Latest in Iran sanctions
Trump gives the JCPOA a “last chance,” Turkey prepares to attack U.S.-backed forces in eastern Syria and the U.N. stops short of accusing Iran of providing missiles to Yemeni rebels.
A number of deadlines over the coming weeks will require Trump to again decide whether or not to continue implementing the Iran nuclear deal. Members of the administration seem to be working with Congress to find a solution that would preserve it.
Revelations from the trial of Reza Zarrab could have significant consequences for Turkey and U.S.-Turkey relations.
Russia proposes “de-escalation zones” to reduce fighting in Syria, the UAE and Yemeni governments are feuding within the Saudi-led coalition to fight the Houthis, and Iran’s election highlights criticisms of the intervention in Syria.
Iran conducts missile tests and gets slapped with new sanctions, the United States is looking at options for escalation in Yemen, and Israel evacuates the Amona settlement in the West Bank.
A review of Jay Solomon's The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East (Random House 2016).
Contrary to much of the apocalyptic speculation when the Iran nuclear agreement was first signed, the world has not, in fact, collapsed in the subsequent year. On Monday—a few days past the deal’s one-year anniversary—U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon wrote to the U.N. Security Council:
Background on sanctions the Obama administration was set to announce, then delayed, against those accused of helping Iran develop its ballistic missile program.
The United States' reliance on sanctions as the go-to foreign policy tool may not actually produce the desired results policymakers are looking for.
Even the most vehement critics of the Obama administration’s agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear capabilities, among them Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Senator Tom Cotton, no longer advance the military option for eliminating Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Instead, they argue that a better bargain could have been negotiated, if the Obama administration had not “given away” the leverage awarded by comprehensive economic sanctions. Given Iran’s economic disarray, maintenance or tighteni