Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Majid Rafizadeh • September 6, 2025 at 5:00 am
Investigations revealed that the IRGC had employed intermediaries in Australia, including organized crime networks, to carry out these attacks, demonstrating the regime's continuing reliance on proxies to pursue its hostile objectives abroad. From the 1980s onward. Iran has been implicated in multiple deadly attacks against American troops in Lebanon, killing hundreds of U.S. diplomats and military personnel, all carried out by Hezbollah under Tehran's guidance. The Iranian regime also had a role in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. In 2018, a U.S. federal court ruling determined that Iran provided material support to Al-Qaeda in the period leading up to and following the 9/11 attacks, resulting in a multibillion-dollar judgment for the families of the victims. [I]t is difficult to understand why some international actors have advocated for engagement, negotiation or sanctions relief with Iran. Diplomatic overtures and economic incentives have not only failed to curb the regime's aggressive behavior; they have emboldened it. Closing Iranian embassies and consulates, expelling diplomats, and halting trade with Iran -- and especially secondary sanctions: banning trade with countries that trade with Iran -- would disrupt its operations, curb its influence, and send a message that the regime's pattern of aggression and antisemitism will not be tolerated.
Closing Iranian embassies and consulates, expelling diplomats, and halting trade with Iran -- and especially secondary sanctions: banning trade with countries that trade with Iran -- would disrupt its operations, curb its influence, and send a message that the regime's pattern of aggression and antisemitism will not be tolerated. Pictured: Iran's Ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi (L) walks toward his car at the Islamic Republic of Iran's Embassy in Canberra on August 27, 2025, a day after Australia ordered him expelled from the country. (Photo by Hilary Wardhaugh/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran's deep involvement in antisemitic attacks in Australia should serve as a kick-in-the-head wake-up call to the European Union and the wider international community. Australia made the unprecedented decision to expel the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, the first such diplomatic action in the country since World War II.
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by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury • September 5, 2025 at 5:00 am
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law. Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world. In the United States, Jamaat-e-Islami maintains deep ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the Observer Research Foundation, these organizations have succeeded in securing funding from U.S. federal agencies — particularly USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In 2020, Sam Westrop documented in the Middle East Quarterly that millions of federal taxpayer dollars have flowed to US-based Islamist groups with alleged terror connections — a trend that continued even during the first Trump administration: "A variety of other dangerous Islamist groups continue to enjoy government approval and partnership. USAID openly urges Americans to donate to terror-linked charities such as LIFE for Relief and Development..." Under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus, radical Islamist groups have grown emboldened, openly pushing for the transformation of the country into a theocratic state. This vacuum has allowed ISIS and Al-Qaeda to expand their regional presence. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seeing a "golden opportunity", has intensified its subversive operations in both Bangladesh and other neighboring countries. This development is not just a domestic issue — it is a warning to the world about the resurgence of militant Islamism in South Asia.
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law. Pictured: Thousands of members of the Bangladeshi Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir hold a "March For Khilafah" through the streets of Dhaka, demanding that the country's secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate, on March 7, 2025. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images)
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law. Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world. On July 25, 2025, local media reported that Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, publicly declared that Hindus and other non-Muslims must pay the jizya tax. According to one report from July 31:
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The EU 'Elites', Part III
The EU Needs Its Own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
by Robert Williams • September 4, 2025 at 5:00 am
The report ("The EU's Propaganda Machine: How the EU funds NGOs to promote itself") shows how the European Commission – the unelected executive branch of the European Union – is using taxpayer money "to promote its political agenda under the guise of advancing 'EU values'." In short, the EU is funding NGOs and think-tanks to spread its own propaganda. "Out of over 4,400 NGOs funded between 2014 and 2023, just 30 organisations received more than €3.3 billion—over 40% of the total. The EU's much-vaunted pluralism looks more like a cartel." — MCC Brussels, "EU Court of Auditors Exposes Systemic Opacity, Cronyism in NGO Funding," April 7, 2025. "These bureaucracies are funding NGOs not, you know, to feed hungry people or to advance a broadly agreed upon social agenda. It's to protect their own interests and to feather their own nests." — Peter Schweizer, author and investigative journalist, February 2025. "It's more like an extortion model, it's more like the mafia, when the mafia shows up at a corner grocery store in urban America and says 'hey you might want to take out insurance with us, because if you don't, your shop might actually burn down.' Well, in this scenario, that's the government, and government officials in the United States and also in Europe threaten and pressure corporations, you know, people who do not share their political views..." — Peter Schweizer, February 2025. That is just the NGOs. The European Commission also funds an unknown number of other projects. Perhaps the most notable among them, given the enormous amounts of money diverted to it, is the funding of the terrorist entities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The EU routinely boasts of being the largest provider of foreign aid to the Palestinians, although it is highly unclear how this, in any way, is in the interest of Europe's taxpayers. In December 2023, just months after the October 7 massacre by Hamas of 1,200 innocent people in Israel, the EU boasted: "The European Union is the biggest provider of external assistance to the Palestinians which amounts to indicatively almost €1.2 billion for 2021-2024 under the European Joint Strategy..." Then there are all the cases of foreign influence operations in the EU involving Qatar, and China's Huawei, as well as the corruption scandal involving Pfizer. There is the extreme lack of transparency within the European Union and its severely undemocratic decision-making processes, lack of transparency and lack of a mechanism for walking away. In April, a group of Members of European Parliament, known as Patriots for Europe, inspired by the US, actually proposed a DOGE for Europe. The initiative, however, also known as TRAC (Transparency, Responsibility, and Anti-Corruption) is facing staunch opposition from the mainstream parties in the European Parliament. Maybe they have a lot to hide?
Most Europeans are completely unaware of the madness of EU spending on useless, batty projects, including NGOs that have turned out to be a way for many of the EU's "elites" to receive nice kickbacks. (Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
The idea of a European Union Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to clean up the waste and fraud that goes on with EU taxpayer money is slowly spreading in Europe, but more than overdue. Most Europeans are completely unaware of the madness of EU spending on useless, batty projects, including NGOs that have turned out to be a way for many of the EU's "elites" to receive nice kickbacks. In February 2025, MCC Brussels, a European think-tank, published a bombshell report, "The EU's Propaganda Machine: How the EU funds NGOs to promote itself." The report shows how the European Commission – the unelected executive branch of the European Union – is using taxpayer money "to promote its political agenda under the guise of advancing 'EU values'." In short, the EU is funding NGOs and think-tanks to spread its own propaganda:
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by Uzay Bulut • September 3, 2025 at 5:00 am
According to the Department of Justice, in the early 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood, planned to establish a network of organizations in the US to spread a militant Islamist message and raise money for Hamas. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) became the chief fundraising arm for the Palestine Committee in the US, created by the MB to support Hamas. In 2008, HLF leaders were convicted of crimes, including providing material support for Hamas. "Jihad means the fighting of the unbelievers and involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam, including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols." — Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasssan al Banna, The Way of Jihad. Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups and networks are also exceedingly active in Europe and are richly funded by EU institutions. The question is not whether the US government should list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The answer to that is clear: yes, it should. A more pressing question is why these pro-jihad, Islamic supremacist organizations affiliated with the MB have been allowed to operate on the US soil for all those years.
On July 16, US Senator Ted Cruz introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, which would implement a new, modernized strategy for designating the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a terrorist group. The question is not whether the US should list the MB as a terrorist organization. The answer to that is clear: yes. A more pressing question is why these pro-jihad, Islamic supremacist organizations affiliated with the MB have been allowed to operate on the US soil for all those years. Pictured: Cruz speaks at a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 3, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
US Senator Ted Cruz, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, on July 16 introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025. This bill implements a new, modernized strategy for designating the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a terrorist group. Cruz said:
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • September 2, 2025 at 5:00 am
It was Qatar, in fact, during the entire Trump administration's supposed "mediation," that repeatedly instructed Hamas to keep attacking Israel and not to disarm. Even after joining the Arab League's request for a ceasefire, Qatari government journalists are urging Hamas to kidnap more Israeli soldiers, to "[f]ight the Jews and kill them," and that "Jihad victory in Gaza will end Zionism." After the January 2025 ceasefire came into effect, Qatar's government media called the ceasefire a "crushing historic victory" for Hamas, a "significant defeat" for Israel, and like the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, "which the Prophet Muhammad signed with his enemies in the Quraysh tribe" for ten years, but "which he violated after approximately two years," and proceeded to conquer Mecca. If 22 Arab and Muslim countries do not have the courage to speak out against Hamas, how can they be expected to play any role in ending the war in the Gaza Strip? Qatar has so far failed to pressure the terror group [Hamas] to lay down its weapons and relinquish control over the Gaza Strip. Qatar's government journalists, as noted, are still actively encouraging Hamas to continue the war. If the two countries [Egypt and Qatar] really wanted to pressure Hamas, they would at least threaten to deport the terror group's leaders and their families and seize their bank accounts. Not only has this not happened, but Hamas leaders continue to lead comfortable lives in Doha and are warmly received each time they fly to Egypt. Hamas leaders simply feel no pressure whatsoever from the Arabs to end the war in the Gaza Strip. That is most likely why Hamas leaders are determined to fight to the last Palestinian. From their safe homes and offices in Qatar and Turkey, Hamas leaders continue to glorify the Palestinian "resistance" and threaten Israel with more terrorism. The fastest way to end the war is by demanding -- with consequences for dawdling -- that the Arab countries, especially Egypt and Qatar, take a truly tough stance against Hamas. The Trump administration is probably the only party that can pressure Egypt and Qatar to force Hamas to release the hostages and lay down its weapons.
Like the rest of the Arab countries, Egypt and Qatar do not appear especially put out by Hamas's refusal to heed the call of the Arab League. Hamas leaders simply feel no pressure whatsoever from the Arabs to end the war in the Gaza Strip. That is most likely why Hamas leaders are determined to fight to the last Palestinian. Pictured: Arab heads of state at the 34th Arab League summit in Baghdad on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
In an unprecedented move, the Arab League, which represents 22 Arab countries, on July 30, called on the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas to lay down its weapons and relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas rejected the call. How did the Arab countries respond to Hamas's rejecting their request? Instead of calling out Hamas for causing death and destruction in the Gaza Strip, they condemned Israel. Earlier this year, a senior Arab League official, Hossam Zaki, was quoted as saying that it would be in the interests of the Palestinian people if Hamas ceded control of the Gaza Strip. As usual, Hamas rejected the call. Since then -- and before -- the Arab League has repeatedly denounced Israel for fighting against the terror group responsible for the October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, the worst crime against Jews since the 1940s.
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by Lawrence Kadish • September 2, 2025 at 4:00 am
Japan and America, once bitter enemies that gave no quarter, are now, 80 years later, staunch allies in the defense of democracy. Pictured: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the White House on February 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Museum of American Armor on Long Island observed the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this week, creating what is an extraordinary, and perhaps historic, milestone. Against a backdrop of World War II armor, three Shinto priests arrived from Japan, where they were joined by a local rabbi and priest to offer prayers and reflection on a war in the Pacific that took the lives of millions and was characterized by a ferocity that even now shakes one's soul. Yet the underlying message at the Armor Museum's event was the fact that two nations, once bitter enemies that gave no quarter, are now, 80 years later, staunch allies in the defense of democracy. The anniversary comes at a time when Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba did something quite extraordinary for his nation. According to Japan's daily Asahi Shimbun, he invoked the word "remorse" in remarks observing this 80th anniversary.
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by Sara Al Nuaimi • September 1, 2025 at 5:00 am
When I ask my mother why she decided to wear the niqab, she looks at me, puzzled. "Decide?" she repeats, as if I'd asked why she "decided" to speak Arabic. She manages her own stock portfolio entirely in Arabic... she notes that "wars slow things down, yet when there are wars, gold goes up." When asked what she thinks of interest, she explains that interest has multiple meanings. When someone is desperate or helpless and needs a loan with interest, that is unacceptable — it exploits the needy. But interest on her own deposits? That is her money "working" to bring more money. She does not trust foreign stocks. Even locally, she is selective about private ventures, such as new hotels. "It's never clear what they're doing exactly," she says. "They could be financing prostitution." Watching so many politicians talk about my mother's niqab, I do not see bad intentions. I see concern. People want to protect their culture. They worry that foreign customs might slowly replace their own. It is true of people in the West, as well, who might worry that people could be in their midst who wish to replace miniskirts with burqas. This response is not prejudice. What people are picking up on — sometimes without knowing how to name it — is that people wish to protect what matters to them.... Like church bells in Salzburg or kimonos in Kyoto, they belong to a place, and they deserve to be protected. In the end, my mother's story is not really about the niqab. It is about how to stay rooted in a world that keeps shifting. This means being yourself within the world as you find it, not demanding the world to change for you. That is the kind of wisdom we do not talk about enough.
When most of the world sees a woman in a niqab, a face veil that covers everything except the eyes, the assumptions are predictable — and harsh. Pictured: A woman wearing a niqab in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on October 3, 2018. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
When most of the world sees a woman in a niqab, a face veil that covers everything except the eyes, the assumptions are predictable — and harsh. Recently, in Dubai, a tourist filmed a woman in a niqab eating at a restaurant. The tourist and her friend were treating the woman as if she were entertainment for them, rather than as a person trying to enjoy her dinner. Eventually, when the video clip went viral on social media, the Dubai Police issued a statement that they were investigating the matter. Even in a Muslim-majority country, the woman could not simply be out in public without becoming a spectacle. In 2017, Australian Senator Pauline Hanson wrote about the burqa, which covers the whole body and face:
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by Guy Millière • August 31, 2025 at 6:00 am
So, Macron actually regards these views -- approving the October 7, 2023 massacre of Jews and continuing terrorism to displace Israel -- as "legitimate aspirations"? Good to know. Macron's calls for an immediate ceasefire could save Hamas from destruction -- exactly what Hamas and Qatar want. France, the UK, Canada and Australia have to see that the terrorist state they are about to recognize has no borders, no internationally recognized territory, and meets no criteria of any kind as required in the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933) for a state to be recognized. "Article 80 of the UN Charter... preserves intact all the rights granted to Jews under the Mandate for Palestine, even after the Mandate's expiry on May 14-15, 1948.... As a direct result of Article 80, the UN cannot transfer these rights over any part of Palestine... to any non-Jewish entity." -- Howard Grief, Esq., Algemeiner, September 22, 2011. France, the UK, Canada and Australia also realize that Israel cannot stop the war without the return of all the hostages. What would they do if their citizens were held hostage? Or are they already? If France, the UK, Canada and Australia are so committed to the creation of a Palestinian State, surely they will be happy to donate some of their plentiful land for it. [A]pproximately 1,000 trucks were blocked for days because the United Nations refused to distribute the aid, leaving it to rot in the sun, even after Israel offered the UN military protection. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC accused them -- not Hamas which stole most of the food -- of crimes against humanity. Hamas is an organization with straightforwardly unhidden genocidal goals:.... This continual demonization of Israel has sadly led to an increased hatred of Israel, a tiny country that, ironically, is fighting to protect the very countries defaming it. A thank you would be nice. What is at stake now is not only Israel's survival but the need for democracies to understand the central danger confronting them, and finally to start combatting it. During the Second World War, all those grateful for the hard-won freedoms of the democratic world saw that the only way out was not compromise and submission, but the full destruction of the Third Reich -- not giving it a "state."
On July 24, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he will officially recognize a "Palestinian State," and publicized a letter he sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, praising his "courageous commitments". Since the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, Abbas has enthusiastically backed anti-Israeli terrorism; supported the erasure of Israel; and has a lavish, multi-billion dollar "pay-to-slay" program that funds the murder of Jews. Pictured: Macron meets with Abbas during the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)
July 24, 2025: French President Emmanuel Macron announces that he will officially recognize a "Palestinian State." He publicizes a letter he sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and praises his "courageous commitments". In it, Macron emphasizes his desire to "fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people" and that "We must immediately implement a ceasefire, release all hostages and provide massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," Macron reportedly announced. He did not, however make recognizing a fictitious Palestinian state conditioned on any of that. "Peace is possible," he added, along with the notion that "Building a Palestinian state and ensuring its viability would 'contribute to the security of all in the Middle East."' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied that the decision "rewards terror" and would create " a launch pad to annihilate Israel ."
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by Drieu Godefridi • August 31, 2025 at 5:00 am
On March 31, 2025, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Marine Le Pen to five years of electoral "ineligibility" with immediate effect.... This sentence, described by the defendant as a "witch hunt", bars the frontrunner in the polls from standing in the 2027 French presidential election. The aim of this maneuver is clear: to remove the opposition leader from competing for the highest office in the land. These court rulings form an impenetrable wall: an elected majority can vote, but the "wise" guardians of the left ensure that nothing passes that offends egalitarianism, environmentalism or the dogma of open borders. In France, sadly, democracy, has become nothing more than an illusion: the people vote, but the bureaucracy blocks the will of the voters. The new dictatorship appears based on a single ideology and the gradual suppression of freedoms and subverting the constitutional order in favor of a supposedly superior caste, whose contours, methods and appetites are reminiscent of what our American friends call the "deep state" – self-appointed bureaucrats running your life behind the scenes, where there is no transparency, accountability or readily available means to remove them.
On March 31, 2025, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Marine Le Pen to five years of electoral "ineligibility" with immediate effect. This sentence, described by the defendant as a "witch hunt", bars the frontrunner in the polls from standing in the 2027 French presidential election. Pictured: Marine Le Pen poses prior to an interview on French TV channel TF1, in Boulogne-Billancourt, outside Paris, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by Thomas Samson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
In a cruel twist of history, France, the self-proclaimed cradle of the Enlightenment and freedom, has turned into a regime where democracy is nothing more than a mask, concealing a dictatorship that is still in its infancy but nonetheless unflinching. It is not a dictatorship of boots and uniforms; it is a hushed tyranny, judicial and institutional, crushing any hint of real change under the weight of its legal trappings. I. France, a formal dictatorship: the judicial elimination of opponents In a democracy, elections are the inviolable sanctuary of the popular will. In the France of 2025, justice, like a partisan guillotine, falls on opposition figures with surgical precision, rendering them supposedly too disqualified to compete. Examples reveal a damning pattern: searches (National Rally party), convictions (François Fillon, Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Sarkozy), smear campaigns (Éric Zemmour).
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by Amir Taheri • August 31, 2025 at 4:00 am
At the time, [US President Barack Obama's JCPOA agreement] seemed a good deal for Iran and was hailed by then President Hassan Rouhani as "a great diplomatic victory," because all it demanded was that Iran not do what it has always said it wasn't doing and would never do: build nuclear weapons. The problem isn't enriching uranium at any level; today, 18 nations do it without causing problems. The problem is who does the enriching and to what end. Why should a nation that doesn't want to make the bomb invest astronomical sums enriching piles of uranium that it doesn't need, cannot use for any peaceful purpose, and cannot sell? Its [nuclear project] budget is treated as a top priority, even compared to crucial defense needs. According to President Massoud Pezeshkian, Iran needs over $1 trillion to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure of dams, roads, railways, seaports and airports, hospitals and schools. In a speech this month, "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested as much by saying he would never curtail the project, as demanded by US President Donald Trump. "This is the greatest achievement of our people," he asserted. The pyramids that Pharaohs in Egypt and Aztecs in Mexico built were of no practical use, but generated awe in admiration of the power that erected them. The pyramids drained resources and made Egypt vulnerable to attacks from Nubians in the south and the Hittites in the north, pushing pharaohs into the fog of history. The Aztecs suffered a similar fate. Enriching uranium or not, the Islamic Republic is a danger not only to the Iranian people but to peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond. US President Donald Trump's insistence on an accord to stop enrichment would be nothing but a distraction from that core issue.
August 28 marked a new, dramatic phase in the Iranian uranium enrichment saga, when the European trio of Britain, France and Germany triggered what is known as the snap-back sanctions mechanism under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) accord that US President Barack Obama reached with Iran in 2015. Pictured: Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (C), flanked by Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy (L), France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot (2nd R) and EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (R), makes a statement following their meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister on Tehran's nuclear program, in Geneva, on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
August 28 marked a new, dramatic phase in the Iranian uranium enrichment saga, when the European trio of Britain, France and Germany triggered what is known as the snap-back sanctions mechanism under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) accord that US President Barack Obama reached with Iran in 2015. The accord was guaranteed by a group of nations known as the P5+1, that is to say, the five permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council -- China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany. Obama created the group to bypass both the UN and the US Congress, which at the time seemed unlikely to ratify any deal with Iran. But to give the informal deal a pseudo-legal cachet, he also engineered a UN Security Council resolution to suspend sanctions imposed on Iran in seven previous UNSC resolutions.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • August 30, 2025 at 5:00 am
In his latest statement, Amir Hayat-Moqaddam [member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission] openly declared that Iran is capable of striking all of Europe and even US cities such as Washington and New York with missiles launched from offshore Iranian ships. Western policymakers had been hoping for decades that engagement, dialogue and economic deals could temper Tehran's revolutionary zeal. The regime's latest statements, however, show that such hopes are illusory: Iran is not guided by pragmatic statecraft but by an uncompromising ideology that explicitly calls for global expansion of its revolution. Hayat-Moqaddam's words are not vague threats. They are a boast, a proclamation of a plan decades in the making. Such statements must be taken seriously: they reveal the true intentions of the regime: to extend its deterrent power by threatening both Europe and America, and to hold the West hostage to the fear of devastating missile strikes. Iran's investment in its ballistic missile arsenal is not defensive; it reflects a doctrine of "deterrence by punishment," the idea that Iran can intimidate adversaries by holding their cities, infrastructure, and populations at risk of destruction. In this sense, Iran's missile arsenal is not just a tool of war — it is an instrument of political leverage, designed to project power far beyond Iran's borders. [J]ust one missile tipped with a nuclear warhead hitting a European or American city would be catastrophic. Iran is estimated to still have thousands of ballistic missiles that can reach Europe when launched from Iranians soil. If launched from ships at sea, the continental United States is also within range of Iran's missiles, as Iran is now openly warning. Iran's threat is not hypothetical; it is a proven capability paired with a proven willingness to use it. Since 1979, Iran's leaders have always regarded the United States and Europe as enemies, even before the West imposed sanctions or intervened in regional conflicts. The hostility is not reactive; it is ideological. Like Nazism in the 20th century, the Iranian regime's ideology cannot be appeased with compromises. The West must abandon the false hope that diplomacy alone will alter Tehran's course. Sanctions must be maintained and expanded, not lifted in exchange for empty promises. The United States must keep a military option on the table, making clear that if Iran crosses red lines, it will face devastating consequences. Iranian diplomats who serve as spies or agents for the regime's ideological mission should be expelled, embassies shuttered, and Iran's international presence curtailed. Equally important is supporting the Iranian people, many of whom have repeatedly risked their lives in protests calling for an end to clerical rule. The collapse of the regime from within is the only real long-term solution to the threat Iran poses to the world. Iran's leadership openly declares its intent to spread its revolution and to target Europe with missiles. To ignore such declarations would be an unforgivable mistake. Unfortunately, the Iranian regime's threats are not empty rhetoric. They are a continuation of a consistent ideological vision that has driven its policies since its Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran's leadership openly states that they seek not only the destruction of Israel but also the subjugation of the West. Iran's missile arsenal and naval drills show that it is actively preparing for this confrontation; its ambitions for nuclear weapons underscore the urgency. The West must not turn a blind eye or entertain illusions of "moderation." Just as Europe once ignored Hitler's ideology at its peril, ignoring Iran's Islamist regime would be a historic mistake. The only path forward is to maintain relentless pressure, prepare militarily, support the Iranian people, and never allow this radical regime to realize its apocalyptic goals.
A senior Iranian official has openly declared that Iran is capable of striking all of Europe and even US cities, saying that Iranian ships could be moved within approximately 2,000 kilometers of the U.S. coastline, from where Washington, New York, and other American cities would be within striking range. Iran's threat is not hypothetical; it is a proven capability paired with a proven willingness to use it. During the 12-day war in June, Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, dozens of which broke through Israeli defenses and wreaked destruction on both civilian and military targets. Pictured: Rescue workers search a residential building in Beersheba, Israel that was heavily damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile on June 24, 2025. Five civilians were killed in the missile strike, which destroyed multiple buildings. (Photo by Aldema Milstein/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Recent remarks by a senior Iranian official, Amir Hayat-Moqaddam, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, once again confirmed what many in the West have feared: the Islamic Republic of Iran's grand strategy has always included targeting not only Israel and its neighbors but also Europe and the United States. In his latest statement, Hayat-Moqaddam openly declared that Iran is capable of striking all of Europe and even US cities such as Washington and New York with missiles launched from offshore Iranian ships.
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by Pesach Wolicki • August 29, 2025 at 5:00 am
Behind this narrative lies a calculated strategy: the weaponization of humanitarian suffering, orchestrated by Hamas — the entity that controls Gaza and its distribution of aid — and amplified by willing accomplices in the United Nations system and global media. The goal is not to report the truth but to smear Israel, rally international condemnation, and shield Hamas from accountability. In May 2024, Israeli government data directly contradicted the IPC's claims. In June and July 2024, media reports continued to cite a "high risk of famine," but none could point to actual data proving that famine had occurred. The famine never arrived, but the headlines kept coming. [I]n late June 2024, the IPC issued a report titled, "Famine Review Committee: Gaza Strip, June 2024 – IPC's third review report." It showed that the previous famine predictions were not plausible, contradicted all available data, and were based on incorrect assumptions.... [T]he findings of the "Famine Review Committee" were barely covered by the media outside of Israel. Regardless of the consistent failure of the dire warnings of famine to come to fruition, the repetition of statements and headlines throughout 2024 set the narrative in the minds of the world: Famine in Gaza. Tellingly, the warnings were always couched in language that allowed for plausible deniability. There was always a "risk" of an "imminent" or "looming" famine -- a famine that just never arrived. According to the World Food Programme, sustaining Gaza's estimated population of 2.1 million people requires approximately 62,000 metric tons of food per month. From March through December 2024, 788,216 tons of food aid entered Gaza — an average of 78,821 tons per month, more than 25% above the WFP's stated threshold. Famously, on May 20, 2025, Tom Fletcher, head of the UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told BBC Radio that "there are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them." While this claim was walked back by the UN, the narrative damage was done. The food was entering Gaza — far above the minimum necessary — so why was there any hunger at all? The answer is straightforward: Hamas has weaponized food. The terrorist group that controls Gaza has systematically blocked, diverted, looted, hoarded, and resold humanitarian aid at exorbitant prices. Operating four sites in the southern and central Gaza Strip, the GHF is an American project operating in close coordination with Israeli authorities. The purpose of the GHF is to deliver food aid directly to individual Gazan families while bypassing Hamas-controlled distribution networks. The GHF operates with a high level of logistical transparency, tracking aid deliveries with barcodes and GPS to ensure that food reaches its intended recipients. "[S]o who's doing the killing? That's a good question. You honestly think it's some U.S. contractors, or it's the IDF just gunning people down. Or is it Hamas... because it's business to them. If they can keep people from getting the free food, then they can sell the food that was supposed to be given to them for free. That's what no one seems to be wanting to talk about. Why not?" — US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, August 8, 2025. The daily claims of deaths at from IDF fire distribution sites always come from staff at Hamas-controlled hospitals or unverified eyewitness testimonies. There has yet to be even a single video clip of such an incident occurring, even as virtually every move anyone makes in Gaza is recorded on a smartphone and shared widely. Macron's pledge to recognize a Palestinian state – quickly joined by the UK, Canada and Australia – and the most recent surge in aid into Hamas-controlled areas through airdrops and increases in trucks entering Gaza, together with the aggressive demonization of Israel in the media and diplomatic arena, have led Hamas to believe that time is on their side. Hamas knows that it has no chance of beating the Israel militarily, but its propaganda war has been a smashing success. If all it takes is keeping Gaza's civilians hungry and desperate, that is a price Hamas is more than happy to pay.
Since the invasion of Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the international media, humanitarian organizations, and UN-affiliated agencies have relentlessly pushed one of the most damaging blood libels in history: that Israel is deliberately starving the people of the Gaza Strip. In headline after headline, and through "official" UN reports and viral images, the world has been told that Gaza teeters on the edge of famine — or that famine has already taken hold. However, these warnings, loudly declared, have repeatedly failed to materialize. Pictured: Gazans cheer after receiving food parcels from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution point on June 26, 2025, in central Gaza. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Since the invasion of Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the international media, humanitarian organizations, and UN-affiliated agencies have relentlessly pushed one of the most damaging blood libels in history: that Israel is deliberately starving the people of the Gaza Strip. In headline after headline, and through "official" UN reports and viral images, the world has been told that Gaza teeters on the edge of famine — or that famine has already taken hold. However, these warnings, loudly declared, have repeatedly failed to materialize. Behind this narrative lies a calculated strategy: the weaponization of humanitarian suffering, orchestrated by Hamas — the entity that controls Gaza and its distribution of aid — and amplified by willing accomplices in the United Nations system and global media. The goal is not to report the truth but to smear Israel, rally international condemnation, and shield Hamas from accountability.
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by Lawrence Kadish • August 29, 2025 at 4:00 am
It is little noticed but deeply disturbing that China currently can withhold rare earth minerals that are critical to America's national security. Beijing has engaged in a two-year export-restriction campaign that has our defense officials scurrying for alternative supplies of crucial elements needed for weapons. Pictured: A front loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals to be loaded for export at a port in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province, on September 5, 2010. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
During World War II, the Japanese invasion of the Southeast Asia cut off America's access to natural rubber, a vital resource. Our answer? Invent synthetic rubber and keep our armor rolling to victory. The Germans built massive Tiger tanks, but by the end of the war many of them were on the side of the road, out of fuel. Why? We destroyed Germany's oil refineries, and the transportation infrastructure required to get the fuel needed by those war machines. What does this history lesson mean to us today, in an era of artificial intelligence, satellite phones and nuclear brinksmanship? Plenty.
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by Bassam Tawil • August 28, 2025 at 5:00 am
As the US and other Western countries continue to rely on Qatar to broker a ceasefire-hostage deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip, senior Qatari journalists affiliated with the Qatar's state-run media continue to praise the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, and are even calling for Hamas to kidnap more Israelis. Al-Jazeera has been broadcasting similar videos from Hamas since the beginning of the war. While the Qatari government claims to the Trump Administration that it is working to release the 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip, al-Harmi, closely associated with Qatar's leadership, is calling for kidnapping more Israelis – whom, by the way, he described as "rats." "If success is not achieved this time in capturing Zionist soldiers at the hands of the heroes of Hamas Brigades, then the second, third, and fourth attempts will succeed, God willing, by adding new rats to the tally held by the heroes of the [Hamas] Brigades." — Jaber al-Harmi, editor-in-chief of the Qatari government mouthpiece newspaper Al Sharq, X, August 26, 2025. "I swear, the Zionist entity will inevitably disappear.... Its end is near, very near." — Jaber al-Harmi, quoting a video by Al-Jazeera, X August 26, 2025. "Al-Harmi's views on Israel and the Jews are aligned with the extremist ideology of Hamas and reflect his unreserved support for this movement and for its terror against Israelis – support which is also expressed by the Qatari state."— Middle East Media Research Institute, April 15, 2025. If Qatar really wanted to end the war in the Gaza Strip, its representatives and propagandists would not be calling on Hamas to kidnap more Israelis. If Qatar really wanted to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, it could do so by threatening to arrest or deport the Hamas leaders living in Doha or by seizing their financial assets. It is time for world leaders to listen to what the Qataris are saying in Arabic, not to what they hear from them in closed-door meetings in English.
As the US and other Western countries continue to rely on Qatar to broker a ceasefire-hostage deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip, senior Qatari journalists affiliated with the Qatar's state-run media continue to praise the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, and are even calling for Hamas to kidnap more Israelis. Pictured: The headquarters of the government-owned Al Jazeera television network in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)
As the US and other Western countries continue to rely on Qatar to broker a ceasefire-hostage deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip, senior Qatari journalists affiliated with the Qatar's state-run media continue to praise the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, and are even calling for Hamas to kidnap more Israelis. Qatar, which has long been supporting Hamas and currently hosts its leaders in Doha, already uses its Al-Jazeera television empire as a mouthpiece for Hamas and other Islamist terror groups. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Al-Jazeera -- in Arabic -- has been providing a platform to Hamas leaders to praise the massacre of Israelis. On October 7, 2023, several Hamas leaders based in Qatar appeared in a video watching the coverage of the massacre. The Hamas leaders performed the "Prostration of Gratitude."
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by Con Coughlin • August 27, 2025 at 5:00 am
China will be among a collection of hostile states, which also includes Iran and North Korea, that will be taking a close interest in the outcome of the diplomatic initiative Trump began... Trump himself has given a clear indication that... the White House is prepared to grant Moscow control over some of Ukraine's most strategic and resource-rich regions. Such a deal would not only represent a complete betrayal of the Ukrainian people, who have fought heroically to defend their country from Russian aggression. It would completely undermine the credibility of the Western alliance to defend its interests in the face of unprovoked acts of aggression in Europe. By far the most likely consequence of Trump agreeing to any sell-out over Ukraine would be to encourage China's Communist rulers to launch their long-anticipated plan to invade the democratic territory of Taiwan, a move that runs the risk of provoking a major conflict in the Indo-Pacific. If Trump really wants to end the war in Ukraine and achieve lasting peace, then he should consider reviving his threat to impose punitive sanctions against countries that continue trading with Russia, as well as providing Ukraine immediately with offensive weapons, rather than just defensive ones. Every day of delay is simply being used by Putin to kill more Ukrainian civilians and gain more territory. Such a move would not only end Putin's ability to fund his "special military operation" in Ukraine. It would send a clear signal to other autocratic regimes like China, as well as terrorist groups, that the Trump administration will confront acts of aggression, and never reward them.
The most vital fact that US President Donald J. Trump needs to take on board is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no earthly chance of winning his war in Ukraine -- unless, that is, Trump gifts the Russian despot a victory. Pictured: Trump and Putin leave at the conclusion of a press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The most vital fact that US President Donald J. Trump needs to take on board is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no earthly chance of winning his war in Ukraine -- unless, that is, Trump gifts the Russian despot a victory. China will be among a collection of hostile states, which also includes Iran and North Korea, that will be taking a close interest in the outcome of the diplomatic initiative Trump began with Putin following their face-to-face meeting in Alaska earlier this month, to end the Ukraine conflict. Terrorist groups, ranging from Hamas in Gaza, to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to the remnants of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, will similarly be keeping a watchful eye on the type of deal that is forthcoming.
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