Features

• April 14, 2026

  Wider Europe Briefing: What Now For NATO?

  This week, RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak drills down on one issue: What will happen with NATO after a few tough weeks

• April 14, 2026

  Delays And Rising Costs: Central Asia Feels Fallout From Iran War

  As expected, the launching of US and Israeli air strikes on Iran -- and retaliatory strikes by Tehran on targets in the Mideast -- has hit the economies of the region. But the shockwaves are arguably being felt just as much in Central Asian nations who rely on goods flowing through Iran.

• April 13, 2026

  Max Meizlish: How The US Navy And Economic Sanctions Aim To Squeeze Tehran

  RFE/RL spoke with Max Meizlish, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former official at the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, on the intersection of naval blockades and financial warfare as Washington halts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

• April 13, 2026

  What To Know About The US Naval Blockade Of Iran

  A US blockade on ships entering Iranian ports and coastal areas has taken effect, following failed peace talks between the US and Iran. And it already poses a dilemma: risk attack from Iranian assets near the Strait of Hormuz or hold back and hope to catch vessels breaking out into the open seas.

• April 13, 2026

  The Air Strikes Have Paused, But Iranians Worry About What Comes Next

  After nearly six weeks of war, air strikes on Iran have paused, but uncertainty remains. As they brace for what may come next, Tehran residents describe anxiety on the streets of the Iranian capital amid rising prices, job losses, and an ongoing Internet blackout.

• April 12, 2026

  This American Was Abducted In Kabul In 2022. His Family Is Desperate For News.

  Mahmood Shah Habibi’s daughter hasn’t seen her father since she was 11 months old. That was in 2022, when the American was abducted in Kabul and detained by the Taliban’s intelligence agency, US officials say. “We have had no news of his fate for four years,” his mother told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

• April 12, 2026

  No Breakthrough: US, Iran Talks Fail Following Hours-Long Session

  Marathon talks aimed at halting the war in Iran ended without a breakthrough, as US Vice President JD Vance flew back to the United States amid major questions what comes next for the 43-day-old conflict.

• April 11, 2026

  US Revisits Georgia's Black Sea Port As Strategic Corridors Rise

  After nearly two years of frozen ties, Washington and Tbilisi are talking again. But the sudden outreach appears driven less by a strategic reset than by competing pressures over trade corridors, China’s growing footprint, and shifting regional priorities, analysts say.

• April 10, 2026

  David Schenker: US And Iran 'Very Far' Apart Before Pakistan Talks

  David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Affairs, told Current Time that all options are on the table for President Donald Trump as the US and Iran remain "very far" apart as they head into negotiations in Pakistan.

• April 10, 2026

  Veterans Of 1980s 'Tanker War' See Parallels In Current Hormuz Crisis

  Sailors who survived the 1980s tanker war in the Persian Gulf in which scores of merchant sailors were killed say the current crisis over the Strait of Hormuz risks a descent into another all-out maritime conflict.

• April 10, 2026

  Transit Toll: A Sea Change In US Freedom Of Navigation Policy?

  Iran wants any peace deal to include a right for it to collect fees from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. With around 130 ships crossing the strait every day before the war, the toll would be a windfall for Iran. But would it be legal?

• April 10, 2026

  As Hungary Votes, They're Watching Closely In Kyiv, Moscow, And Beyond

  Hungarians vote in elections on April 12 as war rages in neighboring Ukraine and the government’s relationship with Russia is under intense scrutiny. Polls suggest that after 16 years in office, Prime Minister Viktor Orban may lose power to opposition leader Peter Magyar.

Load more