New in @hidden-cities.com: @qunfuz.bsky.social on returning to a Syria in ruins and what the rubble reveals — from his new book just published by @saqibooks.bsky.social “Someone had painted on an intact bit of wall the words Eid bil-eid n’amara min jadeed, or Hand in Hand We’ll Build It Anew.”

This message has since been replaced with: “The Strait of Hormuz is open — and suggestions otherwise are fake news.”

“The U.S. evacuated most personnel but has kept a small staff on the ground.” A reminder that personnel around the region were moved to hotels (civilian sites), while US military aircraft were staged from Ben Gurion Airport (a civilian airport) near Tel Aviv (with civilians + military/intel bases).

“The extensive damage done to America’s sole naval base in the Middle East—along with hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military installations and diplomatic facilities—has the U.S. re-evaluating its entire footprint in the region, according to U.S. officials.”

Hmm I wonder why — maybe because no one still really knows what this "deal" even is. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/u...

“The image of a well-heeled island of stability is hard to reconcile with air raid sirens and sudden explosions of Iranian missiles and drones,” @freddydeknatel.bsky.social writes in a new analysis for WPR.

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights. And I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews. Those are not two different jobs. They are the same job,” Brad Lander said.

RESULT: Darializa Avila Chevalier, a challenger backed by New York's left, has ousted Rep. Adriano Espaillat. An earthquake result, which means all 3 congressional candidates backed by Mamdani have won: Chevalier, Brad Lander, and Claire Valdez.

I think people are losing the plot if they think Lander's presence in Congress will be anything but a significant improvement, not the least because, regardless of how one feels about Lander himself, this will be a rare race where an incumbent is explicitly punished in part over foreign policy.

Terrific @nicholasdanfort.bsky.social piece on Trump’s “farcepolitik” and a credulous commentariat that buys it: “The result is an ecosystem where Trump’s most committed enablers declare victory after victory and a number of people who know better, or at least should, decline to call it a defeat.”

Incredible research from @peterjsalisbury.bsky.social and team shows how Iran diffuses to its network the knowledge to manufacture and adapt. It's not just about drones; it's about navigating a networked world. "Beyond the Axis" changed how I understand the Iran war and read the future.

The US and Israel "were using tactics from the age of the telephone exchange against an adversary built for the internet era." Great report by @peterjsalisbury.bsky.social & @tcfdotorg.bsky.social colleagues on the vast, dispersed networks behind Iran's drone proliferation. tcf.org/content/repo...

How were Iran and its Axis of Resistance able to weather the conflicts of recent years, and even score a strategic victory? With support from @XCEPT_Research we've been studying exactly this question @TCFdotorg You can read our findings here: t.co/e4jgMwMeS2

The world we're headin' into ain't great, folks

“Iran is taking steps to cement its control over the Strait of Hormuz and to generate revenue from the waterway through new entities and procedures, experts say.“ A total and complete victory over Iran, but also the end of freedom of navigation in the Gulf. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/w...

Shade Guy @samkbloch.bsky.social on a NYC "resilience" project designed around one major climate change threat (storm surge and rising seas) at the expense of another (extreme heat). A shady lane, everybody wants one A shady lane, everybody needs one nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/06/18/w...

The Iran War will have been a strategic masterstroke if Iran buys US soybeans.

"The hood of an average passenger vehicle today is about three feet high. Anyone shorter than 5-foot-6 — about half of American adults — would frequently be rammed to the pavement. So would most children." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

“The straits are now open.”

“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Checking in on Trump’s vaunted peace deal: aje.news/o3j66i

“There is a second injustice in being defined by the atrocity done to you,” @adamakary.bsky.social writes, introducing his new poem in @hidden-cities.com, “Both Sides of the Looking Glass.” “A strike on Beirut lands in Cairo. It lands anywhere anyone is still listening.”

"What unites disparate small and medium-size countries in parsing the lessons of this war is the belief they are standing on shaky ground. They now know with certainty, if they did not know before, that their own wealth and economies can be imperiled by this new Washington," Azadeh Moaveni writes.

Trump's shaky Iran deal isn't a peace treaty. It won't bring lasting peace or a new order. Six Century International fellows tell @orderfromashes.bsky.social what new problems and pathologies to expect from the MoU.

Versailles… perfect. Does this mean we can finally see the text of Trump’s MoU of Versailles?

"Defeat in the Iranian war looks, on the surface, nothing like other U.S. military defeats. The speed of the war and its remoteness have lent an air of unreality to the whole endeavor." @professormusgrave.bsky.social on Trump's defeat and the ghosts of Vietnam: foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/16/i...

This is all going so well for Vance

The "Gulf model" of prosperity enabled by autocracy becomes harder to justify when everything is now a target—not only the American military bases that Gulf states host, but the futuristic cityscapes that act as huge billboards for the region and its rulers. My latest in @wpr.bsky.social

The JCPOA was 159 pages and took 20 months to negotiate. We still don’t know what this “MoU” even says or if it’s been DocuSigned.

You'll be shocked to learn that Trump's Big Beautiful Peace Deal is not what it seems. www.cnn.com/2026/06/16/p...

“Iran has fired multiple drones toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding Sunday, according to a U.S. official.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

“There is a second injustice in being defined by the atrocity done to you,” @adamakary.bsky.social writes. Read his essay and new poem, “Both Sides of the Looking Glass,” in @hidden-cities.com www.hidden-cities.com/p/both-sides...

“The Lebanese are often called resilient, but it is a strange compliment in moments like these. It asks people to endure what should never have been done to them, then praises them for enduring it.” A new poem and accompanying essay, clear-eyed and devastating, by @adamakary.bsky.social:

"The image of a well-heeled island of stability is hard to reconcile with air raid sirens and sudden explosions of Iranian missiles and drones." My new longform article for @wpr.bsky.social on the Iran war's fallout in the Gulf. Gift link: www.worldpoliticsreview.com/iran-war-gul...

"The image of a well-heeled island of stability is hard to reconcile with air raid sirens and sudden explosions of Iranian missiles and drones." My new longform article for @wpr.bsky.social on the Iran war's fallout in the Gulf. Gift link: www.worldpoliticsreview.com/iran-war-gul...

“The Lebanese are often called resilient, but it is a strange compliment in moments like these. It asks people to endure what should never have been done to them, then praises them for enduring it.” A new poem and accompanying essay, clear-eyed and devastating, by @adamakary.bsky.social:

The Gulf’s “gilded age” has been brought to a screeching halt by Iranian drones and missiles. Regional governments are struggling to preserve the narrative of stability, @freddydeknatel.bsky.social writes.

"There is growing fear of erasing urban history, reshaping ways of life by force, deepening poverty, and empowering investors—along with a narrow circle of beneficiaries—to profit." Ammar Azzouz on reconstruction in Syria designed to enrich a narrow elite and remake cities in the image of Dubai.

“If you want to get a message out immediately, you can use Barak. That’s well known,” said another Biden official. “It’s immediate. It’s as close as you can get to just putting something up on Twitter... I don’t think he’s dishonest or anything. I just think he prints what people tell him.”

How to cover Trump's "peace deal" with Iran: He is "hailing a deal that underlines not only the Islamic republic’s capacity to withstand American-Israeli bombing but its newfound leverage from severely disrupting energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz." www.ft.com/content/e51b...

Exactly

Baudrillard would love this: a peace deal that did not take place...

The "peace deal" doesn't sound much like a peace deal, does it? As news outlets adjust to calling it a "framework" or "preliminary" agreement—after blaring news alerts and headlines about a "peace deal" yesterday—the details are all still whatever "Trump said," with no corroboration from Iran.

Parents: is YOUR child staying up late at night arguing about the costs of HS2?

RAPIDAN: “.. Expect Iran to periodically reassert control through selective enforcement, maintaining this ambiguity at least through the initial phase.”

Trump acts as if an Iranian pledge to never build nuclear weapons is somehow new. Been there, done that. Here is their pledge from the very first page of Obama’s 2015 JCPOA: “Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.”

I have a hard time believing the US will actually agree to this deal. (Trump, no doubt, will agree to anything right now to get out of his disastrous war. But Republicans and right-wing media will revolt if this is really the deal, and if anything sways Trump, it's headlines.)

It's Friday afternoon, just before markets close, so of course the US is once again on the brink of a "peace deal" with Iran that isn't actually a peace deal and will probably fall apart by the weekend — but not before the markets can rally once more!

"the dealmaker in chief."

Among all the damage caused by Trump's war, US government statements about the war and talks to end it are now about as credible as the Iranian government's. You can't believe either side.