Skip to Content

Iran

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished
  • Commentary
  • Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

    Of all the fronts in President Trump’s peacemaking agenda, the South Caucasus has delivered the most concrete results. The August 2025 Washington Declaration, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan and witnessed by Trump, marked an important step toward peace in the region. The two sides initialed a peace agreement and advanced plans to unblock regional connectivity, including through the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave through southern Armenia. Implementation of TRIPP has since made notable progress, but construction has yet to start. A breakthrough on those two tracks would, in turn, unlock Armenia–Türkiye normalization, transforming a long-fractured region into an area of trade and interdependence.

    The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change
  • Commentary
  • The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

    Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel.

    Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One
  • Analysis
  • Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

    Within 48 hours this week, Iran filled six of the most important posts in its battered military and security establishment. Read together with the biographies and mandates behind them, the appointments show how Tehran is drawing lessons from successive wars and preparing for a prolonged period of insecurity, without proving it has abandoned negotiation.

    Filter by
    2769 Results
    Iran Arrests Late President’s Daughter, Activists in Pre-Election Crackdown
  • Analysis
  • Iran Arrests Late President’s Daughter, Activists in Pre-Election Crackdown

    Judicial authorities in Iran have sentenced the daughter of late president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to six months in jail for “spreading lies to disturb the public opinion about the Judiciary and Sepah [Islamic Revolution Guards Corps],” opposition website Kaleme reported today.

    March 17, 2017

    Iran-Supported Militia Groups Intensify anti-U.S. Propaganda in Iraq
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Supported Militia Groups Intensify anti-U.S. Propaganda in Iraq

    With the Islamic State on the verge of losing Mosul, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) and its Iraqi militia proxies have recently launched a vicious propaganda campaign against the U.S. and its regional allies – posing security risks to U.S. military advisers that are helping the Iraqi security forces in the country.

    March 16, 2017

    Iranian Lawmaker: Washington’s “Safe Zone” Plan Won’t Change Balance of Power in Syria
  • Analysis
  • Iranian Lawmaker: Washington’s “Safe Zone” Plan Won’t Change Balance of Power in Syria

    A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Trump administration and its allies will not be able to establish safe zones in Syria, and that the deployment of American troops to Syria will also not change the trajectory of war in the Arab country, the Iranian Parliament’s official website reports.

    March 14, 2017

    Read the Middle East Journal

    The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.