The sharp fall in Iran’s oil loadings is forcing it to curb production, raising costs beyond lost sales, from restarting aging wells to maintaining reservoir pressure and protecting shared fields. But could the shutdowns cause lasting damage?
Iranian officials and media are increasingly looking to China as a possible diplomatic bridge to Washington, as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s second wartime visit to Beijing coincides with preparations for President Xi Jinping’s talks with Donald Trump next week.
Iran is racing to restore gas infrastructure before winter after losing about a third of its pre-war production capacity, a reconstruction challenge that could force Tehran into difficult choices between keeping homes warm, power plants running and industry supplied.
Four years after Mahsa “Jina” Amini’s death in Iran’s morality police custody sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, teenagers who watched her name become a rallying cry have grown up amid repression but beyond many of the social and political boundaries of pre-2022 Iran.
Iranian newspapers that agree on almost nothing agreed on Monday that the Muscat talks had collapsed. Kayhan, Shargh and Donya-ye Eghtesad all reported it, and the argument has already moved to what Tehran does next.
Iran has gained leverage over Saudi Arabia as Houthi advances and attacks put pressure on the kingdom’s territory and oil routes. But Riyadh is responding more forcefully, raising the risk that Tehran’s advantage could provoke a military backlash that ultimately weakens it.
Foreign investment in Iran has effectively come to a halt following the war with Israel and the United States, with no new foreign investment recorded so far this Iranian year, a senior industry ministry figure said.
Russia could help sustain Yemen’s Houthis if Iran’s ability to support the group is weakened, providing a lifeline as the group expands its reach around a second crucial Middle Eastern shipping route, according to Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute.
Israel’s destruction of Hezbollah’s Ali al-Taher complex, despite Iranian warnings, has exposed the limits of Tehran’s deterrence in Lebanon as it increasingly relies on maritime chokepoints for leverage.
Hardliners in Tehran are pressing for further military and nuclear escalation despite mounting economic pressure and a widening confrontation with the United States. Is it a reckless gamble, or a realistic response to Iran’s dwindling options?
Rows of black body bags became one of the defining images of Iran’s deadly January 2026 crackdown, as families searched among covered bodies and thousands of photographs for relatives killed or missing during the unrest.
A US cruise missile strike on a railway bridge 700 miles from the war's main front has a puzzle at its center: Iranian media said it hit the China corridor, Iran's own figures say the line is minor and points at Russia, and Washington has not said why.
The escalating battle between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis may be a test of what remains of Tehran’s Axis of Resistance after months of war and mounting pressure on Iran itself.
Iran’s decision to double the price of gasoline sold outside subsidized quotas could generate less than $500 million in additional annual revenue under current consumption patterns, but can it resolve the structural pressures behind the country’s growing fuel shortage?
Iran has signalled a sharper military posture after threatening US warships and energy interests, while seeking to extend its control of shipping beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
The Trump administration may be overstating Europe’s formal role in its “Economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, but years of economic and political convergence have increasingly aligned Europe with Washington.
US attacks on Iranian oil tankers could make it far harder and more expensive for Tehran to keep selling its crude, but the strategy carries a potentially much larger cost: turning the Persian Gulf’s energy infrastructure into an expanding battlefield.
Starlink terminals becoming available in newly legal markets on Iran’s doorstep could make the Islamic Republic’s internet shutdowns harder to enforce, potentially lowering the cost of equipment that has become an increasingly important route around government blackouts.
A debate is widening in Tehran over whether Iran is exhausting one of its most powerful weapons against the United States, with growing warnings that the Strait of Hormuz could lose its effectiveness the longer restrictions continue.
The Strait of Hormuz has become one of the most dangerous points of leverage in the US-Iran war, but it may also offer Tehran and Washington their clearest route back to negotiations.
A bank owned by the Iranian state is still open in London, operating on a temporary permission from the British Treasury that expires on October 22. Renewing it, or letting it lapse, is Britain's answer to Washington's campaign to shut Iran's banks for good.
Iranians have found a way to complain about prices that no prosecutor can touch: they film themselves dancing beside the groceries, insist they are delighted, and explain that if they were not, they would be executed.