Etiket arşivi: Iran war

The 81st UNGA

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September 28, 2026

On the first day of the 81st UNGA’s general debate, Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a remarkable speech underscoring today’s global and regional challenges. He started by pointing to the widening fault lines of the world. He mentioned that in the last decade, wars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty.

He said that the global community’s path to a multipolar world is irreversible. He stressed his preference for a world built on interdependence – and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections; a world in which multiple centers of influence coexist within a common framework of international law and shared rules.

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A Narrowing Window of Opportunity

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September 21, 2026

In recent weeks, the Houthis, in a lightning offensive, have captured two key islands near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, giving them greater leverage over the critical maritime route. With two major maritime arteries nearly blocked, oil prices have skyrocketed, triggering worldwide anger. Moreover, a key Saudi Arabian pipeline to the Red Sea was shut down after being hit by drones launched from Iraq, creating further risks of disruption. Riyadh airport has been the target of a Houthi missile attack, and the US is unwilling to intervene. In brief, the Iran war is expanding into a broad regional conflict and the cost is rising.

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Enough of the Bombast

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July 29, 2026

During the last two weeks, US forces kept striking targets in Iran. On July 20, the Houthis announced a complete maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.  President Trump threatened a “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies. Iran rejected a US ceasefire offer delivered in Tehran by the President of Iraq, who had recently visited the White House. Oil prices topped 100 dollars a barrel.

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The Trump Summit

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July 9, 2026

NATO’s Ankara Summit was probably the most extravagant in the Alliance’s history. A day before the Summit, in a social media message, the Turkish Presidency’s Head of Communications, Duran, said, “At the invitation of our President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Donald Trump of the United States of America will pay an official visit to our country on 7 July 2026.”

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From NATO’s 2004 Istanbul Summit to the Present

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June 30, 2026

NATO’s 19th Summit was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, on June 28–29, 2004. Twenty-two years later, the 36th NATO Summit will be held on July 7–8, 2026, in Ankara. Even a brief look at the 19th Summit Communiqué and the one to be published next Wednesday will unmistakably demonstrate how much has changed since then in Europe, transatlantic relations, the Middle East, and Türkiye.

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Iran-US Negotiations

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June 8, 2026

Today marks the 100th day of the Israeli-US war with Iran, which President Trump had said would last “four to six weeks”. Despite the ceasefire, both sides remain engaged not only in exchange of fire but also in a battle of words. Nonetheless, the Iran-US talks are continuing, and the main challenge for the US negotiators is to reach a deal that can be presented to US public opinion as a better one than President Obama’s. In other words, they are after “JCPOA plus”. The difference is that the problem is no longer just Iran’s nuclear program. Linked to that are the questions of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the world’s oil and fertilizer trade, and the war in Lebanon.

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The China-Russia Summit

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May 21, 2026

Beijing has become an increasingly popular destination for world leaders. Over the past ten months, 18 heads of state and government visited China. Among them were President Trump, King Felipe VI of Spain, President Halla Tómasdóttir, Prime Minister Micheál Martin, President Macron, Prime Minister Sánchez, Chancellor Merz, Prime Minister Starmer, Prime Minister Carney, and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Trump’s visit was the first time a US President visited China in almost nine years, the last one being Trump’s visit in 2017.

Trump’s state visit was originally planned for the first week of April, but the meeting was postponed to 14-15 May due to the war in Iran. Thus, his visit was immediately followed by Putin’s visit, boosting China’s global image.

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The China-US Summit

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May 18, 2026

On April 10, 1971, the US table tennis team arrived in China. Later that year, in July 1971, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to China, paving the way for President Nixon’s visit. On February 27, 1972, the US President and his Chinese hosts agreed to the joint “Shanghai Communique,” in which both nations pledged to work toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations. As part of this effort, on May 1, 1973, the US opened a liaison office in Beijing to handle all matters in the US-China relationship “except the strictly formal diplomatic aspects of the relationship.” China created a counterpart office in Washington the same year. Finally, on January 1, 1979, the US recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China and established diplomatic relations with it.

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Waiting for Washington’s Response to Tehran

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May 11, 2026

In his election night victory speech on November 6, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump said, “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” Yet, he twice joined Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war against Iran. And, in his Address to the Nation, on April 1, 2026, one month after the Israeli-US attack on Iran, he said:

“Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks. Our enemies are losing and America, as it has been for five years under my presidency, is winning, and now winning bigger than ever before.”[i]

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A War of Nerves

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April 27, 2026

Merriam-Webster defines the title of this post as “a conflict characterized by psychological tactics (such as bluff, threats, and intimidation) designed primarily to create confusion, indecision, or breakdown of morale”. The targeting and seizures of ships by both Iran and the US in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US naval operations against Iran expanded to the Indian Ocean, the arrival in the region of the third US aircraft carrier can be considered acts of intimidation. Doing his part, Israel’s  Minister Katz has said that Israel is “prepared to resume the war against Iran”, adding that his country is awaiting a green light from the US to return Iran to “the Stone Age”.

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