Iran
Is Pete Hegseth running for president? Or getting fired?
Pete Hegseth has a face for television and a machismo of sorts. It appears, even to parts of MAGA, that…
Can General Bessent win the war?
At a much-anticipated press conference Monday, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent minced no words. The United States, he said, is…
The star of the Fringe
Attention spans at Edinburgh are brief. With thousands of shows on offer, the punters have to make a split-second decision…
How will harsh sanctions on Iran play out?
If you control the world’s largest economy, as the US does, and if your enemy depends on exports to the West, as Iran…
Is Iran softening on making women wear the veil?
The Islamic Republic of Iran has made many concessions in its long decline. Until now, it stood firm on one…
Is Donald Trump becoming the new Jimmy Carter?
One day President Trump wants to dial down hostilities with Iran. “We’re low-keying” the conflict, he said Sunday. A day…
What’s the point of Unesco?
The FIM-92 Stinger missile is not a subtle weapon. An anti-aircraft rocket, capable of launching a high-explosive ‘fire and forget’…
Will the wars in Ukraine and Iran merge?
This is a fraught moment, perhaps the most dangerous since the end of the Cold War. Two major wars are…
Will Trump’s ‘massive attack’ be on Yemen?
It is my solemn duty to report that, as ever in Trumpworld, the news zone has flooded and we are…
There is no alternative to the Strait of Hormuz
As a UFC aficionado, President Donald Trump might know what a twister is. It works by cranking the victim’s head…
The Trump monotony
One of Donald Trump’s greatest strengths is his ability to repeat himself endlessly. It takes some doing. At 9 p.m.…
Do Iran’s negotiators speak for the IRGC?
The infamous “Memorandum of Understanding” between the United States and Iran has broken down. One of the major points of…
America is still gripped by the gerontocracy
What do senior Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and Iran’s new Supreme Leader have in common? Not a lot, except that…
Israel’s plan for a new Iran war
Metaphorically speaking, champagne bottles were uncorked in the Jerusalem office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Donald Trump declared…
I can’t remember when I was last so disgusted with Trump
You’d think when your country goes to war you’d want it to prevail, but these are topsy-turvy times. Thus the…
Why are the Belgians so bad at football?
Whisper it if you must, but it looks as if Gianni (‘Today I feel gay…’) Infantino might have got it…
Dull, duller and Dulles – was Churchill’s jibe about America’s Cold War icon unfair?
John Foster Dulles was forever going on about ‘boldness’ and dynamic change, but his limitations of perspective and philosophy become glaringly obvious in this latest biography
What Iran could learn from Denmark
Iran is looking increasingly Danish, which sounds like a strange thing to say. What could Iran (a theological dictatorship which…
Will the Iran deal destroy J.D. Vance?
When it comes to foreign policy, Donald Trump is neither hawk nor dove. He’s a dealmaker who plays differing sides…
Trump has been outplayed by Iran
The Founding Fathers may have modelled America on Ancient Rome, but they would have found the ersatz gladiatorial spectacle Donald…
A play that shows Iranian society is like our own
Under the Shadow is a timely drama set in Tehran in 1988 during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam’s missiles are raining…
Will Vance regret being the face of the Iran deal?
After a week of international agonizing, it looks as if the first round of the latest peace talks between America…
Iran is a loser’s victory
After years of negotiations, two wars, a succession of ruthlessly quashed uprisings in Iran and countless billions of dollars’ worth…
