How the China-Iran strategic partnership really evolves

February 12, 2026
Pepe Escobar
Neo-Caligula continues to bet in what could be defined as The Strategy of the Weaponized Debtor.
We’ve got a thing, and that’s a-called radar love
We’ve got a wave in the air
Radar love
Golden Earring, Radar Love

After weeks of tension, Trump is still talking tough on Iran. Here's what could happen next

February11, 2026
Emma Graham

• Tensions between Iran and the U.S. are high, with both at an impasse after talks last week in Oman.
• Analysts told CNBC a U.S. attack on Iran is unlikely, and that U.S President Donald Trump has no good options when it comes to using force.
• "U.S. forces in the region are not adequate to support a significant long-term military operation in Iran which would be necessary to achieve any major military objective," said one.

In this frame-grab made from video, missiles and air-defense interceptors illuminate the night sky over Doha after Iran launched an attack on US forces at Al Udeid Air Base on June 23, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.

Iran on the Brink?

February11, 2026
Ashley Smith - Houshang Sepehr
The Iranian regime has faced down a wave of mass protest. Merchants, students, workers, and national minorities joined huge demonstrations throughout the country against economic conditions and state repression. The regime has responded with the utmost brutality, killing between a low estimate of 6,000 people and a high of 30,000. This has for the moment repressed the struggle. But the conditions that triggered it remain unresolved. Meanwhile, Trump has assembled an armada in the region, threatening to attack the regime. Tempest’s Ashley Smith interviews Houshang Sepehr, editor of the website, Solidarité Socialiste avec les Travailleurs en Iran, about the roots of the uprising, the response of the state, the role of U.S. imperialism, and the trajectory of the struggle.

What western 'experts' mean when they predict Iran's collapse

February11, 2026
Sami Al-Arian

As protests in Iran are met with US threats of military action, western analysts revive a well-worn narrative that frames unrest as internal failure while obscuring decades of intervention

An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel banner hanging on a building in Palestine Square, after the United States announced the deployment of a naval strike group to the region, in Tehran, on 27 January 2026 (Atta Kenare/AFP)

Iran Talks: What We Know So Far After a Week of Regional Diplomacy

February 11, 2026

Before negotiations resume, Israel lobbies Washington while Iran and Gulf mediators work to contain escalation regionally.

On the Anniversary of Iran’s Revolution: Key Lessons for Revolutionaries

February 11, 2026
Farhang Jahanpour
Oxford (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Today, 11 February, marks the 47th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and coincidentally, it also marks the 15th anniversary of the ousting of Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of oppressive rule. There were some other uprisings during what came to be known as the Arab Spring, which resulted in the ousting of ruling dictators. Undeterred, Iranian leaders, after the terrible carnage in January this year, are making big plans to celebrate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

LIVE: Iran, Palestine to headline Netanyahu-Trump White House meeting

February 11, 2026

• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet United States President Donald Trump at the White House today.
• In the Gaza Strip, Israeli air attacks and artillery shelling continue while the seventh group of patients and wounded individuals returned via the Rafah crossing.
• Israeli army raids have continued across Hebron in the occupied West Bank, with several Palestinians suffocating from tear gas fired by the forces.
• Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 72,045 people and wounded 171,686 since October 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and about 250 were taken captive.

People attend the 47th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2026 [Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters]

حملهٔ آمریکا و اسرائیل به ایران

این پرسشی است که بسیاری از سیاستمدارن در شرق و غرب در حال تجزیه و تحلیل آن هستند. با کامل تاسف اکثر ایرانیانی که از این رژیم آدم‌کش و دزد کلافه شده‌ا‌ند، وابسته به اهداف دول خارجی‌ می‌باشند، و از حملهٔ نیروهای نظامی خارج از مرز‌هایشان حمایت می‌کنند. در خارج از ایران، کسانی‌ که به ترامپ برای این حمله فشار می‌آورند، نتنیاهو و سایر صهیونیست‌ها می‌باشند. با داشتن یک نیروی نظامی قوی، و مساحت جغرافیایی گسترده، کشور ایران مانعی بر سر راه دولت اسرائیل برای رسیدن به  یک هدف و یا  یک آرزوی چند دهه‌ای، یعنی‌  ارتقأ آن به عنوان  بزرگترین دولت خاورمیانه می‌باشد. در نتیجه کشور ایران می‌بایست تسخیر، و سپس چند تکه شود تا هیچ‌وقت نتواند به عنوان نیروئی در مقابل اسرائیل قد علم کند. از طرف دیگر، دولت ایران تنها دولتی در خاورمیانه است که از خلق فلسطین پشتیبانی‌ می‌کند. بنابراین، عدم وجود کشوری چون ایران، برای اسرائیل به عنوان قویترین دولتِ حامیِ غرب در خاورمیانه، حیاتی است.ا

The risk of war with Iran is growing despite talks

February 10, 2026
Murad Sadygzade

Current negotiations between Tehran and Washington are an opportunity – but a narrow one, surrounded by sharp edges

False alarm: US-Iran talks are not a countdown to conflict

February 10, 2026
Bamo Nouri

Oman talks were not a final reckoning, but an opening move amid shared recognition of the huge dangers of escalation

Iran views the existence of its ballistic missile arsenal as non-negotiable. Image: Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA via The Conversation

War on Iran: The fuse to a global crisis

February 9, 2026
Peiman Salehi

More than nuclear escalation, a western war on Iran could unleash a global economic shock powerful enough to unravel the fragile fabric of the current world order.

US Holds Live-Fire War Games in Persian Gulf

February 8, 2026
Kyle Anzalone
US forces conducted live-fire military drills in the Persian Gulf. The exercise happened as President Donald Trump is threatening to attack Iran.

Tehran Refuses Zero Enrichment, Says Pressure Will Not Force Retreat

February 8, 2026

Araghchi said Iran today is no longer vulnerable to external coercion. “In the past the Shah went where they wanted. Today Iran has the capacity to stand firm.”

‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ hasn’t faded in Iran — it’s being actively eliminated

February 7, 2026
Mina Fakhravar
(The Conversation) – Anti-government protests in Iran have killed thousands of people. The relative calm in the country today was imposed by force. Protests that began over economic collapse quickly evolved into an overt political uprising, as chants moved from demands for survival to outright rejection of the regime.

Iran says missile programme 'never negotiable' in talks with US

February 7, 2026

Comments follow reports that Iran and US agree to limit discussions to nuclear programme

Copies of Iranian daily newspapers reporting on the first round of talks between Iran and the US are displayed at a kiosk in Tehran on 7 February 2026 (Atta Kenare/AFP)

US-Iran talks live: FM Araghchi says latest round of talks ‘a good start’

February 6, 2026
Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and Nils Adler

As US-Iran talks resume, will Israel play spoiler (again)?

February 05, 2026
Eldar Mamedov
This Friday, the latest chapter in the long, fraught history of U.S.-Iran negotiations will take place in Oman. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will meet in an effort to stave off a war between the U.S. and Iran.

Arab-Turkish proposal for Iran–US talks urges Tehran to halt support for resistance, ‘restrict’ ballistic missile use: Report

February 5, 2026

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently said negotiating over the missile program and the Axis of Resistance as part of a deal was 'impossible'

LIVE: US, Iran struggle to find common ground ahead of talks

February 5, 2026
Christine Maguire, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and Nils Adler

• Talks between Iran and the United States will take place in Oman on Friday.
• Mediators from Qatar, Turkiye and Egypt have presented Iran and the US with a framework of key principles to be discussed in the talks, two sources have told Al Jazeera.
• The talks come as the region braces for a potential US attack on Iran after US President Donald Trump ordered forces to amass in the Arabian Sea following a violent crackdown by Iran on protesters last month. 

Iran regime: A Plato’s Republic thought experiment gone too far?

February 3, 2026
Ibrahim Al-Marashi
( The New Arab ) – Dystopian images emerged from Iran in mid-January: families searching body bags for loved ones, smoke-choked streets and unverified footage of unarmed guards beaten or protesters cut down. On January 17, US President Donald Trump seized on the moment, publicly calling for an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 37-year reign.

Detail of Madhu Khanazad (attr.) Plato charming the wild animals with music, Khamsa of Nizami, Mughal, 1595 -6, f.208, British Library. Public Domain. Via Wikimedia Commons