Mohammad Javad Zarif

Saturday

John Allen Gay

Iran and Russia: the new Axis of Evil?

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran last week brought attention to a growing partnership between Russia and Iran. The Russian shook hands with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a rare gesture since both men are notorious coronaphobes. The old cleric expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while the old KGB man offered Iran supplies of grain. US intelligence even claims Iran will open its drone arsenals to Russia. This strange friendship has its limits, but its growth could spell trouble. History does not suggest this is a natural partnership. The list of grievances between Iran and Russia is long. Great powers are often rough with middle-power neighbors.

Friday

Grace Curley

John Kerry: America’s failfather

Former defense secretary Robert Gates once wrote that President Joe Biden has been ‘wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades’. To which John Kerry might reply, what am I, chopped liver? After all, when it comes to disastrous track records, America’s haughtiest envoy should not be overlooked. John Forbes Kerry is a case study in failing upwards. It’s rumored that when Joe Biden’s cognitive decline became increasingly apparent in the lead-up to the election, Kerry wondered if he might fail his way into the Oval Office.

john kerry president

Tuesday

Stephen L. Miller

Dear dictators: don’t lecture the US on how to treat its people

If you’ve been watching the news, you would think the United States is a third world nation on the verge of collapse. Less civilized countries all over the world have noticed American policing problems and the volatile riots we’re having; riots that they either experience on a weekly basis — or their governments don’t allow to take place at all. Take Iran, for instance. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, ‘some don’t think #BlackLivesMatter. To those of us who do: it is long overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism.

china

Friday

Jacob Heilbrunn

Can Trump break the cycle of mistrust with Iran?

Might Donald Trump going to visit Tehran and crack a deal with Iran? It might seem improbable. But then again, there isn’t much with Trump that doesn’t. This is the fellow who ended up at the border with North Korea, playing kissy-face with Kim Jong-un after having breathed voluminous amounts of fire and fury. When I raised this question of a fresh Trump volte-face yesterday in New York at the ambassador’s palatial residence on Fifth Avenue with Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif in an interview for the National Interest, he thus didn’t bat an eye. 'There are prudent ways out,' of his current situation, he indicated. Indeed there are. Iran is floating the idea of beefed-up inspections in return for a permanent lifting of sanctions.

iran