Middle Orient

Iranian activists of all stripes opposed to the Islamic Republic and many citizens were in celebratory mood on social media after Israel’s June 13, 2025, attack on military and nuclear targets in Iran. An anonymous activist with 157,000 followers on X wrote, “It appears that Israel has eliminated the entire …

Israel’s large-scale assault on Iran appears to have stunned the country’s military leadership and may have delayed an immediate retaliatory strike. But it remains unclear whether it achieved its primary objective: crippling Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel claims Tehran is on the verge of weaponizing despite claims from Iran that …

Islamic State (IS) in Syria aims to ignite sectarian violence, fragment national cohesion, and undermine the legitimacy of the transitional government. Lagging integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian military and U.S. troop withdrawals have created a strategic environment ripe for further exploitation. Through IS’s vast propaganda …

To stop Iran’s drive to build nuclear weapons, Israel eliminated nine top scientists and experts whose knowledge was critical to Tehran’s initiative. Israel explained that it struck on the night of June 12-13 because Iran’s nuclear weapons activities had “accelerated significantly” in recent months. Tehran has long denied that it …

Latest Developments Mossad’s Drone Buildup: Ahead of its strikes on Iran, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency reportedly spent months smuggling parts into Iran for the construction of hundreds of quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones). These were launched from inside Iran in tandem with Israel’s opening decapitation strikes on Iranian …

Fuel prices have surged in Afghanistan in recent days, a development that traders attribute to the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran. Residents and business owners report that the price of gasoline and diesel has climbed by at least seven afghanis per liter over the past three days. Economic observers …

Il fut un temps, pas si lointain, où Israël s’arrogeait le monopole de la violence au Moyen-Orient, bombant le torse derrière son Dôme de fer, ses armes américaines et ses armes nucléaires non déclarées, dictant ses volontés aux médias corrompus et subventionnés, sous la bénédiction muette d’un Occident complice. Il …

“We’re living in a state of war now,” said a friend in the desert city of Kashan. She had been woken in the early hours of Friday by Israel’s aerial attack on the nearby uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Around the same time, in desirable north Tehran, the penthouse home …

«Docteur Folamour ou : comment j’ai appris à ne plus m’en faire et à aimer la bombe»…Le film de Kubrick n’a pas pris une ride. Surtout son titre… Chroniques de la 885ème 886ème guerre mondiale. On avait donc enterré les Iraniens… un peu trop tôt… Tel-Aviv a subi vendredi soir …

This update is the first of at least three CTP-ISW Iran Updates over the next 24 hours that will cover the Iran-Israel war. The recent Israeli strikes are a rapidly evolving situation, and no single individual or organization will have complete information at this time, including the states involved. Some …