Islamabad

From Budapest to Beirut to Tehran

Perspectives from Across the Pond

The road to the second Lebanon ceasefire

At midnight local time on April 17, a second ceasefire in as many years went into effect between Israel and Lebanon. Brokered, or to some degree imposed, by the United States, this cessation of hostilities...

What Victory Looks Like When Your Foe Won’t Surrender

The U.S. can win without Iran acknowledging it lost

Trump Announces 10-Day Ceasefire in Lebanon

Trump Announces Ceasefire: Following conversations with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump announced on April...

China Criticizes Iran War as Beijing Supports Tehran Under the Table

China is trying to have it both ways in the U.S.-Iran conflict. On April 14, Chinese leader Xi Jinping criticized Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports and called for a diplomatic resolution during...

Trump Rebukes U.S. Proposal for 20-Year Moratorium on Iran’s Uranium Enrichment

“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons … so I don’t like the 20 years,” President Donald Trump told the New York Post on April 14. The president was responding to reports that...

The U.S. military can clear mines but not minds

Though Tehran’s capabilities are being degraded, its theology persists

A breakdown of Israel’s heavy bombardment of Beirut on April 8

On the afternoon of April 8, Israel launched its deadliest and most intense wave of airstrikes in Beirut since the war with Hezbollah restarted in early March. Initial reports claimed that the Israel Defense...

How to assess America’s 40 days of war against Iran

Washington and Tehran are both arguing that they were victorious after 40 days of fighting. A detailed analysis, however, suggests a more nuanced picture in which American forces degraded Iran’s core...

Trump must secure Iran’s irreversible nuclear dismantlement or resume strikes

The United States and Israel have delivered a near-devastating blow to the Iranian regime. In a sustained campaign of precision strikes, they have crippled Iran’s top military and political leadership,...

Hezbollah at War: What Comes Next for Lebanon and the Region

Double-dealing Pakistan is the danger looming over critical US-Iran talks

President Donald Trump’s two-week cease-fire with Iran is a huge gamble — and allowing Pakistan to act as the go-between only raises the stakes. Pakistan, after all, is the nation where...

Iran’s regional partners spark protests across the Middle East and South Asia

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s proxy groups and sympathetic Shiite communities have arranged demonstrations across the Middle East following the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei...

Trump’s Iran Gamble: Operation Epic Fury and Death to the Dictator

‘Patience Has Now Run Out’: Pakistan Says It Has Entered ‘Open War’ With Afghan Taliban

Border War Between Pakistan and Taliban: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carried out retaliatory airstrikes in Kabul and other Afghan provinces on February 26, targeting the Taliban...

China and Pakistan Increase Cooperation, Bring Taliban Into the Fold

China and Pakistan are trying to bolster the Taliban’s global standing. Beijing and Islamabad released a joint statement on January 5 urging Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to curb attacks from affiliated...

Erdogan’s Courtship of Pakistan Stirs Fears of a Nuclear-Armed Turkey

Given the two nations’ uniquely poor records on counterterrorism and regional aggression, the Ankara-Islamabad ties warrant concern.

Terror attacks intensify in Pakistan as the TTP continues to operate from Afghanistan

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) launched two suicide attacks in Pakistan between November 10–11, including a suicide bombing at a courthouse in the capital of Islamabad that killed 12 people....

Iran threatens nuclear weaponization ambitions

Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, the president of Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University and one of the Islamic Republic’s prominent nuclear scientists, offered a rare glimpse into Tehran’s calculus behind weaponization. During...

Pakistan attempts to shift blame for TTP attacks toward India

The Movement of the Taliban (TTP) in Pakistan killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, in an ambush in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last night. Pakistani officials blamed...