Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making regime change in Iran an explicit goal ahead of Israel’s election, while political rivals advocate tough measures against Tehran and criticize his failure to eliminate the Iranian threat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that toppling Iran’s regime was Israel’s “primary objective,” a day after discussing Iran with US War Secretary Pete Hegseth during an unannounced visit to Israel.
Washington and Tehran may still reach a limited deal, but fundamental disagreements leave open the prospect of renewed escalation, analysts told Iran International, with the period after elections in Israel and the United States emerging as a potential turning point.
Iranian military officials warned of a stronger response to any renewed US attack on Monday, as Russia's foreign minister visited Tehran for talks and regional security concerns grew following Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Washington could “soon finish the job” against Iran unless Tehran changed course, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared to strike Iran without US support and vowed to bring down Tehran’s government.
Iranian officials raised the possibility of a shift in nuclear policy and threatened retaliation against further US-Israeli attacks, while Tehran outlined its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.
Iran cannot bring the United States to its knees despite inflicting damage on American forces, a former Tehran mayor said in a state television interview, arguing that Iran's military capabilities cannot match Washington's and calling for an end to the war through negotiations.
Marco Rubio’s invocation of ancient Persia in a speech championing Western power has given Tehran an opportunity to present itself as a defender of Iranian identity, even as critics recall the Islamic Republic’s own record of disparaging pride in the country’s pre-Islamic rulers.
The US blockade and tighter sanctions enforcement are cutting into Iran’s oil income and targeting financial networks that sustain the Islamic Republic, but may still fall short of forcing Tehran into concessions, experts said at an Iran International town hall in Washington.
Iran-based and Iranian-linked actors have used two leading US artificial intelligence platforms to place articles under fake journalist identities and help develop targeting recommendations against US naval forces, according to separate investigations by OpenAI and Anthropic.
More than two-thirds of respondents to an Iran International Instagram poll said the Trump administration’s pressure on the Islamic Republic is hurting ordinary Iranians more than the authorities.
Three years after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, the Islamic Republic faces a weakened network of regional allies, direct military confrontation and mounting economic pressure, upending its long-held strategy of deterring enemies while keeping war away from its territory.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran had failed to take advantage of repeated opportunities to reach an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program, while also saying Tehran had “lost complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego has sparked a backlash from California officials and prompted the White House to insist that he was misunderstood as he defended the mounting costs of the war with Tehran.
Iran is reviewing Washington’s response to a seven-day proposal sent through intermediaries, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday, as other officials offered differing assessments of whether further negotiations with the United States were needed.
Iran’s currency fell to another record low against the dollar on Sunday, extending its decline during a US campaign aimed at restricting the Islamic Republic’s oil exports and financial flows.
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was approaching a decision on Iran, warning Tehran faced the “easy way or the hard way” as the Pentagon kept military options open amid continued attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian-American student who pressed Michigan Democratic US Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to state his position on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says he and his family have faced threats and harassment after a video of the exchange went viral.
Iran took a US response to its latest diplomatic proposal to cabinet, a tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz and two January protesters were executed among the key developments on Wednesday.
Iran said on Tuesday it is awaiting a US response to its proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as regional oil flows continued to recover and the rial sank past 2.5 million to the dollar.
A designated terrorist organization has written to American voters. Iran's Revolutionary Guards sent a 26-page letter to US scholars, students and media describing a government in decline and telling Americans they have the power to change it at the ballot box in November.
President Donald Trump may be putting off a difficult choice over Iran until after the US midterm elections, a former senior US diplomat told Iran International.