Diplomacy

Europeans may have intended to pressure Tehran when they demanded last month an end to Iran’s “occupation” of the three Persian Gulf islands, but the move instead exposed how badly they misread Iran’s public mood.

Iran on Thursday rejected the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ final statement, accusing the bloc of lying about Iranian nuclear activities and alleged support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

A Guards-linked outlet has criticized an Iranian standards official for sitting at the same roundtable as an Israeli representative at last month’s ISO meeting in Rwanda, warning that such contact could carry legal penalties.

The Islamic Republic’s embassy in Lebanon on Tuesday fired back at remarks made by a top US sanctions official who urged Beirut to cut Tehran's funding to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Iraq’s parliamentary election on Tuesday unfolded under the shadow of foreign influence from the United States and Iran which have for two decades vied over the future of the war-battered Arab nation.

The US is trying to set up military bases near Iran’s southern port on the Gulf of Oman to tighten control over regional energy and trade routes, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.

Iran accused the United States of sending mixed signals on reviving nuclear talks, saying the June strikes on its nuclear facilities war undermined ongoing diplomacy and efforts toward a peaceful agreement.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday there is currently no possibility of resuming negotiations with the United States, citing what he described as a lack of constructive behavior from Washington.

The new push for an electricity grid linking Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan grid promises closer energy integration but could leave Tehran more exposed to Moscow’s leverage as rival corridors threaten to dilute its regional role.

Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization has urged Saudi Arabia to increase the number of Iranians permitted to perform the Hajj pilgrimage next year, saying its current quota does not reflect the country’s population size.

Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday said the country should not fear war and faulted the United States for withdrawing from a past nuclear deal and failing to achieve diplomatic progress in talks.

Australia’s Parliament has passed a law allowing the government to list foreign state entities such as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as sponsors of terrorism, after intelligence linked the group to antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Almost half a century after young revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei once again defended the move, leaning into the original break between the arch-foes and all but ruling out rapprochement.

Iran’s embassy in Paris coordinated a decades-long campaign to influence French political, academic and media spheres, according to a new report by French think tank France2050.

Iran has released French prisoners Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris who had been detained since 2022, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Paris freed an Iranian citizen charged with promoting terrorism.

Former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif said on Monday that the United States failed to humiliate Iran in a June war and that only earnest negotiations could resolve the impasse between the two adversaries.

Iran’s daily Kayhan, overseen by a representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has called for a shift in the country’s foreign policy from “engagement” to “power building,” arguing that decades of diplomatic outreach to the West have failed to secure Iran’s national interests.

US President Donald Trump said his approach to Iran is central to securing broader Middle East stability, repeating that US military action had removed Tehran’s nuclear capability and hinting that an agreement with the Islamic Republic could pave the way for regional diplomacy.