Iran
Trump’s Iran Deal Is an Armed Escrow, Not Peace
The US Iran memorandum does not end the conflict. It moves the war into a colder arena of sanctions, shipping, insurance, Lebanon, nuclear sequencing and the Strait of Hormuz.
Category: United States
Editor's selection
United States
The Strait of Hormuz Has Become the Chokepoint of American Decline
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz is no longer simply a confrontation between Washington and Tehran. It…
Iran
US strikes Iran near Hormuz as Tehran accuses Washington of violating ceasefire
The United States says its latest strikes on southern Iran were defensive operations carried out with restraint. Iranian…
United States
Pentagon Report Raises New Questions Over Minab School Massacre
A Pentagon inspector general report has revealed deep failures in the United States military’s civilian harm mitigation system,…
Further reporting
China
Trump’s Beijing Summit Exposed the Limits of American Power
China
Trump China Visit Opens Under the Shadow of Iran, Rare Earths, Taiwan and a Global Economy Under Pressure
United States
Trump Goes to Beijing Because Neither America Nor China Is Ready for the Break
Iran
Iran Claims Missiles Hit US Navy Vessel Near Jask After Warning to Halt
More from the archive
Iran
Trump Says America Will Escort Ships Through Hormuz. That Means Entering Iran’s Kill Zone
Project Freedom is presented as a humanitarian escort mission. But guiding ships through Hormuz means entering a narrow corridor watched by Iranian missiles, drones,…
Iran
The truce that followed the Islamabad talks was never a bridge to peace. It was a narrow pause layered over an active war system.
The ceasefire did not fail because diplomacy never opened. It failed because the pause after Islamabad was asked to carry…
Iran
Iran Has Sent No Delegation to Islamabad Officials Confirm Talks Are Not Underway
Iran has sent no delegation to Islamabad, undermining assumptions that talks are underway. As the ceasefire weakens and maritime tensions…
In depth
Iran
The US is negotiating with Iran under threat of blockade and infrastructure war
The latest US Iran talks show that the real obstacle is no longer just the nuclear file. It is whether diplomacy can survive when one side is openly threatening blockade and strikes on critical…
Diplomacy
Islamabad Failed Because Iran No Longer Trusts American Diplomacy
The Islamabad talks failed not because diplomacy was impossible, but because Tehran saw the United States as a…
Economics
After the Iran war, the dollar may still dominate, but it will dominate a smaller, less obedient world
The Iran war did not end dollar power. It exposed the cost of overusing it. The United States…
Diplomacy
Recent Ceasefire, Old Betrayals: Why Iran Still Does Not Trust the United States
From the 1953 coup to the destruction of the nuclear deal, from sanctions and assassination to the killing…
Background reading
Diplomacy
Pakistan said Lebanon was part of the ceasefire. Israel’s Hebrew press says the story is not so simple
Pakistan’s prime minister said the new two week U.S. Iran ceasefire covered Lebanon, and Reuters reported that Iran insisted on Lebanon’s inclusion. But in…
Across the section
Diplomacy
Zarif’s warning is the clearest off ramp yet from a war Trump cannot win
Economics
China’s bonds are acting like a haven because the inflation shock is hitting the West harder
Economics
America is blocking Chinese EVs because too many consumers would want them
Economics
America did not need war to keep inflation alive. The Iran shock may simply stop it from dying
Defence
The F 15E That Brought America’s War Machine Into View
The loss of a US F 15E over Iran did not prove that Washington has lost the war. It proved…
Opinion
This is not a war to win. It is a war to create the illusion of victory
The forces moving into the Gulf are not an invasion army for Iran but a rapid reaction package built for…
The wider report
Economics
This is not 1973. It is an oil shock hitting a deindustrialised reserve currency empire
This is not a rerun of 1973. The old oil shock hit a manufacturing America near the height of its industrial primacy. The present crisis is striking a deindustrialised, debt heavy reserve currency empire…
Also in the paper
Defence
U.S. Carriers Shift Position Because Modern Missile Warfare Forces USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Out of Coastal Kill Zones
Defence
How Iran Is Blinding US Missile Defences by Destroying Radar Systems
Defence
Kharg Island and the Oil War That Could Reshape the Global Economy
Defence
Why the US Cannot Fully Control the Iran War: Missiles, Oil Chokepoints and Industrial Limits
From the files
Defence
USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Claim Deepens Naval Uncertainty in Expanding Iran War
Iran claims it struck the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with missiles and drones during the expanding West Asia conflict, a charge Washington…
Defence
Iran’s Radar War: How the Destruction of Gulf Sensor Networks Is Blinding U.S. Missile Defence
Iran’s missile campaign may be targeting something far more important than airbases or cities. Radar stations across the…
Defence
Iran Is Fighting a War of Missile Arithmetic: The Goal Is to Exhaust Israel’s Interceptors and Turn Hormuz Into an Economic Weapon
Iran does not need to defeat the United States or Israel quickly. Its strategy appears to be something…
Defence
Why the War With Iran May Be About Oil, the Petrodollar, and the Global Energy System
A deeper look at the war with Iran suggests the conflict may be driven less by nuclear fears…
Defence
The Sinking of the Iranian Frigate Dena: Submarine Warfare and the Duty to Rescue Under the Geneva Conventions
The sinking of the Iranian frigate Dena off Sri Lanka has raised allegations that the attacking submarine violated the Geneva…
Defence
Iran War: Full Situation Report Day Five as the Conflict Spreads Across the Gulf
Day five of the war with Iran shows the conflict expanding beyond the opening strikes into a regional systems confrontation.…