Senior Iranian regime officials and their media mouthpieces are continuing to issue threats, with the aim of deterring President Trump from attacking Iran.[1] These threats are in the form of statements, AI-generated videos, cartoons, and billboards in public squares in Iranian cities with messages about killing hundreds or thousands of …

Toplines Iran and the United States held talks in Muscat, Oman, on February 6 to establish a framework for future negotiations.[1] The Omani Foreign Affairs Ministry stated that the talks between the Iranian and US delegations, which were headed by Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy …

Toplines The Kremlin continues to reject any meaningful security guarantees that would protect Ukraine from complete diplomatic or military capitulation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated on February 6 the Kremlin’s rejection of Western-provided security guarantees in Ukraine and reiterated the Kremlin’s support of the “security guarantees” that Russia agreed …

One year after it formed, the new technocratic government faces mounting challenges as it struggles to disarm Hezbollah and implement economic reforms One year after its formation, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s ‘Reform and Rescue’ government faces mounting challenges as it struggles to consolidate weapons under state control and implement …

Maliki’s potential return to power highlights both Iraq’s entrenched political complexities and the wider power struggles shaping the Middle East Last month, Iraq’s Coordination Framework made a striking choice to nominate former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to reclaim the country’s top leadership position. The announcement has sparked a firestorm of …

In early February, Syrian Ministry of Interior forces began a phased deployment across multiple Kurdish-held cities and towns in northeastern Syria, marking the first concrete implementation of the 30 January integration agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Syrian General Security Service (GSS) units entered Hasakah on …

It is hard to tell which, so far, is the greatest scam of the century: “Climate Change” while watching North America enjoying its global warming; Putin’s protestations of wanting peace while demolishing Ukraine, or the trap being lubricatively laid for US President Donald J. Trump throughout much of the Middle …

While Washington searches for ways to weaken Iran’s murderous rulers, our supposed NATO ally Turkey is working overtime to keep the mullahs alive — and in power. This week’s diplomatic tug-of-war over US-Iran negotiations is a win for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Islamist strongman, who has led a cynical campaign …

Developments in al-Hasakah governorate (northeastern Syria) are accelerating on the ground and politically, as the agreement signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on 30 January begins to take shape in parallel with French and international diplomacy that is reshaping the influence map in the area. …

It seems that the new authority in Syria has not yet succeeded in moving from a faction mentality to a state mentality. This problem is not an administrative detail, but a structural issue that touches the essence of state-building and its future. The state is not governed by loyalty relations, …