Maximum Pressure
What Does Donald Trump 2.0 Mean for the Middle East?
By any standard of measurement, Joe Biden’s Middle East policy was a failure. A cascade of misjudgments and misapprehensions has caused the region to be dangerous and unstable. All this...
Why Pressure on Iran Failed
U.S. policy toward Iran clearly has failed. This has been conspicuously true for at least the last six years since former president Donald Trump reneged on the multilateral agreement, known...
To Support Israel, We Must Reverse Course on Iran
When adversaries tell you what they want, it is best to believe them. For decades, the regime in Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas loudly demanded, “Death to Israel....
‘A Higher Price’: Putin Lays Out His Vision for a Multipolar World
Russian president Vladimir Putin delivered remarks last week during a session of the Valdai Discussion Club’s annual foreign affairs forum. As with Putin’s prior appearances at major conferences within and...
What Liberal Hawks Get Wrong About Iran (and Cuba)
President Barack Obama took greater steps towards normalizing relations with Iran and Cuba than any U.S. president in decades. Obama supporters had promised that greater links with the United States...
Crunch Time: Iran Reviewing ‘Final Text’ to Restore Nuclear Deal
Iranian officials announced on Monday that they were in the process of examining the reported “final text” of the proposed renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the...
Biden Eased Sanctions on Venezuela and Got Nothing in Return
On Tuesday, the Biden administration eased the U.S. policy of sanctions against the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro. The administration has specifically eased restrictions on American oil companies with operations...
Maximum Pressure Sanctions Won’t Work Against Russia
After the United States entered the twenty-first century with expanded global ambitions and an unrivaled position in the global financial system, sanctions became, as the Biden administration’s sanctions review put...
Why Russia Upended the Iran Deal Talks, And Then Backed Down
The negotiations taking place in Vienna to revive the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), were reportedly close to fruition when Russia’s demand...
House Republicans Take a Hard Line On Iran Nuclear Negotiations
As the eighth round of nuclear negotiations between the United States, the other members of the “P5+1” coalition, and Iran continues in Vienna, Iranian officials have requested a guarantee from...
Why Biden Is Showing Strength on Russia, And Not Iran
The strong U.S. posture against the rising threat of Russia to Ukrainian sovereignty contrasts with the uncertain U.S. policy on Iran. While the Biden administration is threatening Russia with devastating...
Saving the Iran Nuclear Deal Requires Balancing it
It has become increasingly evident that restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal, is extremely challenging without ensuring its durability. Several years after Donald Trump...