Iran

The laws of war were designed to protect civilians amid armed conflicts. Are they still fit for purpose?

Recent polls show Democrats and Independents oppose US policy toward the conflict, while Republicans back the Trump administration's approach.

Thinking about Pakistan as a South Asian power misses the fact that it has regional connections to the Middle East—and global power connections it can leverage.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s deployment of religious rhetoric in the Iran war has come under increased scrutiny. What happens when the line between political conflict and religious warfare blurs?

"I think all parties would like to see some regular traffic through the strait," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri says. "The problem is that even if we get there, Iran is still going to have this . . . this incredible tool that it can play."

"Bushehr—the nuclear power plant—is closer to Doha and Dubai than it is to Tehran," says Council Lester Crown Senior Nonresident Fellow Rachel Bronson. "Our allies would be at risk . . . should there be a leak."

"While everyone welcomes a cessation of hostilities, Trump’s half-baked approach to peacemaking may well be a recipe for more war in the Middle East," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Suzanne Nossel writes in a new piece for Foreign Policy.

"We are watching another unwelcome phenomenon return to the global stage: the world war," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast argues in the New York Times.