Iran | RCP Story Stream

Trump Threatens Iran: 'Bad Things' Unless It Accepts Nuclear Deal March 29, 2025

What the Iran War of 2025 Might Look Like March 29, 2025

The U.S. military is positioning B-2 stealth bombers at Diego Garcia, signaling potential strikes against Iran amid heightened tensions....

iran

U.S. Builds up Military in Indian Ocean in Warning to Iran March 28, 2025

Why Trump Can’t Beat the Houthis March 28, 2025

Donald Trump took to Truth Social last week to give Iran a violent warning: “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN. IRAN will be held responsible, a...

Houthis

Intel: Russia, Iran, China, & North Korea Dangers U.S. March 26, 2025

America’s four great adversaries — China, Iran, North Korea and Russia — are increasingly acting in unison to undercut US interests, the intelligence community revealed Tuesday. ...

china

UK Oct. 7 Commission Report Chills and Instructs March 25, 2025

Last week, following Iran-backed Hamas’ rejection of America’s proposal to extend the Jan. 19 Gaza ceasefire and release all 59 hostages, the Jewish state resumed military strikes. The renewed fighting makes it all the more important to recall the sc...

October 7

How Campus Activism on Israel-Palestine Warps Global Security Priorities March 24, 2025

Thanks to university-driven activism over the Israel-Palestine conflict, the war in Gaza has politically sidelined the West’s commitment to global security in other regions of the world.Israel-Palestine is one of the few conflicts that inspires activ...

The Push to ‘Normalize’ Relations With Azerbaijan and Israel March 24, 2025

With President Donald Trump sending mixed messages on Iran — on the one hand, reinstating his “maximum pressure” campaign and threatening military action; on the other, signaling an eagerness to negotiate — anti-diplomacy voices are working overtime ...

Azerbaijan

Donald Trump, Putin and the Concert of Arabia March 24, 2025

The subject of Iran appears to have been just as important as Ukraine ...

iran

Russia

U.S.-South Africa Diplomatic Crisis Provides an Opportunity for a New Beginning March 22, 2025

U.S.-South Africa relations sank to a new low last week after the South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, accused the Trump administration of “supremacy” on four occasions during an online lecture on U.S. foreign policy to a South Afr...

South Africa

Trump administration

foreign policy

Western Leaders Should Think Twice Before Removing Foreign Dictators March 22, 2025

Libya. Iraq. Syria. All were countries that suffered under the decades-long reign of brutal dictators. All have been swept up into anarchic spells of violence and terror after the West moved to overthrow those dictators. With last weekend’s news of t...

Iran Rebuffs U.S. Threats While Preparing Reply to Trump’s Letter March 21, 2025

America Should Talk to Hamas About Hostages March 21, 2025

Axios recently reported that Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer “lashed out” at U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler in a “tense” phone call for negotiating with terror group Hamas for the return of a kidnapped U.S. citizen.In February, the U....

War on Iran Would Be No Cakewalk March 21, 2025

Politicians often fail to grasp how terrible a proposed conflict would be. ...

iran

Houthi Chutzpah Cannot Last in Face of Israel, U.S. Strength March 21, 2025

As Jerusalemites rush to shelters amid Houthi missile threats, they represent the smallest of Iran's proxies - like schoolyard followers shouting "Yeah!" behind bullies. ...

Houthis

Gaza Could Get In the Way With Iran Talks March 21, 2025

Do US President Donald Trump and his advisers have a comprehensive strategy for the Middle East, or are they engaged in ad hoc efforts to put out the fires that continue to burn in the region? This is an important question brought to the fore by the ...

Gaza

Trump Letter to Iran Set 2-Month Deadline To Reach Nuclear Deal March 20, 2025

Russia and Iran Manage Diverging Interests in South Caucasus March 20, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the wide-ranging Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on January 17 to boost bilateral relations for further progress in areas including opposition to NATO expan...

Russia

iran

Does Iran Want a War With America? March 19, 2025

Khamenei May Want Iran to Be Bombed, But He’s Miscalculating: Just a day prior to the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy, Steven Erlanger, the future New York Times heavyweight who was then just a young reporter for the Boston Globe, filed a dispatch f...

iran

Syria’s Next Chapter: Iran Reshapes its Influence March 19, 2025

In the early phase of the Syrian civil war, Iran denied the presence of its forces on Syrian soil despite evidence to the contrary. Later, Tehran was forced to confirm its involvement, justifying it under the banner of “Modafean-e Haram” (defenders ...

Syria

The Fragile Axis of Upheaval March 18, 2025

Even regional wars have geopolitical consequences, and when it comes to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the most important of these has been the formation of a loose entente among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Some U.S. national security experts hav...

china

iran

North Korea

Trump Should Resist Another America-Last War in the Middle East March 18, 2025

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump made clear that he wants history to remember him as a “peacemaker and a unifier.” In his telling, “we will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end—and perhap...

iran

Keeping ISIS Down and Iran Out in Syria March 18, 2025

Syria

Iran Will Respond to Trump Letter After ‘Full Scrutiny' March 17, 2025

Mike Waltz Says ‘all Options’ on the Table in Responding to Iran March 17, 2025