Congress performed its public duty to represent a public who overwhelmingly opposes the Iran war. In today’s podcast, @sinatoossi.bsky.social and I discuss why it took so much time, energy, and blood to deliver a setback to the Washington blob. borzou.substack.com/p/how-iran-i...

FMA joins other media and #pressfreedom groups in calling for the immediate release of BirGün journalist @ismailari.bsky.social, who has been jailed for more than two months under Turkey's "disinformation law" in connection with his investigative journalism. #JournalismIsNotaCrime

borzou.substack.com

Albania’s Edi Rama jumped into the sack with Netanyahu and Trump and tried to sell off pieces of country to the Epstein class, including Ivanka Trump and the Jared Kushner. This week Albanians poured into the streets against the country’s cozy ties with Israel.

The reason why the US suddenly turned against Oman is far more stupid than you can even imagine.

On the latest (free!!!) episode of my podcast, I discuss the depth of relations between Iran and Lebanon, and how the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hezbollah is threatening to demolish Washington’s aim to end the war. Plus, is Iran holding Hormuz hostage? You bet it is.

The same people who goaded Donald Trump into launching a war of choice against Iran that would be over in a few days or weeks are now signaling that the US president should just stay the course for another two-and-a-half years! substack.com/@borzoudarag...

Also on today’s podcast: *Iranians warning of a wider war following US airstrikes *Why Iran might got internet restored *Israel might face more international pressure *The United Arab Emirates may be facing isolation * How Turkey’s democracy is failing

On a special weekend edition of the badlands podcast: News of a possible deal between Iran and the US sent heads exploding among neocons and warmongers. Truth be told, it was a delight to be behold. borzou.substack.com/p/rumors-of-...

On today’s podcast, I discuss how time after time, Trump’s idiocy, arrogance, and naïveté allow him to be used by adversaries and supposed allies. Cuba and Iran are also examples of how people are using his incredible stupidity to their own advantage. open.substack.com/pub/borzou/p...

Last week Hamidreza Ahmadi wowed Iran watchers with a brave piece in @jacobinmag.bsky.social detailing how Iran’s hardliners, moderates, and monarchists offer nothing more than versions of same neoliberal economics that impoverished Iranians. This week he joins me in an interview from Tehran.

On the latest edition of my podcast: * An imminent return to war * An attack on the UAE’s nuclear power plant * Questions about Iran’s secret F-5 mission to destroy US bases in Kuwait * The changing nature of warfare in Iran and Ukraine

How Iran’s new supreme leader might change Iran, and how he will not be able to change Iran

Some believe that Iran’s army could someday rise up against the power of the Revolutionary Guard. That is highly unlikely, I tell @pyotrkurzin.bsky.social

With the China trip over, Trump is now more likely to resume his war against Iran

Ehsan Afrashteh was executed early morning Wednesday in Iran on charges of spying for Israel. Was he a steely operative betraying his country for money? Or was he a hapless young man duped into a spy game he was desperately seeking to escape? borzou.substack.com/p/the-story-...

On the latest edition of my podcast: * The UAE busted sleeping around with Israel * Trump’s visit to China * A deep dive into the nature of the Iranian regime with @pyotrkurzin.bsky.social * Plus, wrestling with whether Ukraine can overcome Russia’s influence in the Gulf

There is confusion and misery all over the world about the war and its impact. Israel, the US, and even Iran get some of the blame. But there are others who deserve our anger

The President of the United States probably shouldn’t be disclosing clandestine operations live on television

What will happen if we return to full-scale war in the Middle East? borzou.substack.com

The war is being defused largely by the countries of Eurasia and the Global South. UN is nowhere to be found, Europe pathetically absent, ineffective, and preoccupied—more an unprincipled supplicant to the US and Israel than a potential arbiter of peace. open.spotify.com/episode/6OqC...

Please listen to this riveting interview with Jad El Dilati of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy about the multiple dangers Lebanon is facing as Israel continues to pound the country. borzou.substack.com/p/any-wrong-...

Trump would like to meet Xi Jinping from a position of strength. A hot war raging in the Middle East or an extended blockade of the Persian Gulf will make him look weak and irresponsible. If there is any move toward escalatory war, it will take place after the Beijing visit.

Who has more stamina? Iran or the US?

A report last week by RSF said press freedoms worldwide have fallen into a fresh nadir. On NewsXWorld I discussed the multiple pressures on journalists around the world. Please watch and consider subscribing to my newsletter/podcast at borzou.substack.com

You can count how many missiles or how much oil storage capacity Iran has and how many interceptors and Tomahawak missiles the US has and conclude the war between the countries can only last a few more months. But history shows us that wars can drastically reshape nations

Israel’s actions risk igniting sectarian civil war in Lebanon, Jad al-Dilati, a researcher at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, told badlands. He described how Israel's messaging and war tactics exacerbate lingering sectarian tensions between the country’s main confessional groups.

Trump may seek an exit, but Iran won’t give him anything that looks like a victory. Plus, the diplomatic machinations aimed at ending the conflict, the death penalty in Iran, and how the conflict has given Western democracy a bad name. All on the latest (free!) edition of the badlands podcast.

The US attempt to pressure Iran into a quick deal by halting traffic to its Persian Gulf ports may ultimately fail, experts said, because the country systematically stockpiles spare parts, industrial components, imported necessities, food and fuel. open.substack.com/pub/borzou/p...

Always a pleasure to join @f24debate.france24.com. Grateful to Francois and the F24 team for tonight’s insightful discussion with two seasoned diplomats and @borzou.bsky.social, whose work I’ve been reading for years.

On tonight’s FRANCE 24, I joined host François Picard, geopolitical analuyst Paymon Azmoudeh, former French ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli, and former Pakistani ambassador to the US Aizaz Ahmad Chaudry for a talk about whether diplomacy can avert the path to war and escalation.

The war against Iran is causing economic and political aftershocks across the Arab world. As the blockade continues and the threat of renewed war persists, the fallout will worsen, says Sahar Mechmech of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in an interview with badlands.

On last night's France 24, I joined a distinguished panel of experts thats included speakers in Qatar and Oman. We discussed the future of the Gulf states and their strategies for survival, including my recent piece about how the UAE is causing immense troubles behind the scenes.

"The problem is that the US is once again getting bad advice from the usual suspects. Such economic pressure is unlikely to work. It may result in reciprocal economic measures and escalation by Iran that will further damage the world economy and potentially lead back to armed escalation."

Within secret caverns carved out inside formidable mountains and out of sight of spy planes and satellites, Iran is likely turning out new missiles and drones ahead of what it anticipates to be the next round of fighting against the US and Israel.

Great interview today with Hossein Rassam about the future of Iran now that the war seems to have wound down. borzou.substack.com

Nader Itayim, Mideast Gulf editor at energy and commodities focused Argus Media, said many energy analysts long doubted Iran would pull off such a move, as it regularly warned. “I was part of that group that believed this was not a thing that could happen—at least not in the way that it did.”

The UAE’s role in the chaos and misery of the Middle East is largely underappreciated and underreported. The glittering towers and glamorous fun-filled social media images of Dubai and Abu Dhabi obscure a dark, grim, and bloody reality.

Bomb Iran? Hormuz closed. Assassinate a regime figure? Hormuz closed. Sanctions the Revolutionary Guard? Sorry, Hormuz is closed. Tweet something obnoxious? Closed today. borzou.substack.com/p/lets-face-...

🔥 HASAN: “There’s a battle brewing — against not only the corrupt, fascist forces of the Republican Party… but also against do-nothing Dems that fundraise from corporate donors and put YOUR interests 2nd… Remember: every dollar spent on a bomb is stolen from YOU.”

“What I clearly see are people, who until now had no sympathy for the regime, siding with the Islamic republic – and thanking the IRGC for being the servant of territorial integrity,” said aninternational official living in Tehran.