Joseph Krauss, The Associated Press

  • In this Dec. 23, 2019, file photo released by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, technicians work at the Arak heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP, File)
    Iran’s president says ‘no limit’ to nuclear enrichment

    Iran’s president said Thursday that there is “no limit” to the country’s enrichment of uranium following its decision to abandon its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal in response to the killing of its top general in a U.S. airstrike.

  • In this May 27, 2019, file photo, NATO forces attend the graduation ceremony of Afghan National Army soldiers from a 3-month training program at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
    Iran warning puts thousands of European troops in spotlight

    A warning by Iran’s president that European forces in the Middle East could be at risk if their nations join the U.S. pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic puts a focus on thousands of foreign troops in the region.

  • In this Saturday photo, released by the Iranian Students' News Agency, a woman attending a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Ukraine plane crash talks to a policeman at the gate of Amri Kabir University in Tehran. Security forces deployed in large numbers across the capital, Tehran, on Sunday, expecting more protests after its Revolutionary Guard admitted to shooting down a passenger plane. (Mona Hoobehfekr/ISNA via AP)
    Defying police, Iranians protest over plane shootdown

    Videos posted online showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans and moving through subway stations and sidewalks, many around Azadi, or Freedom, Square after an earlier call for people to demonstrate there.

  • Pedestrians walk past banners of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone attack on Friday, in Tajrish square in northern Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
    Iran sends mixed signals as tensions with US ease

    Iran sent mixed signals Thursday as tensions with the U.S. appeared to ease, with President Hassan Rouhani warning of a “very dangerous response” if the U.S. makes “another mistake” and a senior commander vowing “harsher revenge” for the killing of a top Iranian general.

  • Pro-Iranian militiamen and their supporters set a fire during a sit-in in front of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday. U.S. troops have fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of pro-Iran militiamen and other protesters who were gathered for a second day outside the American Embassy compound in Baghdad. (Khalid Mohammed/AP)
    Militiamen withdraw from US Embassy but Iraq tensions linger

    Iran denied involvement in the attack on the embassy. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted by media as saying that "if the Islamic Republic makes a decision to confront any country, it will do it directly."

  • In this June 23, 2014, file photo, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo)
    Al-Baghdadi’s death a blow, but ISIS has survived other losses

    The death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi marks the demise of one of the most brutally effective jihadist leaders of modern times — a man who commanded tens of thousands of fighters from around the world, carved out a territorial caliphate in the Middle East and refined a horrific ideology that survives him.

  • Turkish-backed forces from the Free Syrian Army stand in formation Oct. 7, 2019, during military maneuvers in preparation for a Turkish incursion targeting Syrian Kurdish fighters, near Azaz town, north Syria. (AP)
    Money, hatred for the Kurds drives Turkey’s Syrian fighters

    The Syrian fighters vowed to kill "pigs" and "infidels," paraded their Kurdish captives in front of cameras and, in one graphic video, fired several rounds into a man lying on the side of a highway with his hands bound behind his back.

  • Iraqis find bomb factory, tunnels on long road to Mosul

    Iraqi forces explored a network of tunnels and uncovered a bomb-making facility on Thursday in a village near Mosul that was recently retaken from the Islamic State group, offering a glimpse of the challenge they will face as they move closer to the city.