Middle Orient

The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, 2026, may significantly impact the country’s stance on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28, 2026, in a joint US -Israeli airstrike targeting his compound in Tehran. Iranian state …

For nearly four decades, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the most powerful figure in Iran, holding ultimate political and religious authority. Seen by some as the protector of the Islamic Revolution and by others as a leader who suppressed dissent, his influence shaped Iran and the wider West Asian region. Early …

Iran state media has confirmed the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in joint US-Israeli airstrikes. But can the Islamic Republic survive? Here’s why regime change may not be so simple. Iran state media has declared Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dead. State-linked media outlets confirmed the death of the …

The latest joint military assault by the United States and Israel on Iran marks a decisive rupture in an already volatile region. What was once a landscape of uneasy deterrence and intermittent negotiation has now been transformed into an active theatre of war, with missiles striking Tehran, retaliatory barrages targeting …

On February 28, the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iran. In a video message, President Donald Trump said the campaign aimed to “eliminate threats from the Iranian regime” and would target Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile capabilities, naval forces, and proxies. Speaking to the Iranian people, he …

He went big. On Saturday morning, US and Israeli forces unleashed Operation Epic Fury, what US President Donald Trump called “a massive and ongoing” campaign against Iran. He called on the Iranian people to overthrow the regime once the fighting is done. Iran responded quickly by attacking Israel and US …

It’s rare that the citizens of a country under attack venture into the streets to cheer the enemy’s bombs, but that’s what happened in Iran in the hours after the United States and Israel launched a comprehensive attack on the ruling regime. In parts of Tehran and other cities, ordinary …

The goal is to obtain proxy control over Iran’s enormous oil and gas reserves so that they can be weaponized as leverage against China for coercing it into a lopsided trade deal that would derail its superpower rise and therefore restore US-led unipolarity. Trump claimed that the US’ military campaign …

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute are publishing two updates daily to provide analysis on the war with Iran. The morning update will focus on US and Israeli strikes on Iran and the Axis of Resistance’s response …

US President Donald Trump announced the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in comments that came after reports of an Israeli-American bombing targeting the compound where the Iranian leader resides in the capital Tehran. Trump said Khamenei “was one of the most evil figures in history,” adding that Washington …