Vienna

Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: December

Dead letter

The left’s having second – and third – thoughts on Putin’s war

Death Toll in Iran Protests Rises to 154 as Khamenei Blames U.S. for Uprising

Iran’s security forces have killed at least 154 protesters since nation-wide demonstrations began in mid-September. On Monday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed full support for the security forces and blamed the United States and Israel for the unrest: “I say frankly that these incidents were designed by America, the fake Zionist regime, those who are on their payroll and some traitorous Iranians abroad who helped them.” President Joe Biden also issued a statement on Monday, warning, “the United States will be imposing further costs on the perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters.” However, his administration remains publicly committed to the potential lifting of sanctions on those perpetrators via a new nuclear agreement — a policy contradiction the White House must address.

Biden’s Chance to Restore American Dignity in Iran

If the hijab falls, so does the theocracy, and aligning the U.S. behind the rebels gives them a chance.

Trusting Iran Compromises Our National Security

Last month, the Department of Justice unsealed a case against an Iranian agent charged with plotting the assassination of former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton. In the alleged murder-for-hire...

Israel, Lebanon Near Agreement on Mediterranean Gas Field

Two years of U.S.-mediated negotiations on demarcating a maritime border between Israel and Lebanon appear to be reaching a conclusion, with senior envoys meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week. In 2020, the Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese government claimed rights to Karish, an Israeli gas field located in the Mediterranean Sea. This insistence constituted a negotiating tactic aimed at compelling Jerusalem to make territorial concessions on the entirety of the disputed maritime area, including Qana, a prospective gas field that lies within both Lebanese and Israeli waters.

Will Congress Hold a Vote on Iran Deal Before Sanctions Relief?

The Biden administration is signaling it will continue to pursue a nuclear agreement with Iran. This endeavor faces bipartisan opposition while questions swirl over whether and how the president will comply...

Why Did Russia Change Its Tune on the Iran Nuclear Deal?

The growing strategic ties between Moscow and Tehran mean that the Islamic Republic’s access to billions of dollars may lead to more and bolder intervention in Ukraine.

Biden may be plotting to keep Congress out of the Iran nuclear deal

Excerpt Negotiators from Iran, the United States and the European Union have once again nearly concluded indirect talks over the “final text” of a nuclear deal. Like the 2015 deal formally known as...

PGMs: Iran’s Precision-Guided Munitions Project in the Shadow of a Nuclear Deal

Are al Qaeda and Iran really at odds?

The debate about the Islamic Republic's collaboration with al Qaeda is far from over

Waiting for Thermidor: America’s Foreign Policy Towards Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran may be on an accelerated schedule for revolutionary decay, at least if compared to the USSR.

Israel may need a paradigm shift on Iran

Israel could benefit from a new Iran strategy if a nuclear deal is restored, along the lines of the Reagan Doctrine in the 1980s.

Iran Deal Would Help Putin, Undermine Ukraine

“Russia plans to use Iran as a backdoor to circumvent international sanctions over Ukraine if Tehran’s nuclear accord with world powers comes back into force,” Politico reported on Tuesday. Trade, finance, and energy officials from both Tehran and Moscow have met in recent months to develop what Politico calls a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for Russia to evade Western sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran in July to strengthen ties between the two countries.

Another Iran Deal? Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Totalitarians Inc.

Why is Joe Biden alternately ignoring and funding the ever-closer alliance between Iran and Putin?

Five Minutes from Disaster

The U.S. is offering Iran the deal of the millennium, and yet the Islamic Republic—and Russia—want more concessions.

It’s Time to Respond to Iran’s Bad-Faith Negotiations

The Islamic Republic has flouted its nonproliferation obligations and is moving closer to the nuclear threshold.

How Russia Won the UN Showdown Over Syria

The Biden administration made the critical error of negotiating without leverage

The rodeo that was the Pacific Islands Forum meeting

Fiji’s capital Suva is turning into Vienna in the 1930s, when ‘diplomats’ from around the world spied on each other and sent cables home about who was sleeping with whom. Meanwhile, across the border, the war machine was roaring into life.