Iran’s geographic advantage has been offset by sanctions, regulatory instability, and logistics concerns, leading Central Asian states to quietly pivot toward more predictable trade networks.

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan, the judiciary said.

Iran’s intelligence chief has accused the US and Israel of plotting to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an effort to destabilize the country, the ISNA news agency has reported. 

When Merat Behnam first gathered enough courage to ride her yellow scooter through the gridlocked streets of Iran ‘s capital to the coffee shop she runs, traffic wasn’t her main worry.

Iran will rebuild nuclear facilities targeted in US and Israeli strikes earlier this year, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said, reiterating that his country is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran executed a man named Bahman Choubi-asl on Monday, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan said, saying the defendant was "one of the most important spies for Israel in Iran".

According to diplomats, broad UN sanctions on Iran are expected to be reinstated, despite a last-minute bid by China and Russia on Friday to postpone the move and allow more negotiations

Arab and Muslim leaders called for a review of ties with Israel after emergency talks in Doha on Monday following last week's deadly strike on Hamas members in the Qatari capital.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, addressing the SCO summit in Tianjin, warned of foreign involvement in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and called for collective regional action against extremism

European powers said Friday they were ready to drop a new sanctions push on Iran if it addresses concerns on its nuclear program over the next month, but Tehran denounced the offer as insincere.

Iran said on Monday that its military capabilities were not up for negotiations, after France called for a "comprehensive deal" with Tehran that covers its missile programme and regional influence.

Israel believes that US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last month did not destroy enriched uranium stockpiles at one of the facilities, meaning Tehran could be able to retrieve the nuclear fuel, the AP has reported, citing a senior Israeli official.