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Foreign Policy

  • Operation Epic Confusion

    2026-03-05

    The administration has fluctuated on whether one of the goals is to bring down the Iranian regime. The war has already seen a number of top Iranian leaders killed, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At least 87 people were reportedly killed in the attack and 32 others were rescued.

  • How the Gulf Countries Are Responding to Iran’s Attacks

    2026-03-05

    Ravi Agrawal talks with Mina Al-Oraibi and Firas Maksad about the Middle East. Will the Gulf countries join U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran? Or will the events of the last week make them more likely to swing to China?

  • The Iran War Spills Beyond the Middle East

    2026-03-05

    China sets its GDP growth target for 2026 at 4.5 percent to 5 percent. Beijing outlines a five-year plan to bolster the country’s scientific prowess. European Union nations overcame months of political resistance on Thursday to greenlight an ambitious climate target.

  • How the Iran War Might Impact Russia-Ukraine

    2026-03-05

    Ukraine and Russia were set to sit down for continued negotiations aimed at ending their four-year war. Iran is attacking the originally planned location, Abu Dhabi. The drain on weapons could affect current defensive supplies, like air defense, that Ukraine relies on.

  • The Domino Effect of Operation Epic Fury

    2026-03-05

    The establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979 provided the ideological ardor for Islamists throughout the Middle East. The Arab uprisings and failed political transitions were another watershed. Even the Islamists of the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham shed its hardest edges.

  • A Dangerous Opportunity for Iran’s Kurds

    2026-03-05

    Reports emerged that Washington had decided to enlist the support of Iranian Kurdish political parties. The plan seems to envision these groups acting as ground forces operating inside Iran’s Kurdish region. Kurds have long been marginalised in Iran's political system. But they are now playing a more prominent role in the country's political process.

  • The United States Could Lose the Gulf

    2026-03-05

    Iran’s bombardment of its Gulf neighbors has inexorably dragged them into a war that they had desperately hoped to avoid. The potential entry of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia into direct war alongside Israel and the United States represents the first full-scale manifestation of America's ambitions for the Middle Eastern order.

  • The Reductive Rhetoric of the Iran War

    2026-03-05

    The U.S. is outsourcing its foreign policy and security calculations to the reckless aims and obsessions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, writes Howard W. French. Some of Netanyahu’s aims look less like solutions than invitations to endless conflict, he says.

  • The Drone Attrition Trap

    2026-03-05

    Recent U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran and the latter’s retaliatory strikes have once again demonstrated the mathematics of modern air defense. Waves of Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drones have forced the United States and several Gulf partners to expend Patriot and SM-6 interceptors. The most effective platforms in war are often the cheapest ones that can be mass-produced quickly.

  • Why Aren’t Energy Markets Reacting More to the Iran War?

    2026-03-05

    Iraq is already running out of storage space for crude that would normally be loaded on tankers and on its way. All the Gulf producers are in a race against time to get their oil exports moving before they, too, have to cut production.

  • The First 36 Hours of War Consumed Over 3,000 U.S.-Israeli Munitions

    2026-03-05

    U.S. Navy operations in the Red Sea have already highlighted that missiles are being expended faster than they can be replaced. The West's most sophisticated weapons are also its most dependent on long, complex supply chains. The limiting factor in future conflicts will be the capacity to reload.

  • The 5 Best Books for Understanding Iran Today

    2026-03-05

    The Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei offers a rare window into the worldview of the man who dominated Iran’s political system since 1989. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar offers the first comprehensive history (up to 2015) of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

  • On Iran, China Cares About the Region More Than the Regime

    2026-03-05

    The latest round of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran cuts against China’s interests. But it is unlikely to drive Beijing to intervene militarily or provide Tehran with decisive support. Avoiding dependence on any single supplier or region is a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy.

  • Viktor Orban Is Going Down Swinging

    2026-03-05

    Central to Orban’s message is war: Ukraine, not Russia, is the problem. On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the war, Orban made one of his most confrontational decisions yet. He blocked a fresh sanctions package against Russia, ensuring that EU officials would turn up in Kyiv empty-handed.

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  • ONE BILLION DOLLARS

    2026-03-05

    A reaction to the latest news on how much this war is costing the U.S. The cost of the war in Afghanistan is estimated to be in the region of $1.2 billion.

  • Dreaming of a Blue Texas

    2026-03-05

    Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat for state-wide office for over 30 years. James Talarico, a virtual political nobody six months ago, appears to have a good chance of winning. Texas’s economic growth is a major reason Democrats perennially hope that they will someday turn the state blue.

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