Theme: Iran

Iran: articles and notes where the país is a central actor.

Hormuz became a price regime

With Tehran tying the reopening of the strait to a June agreement, the damage has moved from the sea to the bill: fuel 17% dearer in Bangladesh, liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion delayed in Qatar and Iranian revenue at a two-year high.

IranUnited StatesThe GulfOilMaritime bordersEnergy

21 Sep 2026

A near war over a report an artificial intelligence (AI) invented

Special forces were preparing to board a Chinese ship on the strength of a report a chatbot fabricated. The answer under negotiation between Washington and Beijing is a mechanism to warn before acting: a telephone rather than a rule about where AI may sit.

ChinaUnited StatesIranArtificial intelligenceDiplomacyDeterrence

21 Sep 2026

The single-interlocutor doctrine

Why the Gulf prefers to deal with whoever decides alone — and what that does to multilateral diplomacy.

United StatesIranThe GulfDiplomacy

20 Sep 2026

Wire

Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News on Sunday, September 20, 2026, that he is in “deciding mode” on the war with Iran and that the options on the table are “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal.” “My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave,” the US president said, according to correspondent Trey Yingst’s account quoted by The Guardian. The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Mohebbi, responded on Sunday that “if a new aggression occurs, we will certainly change the weaponry and the geography of the war” and that “our targets will no longer necessarily be the same as before,” in remarks to the semi-official Fars news agency and Iranian state television. Mohebbi said Iran has targets that have not yet been struck and that the Guard has prepared itself for a long war. CBS News reported on Sunday that Tehran has conveyed to Washington through mediators its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, blockaded since the start of the conflict. Trump speaks on Tuesday at the opening of the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks on Wednesday, September 23; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is already in the city.

22 Sep · 05:35

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met in Tehran on Monday, September 21, 2026, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and with his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, in a visit during which Tehran thanked Pakistan for its regional mediation efforts. According to Pakistan’s interior ministry, the two discussed “Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations and the latest situation in the region,” and Momeni thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the chief of army staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for their efforts toward regional peace. Iranian state television Press TV reported that Pezeshkian said the two countries can meet much of their needs by tapping “domestic and regional capacities” and that US pressure has produced greater convergence among Muslim countries; in the account published by The Express Tribune and UrduPoint, Naqvi said bilateral relations “will become even stronger.” It is the minister’s sixth trip to Tehran since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February 2026, and it comes as Islamabad tries to keep alive the memorandum of understanding signed in July between the United States and Iran to end the conflict. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on September 19, 2026, that the visit would focus on bilateral relations and that there was no plan to exchange messages on mediation, according to Pakistan’s Dawn. Al Jazeera reported that the meeting takes place amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington, and Pakistani government sources told Anadolu that the agenda included Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

22 Sep · 05:05