The Biden administration continues to work through European Union allies to negotiate a new deal with Iran to limit their nuclear program, bringing them back into compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] signed during the Obama administration. After former President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions, Iran began to ramp up their nuclear program. Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were never able to force Iran to accept ter

Authoritarian leaders in Russia, Iran, and Nicaragua follow similar playbooks when it comes to winning elections; find some pretense to disqualify or arrest your most popular opponents. Elections then are mere formalities, something to add a bit of legitimacy to your dictatorship. Don't get me wrong, many other autocrats engage in similar perversions of democracy, but these three have made headlines recently with their efforts. Iran has a presidential election today, but the

As we and most Middle East experts warned from the outset, former President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] was a monumentally bad idea. The plan was to withdraw, impose punishing sanctions on Tehran, and then hope that the Iranian government would be forced to accept revised terms more palatable to the US and Israel that addressed their missile program and support for groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon. Some conservatives

Donald Trump sent the worst possible message to the world this week with his pardon of four Blackwater security contractors who participated in the unprovoked killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in 2007. New York Times: "Amy Jeffress, a top national security prosecutor at the Justice Department who oversaw the case, said the pardons would have a lasting impact on the perception of the United States abroad. “These pardons send a terrible message to the Department of

President Trump signed an executive order yesterday to impose a variety of sanctions on Iran, and other nations, individuals, and companies that sell them conventional arms, arguing that Tehran is in violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [Iran Nuclear Deal]. The other signatories to the deal in Europe, Germany, France, and Britain, along with China, Russia and the European Union all responded by reminding Trump that because he withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal

The United Nations Security Council voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reject the Trump administration's bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran despite months of lobbying by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Dominican Republic was the only other Security Council member voting in favor of the US resolution, signaling how isolated America has become internationally during the Trump years. The arms embargo, designed to prevent Iran from strengthening its conventional military