US Foreign Policy

By RFE/RL (RFE/ RL ) – Iran’s top diplomat has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy toward Iran after the premier renewed his call for the full dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear program. Iranian and US negotiators concluded a third round of indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear program on April […]

Donald Trump

Trump, the Suez Canal, and the end of Eisenhower’s World Order

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – AFP reports that Trump has said, “American ships, both military and commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez canals!” He went on to allege that “both routes” would not exist in the first place without the United States. News organizations have probably lost […]

Iran

Is a U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal Coming Soon?

Foreign Policy in Focus

Trump promises a deal by mid-June, but many obstacles remain. By Tarique Niazi The second round of Iran-U.S. talks on April 19 successfully concluded in Italy. The Omani embassy in Rome hosted the talks, which went on twice as long as those held in Oman on April 12. Most importantly, Iran and the United States […]

Featured

The Vietnam War Ended 50 Years Ago: People Still Get it Wrong

Arnold Oliver

Tiffin, Ohio (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – April 30th marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end when Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, soon to be renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The war was a terrible experience for the United States, but even more so for the people of Vietnam and much of the […]

Featured

Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the US: Why Diplomats Matter

Fariba Amini

George B. Lambrakis was a State Department Foreign Service officer from 1957 to 1985, after two years with USIS in Vietnam and Laos. He served in Iran during the Islamic Revolution 1978-1979. He is interviewed by Fariba Amini. Fariba Amini: The first Trump administration abandoned the JCPOA. Why do you think now in his second […]

Featured

Except for Israel: US Military Aid forbidden to Human Rights Violators by the Leahy Law

Charles O. Blaha

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On December 17, 2024, a group of Palestinian and Palestinian-Americans filed a complaint against the State Department with one simple ask: That the Department obey the Leahy law with regard to Israel. The Leahy law prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign security force units credibly implicated in gross […]

Iran

Mideast Peace Depends on an unlikely Trump-Iran Nuclear Deal

The Conversation

By Simon Mabon, Lancaster University For the second week in a row, senior officials from the United States and Iran will get together to take part in talks about the Iranian nuclear programme. It’s the second round in the latest negotiations – the first having taken place in Oman on April 12. But recent statements […]

Israel/ Palestine

What is the Israel Lobby – and Why is it so Anxious?

The Conversation

By Ned Curthoys, The University of Western Australia (The Conversation) – Last May, on a trip to the United States, world-renowned Israeli–Jewish historian Ilan Pappe was detained by Homeland Security and held for two hours. Aged 69 at the time, he was, among other things, asked about his views on Hamas and whether Israel’s actions […]

Featured

A Majority of Americans Views Israel Negatively in wake of Gaza Genocide

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Laura Silver at the Pew Research Center reports that 53% of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, a stark deterioration from 42% in spring 2022 before the Israeli total war on Gaza. Moreover, in just 3 years the percentage of Americans with very negative views of Israel has […]