Iran

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding that has not stopped the exchange of fire in the Gulf but has already produced a renewed and more aggressive repression campaign inside Iran. This crackdown can be understood as the regime’s response to Iranians who had begun to imagine what their …

Israel’s recent regional strategy has exposed significant limitations in achieving its long-term foreign policy objectives, illustrating the widening gap between military operations and strategic success. While Iran’s resilience and diplomatic positioning have accelerated the emergence of a more multipolar and diplomatically driven Middle Eastern security order. Carl von Clausewitz once …

The US continues to playact diplomacy with Iran regarding the latest “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) signed, then immediately violated by the US, renegotiated, and supposedly agreed upon again — using the pause in all-out war to carefully shape the battlefield ahead of what will inevitably be another round of large-scale …

Key Takeaways Iranian officials are simultaneously employing diplomatic outreach and military coercion to pressure regional states to support a new “regional security mechanism,” likely to advance Iran’s long-standing objective of expelling the United States from the Middle East. Iran is likely using this proposed regional security mechanism to encourage Gulf …

The current interim situation between peace and war suits Moscow quite well. On the one hand, continued instability in the Persian Gulf prevents oil prices from falling. On the other hand, the conflict is not escalating into a full-scale war that could threaten other Russian interests. The prospect of an …

Although the understanding limits the prospects for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran in the short term, it does not necessarily consolidate the basic pillars of a stable regional order, but may even lead to a gradual erosion of the US deterrent policy, especially as it reinforces the impression of …

Irrespective of whether a deal is reached to end the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, it seems likely that Tehran will continue to cultivate a network of proxy groups, including terrorist organizations, criminal entities, and so-called “disposable agents” both in the Middle East and abroad. Iran views its use of …

The U.S. military launched a second round of airstrikes Saturday targeting Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction as Tehran hit both Bahrain and Kuwait, underscoring rising tensions that threaten the interim deal between the two nations to stop the war. The attack on Kuwait early Sunday was the first since …

The Iranian regime’s strategy is clear: survive the pressure of President Donald J. Trump’s second term by any means necessary, secure breathing room through negotiations, and position itself for a far more aggressive posture once his administration is over. Iranian Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — Tehran’s …

Key Takeaways Iran is using force in an attempt to maintain its control over the Strait of Hormuz in the immediate future. Iran is likely attempting to prevent vessels from using non-Iranian shipping channels with force in the immediate term as it continues negotiations with the Gulf Arab states to …