Peter Kenyon

Turkey is one of the hardest-hit countries in the Middle East, often reporting 4,000 or more new COVID-19 cases per day. The government hopes short-term stay-home measures will curb the outbreak.

Iran is among the countries hard hit hit by the coronavirus pandemic. As Iranians head back to work after their New Year's holiday, fears are growing that the rate of infection could surge.

Sales of Turkish-made cologne are skyrocketing. Some colognes, made with 80% alcohol, are being embraced for disinfectant properties. Cologne is traditionally offered to house guests to rub on hands.

The country has been reeling from pressure reimposed by the Trump administration. Now it is scrambling to cope with the virus that has killed dozens of Iranians, including a senior official.

Turkey says more than a dozen of its troops were killed in a Syrian airstrike. Turkey faults Syria, and avoided blaming Russia, amid a month of fighting around Idlib province.

On the street in Tehran, people are wondering if their country has the capacity to deal with the coronavirus outbreak — and whether news of it was suppressed.

The Coronavirus is spreading, and worries are intensifying in three more hot spots: Italy, Iran and South Korea. The World Health Organization says the window to contain it is narrowing.

Iran holds parliamentary elections today, but two things seem to be holding down turnout — a sense that the choices are limited to hardliners and a fear of a spread of the novel coronavirus.

In Iran — after months that have seen conflict with the U.S., protests on the streets and ongoing economic pressure, it looks like hardliners have the upper hand in parliamentary elections.

The Iran nuclear deal, promising Iran sanctions relief for limited nuclear activity, still exists. European partners want to save the deal but face pressure from both Iran and the U.S.

Recent protests in Iran have rekindled calls by hardliners to cut the country's Internet off from the world. But government dysfunction has made it difficult.

A week ago Iranians crowded the streets of Tehran mourning the loss of a military leader targeted in a U.S. drone strike. Over the weekend, crowds were lashing out against their government.

Iran has now admitted that its own military shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet Wednesday, killing all 176 people onboard.

Few countries have more at stake heading into 2020 than Iran, which is trying to break free from intense U.S. sanctions and to crush dissent at home.

Iranians facing a crackdown on protests are going for a break, or permanently, to Istanbul, where they're a little more free to talk about the situation back home.

Iranians facing a crackdown on protests are going for a break, or permanently, to Istanbul, where they're a little more free to talk about the situation back home.

President Trump confirms in a statement that a Princeton University grad student being held by Iran has been released after more than three years of captivity.

Turkey threatens to hold up NATO's work unless it labels the Kurdish fighters in Syria who sided with the U.S. in the war against ISIS as terrorists. The West says they are an ally against terror.

Iran claims it has shut down protests but there are signs that the protests have continued, and the internet shutdown shows the situation is still tense.

The Iranian government is struggling to clamp down on widespread protests over a rise in fuel prices. Amid U.S. sanctions, the Iranian economy is in trouble.