What’s Really Driving The Strategy Behind Trump’s War On Iran
With the Iran war in its third week, questions are swirling over the administration's aims, its conduct of the conflict and the trajectory that Iran itself might take.
With the Iran war in its third week, questions are swirling over the administration's aims, its conduct of the conflict and the trajectory that Iran itself might take.
In the early morning hours of January 3, 2026, the Trump Administration launched "Absolute Resolve," a military operation to apprehend Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and remove him from office. The effort marked the most consequential U.S. intervention in Latin America in decades, involving large-scale coordinated intelligence, air and special operations assets.
Iran is pounding U.S. military positions across the Middle East with missiles and cheap but highly effective drones, killing U.S. troops and wreaking havoc across the Persian Gulf. The cost to the U.S. of its defensive systems far exceeds the cost of Iran’s drones, and America and its regional partners are burning through their air defenses.
Big changes are coming to America’s space forces.
The United States has proved its military superiority over Iran. Whether it can secure Iran’s enriched uranium, protect the Gulf states, and encourage popular protests is a different story.
Russia’s military manpower shortage has led it to entice over 1,400 people from across the African continent to fight in Ukraine.
America's newest military campaign in the Middle East is now in its second week.
As the Islamic Republic weathers U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on its infrastructure and the killing of key political figures, China remains on the sidelines
Ever since the Trump administration returned to office last year, a major foreign policy debate has raged inside the Washington Beltway.
Wiser leaders would stop picking fights with Washington over a war they can’t influence and that ultimately advances their own security
The three South Caucasus states are responding to the same geopolitical shock with radically different resources, constraints, and choices.
Are we headed toward a new war with Iran? The possibility looks increasingly likely.
President Donald Trump has now set out a June deadline for the end of the war, and the White House expects Moscow and Kyiv to reach some sort of settlement. The operative question is whether Russia’s economic calculus can truly be changed by then.
In February 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Budapest to herald a “new golden age” of relations, signing a major civilian nuclear deal and pledging a “financial protective shield” for Hungary. This visit followed President Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who currently trails challenger Péter Magyar in the polls ahead of the April 12 election. Critics warn that making bilateral relations contingent on individual leaders turns long-term alliances into fragile transactional affairs. Furthermore, Orbán’s continued energy dependence on Russia and his security ties to China present a significant paradox for the administration’s broader “Great Power” strategy.
After years of military involvement in the Syrian theater, America is understandably eager to turn the page. But doing so prematurely risks abandoning a known and capable counterterrorism partner for a still-untested arrangement. That is hardly a recipe for lasting stability.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has produced a paradox for US strategy: it has significantly reduced Russia’s strategic long-term power while hardening Moscow into a more dangerous, risk-tolerant adversary for the United States and its allies and partners in Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.
The January 2026 internet blackout in Iran, following protests that erupted on December 28, has exposed the deep failures of the National Information Network (NIN).
China doesn’t need to invade America to control its farmland. It just needs to buy it. Through state-backed conglomerates, shell companies and global acquisitions, Beijing is doing just that, gaining fiduciary leverage over farmland across our nation and threatening America’s long-term food security. It is clear that more must be done to prevent the Chinese Communist Party, our foremost global competitor, from weakening America’s agricultural independence from within.
A deal with Iran at this moment may prolong the unnatural life of the mullah’s regime.
Iranians negotiate like they’re in the bazaar,” a Middle East scholar once wrote. “Westerners negotiate like they’re shopping at Macy’s.”
A change in Russia’s government is more likely to take place than conventional wisdom allows.
The strategic logic underpinning Israel's outreach to Somaliland, in other words, is compelling. It simultaneously provides the country with a strategic foothold opposite Yemen, greater proximity to the ongoing threat posed by the Houthis, a deeper stake in Red Sea security, and the potential to become a much bigger player in African politics. For those reasons, Israel's newest partnership is well positioned to endure.
The Organization of Turkic States has expanded beyond its cultural foundations to address regional challenges through green finance, digital innovation, and artificial intelligence initiatives. Led by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the OTS established the Turkic Green Finance Council and proposed collaborative AI networks, responding to economic pressures from sanctions and oil price fluctuations.
The Organization of Turkic States has evolved its approach toward Tajikistan, shifting from explicit support for Kyrgyzstan during border conflicts to more inclusive language. Early OTS statements emphasized brotherly solidarity with Kyrgyzstan while implicitly attributing blame to Tajikistan, prompting sharp criticism from Dushanbe. Following diplomatic progress culminating in the March 2025 Kyrgyz-Tajik border treaty, OTS rhetoric shifted significantly.
Today’s internet blackout in Iran, in other words, is merely the most visible manifestation of an accelerating information arms race. Iran’s radical regime is racing to consolidate digital control over its captive population. If it succeeds in doing so, Iran’s brave protesters will find themselves truly cut off from the outside world.
Despite many US inducements, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has turned away from normalization with Israel and broader US alignment in the Middle East.
Canadian and European political leaders of various stripes seem to be tripping over themselves to articulate a sensible position on the escalating conflict between NATO allies over Greenland, a Danish colonial possession until 1953 that is now an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and a territory the United States now seeks. However, this collective incoherence does nothing to reduce tensions, much less help overcome the danger we all face. As a Canadian, I propose an outside-the-box compromise solution that puts Canada First.
Big changes are afoot in Eurasia. Over the past several months, the region has undergone a series of tectonic shifts, as countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have recalibrated their respective foreign policies and expanded ties with the West.
To make sense of how Gamsakhurdia engaged with Georgian Christian mysticism, I organize his sources into two analytical categories—what I term the “Gelati current” and the “prophetic current.” These are, crucially, not divisions that Gamsakhurdia himself articulated, but rather, groupings that help illuminate the different functions these sources served in his thinking.
This piece is the second in a three-part series on the esoteric sources of Zviad Gamsakhurdia’s worldview. The first piece introduces the series and provides theoretical and historical context for its material and claims. This piece focuses on anthroposophy. The third piece will focus on Georgian Christian mysticism.
In these pieces, I begin (but certainly do not finish) the process of undertaking that engagement by tracing and examining the esoteric sources that shaped Gamsakhurdia’s worldview. To Gamsakhurdia, Georgia was not just a newly independent state among many newly independent states, but the bearer of an ancient history and a future mission of great significance. It was a chosen mediator between—and synthesizer of—worlds: Western and Eastern, earthly and divine.
Shortly after space week in October, investment firm JP Morgan announced a $10 billion investment plan targeting industries critical for United States national security. In addition to things like nanomaterials, autonomous robotics and solar power, the announcement also focused on funding spacecraft and space launches.
President Donald Trump has been busy on the world stage of late—toppling Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in a precision strike by U.S. forces, warning Tehran not to turn its guns on Iran’s protestors, and pushing for Russia-Ukraine peace.
Despite a lack of organization and vision for the future, the protests rocking Iran signal that the Islamic Republic is running out of time.
The new Executive Order on “ensuring space superiority” issued by President Trump is a milestone.
When it comes to a nation's potential, few factors matter more than demographics. The pace of a country's population determines a great many things, from the vibrancy of its society to its global competitiveness.
Just how widespread is domestic support for Russia's war on Ukraine, really?
The peripheral, energy-rich areas of Russia are bearing the brunt of the human and economic costs of the Ukraine War.
Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity will link Turkey and the West
The tense clash in opinions over Bagram has left Central Asian countries, Afghanistan’s northern neighbors, in a complex position. The five states initially hinted at opposition to Trump’s efforts, shown in a joint statement of the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan.
Yet the real challenge facing Kinmen isn’t military—it’s a matter of political economy. Administratively tied to Taiwan, Kinmen illustrates the complex dynamics of geopolitical influence and economic integration.
Almost four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, and more than a decade after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the U.S. is faced with a dilemma. On the one hand is the urge to continue to support Ukraine diplomatically and militarily. On the other is the push to stop a war that neither side can win.
In October 2025, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened a pivotal summit in Gabala, Azerbaijan, demonstrating its emergence as a significant geopolitical entity on the Eurasian landscape.
Late last week, without public fanfare, the Trump administration released its long-awaited National Security Strategy.
China is no longer focused only on low-Earth orbit. Beijing now treats the Moon as strategic terrain, pushing toward a permanent base by the mid-2030s and space dominance by 2045
Military readiness isn't simply about money. It also depends on mobility. Put another way, even if it is produced in greater quantities than before, European battlefield equipment won't do the Ukrainians—or anyone else—much good if it can't be transported to the frontlines.
As the Gaza war comes to a fragile (and possibly temporary) end, it’s prudent to take stock of the geostrategic environment Israel will have to face in the foreseeable future.
History rarely announces its turning points. More often, we wake up to find that the world we assumed was fixed has begun to shift beneath our feet. That is happening now.
Sometimes, it is said, in order to make a problem smaller, you need to make it bigger first. So it is with the Ukraine war, which is now fast approaching its grim fourth anniversary.
Sometimes, it is said, in order to make a problem smaller, you need to make it bigger first. So it is with the Ukraine war, which is now fast approaching its grim fourth anniversary