Eurasia

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed pessimism about the US-Iran nuclear negotiations and explicitly rejected the US demand for zero uranium enrichment.[i] Khamenei’s statements are consistent with CTP-ISW’s assessment that disagreements between Iran and the United States about the issue of zero uranium enrichment may stall the negotiations or delay …

Note: The data cut-off for this product was 11:15 am ET on May 20. ISW will cover subsequent reports in the May 21 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment. Senior Russian officials continue to deny the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president, government, and constitution and Ukraine’s sovereignty despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s …

Kosovo has lately ceased to generate angst-ridden headlines in international media. The situation in and around the Western Balkan country appears to be stable. After a violent standoff in the northern village of Banjska in September 2023, tensions with Serbia have gone down a notch or two. In recent weeks, …

The US Senatorial model can pave the way for constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina that satisfies European human rights law and the concerns of the fractious parties. Instead of abolishing the country’s House of Peoples – the Senate-like upper chamber designed to protect collective rights – a Trump Plan …

Success in the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue would demonstrate the EU’s relevance as a strategic actor, just as it is being questioned elsewhere. At a critical geopolitical juncture, the European Union finds itself navigating crises on multiple fronts. In Ukraine, its influence remains secondary to that of the US and Russia; tensions …

Senior Iranian regime officials condemned Israel for the escalation of attacks in the GazaStrip. Iran’s Supreme Leader called Israel “a dangerous and deadly cancerous tumor that mustbe uprooted.” The Iranian foreign minister met with a Hamas delegation and condemned theinternational community’s impotence in the face of Israel’s actions. Iran’s ambassador …

Israeli security officials reportedly held direct talks with representatives of the Syriangovernment in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; the IDF denied the meeting. Syrian PresidentAhmed al-Sharaa (Abu Muhammad al-Julani) reportedly approved the transfer of the Syrianarchive on the late Mossad agent Eli Cohen to Israel as a goodwill gesture. Syrian …

Under the banner of human rights work, a state-backed Russian organization has spent years advancing the Kremlin’s geopolitical agenda across the world — including by funding the legal defense of alleged spies, criminals, and propagandists. Among the recipients of its grants is a taxi driver convicted of espionage, a man …

President Donald Trump’s lengthy phone call with Vladimir Putin yielded no major breakthrough and led some European officials to accuse the U.S. president of handing his Russian counterpart a win. The leaders spoke for two hours on Monday as part of Washington’s latest attempt to bring the three-year conflict with …

“Tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria,” President Donald Trump told interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14 — just after lifting all U.S. sanctions on Syria. Yet on May 18, Syria’s Defense Ministry welcomed the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an al-Qaeda-linked Uyghur jihadist group active in Afghanistan …