As Iran's presidential vote looms, tensions boil over renewed headscarf crackdown

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Seemingly every afternoon in Iran's capital, police vans rush to major Tehran squares and intersections to search for women with loose headscarves and those who dare not to wear them at all. The renewed crackdown comes not quite two years since...

Iran's supreme leader warns sole reformist in presidential race, while calling for 'maximum' turnout

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader issued a thinly veiled warning Tuesday to the sole reformist candidate in the country's upcoming presidential election, saying anyone who believes “all ways to progress” come from the United States shouldn't be supported. ...

U.S. sanctions 'sprawling' shadow banking network for supporting Iranian military

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it is imposing economic sanctions on 50 people and firms across Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands that have been acting as a “sprawling shadow banking network” for Iran's military. ...

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

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...

Iran's supreme leader calls for 'maximum' voter turnout in Friday's presidential election to 'overcome the enemy'

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

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...

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

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

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

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?

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...