Middle East

World News

U.N. Report Calls For International Investigation Of Jamal Khashoggi's Killing

5:29pm June 19, 2019

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Agnes Callamard, U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions at the human rights office, about her report on Jamal Khashoggi's death.

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Jeelan, 11, the day after being rescued from an ISIS family who had held her captive for the past two years. She says she doesn't remember her Yazidi family. "I want to go back to Um Ali," she says, referring to the Iraqi woman who had been pretending to

World News

'I Want To Go Back': The Yazidi Girls Who Did Not Want To Be Rescued From ISIS

12:56pm June 19, 2019

by Jane Arraf

The girls, ages 10 and 11, were held captive for years and remember nothing of their Yazidi heritage. They miss the ISIS woman who looked after them and tell rescuers they want to return to her.

World News

State Department Adviser On Iran

5:29am June 19, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran, ahead of his trip to meet with European allies to discuss escalating tensions with Iran.

World News

Former Iran Deal Negotiator Weighs In On Rising U.S.-Iran Tensions

6:00pm June 18, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Philip Gordon, who helped negotiate the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, about escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

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Nizar Zakka (center), a Lebanese national and U.S. resident arrested in Iran in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in jail on espionage charges, gives a press conference in Beirut after he was freed in early June.

World News

U.S. Resident Imprisoned In Iran On Spying Charges Returns To America

5:51pm June 18, 2019

by Ashley Westerman

Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen, was recently released from Iran's notorious Evin Prison, where he served nearly four years.

World News

Europe Wants To Continue Doing Some Business With Iran Despite U.S. Sanctions

4:22pm June 18, 2019

by Deborah Amos

European countries that are skeptical of U.S. policy towards Iran and claims of Iranian attacks on ships are setting up an office that could help them do business with Iran despite U.S. sanctions.

An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter takes off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group was recently deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as tensions between the U.S. and Iran e

Pentagon Sending 1,000 More U.S. Troops To Middle East

11:05am June 18, 2019

by Richard Gonzales

The announcement comes after Iran said it would surpass limits on its uranium stockpiles as set by a landmark international agreement. The Pentagon insisted it is not seeking a war with Iran.

News Brief: U.S. Troops To Middle East, Trump Reelection, African Migrants

7:38am June 18, 2019

U.S. to send additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East. President Trump to kick off his reelection campaign in Florida. African migrants have been streaming through Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S.

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World News

What Happens To The Nuclear Deal If Iran Keeps Stockpiling Uranium?

7:28am June 18, 2019

Iran says it will exceed the limit on its stockpile of uranium agreed to under the 2015 nuclear deal. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Ambassador Wendy Sherman who helped craft that deal four years ago.

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U.S. Doesn't Want To Go To War With Iran, Retired Admiral McRaven Says

7:09am June 18, 2019

Steve Inskeep talks to retired Admiral William McRaven about the prospects for war with Iran. McRaven, who spent four decades as a Navy SEAL, oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

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