Iran
The new alliances dedicated to destroying democracy
Despite their diverse ideologies, autocracies in China, Iran, Russia and Latin America are increasingly collaborating to sabotage a rules-based international order
Anti-Semitism has returned to French politics
New Caledonia is an archipelago in the South Pacific not far from Australia. James Cook discovered it in 1774, but,…
Who has the worst voice in parliament?
For the first time in more than two decades we are dog-less, and the house feels horribly empty. Our Patterdale…
Gangs of Tehran: how Iran takes out its enemies abroad
‘It was Friday afternoon, around 2.45. I came out of the house and was going towards the car on the…
Inside the new Arab-Israeli alliance
As Jordanian fighter jets shot down Iranian drones heading for Israel on Saturday night, there were joyful cries of Allahu…
The Lebanese always return home
Beirut You might have thought that the threat of the Gaza war spiralling into an all-out regional conflagration, along with…
My letter from Chris Packham
I do not know Chris Packham, the BBC nature broadcaster, personally, but he wrote me a letter last month, enclosing…
How dangerous is the Sunni-Shia schism?
What unites the two groups is more fundamental than what divides them, says Barnaby Rogerson, and the more serious conflict among Muslims concerns ethnicity and language
Joe Biden’s Middle East diplomacy is a wreck
Joe Biden prides himself on his decades of foreign-policy experience, his ability to talk tough yet be kind, and his…
What Iran gains from the conflict in Israel
What Iran gains from provoking Israel
Has VR finally come of age?
VR ‘immersion’ is everywhere in London this autumn, but is it of any value? Stuart Jeffries takes the plunge
Kamikaze drones are the future of warfare
The West is struggling to confront the modern military technologies of Russia, Iran and China. A year and a half…
A trail of dirty money
In 2015, a dedicated DEA agent pursues a Mafia capo involved in a vast cocaine shipment, a Hezbollah militia leader and an elaborate Middle Eastern arms-trafficking ring
Can we brainwash our enemies?
Disinformation is on the rise, and Britain’s spies are on the back foot. Our intelligence leaders warn about election meddling,…
Salman Rushdie was never safe
The stabbing of Salman Rushdie sends a renewed message to the world: take Islamism – the transformation of the Islamic…
The West cannot do business with Iran
Salman Rushdie’s would-be assassin might have been a lone wolf. He might have had no contact with military or intelligence…
The odd couple: Israel and Turkey’s tentative alliance
Israel and Turkey’s tentative alliance
Starmer is playing into Iran's hands
Who was to blame for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe being held captive in Iran? It shouldn’t take a professor of ethics to…
Why is Biden copying Obama's mistakes with Iran?
There was a picture taken today that says more than just a thousand words. The photograph was snapped in Sharm…
A history lesson for those calling Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe 'ungrateful'
In the latest installment from the idiot age of Twitter, #ungratefulcow has been trending. The reason? Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had expressed, mildly and politely,…
Hacks in uproar about Nazanin briefing
Welcome home Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, released after six years imprisonment. The 43-year-old returned to the UK last week after the government settled a…
How the Foreign Office secured Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release
There was a rare display of unity in the Commons chamber this afternoon when Liz Truss gave a statement on…
Can Boris get the Saudis to pump more oil?
The oil price is up by more than 40 per cent since the start of the year. It is being…
Inside Joe Biden’s disastrous negotiations with Iran
One of the West’s great foreign policy failures of 2021 was the Iran nuclear negotiations, which remained bitterly unresolved as…
Broken dreams
Oliver Balch 8 July 2023 9:00 am
Interviewing the Continent’s refugees and poorest rural inhabitants, Ben Judah reveals a world far removed from Brussels politics or Eurovision optimism