Middle Orient

Washington should treat the recent public discontent not as a sign that Syria’s transition is failing, but as an opportunity to help ensure that Damascus does not repeat the mistakes of previous governments. Since the beginning of the year, Syrian transport workers, farmers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, university students, municipal employees, …

Promises from Iran-backed militias in Iraq can never be taken at face value. Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), an Iran-backed militia in Iraq designated by Washington as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2020, announced on June 2 that it would turn its weapons over to state control. Kataib Imam Ali, …

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Why Trump’s Middle East strategy is not new – and may even be workingThe US/Israel war on Iran is described by some as impulsive, chaotic, and even irrational: a war that the US has already lost. This view might generate clicks, but it overlooks the deeper logic shaping American policy …

The optimism that President Trump projected last week toward securing a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has quickly faded, with Tehran on Monday suspending talks in protest of Israel’s punishing strikes on Lebanon. Trump sent varying messages as he scrambled Monday to secure a truce between …

At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this past Saturday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke about the “most consequential region in the world.” He was not talking about the Middle East, where the US-Iran conflict, now in its fourth month, has settled into a brittle ceasefire, as the Strait …

Trade statistics show why Amman has more reason than Damascus to welcome the improvement in bilateral commerce. Syria’s border with Jordan has long reflected the state of relations between the two neighbors. The border itself, delineated by France and Britain in October 1931, was tightly enforced only from 1970 onward, …

Pepe Escobar et moi-même avons reçu jeudi dernier le rapport de renseignement suivant, rédigé par une source bien informée ayant accès à ces informations. Je ne reproduirai pas l’intégralité du rapport, mais je tiens à mettre l’accent sur la question de savoir si l’Iran dispose actuellement d’une arme nucléaire ou …

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Key Takeaways The Iranian regime, which ISW-CTP continues to assess is dominated by Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Ahmad Vahidi and his inner circle, suspended US-Iran negotiations on June 1. Vahidi and his inner circle likely calculate that the status quo, in which Iran has neither made …