Donald Trump stepped back from launching US airstrikes inside Iran, but the conflict is unabated and there appears to be no way out of confrontation for now.
New sanctions heading Iran’s way.
Kevin Dietsch/EPA
Recent speeches suggest there may be an appetite for closer relations, but it won’t be easy. A Saudi and an Iranian explain.
Navy boats from the United Arab Emirates next to the Al Marzoqah of Saudi Arabia, one of several international oil tankers attacked in the Gulf in May 2019. The Saudi government has blamed Iran for acts of sabotage.
Reuters/Satish Kumar
A showdown with Iran over some oil tanker attacks in the Persian Gulf could push the US into its next Mideast war, writes a scholar of military aggression.
The USS Arlington – which is being sent to the Gulf as part of a naval strike group.
David Hecker/EPA
Both Iran and the US say they are not seeking a war, but it could happen by default.
On the same day, May 14, 2018, Palestinians protest near the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip (left) while dignitaries applaud the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem (right).
AP/ADEL HANA, LEFT, AND SEBASTIAN SCHEINER
About the only thing the Trump administration’s peace plan has going for it is the fact that no one expects it to work. And the plan’s likely failure could trigger more Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Benjamin Netanyahu won his fifth term as the Israel’s prime minister.
EPA/Jim Hollander
A major swing to the right and the abstention of a key demographic have bolstered the Israeli leader’s position.
In Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province, on February 26, 2019: a man holds the body of his daughter, killed in a bombardment by pro-Assad forces.
Anas Al-Dyab/AFP
Giving up means giving the Assad regime and Russia both a strategic and intellectual victory with incalculable consequences for global security.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, left, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, right, in the Israeli-held Golan Heights on March 11, 2019.
Ronen Zvulun/Pool via AP
The US president’s tweet declaring the US would recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian territory was unexpected and will do nothing for regional stability.
Standard of Ur mosaic, 26th century BC.
Wikimedia Commons
Enheduanna’s name means ‘Ornament of Heaven’. She wrote hymns and myths more than 4000 years ago, studied the stars and yet is almost entirely unknown in the present day.
Russia, Turkey, Iran and Israel will keep vying for power in Syria long after the US is gone.
from shutterstock.com
Morrison announced a compromise position that recognises West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but does not move Australia’s embassy there until a peace settlement determines Jerusalem’s final status.
Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih.
AP Photo/Ronald Zak
Ministers scrapping publicly over whether our embassy should be relocated is adding to the perception of government disunity and fanning the friction the issue has already caused with our neighbours.
The free trade agreement with Indonesia, which Australia originally.
hoped would be signed this week when Morrison was in Singapore for the start of the summit season, has become hostage to the embassy
decision.
Mick Tskias/AAP
The fundamental point is that those were desperate days for the Coalition and so are these. “McMahon was in survival mode,” says author Patrick Mullins. The same could be said of Morrison.
Senior Associate Fellow on the Middle East at RUSI; Associate Professor in Politics & International Relations; Deputy Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL