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.

Iran war live: Trump says he’s in ‘no hurry’ to reach a deal

May 20, 2026
Elis Gjevori, Adam Hancock and Jillian Kestler-D'Amours

• Iran has warned that the Middle East war would spread far beyond the region if the United States and Israel resumed their attacks.
• US President Donald Trump has given Iran “two to three days” to reach a deal, as his deputy, JD Vance, said the two sides have made a “lot of progress” in talks.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting Russian leader Vladimir Putin for talks expected to focus on energy and weapons deals that are heavily influenced by the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
• Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi heading to Tehran for talks. Iran’s state media reported.
• Israeli forces have intercepted another boat from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, the 61st so far, as international outrage grows over the abduction of hundreds of activists.

قصه

یکی‌ بود یکی‌ نبود، غیر از خلأ هیچی‌ نبود. قصهٔ ما از اونجایی شروع میشه که پیروز، پسر بهروز و مهبانو، داشته جلوی خونش که وسط یه جنگل قرار گرفته بود بازی میکرده، که یه مرتبه یه سیرنگ از آسمون سرازیر میشه و تو یه چشم بهم زدن با نوکش یقهٔ پیرهن اونا میگیره و پیروز رو از زمین بلند میکنه و پرواز کنون به سمت لونش تو کوه قاف میره.ا

Chris Hedges: Trump’s Iranian Nightmare

May 19, 2026
Chris Hedges

Trump’s catastrophic miscalculation in Iran and refusal to accept the inevitability of defeat is pushing us towards a global depression and ensuring the suffering and immiseration of millions.

Iran conflict cost global businesses $25bn – Reuters

May 18, 2026

Companies throughout the world have faced supply shocks linked to the Hormuz blockade, the outlet has said

Trump’s Iran warning sends oil prices soaring and markets tumbling

May 18, 2026
Global markets experienced a turbulent start to the week, with Asian stocks largely retreating and oil prices surging, following a stark warning from Donald Trump to Tehran that "the clock is ticking" amid stalled negotiations over a permanent end to the conflict.

LIVE BLOG: Iran Rejects US Conditions as Hezbollah Escalates Attacks – Day 78

May 17, 2026
Israeli attacks killed and wounded Palestinians in Gaza as Hezbollah escalated strikes and Israeli military losses mounted.

An Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon. (Photo: video grab, via social media)

Araghchi: BRICS look at Iran with Different Eyes after “American Failure”

May 16, 2026
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The BRICS (a broad geopolitical group including Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates) held a summit for foreign ministers in New Delhi on May 14-15 that was overshadowed by the relatively fruitless Trump meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Iran, which attended as an observer, was naturally a big subject of conversation.

Iran turns to Pakistan land corridor as US naval pressure disrupts Gulf trade

May 15, 2026

New trade corridors with Pakistan are opening alternative trade access with Central Asia and helping the Islamic Republic bypass the US naval blockade

Iranian cargo trucks cross into the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province on 18 June 2025 (Banaras Khan/AFP)

Iranian FM blasts UAE at BRICS summit over 'direct involvement' in US-Israeli war

May 14, 2026

Araghchi warned the UAE to ‘reconsider’ its policy on Iran, days after western media reports said Abu Dhabi carried out strikes against the Islamic Republic during the war

Oppose the War and Its Machinery

May 13, 2026
Ron Jacobs
The war resides mostly in the background here in the aggressor nation. Most of those who think about it at all tend to oppose it and seem to think it’s a task forced on the US by the zealots running Israel. Some take it even further, presenting an argument that blames the relationship between the mad rulers of Israel and the United States for the entire catastrophe. The argument varies, but its essence is that Bibi Netanyahu is the individual responsible for convincing the sundowning Donald Trump to bomb Iran for the sake of Israel. There are those who argue that the reason for this is because Israel’s Mossad has compromising materials on Trump and his escapades with Jeffrey Epstein, while others place Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the role of instigator. Of course, no one has produced a smoking gun for either possibility, even though both have a potential element of truth. It is likely that Epstein had some working relationship with Mossad and it’s an established fact that Kushner’s family have a long-term relationship with Netanyahu. Furthermore, Kushner is financially connected to Saudi Arabia and UAE’s monarchies. It’s an established fact that Israel, the Arab monarchies and the United States all oppose the Iranian government—its support of national liberation and anti-imperialist movements and its existence in general. Furthermore, all of these governments are more interested in maintaining the political situation in West Asia as it is and has been for decades. They are not interested in bringing popular democracy to the region, with some more than willing to maintain a constant state of war and occupation to maintain the current hierarchy of power.

مادر

 دست‌هایم را به هم می‌سایم و قطرهٔ مایع را بین دو دست خود پخش می‌کنم، شاید محو شود. ولی‌ قطره باز میشود و پخش میشود و کف هر دو دستم را نمدار می‌کند. قطرهٔ دیگری از چشم پائین میاید. با پشت دست آنرا پاک می‌کنم و با کف دست دیگر می‌سایم. هر دو دست مرطوب میشوند. دنبال دستمال می‌گردم و هر چه به اطراف نگاه می‌کنم چیزی نمی‌یابم، جز تصویری که همواره جلوی چشمانم است.ا

‘Ways of war’ are in metamorphosis: Lessons from the Iran war

May 12, 2026
Alastair Crooke

A U.S. carrier no longer induces fear as once it might have; It now radiates vulnerability.

The Breaking Point

 

Iran Has Nuclear Energy, Not Nuclear Weapons

May 11, 2026
Chris Ernesto
Last week, on May 5, 2026, President Trump told a group of young children in the Oval Office that “we have to make a journey down to Iran to take the nuclear weapon. They would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks.”

On Mother’s Day, I Will Mourn Alongside the Grieving Parents of Minab

May 10, 2026
Negin Owliaei

The first Mother’s Day proclamation was a call to disarm. It’s more crucial than ever to honor the day’s antiwar roots.

Symbolic belongings sit on the ground at Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 24, 2026, in tribute to the schoolgirls in Minab killed in an airstrike.

‘On level of atomic bomb’: Iran highlights Hormuz importance amid US talks

May 9, 2026
Maziar Motamedi

The strategic strait represents ‘a capability that can affect the entire global economy with a single decision’, politician says.

Engels's Dialectics of Nature and Marxist Ecology

May 9, 2026
Chen Yiwen

Trump claiming Iran war ‘win’ – here’s the reality

May 8, 2026
Christian Emery

Trump’s shifting aims and desperate scramble for an exit show that the entire enterprise has been a colossal strategic failure

An Iranian walks next to a mural painted on a wall in Tehran, Iran, on May 4. Photo: Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA via The Conversation

‘An Almost Unthinkable Threat’: Trump Warning That Iran Will ‘Glow’ Sparks Latest Fears of Nuclear Attack

May 8, 2026
Stephen Prager

“It again raises urgent questions: Is this president fit to lead and make consequential decisions that impact countless lives?” said the National Iranian-American Council.

When Trump Compares Iran to Vietnam or Iraq

May 8, 2026
Mitchell Zimmerman

Neither of the two previous quagmires was revealed in its calamitous stupidity as swiftly as Trump’s war on Iran, writes Mitchell Zimmerman.

Satellite imagery of black smoke rising from the Port of Salalah on March 13, during Iranian strikes on Oman. (CC BY 4.0 /Wikimedia Commons)

Iran war marks the end of American primacy as we know it

May 8, 2026
Trita Parsi

For states that had opted to depend on US protection, this should be a wake-up call

Trump knows he lost the Iran war, and is now desperate to find a way out

May 8, 2026
Mitchell Plitnick 

Recent U.S. moves indicate that Donald Trump has finally recognized the disastrous mistake he made by listening to Benjamin Netanyahu and launching the war on Iran. Now he is looking to cut a deal, but Israel won't make it easy.

Kurds in the Crossfire

5/7/2026
Matt Broomfield

The Kurds are on the frontlines of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. After their betrayal in Syria, can they survive another fight?

The aftermath of an Iranian airstrike on the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish opposition party in Sulaymaniyah. Photo by Matt Broomfield

پیش‌پینی

اخیرا کتابی خواندم که در مورد پیش‌پینی بود. نکتهٔ جالبی که در این کتاب بود، و ما عموما در زندگی روزمره به آن توجه نمی‌کنیم، این است که همه ما، و در اکثر مواقع، در حال پیش‌بینی برای آینده هستیم. این پیش‌بینی را البته برنامه ریزی و یا تصمیم گیری نام می‌دهیم. به عنوان نمونه این مطلبی را که من اکنون در حال نوشتن آن هستم قبلا در مغزم پرورانده‌ام. یعنی کلیات این نوشته را برنامه ریزی کرده‌ام، و اکنون در حال گسترش این پیش‌بینی هستم.ا

From the Ancient Greeks to Trump, Iran has Stood up to Aggression

May 6, 2026
Amin Saikal
(The Conversation) – US President Donald Trump’s threats against Iran since the war began have targeted not just the country’s military capabilities, but its entire civilisation.

The method in Iran’s madness? Closure of Strait of Hormuz echoes a centuries‑old Danish play − and is a tragedy for the world order

May 5, 2026
More than two months into the war in Iran, navigation through the Strait of Hormuz – the key waterway through which more than a third of the international trade in oil and gas passes – remains perilous and uncertain. Underscoring the uncertainty, on May 3, 2026, the Trump administration launched Project Freedom to help stranded ships through the strait. Yet the next day, at least two ships came under fire from Iran.

Vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz are seen on a ship-tracking website. AFP via Getty Images

Live: Report says Israel and US planning new strikes on Iran

May 5, 2026

Meanwhile, US military moves in Hormuz draw sharp warnings from Tehran

Iranian strike causes ‘major fire’ at petroleum facility – UAE

May 4, 2026

Three Indian nationals have been injured in the attack, according to the authorities in the Emirate of Fujairah

Iran Shifts from UAE Trade Routes as Pakistan Opens Transit Corridor

May 3, 2026

Pakistan authorizes Iranian trade transit routes as Tehran seeks alternatives to US blockade and Gulf shipping dependence.

Pakistan has authorized transit of good intro Iran. (Photo: Bjoertvedt/ Wikimedia)

Iranian strikes heavily damage majority of US military bases in West Asia

May 2, 2026

US military bases located in the Persian Gulf are now viewed as 'sitting ducks' to Iran's 'fast and precise' attacks

We Need a Guns and Butter Debate Over the Costs of the Iran War

May 1, 2026
Michael Hudson
Sixty years ago, opposition to America’s war in Vietnam, a major attack concerned the costs of diverting U.S. resources away from social spending to the military, what was called Guns and Butter.

Scholar Gilbert Achcar on the U.S. War Against Iran & Trump’s “Old-New Imperial Doctrine”

April 30, 2026

We speak with Lebanese-born academic Gilbert Achcar about the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. foreign policy under President Trump and more. Achcar says Trump’s military actions in Venezuela and Iran are not as dramatic a departure from U.S. policy as some commentators have suggested, calling it “an old-new imperial doctrine.” While the George W. Bush administration believed in “regime change,” says Achcar, Trump is “just going back to 19th-century gunboat diplomacy: You bomb a country until they submit.”

‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’: Trump Threatens Iran With AI Image of Himself Holding a Gun

April 29, 2026
Dave DeCamp

The post comes amid reports that the US is considering restarting the bombing campaign

A view of the UN General Assembly hall in New York during the NPT conference on April 28, 2026 (UN Photo/Manual Elias)

افسانه‌ی بنیان‌گذاری - چرا ناسیونالیسم مسیحی غیرآمریکایی است - نوشته‌ی اندرو- ال- سایدل

این کتاب در سال دو هزار و هجده، و در طول نخستین دورهٔ ریاست جمهوری ترامپ نوشته شده است. در این کتاب انتقاداتی نسبت به ریاست جمهوری ترامپ وجود دارد، اما نکتهٔ اصلی‌ کتاب، همانطور که از عنوان آن می‌توان حدس زد، بررسی این ایده است که ایالات متحده بر اساس و ارکان ناسیونالیسم مسیحی‌ بنا شده است، و این کتاب چنین نظریه‌ای را رد می‌کند. در حقیقت، این یک سند تحقیقی است، چرا که برای هر ادعا نقل قول‌هائی ارائه می‌شود.ا

The Founding Myth- Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American‌- By Andrew L. Seidel

The above titled book was written in 2018, during the first presidency of Donald Trump. It has some criticism of Trump’s presidency here and there, but the main point of the book, as it can be guessed from the title, is investigating the idea that the United States was built on the basis and pillars of Christian Nationalism. Andrew Seidel attempts to disprove such theory. It is a well-researched document, providing quotations for each claim.

Masoud Pezeshkian ; Donald Trump; Vladimir Putin Iran and Russia are gaming the United States, and winning

April 28, 2026
Ian Proud

Is Trump running out of time to end the war before the American economy catches up?

Iran Group’s ICC Evidence of US & Israeli War Crimes

April 27, 2026

Jake Johnson

Since the ICC does not have jurisdiction over war crimes committed on Iranian territory, human rights organizations and advocates have implored Tehran to grant the court jurisdiction, Jake Johnson reports.

International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands. (Vysotsky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)