Recent PHENIX results on hard probes and direct photon production

A hot and dense matter called strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) is created in heavy ion collisions at RHIC energies. Detailed study of the properties of this new state of matter is a driving force of recent research at RHIC. In these proceedings we present most recent PHENIX results for system size and energy dependence of hadron and jet production at high transverse momentum in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. We also report latest results for direct photon production including soft direct photon yields and anisotropic flow.