Middle East

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Istanbul has clapped back for democracy big time, electing as mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu of the secular Republican Peoples Party. İmamoğlu had already won once, last May, with a margin of 15,000 votes. The increasingly dictatorial president, Tayyip Erdogan, of the center-right pro-Islam Justice and Development Party (AKP), argued that the […]

Iran

Mideast Peril: How Hardliners in Washington and Tehran are Reinforcing Each Other

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Informed Comment) – Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance towards the Islamic Republic of Iran to supposedly curtail its nuclear capabilities is doomed to fail, as the regime is becoming more hard-line and will become more assertive in the region in response to Washington’s aggression. Trump’s stance clearly has no real benefit to the United […]

Iran

Trump caught in Iran War Trap of his own Making

Mohammed Nuruzzaman

Kuwait City (Informed Comment) – Iran–US tensions have reached the tipping point. The downing of a Global Hawk RQ4C surveillance drone, a high prized US military asset, by the IRGC air defense forces on June 21, has pushed the two enemy nations to the brink of war. A shooting war may break out at any […]

Featured

Dear Trump: Iran doesn’t Have a Military Nuclear Program and Gave up Bomb-Making Potential

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Julian Borger at The Guardian reports that Trump said Saturday to reporters, “They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country. They’re going to be so happy, and I’m […]

Saudi Arabia

A Terrible Week for Saudi’s MBS Shows Tide is Turning

Human Rights Watch

Arms Sales Suspensions and Damning Report on Khashoggi Murder Are a Strong Signal to Riyadh

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Crown Prince Haunted by Ghost of Murdered dissident Journalist Khashoggi

Middle East Monitor

By Hazem Ayyad | – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman tried to pre-empt the release of the final report of the international inquiry into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by giving an interview to journalist Ghassan Charbel of the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday, 16 June. The Khashoggi crisis has […]

Donald Trump

Trump cites “Proportionality” in Iran pullback, though He has often Violated It

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump in an interview Friday with Meet the Press attributed his decision not to go ahead with a strike on Iran to concerns about proportionality. He said he asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff just before the strike was to have been set in motion about the likely Iranian casualties. […]

Iran

Is Washington’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ Bringing An End To Iran’s ‘Strategic Patience?’

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) – Iran is turning up the heat on the United States and its allies by shifting away from a policy of “strategic patience” and pushing back against Washington’s campaign of “maximum pressure” — which has significantly cut Iran’s oil exports, a major source of income, and caused the economy to shrink. Tehran has signaled […]

Iran

Risk of Shooting War with Iran Grows after Decades of Economic Warfare by the U.S.

The Conversation

By David Cortright | – Many are worried about the risk of war between the U.S. and Iran. But the truth is, the U.S. has been fighting with Iran for decades in an economic war waged via sanctions. Concerns about a war of guns, warplanes and missiles grew after Iran shot down a U.S. spy […]