Khamenei takes leadership in Iran, U.S.-Iran warship dispute escalates, and Japan stocks plunge amid tensions. Israel strikes Beirut in ongoing conflict.
IRAN — Iran confirms Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader, succeeding his father. His leadership comes amid ongoing regional conflict and military tensions.
PERSIAN GULF — The U.S. and Iran engage in a diplomatic dispute over the sinking of an Iranian warship. The U.S. claims it acted in self-defense, escalating tensions in the region.
JAPAN — Japan's Nikkei average plunges beyond 4200 yen, attributed to rising tensions linked to Iran and escalating regional conflicts. Investors remain on edge.
BEIRUT, LEBANON — An Israeli strike hits a building in southern Beirut, intensifying regional tensions. This follows previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
GULF COUNTRIES — Iran has initiated missile and drone strikes against Gulf nations, prompting regional condemnation. The situation raises alarms among countries hosting U.S. troops.
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Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei is an Iranian politician and Muslim cleric. The second eldest child of Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei served in the Iran–Iraq War from 1987 to 1988, and also reportedly took control of the Basij that was used to suppress the protests over the 2009 election.
Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in 2026. He previously served as the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East at the time of his death.
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Robert Fico is a Slovak politician and lawyer who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. Fico holds the distinction as the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history. His collective time in power spans over 12 years across four distinct mandates. He founded the left-wing political party Direction – Social Democracy in 1999 and has led the party since. His political positions have been described as populist, left-wing and conservative.
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Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.
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Marco Antonio Rubio is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat serving as the 72nd United States secretary of state since 2025, also the acting national security advisor. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2025.
Paul Magnette is a Belgian politician. Since 2019, he is the leader of the Socialist Party, a social democratic French-speaking party in Belgium. He was mayor of Charleroi from December 2012 to December 2024. Magnette is a former political science professor at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and Director of the Institute of European Studies of the ULB. He was appointed minister in the Belgian federal government from 2007 to 2013 and was Minister-President of Wallonia from 2014 to 2017. He also was a member of the Senate of Belgium, of the Parliament of Wallonia and of the Parliament of the French Community.
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Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego is a Colombian politician, former guerrilla leader, and economist who has served as the 35th president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the first left-wing president in the recent history of Colombia.
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