[Iran] is not a normal state pursuing normal interests. It is a mafia state hiding its aggression behind ideology, proxies, negotiations, and delay. It respects neither international law nor the sovereignty of its neighbors — not even the Gulf states that tried to preserve “mediation” channels. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard …

The message emerging from Hamas — and Iran — is unambiguous: Hamas and Iran believe they are winning. Iran has been dictating to Washington when and with whom it will negotiate. Washington apparently never insisted upon face-to-face negotiations with Iran. Why not? By discontinuing talks with the US, Iran also …

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, …

While Washington’s war with Iran drags on, month after month, without any end in sight, the world is witnessing the very real limits of U.S. global power. As President Donald Trump lurches repeatedly from threats of devastation to promises of peace, it’s becoming increasingly clear that U.S. military might is …

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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 …

Attempts to securitise Suwayda are ill advisedSuwayda compresses many of Syria’s key challenges into a remarkably narrow space: decentralisation of governance, minority relations, competing victimhood narratives, a lack of accountability and transitional justice, war-economy networks and Israeli intervention. None of these are unique to the province. How they are handled …

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 …