State department

US issues new sanctions against Lebanese officials, companies aligned with Hezbollah

They were sanctioned under the authority of Executive Order 13224, which allows the White House to target groups and individuals associated with designated terrorist groups.

People hold Hezbollah flags while commemorating Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, May 25, 2026.
A GREEK Orthodox priest holds up a bible during the Holy Friday service at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St George in Coptic Cairo on May 3, 2024.

Christian converts still face discrimination, arrests in Egypt, US State Dept. confirms

Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) patrol on a vehicle, next to an area destroyed by Myanmar's airstrike in Myawaddy, the Thailand-Myanmar border town under the control of a coalition of rebel forces led by the Karen National Union, in Myanmar, April 15, 2024.

Myanmar detains US businessman who wrote about military coup, sources say

A PROTESTER holds a sign during a demonstration against the military coup outside the US Embassy in Yangon on February 21, 2021.

US official found dead in Myanmar, State Department confirms


Third round of Israel-Lebanon peace talks 'productive, positive' so far, US official says

Before Thursday’s negotiations, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that the talks aim “to discuss a framework for an agreement in greater depth.” 

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa holds an "America is back" hat signed by US President Donald Trump next to Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington DC, April 23, 2026.

US imposes new Iran sanctions, warns shipping companies not to pay Hormuz tolls

The move comes after the US imposed new sanctions on Tuesday on 35 groups and individuals involved in operating Iran's covert "shadow banking" financial network.

A large US flag flies outside the White House in Washington, DC on November 23, 2025.

Israel's arrest of Gaza flotilla activists a 'brazen violation of int'l law,' Mamdani charges

At the same time, the Trump administration condemned GSF, naming it a “pro-Hamas initiative and a baseless, counterproductive effort to undermine President Trump’s Peace Plan.”

CCTV footage from IDF interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, May 1, 2026.

Palestinian Authority continues to pay terrorists, US State Department report confirms

Under the Taylor Force Act (2018), Washington is unable to offer economic aid to Ramallah until it ends pay-for-slay payments and its statements of public support for terrorism.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting with Russian President at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 22, 2026.

US to issue special passport design featuring Trump's face, State Department announces - report

According to the Financial Times, the passport's design will feature the President's portrait overlaying the Declaration of Independence on its inner cover.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press during an event outside the Oval Office of the White House on April 13, 2026 in Washington, DC.

US imposes fresh sanctions targeting Iran's covert 'shadow banking' financial network

The move comes after the US said on Friday it had imposed sanctions on an independent "teapot" refinery in China for buying billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil.

The American flag flies next to the South Portico of the White House on January 31, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Iran executes man with alleged resistance ties, links to Israeli intelligence, regime outlets say

Mizan identified the man as Soltanali Shirzadi Fakhr, saying he had been a long-time member of the MEK and was found guilty of cooperating with Israeli intelligence.

A MAN sets an Israeli flag on fire, as people gather after a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war was announced, in Tehran, earlier this month. Iran’s regime not only harbors genocidal intentions toward Israel but also pursues a broader vision to destabilize the West, the writer says.

Trump considering plan to send Afghan refugees who helped US to Congo - NYT

AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver criticized the move, describing it as giving the refugees a choice between "the world’s number one refugee crisis to the world’s number two refugee crisis.”

Evacuees from Afghanistan arrive at Hamad International Airport in Qatar's capital Doha on September 10, 2021.

US State Dept. offers $10m. reward for Hamidawi, leader of Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia

The US State Department offered up to $10 million for information on Ahmad al-Hamidawi, leader of Kataib Hezbollah, responsible for deadly attacks on US facilities and the kidnapping of US citizens.

Mourners march in the funeral of a Kataib Hezbollah terrorist after a US airstrike on a Popular Mobilization Forces headquarters near the Iraq-Syria border, pictured in Baghdad, March 2, 2026.

US arrests Iranian family tied to 1979 Iran hostage crisis at US embassy

Seyed Eissa Hashemi is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, the infamous spokeswoman for the Islamist militants who overran the US Embassy in Tehran during the 1979 hostage crisis.

Then-vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoumeh Ebtekar delivers a speech during the opening session of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, November 30, 2015.