Iran

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The enforced boredom of lockdown has been replaced by a feeling of loss.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…

obama

J’Accuse Barack Obama!

27 June 2020 3:04 am

When President Obama was in his 75-day transition to the Presidency, he initiated correspondence with Supreme Leader Khamenei of Iran…

china

Dear dictators: don’t lecture the US on how to treat its people

3 June 2020 8:00 am

If you’ve been watching the news, you would think the United States is a third world nation on the verge…

Oil on troubled waters: the US-Saudi alliance is crumbling

16 May 2020 9:00 am

The US-Saudi alliance is crumbling

navy persian gulf

What is the US Navy doing in the Persian Gulf?

30 April 2020 5:39 am

American alliances and security commitments tend to live on long after the world has changed. Many of our far flung…

The director of Persepolis talks about her biopic of Marie Curie: Marjane Satrapi interviewed

21 March 2020 9:00 am

The director of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, talks to Sarah Ditum about her new biopic of Marie Curie, exile from Iran and her fears for the future of democracy

war with iran coronavirus

Will coronavirus lead to a US war with Iran?

13 March 2020 9:53 pm

In a roundabout way, coronavirus may have been responsible for the deaths of two American service personnel and a British…

An Al-Qaeda double agent explains what’s really going on in Middle East

29 February 2020 9:00 am

When will the definitive history of the modern Middle East be written? For 20 years and more, a continent has…

The Shia Krays: the whole of Iraq is being held to ransom

15 February 2020 9:00 am

The whole of Iraq is being held to ransom

peace

Donald Trump, president of peace

26 January 2020 6:03 am

This article is in The Spectator’s February 2020 US edition. Subscribe here. Groupthink is the last thing a country needs when debating…

Portrait of the week: Harry and Meghan quit, America avoids war and the Labour leadership race begins

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Home The Queen agreed to ‘a period of transition’ during which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would spend time…

I was joking about Meghan and Harry becoming king and queen of Canada

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Washington, D.C. On 8 January, I tweeted about the Sussex-Markles: ‘Obviously the plan is to return to Canada, lead a…

Could this be the beginning of the end for Iran’s mullahs?

11 January 2020 11:51 pm

It is easy to construct a scenario in which tit for tat actions by the Americans and Iranians lead to…

Portrait of the week: Crisis in Iran, fires in Australia and Manchester rapist jailed

11 January 2020 9:00 am

Home Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, who had not been told in advance of America’s killing in Iraq of Qassem…

World war three? No, this was about Trump’s second term

11 January 2020 9:00 am

If this is the start of the third world war, as some quivering liberal commentators seem to believe, then my…

All forecasts are off if Iran shuts the Strait of Hormuz

11 January 2020 9:00 am

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Late last year, a range of forecasts…