Iran

Why Iran is stepping up its maritime piracy

5 August 2021 7:31 am

On Tuesday there was an attempted hijacking of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman. According to the UK Maritime…

Why is the EU attending the butcher of Tehran’s inauguration?

5 August 2021 6:18 am

At the beginning of the year Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was forced to hastily cancel a diplomatic…

Iran is running out of water

27 July 2021 8:50 am

It’s far from an exact science, but if you want to get a sense of where the world is heading…

Tehran is repeating the Shah's mistakes

22 July 2021 8:11 am

The Iranian province of Khuzestan is oil-rich but water-poor. At the best of times, the southwestern region is a problem…

The Afghan withdrawal will only embolden the West’s enemies

13 July 2021 8:39 am

‘How many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons, were you willing to risk?’ Biden asked critics of the decision to…

The dark past of Iran's new presidential favourite

19 June 2021 9:22 am

‘Each vote counts…come and vote and choose your president. This is important for the future of your country.’ These were…

Is the worst yet to come in the Middle East?

22 May 2021 9:00 am

If Iran steps in, the worst is still to come

Can Iran help keep King Bibi in power?

14 April 2021 11:58 pm

Benjamin Netanyahu has a problem: he doesn’t have sufficient support to form a coalition. With 20 days left to complete…

Israel's shadow war with Iran explodes into 'nuclear terrorism'

13 April 2021 2:41 am

If time flows at an even pace, then history does not. Joe Biden may still be new in the job,…

The West's shameful Iranian capitulation

12 April 2021 5:42 pm

On a sweltering day in July 2018, German police pulled over a scarlet Ford S-Max hire car that was travelling…

Iranians don’t hate Israel

27 February 2021 7:00 pm

The decades since the Islamic revolution have weighed heavy on the people of Iran. Living in fear, under extreme levels…

Iran’s missile diplomacy

19 February 2021 7:00 pm

It’s a time for delivering messages in the Middle East, where messages rarely come without their near constant attendant: violence.…

Revealed: how Mossad eliminated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

11 February 2021 7:39 am

The Mossad is not known for its touchy-feely approach. Whether it was the kidnap of Adolf Eichmann in the sixties,…

Al Qaeda and Iran’s dangerous partnership

17 January 2021 7:00 pm

What does the world’s foremost Shia power and the most notorious Sunni terror group have in common? Given that the…

Iran's people will pay a heavy price for Khamenei's vaccine politics

9 January 2021 9:05 pm

The Middle East is changing. Israelis now splurge at Gucci and Rolex in Dubai. Saudi women speed down desert highways;…

Iran vs the rest: the Middle East has reached a tipping point

5 December 2020 9:00 am

The next six weeks will be crucial for the Middle East

Biden would be a fool to reverse Trump's foreign policy wins

24 November 2020 11:32 pm

‘We’re going to be back in the game,’ our presumptive and somewhat previous new president tells us. ‘It’s not America…

Is AppleTV's Tehran the new Fauda?

17 October 2020 9:00 am

If you love Fauda — and of course you do — you’re in for a long wait for season four,…

bahrain

What Bahrain’s deal with Israel really means

12 September 2020 12:19 pm

On September 15, representatives from the oil-rich Kingdom of Bahrain will meet Israeli leaders at the White House to sign…

iran sanctions

Leaked letter: Boris Johnson rejects Trump on Iran sanctions

28 August 2020 6:46 am

A leaked letter to the UN Security Council shows that the British government has rejected the US position on Iran’s…

The Foreign Office has lost the plot in the Middle East

22 August 2020 9:00 am

The Foreign Office has lost the plot

mike pompeo

Pompeo is right on Iran sanctions

20 August 2020 9:06 am

The halls of the UN are a habitual stage for empty gestures and vaporous rhetoric, but last Friday’s Security Council…

iran deal

Get ready for the return of the Iran Deal

17 August 2020 1:36 am

The Trump administration has the first successful foreign policy of any administration since that of George H.W. Bush. It must…

Why the US assassination of Iran’s top general didn’t spark a war

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Why the US assassination of Iran’s top general didn’t spark a war

In memory of the man who never slept

25 July 2020 9:00 am

The enforced boredom of lockdown has been replaced by a feeling of loss. My nephew by marriage, Hansie Schoenburg, died…