... strikes of Operation Epic Fury, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his advisor and head of the Defence Council Ali Shamkhani, Revolutionary Guard commander General Mohammad Pakapour, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, and Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi.
Ivan Timofeev:
Attack on Iran: A Balance of Results
Following Khamenei's passing, official statements made an effort to highlight the persistence of the Iranian political system's institutions and customs. According to the Iran's Revolutionary ...
Major players are less sensitive to crises; asymmetry of potential is hardly an obstacle to resistance; a lack of allies is a problem; but being a junior partner can lead to being held hostage to a major player’s game
The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran has reached its first critical juncture. It can be characterised as an attempt at a crushing, disarming strike. The targets included the country’s spiritual, political, and military leadership, as well as its industrial, nuclear, and infrastructure...
From the Vietnam War to the Iraq War, history repeatedly demonstrates that technologically superior militaries can struggle to secure durable political settlements
In international politics, overwhelming military superiority has long been regarded as the ultimate guarantor of security. The United States remains the world’s most capable military power in terms of global reach, technological sophistication, and alliance networks. Israel, likewise, possesses advanced capabilities unmatched in its...
The situation surrounding Iran fosters a kind of fatalism among all parties—a mind-set that risks defining the geopolitical climate for years to come
The massive Israeli and US airstrikes on Iran hardly came as a complete surprise. For several months, the US-Israeli strike force had been concentrating in the Persian Gulf. Tense negotiations between Iran and the United States had stalled and were unlikely to yield progress.
The deaths of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, members of...
Five Potential Possibilities for Iraq’s Government Amid Iran-US Tensions
Three days after former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was selected by the "coordination framework" to form a new government on January 24, 2026, US President Donald Trump
posted
a tweet on TruthSocial denouncing al-Maliki's nomination and threatening that “That should not be allowed to happen again. Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help...
Apparently, the most rational course of action for the United States may be a "hit and see" approach
The concentration of US military forces in the Persian Gulf has sparked discussions about the possibility of a new military operation against Iran. International relations are difficult to predict. However, the development of the situation can be viewed as a set of alternative scenarios. A military operation is one of them.
Zamir Ahmed Awan:
Attack on Iran: A Gamble that U.S. Cannot Afford...
An attack on Iran would not bring security to the Middle East; it would bring chaos
For the past several weeks, the possibility of a military attack on Iran has dominated political debate, media coverage, and strategic calculations across West Asia. Whether such an attack has been delayed, postponed, or quietly shelved remains unclear. What is clear, however, is that any military action against Iran—by Israel, the United States, or both—would not be a limited or contained event. It would unleash...
The opening of a sizable U.S. consulate in Erbil represents a strategic shift in Trump's approach to Iraq, one that places a higher priority on long-term diplomatic influence concentrated in more stable geographic regions than on direct military engagement
In an initiative that goes beyond conventional diplomacy, the United States opened a sizeable consulate building in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on Wednesday, December 3. This opening has significant political and security ramifications...
In South Asia’s naval realm, new U.S.-India framework risks disturbing that balance by having advanced technology flows and blue water operational dependencies
The announcement on October 31, 2025, of a new ten-year
Defense Framework
between the United States and India at Kuala Lumpur marks a decisive turning point in the Indian Ocean strategic landscape. This Pact comes as a culmination of earlier
foundational agreements
namely, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA, 2016), Communications...
The nuclear factor has once again begun to play a significant role in international relations
Autumn is usually a busy season in the nuclear sphere, and 2025 was no exception. In October, NATO held its Steadfast Noon nuclear exercises, followed by the U.S. Global Thunder drills and Russia’s strategic nuclear forces exercises. Developments did not end there: against the backdrop of these exercises, Russia
announced
tests of the
Burevestnik
nuclear-powered cruise missile and the
Poseidon
nuclear-powered...
