... shameless stalking horse. The restoration of UAE diplomatic relations has not produced a lasting detente. Instead, it has established a machinery to drain untold billions of dollars from Tehran via capital flight.
Ivan Bocharov:
Persian Lessons: How Middle East War Will Change Gulf Monarchies
The 7,000‑Year Threshold
None of the above, however, captures the deepest layer of Iran’s strategic logic. That layer is civilizational.
Iranian civilization has existed for 5,000 to 7,000 years. It has ...
... the global media, and there is a kind of fatigue from this issue. It cannot be constantly on the agenda. And this Iranian campaign, accelerated this process. Ukraine is not number one in the US foreign policy agenda, as it used to be under Biden. Now Middle East re- emerged as a major topic in the list. Of course, the allies in the Gulf will demand more supplies of equipment, and I'm pretty sure that the US will be able to satisfy these demands. However, Ukraine for some time may suffer from deficits....
Dmitriy Trenin: Trump’s announcement of a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, following the failure of the first round of negotiations, amounted to a case of complete strategic incoherence
For a long time, when speaking of how European countries had, over the course of 75 years of U.S. hegemony, lost the ability to think and act strategically, it still assumed that such capabilities remained inherent to the hegemon—the United States of America. The U.S.-Israeli war in Iran calls this assumption...
... agreements may be temporary, it is already possible to recap interim outcomes including for the Gulf monarchies which managed to wait out the hot phase of the confrontation and avoid direct involvement in the hostilities.
The current conflict in the Middle East is significantly different from the 12-Day War of last year, with a bigger number of killings among Iran’s political and military leadership, strikes against the Islamic Republic’s energy infrastructure, and a number of other distinctive ...
It is difficult to expect the “golden age” promised by Trump to emerge from the upcoming negotiations
Trump ultimately found a way out of the situation he had created for himself by embarking on the reckless venture of war against Iran. The threat of annihilating an entire civilization appears to have served as a cover for his withdrawal from the battlefield.
Indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington, conducted in recent months through intermediaries—primarily Pakistan, and, behind it...
On April 2, 2026, a roundtable “Dynamics of the Middle East Conflict: Scenarios and Forecasts” was held at the Izvestia Multimedia Information Center
On April 2, 2026, a roundtable “Dynamics of the Middle East Conflict: Scenarios and Forecasts” was held at the Izvestia Multimedia Information ...
... serious disruption on global trade and energy flows.
This last point is critical. Iran’s geographic position gives it leverage that few countries possess. Even limited escalation could threaten shipping routes and economic stability far beyond the Middle East, directly affecting the interests of the United States and its allies. That reality alone complicates any attempt at a quick, clean victory.
Moreover, the political context is very different from past US interventions. The current display ...
The Hormuz crisis is not merely a regional conflict but a case study in the limits of conventional military power
The escalating conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States has directly impacted the security dynamics of the Strait of Hormuz. The geography of strategically crucial Strait of Hormuz makes it both a vulnerability and a geopolitical leverage. The strait is deep and wide enough to handle the world's largest crude oil tankers, and it is one of the world’s most important chokepoints...
On March 30, 2026, a roundtable “The Middle East War: Regional and Global Dimensions” was held at the International Information Agency “Rossiya Segodnya” press center
On March 30, 2026, a roundtable “The Middle East War: Regional and Global Dimensions” was held at the International ...
The Israeli Polygon versus the Sunni Arc
On the eve of the conflict with Iran, which began on February 28, 2026, Israeli leadership outlined its vision of the shifting bloc architecture in the Middle East and adjacent regions. Six days before the start of the military operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
announced
the formation of a “hexagonal alliance within or around the Middle East,” whose participants, he stated, would share ...
