moscow over Iranian nuclear program at UN Security Council

Jun. 25, 2024 00:29 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its key European allies clashed with Iran and Russia over Tehran’s expanding nuclear program, with the U.S. vowing “to use all means necessary to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran” in a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday. The U.S.,...

'Hamster' crypto craze gripping Iran highlights its economic malaise ahead of presidential election

Jun. 24, 2024 22:11 PM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Cab drivers and bikers tap away furiously on their mobile phones as they wait at red lights in the Iranian capital during an early June heatwave. Some pedestrians in Tehran are doing the same. They all believe they could get rich. The object of...

Iranian presidential candidates debate foreign policy ahead of Friday vote

Jun. 24, 2024 17:47 PM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s presidential candidates discussed the country’s foreign policy Monday in a three-hour live debate, promising to seek better relations with other nations and work to have sanctions on their country lifted. The televised debate was the fourth in a...

What is Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group that could go to all-out war against Israel?

Jun. 24, 2024 15:11 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — After more than eight months of low-scale conflict, Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are threatening all-out war. The United States and the international community are lobbying for calm and hopeful for a diplomatic solution. They have not been...

Iran and Bahrain agree to talk about how they might resume diplomatic relations severed since 2016

Jun. 24, 2024 03:42 AM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran and Bahrain have agreed to talk about how they might resume bilateral relations after nearly eight years, Iranian media reported Monday. The report by state-run IRNA news agency said Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani and his Bahraini...

Thousands of Iran-backed fighters offer to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel

Jun. 23, 2024 01:15 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say. ...

Iran overturns death sentence of rapper famous for lyrics about the death of protester Mahsa Amini

Jun. 22, 2024 15:07 PM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a government critic and a popular hip-hop artist, Toomaj Salehi — who came to fame over his lyrics about the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022 — his lawyer Amir Raisian said Saturday. ...

Italian coast guard recovers 14 more bodies of shipwreck victims off Calabria, dozens still missing

Jun. 22, 2024 05:37 AM EDT

ROME (AP) — The Italian coast guard has recovered 14 more bodies from last week's shipwreck in the Ionian Sea off the southern Italian coastline, bringing to 34 the number of known victims from the sinking. Dozens are still missing and presumed dead. The bodies, recovered on...