The United States and Iran traded sharply worded accusations on Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council, with Washington offering conditional talks while Tehran blamed the standoff on US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Iran has halted contacts with Steve Witkoff, the United States’ senior negotiator, for several months, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, while signaling that Tehran remains open to a negotiated agreement it describes as fair and balanced.
As the Middle East enters the final weeks of 2025, the aftershocks of two years of regional war since October 7, 2023 are yielding to a quieter, consequential realignment of regional power.
China’s recent backing of the United Arab Emirates’ claims over three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf has triggered unusually sharp public criticism of Beijing among Tehran’s hardline supporters.
A former Iranian lawmaker, citing the fate of Iran’s claims after the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, urged Tehran to move quickly to recover what he said were more than $2 billion of assets in Venezuela, as Washington escalated pressure on Caracas.
US Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday expressed disappointment that Washington had not more clearly committed to toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, calling his continued rule a boon to Iran and terrorism.
Iran's mission to the United Nations signaled its opposition to the head of world body's nuclear watchdog becoming UN secretary general next year, saying Rafael Grossi's silence on US-Israeli attacks on Iran showed he did not value international law.
Iranian state media and loyalists including a top general pushed conspiracy theories after a deadly shooting targeting Australia’s Jewish community on Sunday, with some portraying the attack as a possible false-flag operation and others even praising it.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday denounced a deadly shooting at a Jewish holiday event in Sydney, months after Canberra severed ties with Tehran over allegations of its involvement in attacks targeting Jewish communities in Australia.
Leaders from Russia, Iran, Turkey other regional states gathered on Friday in Turkmenistan for a rare international summit marking the country’s 30 years of official neutrality, as diplomatic engagement across the region intensifies amid wider global strains.
Lebanon’s refusal to send its foreign minister to Tehran drew a pointed public response from Iran’s top diplomat, who on Thursday said he was “bemused” by Beirut’s decision.
As diplomatic horizons narrow and domestic hardships mount, Iran appears to endure less through strategic vision than an ad hoc survival economy backed up by China, Russia and its armed allies abroad.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday suggested a US pressure campaign on Venezuela aimed to seize its territory and oil wealth in lengthy diatribe against hegemony of Western countries.
The mood in Tehran appears to be shifting from a sense of imminent danger that followed the June war to a more resigned belief that diplomacy with Washington is stuck in a strategic stalemate rather than a temporary lull.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raji said he had declined an invitation from Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to visit Tehran as Beirut continues to push for the disarmament of Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iran is ready to expand cooperation with Belarus “without any restrictions,” First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said on Wednesday in Tehran, following the conclusion of the 18th Iran–Belarus Joint Economic Committee.
Iran and Egypt have lodged formal protests with FIFA after Seattle designated their 2026 World Cup group-stage game as a “Pride Match,” triggering a diplomatic and cultural backlash from two countries where homosexuality is criminalized.
Iran, China and Saudi Arabia held a trilateral meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, the third since their 2023 normalization agreement brokered in Beijing, state media reported.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday confirmed that 55 Iranian nationals have been detained and are being deported from the United States, marking the second group expelled in recent months under President Donald Trump’s tightened immigration policies.
Simultaneous visits by senior Turkish and Saudi officials to Tehran last weekend were widely seen as a move by the two US allies to explore new channels to manage rising regional tensions through dialogue with Iran.
Interrogations of rebels detained in Chad uncovered an Iran-backed network recruiting and training Africans to target Western and Israeli interests, Argentina's Infobae online newspaper reported citing Chadian officials.
Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi urged Iran to take to build trust with its neighbors and stop policies that undermine stability in the Middle East.