Trump's art of the deal meets Iran's long memory of foreign exploitation

June 4, 2026
Tanya Goudsouzian & Ibrahim Al-Marashi

Washington may view these talks as a standard business transaction, but history has taught Tehran that a compromise with the West is a trap

LIVE BLOG: Iran Announces Retaliatory Strike after Reported US Attack near Hormuz – Day 95

June 3, 2026

Hezbollah intensified attacks in southern Lebanon as Israeli strikes, missile interceptions, and unexplained explosions signaled widening regional tensions.

A resistance drone attack moments before striking an Israeli military vehicle inside South Lebanon. (Photo: Military Media)

دمکراسی

Why Trump Blinked on Iran

June 2, 2026
Sophia Gonzalez
Donald Trump did not suddenly become a dove. He did not wake up one morning converted to the wisdom of Quincy Adams, George Kennan, or the old conservative suspicion of crusading wars. When he paused another planned attack on Iran, the public explanation was diplomatic: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates had urged restraint; Pakistan had carried a proposal; talks had become serious enough to justify delay. That explanation is true as far as it goes. It is not enough.

Iran war live: US bombs Iranian sites as Trump seeks tougher deal

June 1, 2026

Kuwait reports missile and drone attacks following Iranian retaliation claims

Will Trump sideline Israel is order to make a deal with Iran?

May 31, 2026
Mitchell Plitnick 

Donald Trump reportedly has a deal on the table to suspend fighting and begin negotiations to end the Iran war and the resulting global economic crisis. But Israel and Iran hawks see it as a disaster and are working to undermine it. Who will win out?

Why Trump’s Hormuz Blockade may Bolster the Iranian State

May 30, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iranian government continues to dicker with the Trump administration about the final form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would bring an end to the current standoff at the Strait of Hormuz, which threatens the world’s energy.

The art of the deal author has no clue about how to make a deal

May 29, 2026
Martin Jay

The more Trump threatens, the more it is clear he is weak and desperate, writes Martin Jay.

US Treasury slaps sanctions on Iranian authority overseeing Hormuz

May 28, 2026

Washington seeks to criminalize the newly established maritime shipping mechanism by labeling fee collection as ‘extortion’

Iran Says US Violated Ceasefire and Vows It Will ‘Leave No Act of Aggression Unanswered’

May 26, 2026
Dave DeCamp

Iran's IRGC said that its air defense forces downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone

US military photo from the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship operating in the Arabian Sea as the US enforces a blockade on Iran (CENTCOM)

از کاخ شاه تا زندان اوین

در سال هزار و سیصد و هشتاد و یک، کتاب "از کاخ شاه تا زندان اوین" نوشتهٔ احسان نراقی که به فرانسه نوشتار شده بود، با ترجمهٔ سعید آذری به فارسی، برای چهارمین بار منتشر شد.ا

U.S. Bombs Iran Despite Peace Talks; Israel Strikes Lebanon to “Force Trump’s Hand”: Negar Mortazavi

May 26, 2026
We get an update on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran from journalist Negar Mortazavi, following the Pentagon’s so-called self-defense strikes on two Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz Monday despite an official ceasefire and ongoing peace negotiations. The “chaotic” ceasefire “has been violated from day one,” says Mortazavi, who notes that Israel’s continuous attacks on southern Lebanon are delaying attempts to end the war — and that this is exactly the intention of the Israeli government. “Clearly, Netanyahu doesn’t want this war with Iran to end,” she says. “Every step of escalation is definitely going to harm the final outcome and narrow the path to a final agreement.” Mortazavi also comments on the new political reality for Iran’s Gulf neighbors in the aftermath of Iranian strikes on U.S. military bases hosted in the region. “The Iranian message is: If war comes to us, it will not stay inside our borders.”

This Tehran Music School Took Ages to Build Up. Airstrikes Turned It to Rubble.

May 25, 2026
Kourosh Ziabari

The destruction of Honiak Music Academy shows the devastating impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran’s creative spaces.

Hamidreza Afarideh and Sheida Ebadatdoust inspect the ruins of the Honiak Music Academy in Tehran, Iran, after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes destroyed the private arts school on March 23, 2026.

Warmongers in meltdown as Trump heralds Iran deal

May 24, 2026
Trita Parsi

In essence, this agreement brings the situation to where it was supposed to be following the announcement of the original ceasefire

GOP Hawks Alarmed as Trump Mulls Deal to End His Illegal Iran War

May 24, 2026
Brad Reed

“Nothing was accomplished by Operation Epic Fury except putting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in charge of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,” said one critic of the war.

Pakistan’s moment in the Sun: Can it really end the Iran war?

May 23, 2026
Leon Hadar

The very things that make Islamabad useful as a postman also limit what it can deliver as a peacemaker

Vice President J D Vance, left, talks to Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, right, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, center, before boarding Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 12, 2026. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / Pool

When privacy disappears: What life looks like inside displacement shelters in Gaza

May 23, 2026
Marwa Rommaneh

In Gaza's displacement shelters, privacy is not suspended; it is erased

Tents and shelters for displaced families in Gaza. Picture by the author, used with permission

They are killing us off- A Poem

May 22, 2026
Marge Piercy

 

The farce of Israel’s ‘liberal’ investigative journalism

May 22, 2026
Sebastian Ben Daniel (John Brown)

A recent exposé on the killing of three hostages by Israeli soldiers highlights how even critical news programs form part of an architecture of public denial.

The war in Iran – again – points to the strategic shortcomings of assassination as policy of foreign affairs

May 21, 2026
Brian O'Neill
The coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes at the outset of the war in Iran killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with other key regime figures. In doing so, the United States and Israel crossed what The New York Times and others described as “a new Rubicon”: the deliberate, overt killing of a head of state.