#Iran’s middle class is disappearing. Carbohydrates are replacing protein as it becomes too expensive. Wild inflation comes on top of the trauma of war & brutal crackdown on protests in Jan. My in depth piece on an economy at the brink www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Things you learn every day: the founder of Spanish fashion giant Mango Isak Andic, who plunged to his death on a hike in 2024, was born in Istanbul www.ft.com/content/0f69...

“I laugh every I can’t stop laughing every time I say ‘internet pro.' It’s just a strategy for some of the internet service providers like Irancell to make some money.” www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Turkish police forced the evacuation of the country’s main opposition party headquarters on Sunday, in a dramatic escalation of a legal crackdown on rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Some Iranians have been attending pro-gov rallies every night for 2 months straight . But others can't stand them. “They annoy me so much,” one woman said. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Story of the day - barnacles, algae and jellyfish clinging to ships stuck around the Strait of Hormuz are damaging the vessels and making it harder for them to move when they eventually can. Great way into a serious topic www.ft.com/content/28c8...

127,000 jobs lost in a year in #Turkey's clothing, textile and leather manufacturing sectors, TEPAV report based on data from Turkey's social security institution says tepav.org.tr/tr/haberler/...

My indepth piece about Turkish weapons firms seeing a surge in demand in the shadow of the #Iran-US-Israel conflict as Middle Eastern countries look to shore up their air defenses www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

My exclusive: #Turkey and #Iraq finalised details of a purchase by Baghdad of 20 air defence systems from Turkish state defence manufacturers, Iraq's army deputy chief of staff told me. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

How is #Iran viewing the stalemate & tit for tat in the Strait of #Hormuz? It is in no rush to enter a deal to end the conflict that would involve it giving up its new found control. My latest www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Iranians are living in neither war nor peace as excruciating price rises continue & an internal security crackdown intensifies. “I don't think the Islamic Republic can get out of this jam,” one woman in Tehran told me. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

A New Era and New Leadership: The Generals Who Are Running Iran www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/w...

The internet might be telling you these women are AI creations. That is totally wrong. They're real Iranian women, mostly detained after taking part in anti-government protests in January. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

‏گزارش من راجع به تعدیل کار و تورم و بیکاری نتیجه‌ی ⁧‫#جنگ‬⁩ و ⁧‫#قطعی_اینترنت‬⁩ در ⁧‫#ایران‬⁩ www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

#Iranians, already facing the trauma of war & a more hardline government, have seen their incomes decimated by both conflict-related layoffs & the continuing internet blackout. My special report www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Amid the backdrop of its own conflict with #Pakistan, #Afghanistan has not escaped the fallout of the #Israel-#US-#Iran war, the Taliban-led Afghanistan Foreign Ministry official in charge of Middle East relations told me www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

The #Iran war is distracting the US & other global powers from pushing for implementation of the #Gaza ceasefire deal, Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabakian told me at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Wow stat here: — 115 of 195 American ambassadorial posts worldwide currently sit vacant @FT www.ft.com/content/5ed0... Now would be a great time to send US ambassadors to the Middle East

At 3am last night, as the news broke of a ceasefire, Pouya took his motorbike and rode around the streets of #Tehran. For the first time in over a month, the skies were silent. My piece on Iranians' thoughts and feelings about the ceasefire #IranWar‌ www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

#transcribing #translation tools - if you are looking for a quick way to transcribe and translate audio files, including links on social media, I recommend Transcribe transcribe.audio

Full story on shooting outside #Israeli consulate in #Istanbul today www.thenationalnews.com/news/2026/04...

📌 Read @lcmporter.bsky.social latest for the @thenationalnews.com, including some comments from me on #Zelensky's visit to #Damascus and why Turkish FM Hakan #Fidan was there. 🇺🇦 🇹🇷 🇸🇾 www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

I am running the full 42km Paris #Marathon on April 12 to raise money for @msf.fr which is doing life saving work across the Middle East and elsewhere as conflict rages. All funds straight to MSF. Thank you so much in advance for your kind donations and support. collecter.msf.fr/fundraisers/...

Quote of the day from a Turkish friend: "When Trump speaks it's like an old amca [uncle] sitting in a cafe"

At the beginning of the war, hashtag#Trump backed the idea of a ground offensive by armed hashtag#Iranian Kurdish dissidents. Then he U-turned. What happened? My long read from Iraqi Kurdistan, with Stella Martany www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Thousands of detainees in Iran, including political prisoners and children, are at risk of injury and death from US and Israeli strikes, as well as atrocities by Iran’s authorities, including mass, arbitrary, and secret executions: www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

April fools only works when reality isn't this stupid.

Centre for Human Rights in #Iran reports huge wave of arrests in Iran during the war, while @amnesty.org warns of more executions after 4 people were executed in the space of 24 hours www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

APNewsAlert: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — 3 major airlines in United Arab Emirates say Iranians are now barred from entering or transiting country as war rages.

Hear on World Service 'foreign journalist kidnapped in Baghdad'=stab of panic, where is my sister? Check social media (quicker than WhatsApp)-relief, then guilt because she's someone's loved one. I hope Shelly is released, safely, soon.

American journalist Shelly Kittleson kidnapped in Iraq www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Iranian Red Crescent worker Ali Reza Sohbatloo was killed in an airstrike today "while providing criticial humanitarian support at a medical clinic" in Zanjan, north-western Iran, the the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

#Iran's newly appointed ambassador in #Lebanon is “alive and kicking” in #Beirut despite being ordered by the Foreign Ministry to leave the country by Sunday..... With Jamie Prentis www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

I spoke to Iranians one month into the war, who fear being trapped between a hardening regime and Trump's threats to bomb energy plants www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Your 120 seconds on what on earth is going on youtube.com/shorts/Hv6Qi71B1cU?time_continue=10&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2F

APNewsAlert: KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — #Afghanistan’s Taliban government says it has released American national Dennis Coyle, held since January 2025.

A war to destroy Iran’s nuclear program (“obliterated” in June 25’) & prevent it from having nuclear military capability (exactly the JCPOA) turned into “regime change” & “unconditional surrender” (since Netanyahu promised it’s viable) is now a war to open The Strait of Hormuz, which was open before

I still can't get over the witch

#breaking - Trump says he has ordered postponement of strikes on #Iranian energy infrastructure for five days after "very good and productive conversations" with Iran over the weekend. (Also the POTUS needs to check use of his 🧙)

Day 3 of daily videos to fundraise for Lebanon. In which I talk about my mother. Donate here: www.chuffed.org/project/1719...

Around 7000 Americans were killed on Iwo Jima and 19,000 wounded, and it was part of a campaign that ended with a nuclear weapon being used, so maybe not the wisest comparison.

#Newroz new year celebrations aren't the same for Tahir and Chiman Abdullah’s family this year. In fact, there are no celebrations at all, after their son was killed in a drone strike earlier this month. With Stella Martany www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

‏نوروزتون پیروز، با امیدی که سال نو آرامش و صلح و آزادی بیاره 🪻🍎🐟🌿❤️🕯️🌱

“Here in #Iraq everything is a twisted logic. It's incomprehensible to be honest with you. They [the militias] don't know how much damage they’re inflicting on their own country,” @HoshyarZebari told me of how #Iran-backed militants are drawing Iraq into war www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Everyone keeps asking how much longer the war will last. Not even Trump seems to know the answer. Given that, a better question right now is what are the additional fallouts and scenarios for each extra day/week the conflict lasts, both immediate and longer-lasting damage.

Iran is denying attacks on Turkey. Turkey says Iran is responsible. What’s happening ? Tehran’s denials appear to be testing the limits of Ankara’s neutrality in the war & the strength of its Nato membership, while also providing a route to de-escalation www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

What are Iranians inside the country feeling about the war? Of course, it is impossible to generalise in such an enormous country of 90m+ people. Internet blackouts mean it is very hard to reach people. Here are the views of 2 people I spoke to last week. youtube.com/shorts/DLHej...

NEW: NATO is considering strengthening missile defenses in Türkiye due to the growing threat from Iranian missiles. The alliance may deploy an additional Patriot missile defense system to Incirlik Air Base. Source: Bloomberg

“If the war ends in a few months, both sides will declare victory, and the main losers will be the people of #Iran,” said Sina, one of the residents of Tehran who spoke to me for this story. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

‏وقتی که این جنگ به پیان میرسه، چه میشه؟ امرکیا به این سوال جواب نداره