An illustrated portrait of the famous intellectual and writer James Baldwin. Jackie Lay hide caption
Middle East Middle East news, arts, culture, and politics. Updates on Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Iran, OPEC, and the Persian Gulf states NPR streaming audio. Subscribe to the Middle East RSS feed.
Middle East
A boy walks through the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on August 14. Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A new Israel-Hamas cease-fire talk starts this week. Is anything different this time?
Demonstrators wave flags and hold pictures of the leader of the Palestinian militant Hamas group, Ismail Haniyeh, (C) and senior leader Saleh al-Arouri during a protest on July 31, 2024 in Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees, denouncing his killing. Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Iranian rights activist Masih Alinejad speaks during a press conference in association with the World Liberty Congress to urge action on political prisoners around the world in Washington, DC, on March 12. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Palestinians are walking along Salah al-Din Road in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Feb. 11, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
Pro-Palestinian protesters walk from Columbia University down to Hunter College in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
When it comes to the Israel-Gaza war, the split in opinion is generational
Palestinians walk among the rubble after four hostages were rescued from Gaza in an Israeli rescue operation on Saturday. Anas Baba/NPR hide caption
This image, taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip, shows smoke billowing in the Palestinian territory at sunset following Israeli bombardment on June 2. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Examining the state of Hamas on 3 fronts: troops, governance and narrative
United States Marines in Afghanistan carry colleague LCPL Jerome Hanley of Massachusetts, who was wounded in an insurgent attack to a waiting medevac helicopter in 2011. Kevin Frayer/AP hide caption
Battlefield medicine has come a long way. But that progress could be lost
At a march in support of Israel, one woman holds a sign saying, "Christians Stand with Israel." Getty Images hide caption
White evangelical Christians are some of Israel's biggest supporters. Why?
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store speaks during a news conference in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israel's ambassadors from Ireland and Norway to immediately return to Israel, as Norway said it would recognize a Palestinian state and Ireland was expected to do the same. Erik Flaaris Johansen/AP hide caption
Iranians gather at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on May 20 to mourn the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others in a helicopter crash the previous day. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
People hold up posters of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a mourning ceremony for him on Monday at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran. Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
Men prepare to hang a huge portrait of Ebrahim Raisi outside the Islamic republic's embassy in Baghdad during a condolences service on Monday. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30. Selman Aksunger/Anadolu/Getty Images hide caption
In this photo released by the Iranian first vice president's office, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, right, now acting President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, leads a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Monday. AP hide caption
In this handout image supplied by the Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is pictured at the Qiz Qalasi Dam, constructed on the Aras River on the joint borders between Iran and Azerbaijan. Raisi was seen as a potential successor to Iran's supreme leader. Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran via Getty Images hide caption
President Biden speaks to graduating students at the Morehouse College commencement Sunday in Atlanta. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption
At Morehouse, Biden says dissent should be heard because democracy is 'still the way'
Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., questions Columbia University president Nemat Shafik during a House committee hearing on antisemitism in higher education last month. Mariam Zuhaib/AP hide caption
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is shown placing his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of a bomb explosion in the city of Kerman, Iran, on Jan. 5, 2024. Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP hide caption
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, May 13, 2024. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
Palestinians receive medical care at the European hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday. AFP via Getty Images hide caption