Associated Press

The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news cooperative founded in 1846, headquartered in New York City. It is one of the two dominant global wire services (alongside Reuters) and supplies news content to thousands of newspapers, broadcasters, and digital publishers worldwide.

AP maintains correspondents across the Middle East and has been a primary source for casualty figures, humanitarian reporting, and verified military developments during the Iran crisis. AP’s strength is ground-level reporting — their journalists operate in conflict zones where many outlets rely on remote sourcing. AP was among the first outlets to report confirmed Iranian missile strikes on coalition bases and has provided critical damage assessments.

AP operates under a strict factual reporting standard with multi-source verification requirements. Their cooperative ownership structure (owned by member newspapers) insulates editorial decisions from commercial pressure.