The Syrian-Iraqi border is witnessing a new phase characterized by strategic competition and ideological disparity, and its importance goes beyond being just a bilateral border to turn into a geopolitical hotbed of tension that is likely to influence the future regional landscape. Despite the current relative calm, this stability remains …

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Chaos erupted among government agencies in Iraq on Thursday after Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis appeared briefly on a list of terrorist groups facing sanctions, before it was quickly retracted. A terrorist listing would be a surprise move against Iranian allies with connections in Iraq. The Official Gazette published on …

Signed just days before UN sanctions snapped back into place, the $25-billion Russia–Iran nuclear deal signals a defiant alignment against western pressure, with small modular reactors at the heart of Tehran’s long-term energy ambitions. Just days before the return of UN sanctions on Iran, Russia hosted a major nuclear deal …

Tehran and Moscow’s new contract for the Rasht–Astara Railway deal unlocks the final segment of a Eurasian freight artery In the latest development, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, announced on 26 October that a final contract with Russia for the construction of the Rasht–Astara Railway would …

The fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has offered the first real opening to end the two-year war in Gaza. The outlines of a peace process have broad buy-in, with the UN Security Council approving U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed plan on November 17, but many political questions remain unresolved. …

Iran has sent the Lebanese militia Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year via money exchanges and other businesses in Dubai, as Tehran seeks new ways to funnel money to its ally, people familiar with the matter said. Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, is in desperate need …

On November 19, Israel’s Supreme Court gave the government 45 days to develop effective measures to combat the evasion of military service by ultra-Orthodox Jews. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14% of Israel’s population, yet they serve almost exclusively in the army. This practice had been legal for the past 70 …

On November 20, some American media outlets, citing an anonymous source, leaked a 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, passing it off as an American peace plan, supposedly formulated as a result of lengthy US negotiations with the Russian and Ukrainian sides. In reality, the document represented proposals …