Expert reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict and U.S. involvement, from the June 2025 Twelve-Day War to ongoing military escalation, strategic signalling, regional spillover risks and great power implications across the Middle East.
Tehran and D.C. have been stuck in their own catch-22, both have been seeking to avoid a return to active fighting, but have no real capacity to cooperate diplomatically.
The U.S. and Iran continue to be at loggerheads, all while a new regional defense pact is formed and French relations in CAR take an embarrassing turn.
With Iran's hardliners facing the war they had long prepared for, they now face increasing divisions on what the goals of the conflict are, and how it should end.
🔎What we're monitoring this week:
▸ 🇮🇷 Continued Iran and U.S. fighting point to broader war
▸ 🇱🇾🇹🇳 Heatwaves and power outages plague North Africa
▸ 🇳🇮 No more elections in Nicaragua
▸ 🇮🇳 Cockroach
Often overlooked, Oman also has a voice in how traffic flows through the Strait, and both Oman and Iran will have to reconcile their opposing visions for the future of Hormuz.
Years of planning by the Islamic Republic for a theoretical war with the United States was finally put to the test. Now with the ceasefire, both Iran and the U.S. will look at what went right and what went wrong.
