Middle East

The US-Israel war on Iran, the Gaza war, ceasefire diplomacy and the region's interlocking conflicts. Coverage tracks the gap between what governments say and what they do — in Washington, Jerusalem, Tehran and the capitals that watch from a careful distance.

Spy Who Came In From the Cold — and Ran for Parliament

Jonathan Pollard served 30 years in an American federal prison for selling the United States' most classified secrets to Israel. Israel granted him citizenship, lobbied for his release and sent Netanyahu when he landed. He announced he is running for the Knesset. Nobody in Washington said a word.

By Sunny Peter

/ 8 May 2026

Spy Who Came In From the Cold — and Ran for Parliament

God Does Not Listen

Pope Leo called for peace. Trump announced a deal. Strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure continued through the night. There is a moment in every prolonged conflict when the moral vocabulary of the powerful becomes entirely decorative — when prayers are offered and bombs are dropped together.

By Sunny Peter

/ 6 May 2026

European Waters, Israeli Rules

An Israeli naval vessel intercepted a European-flagged aid ship in international waters without legal basis. It was conducted anyway — because Israel has learned that the cost of violating international law in international waters is, for now, the price of a diplomatic protest.

By Sunny Peter

/ 5 May 2026

Terminated: War That Ended Without Ending

Trump invoked the War Powers Act to declare the Iran conflict terminated. The strikes have stopped — for now. The naval blockade continues. The sanctions remain. The nuclear question is unresolved. The war has been declared over. The conditions that produced it have not changed.

By Sunny Peter

/ 4 May 2026

Terminated: War That Ended Without Ending

Annexation That Hides in Plain Sight

Israel is not annexing the West Bank in a ceremony. It is annexing it in permits, bypass roads, settlement expansion and legal reclassification. The process is deliberate, incremental and designed to be complete before anyone formally objects. The annexation hides in plain sight.

By Sunny Peter

/ 1 May 2026

Weapon That Turned Around

Iran built its oil infrastructure as an economic asset. The United States turned it into a vulnerability. With tanker traffic through Hormuz restricted and storage sites targeted, the weapon has turned around. Iran’s leverage over global energy markets has become a liability it cannot easily defend.

By Sunny Peter

/ 29 Apr 2026

Pause Without Peace: How the US-Iran Ceasefire Was Built to Fail

The US-Iran ceasefire was announced before terms were agreed, signed before the verification mechanism was designed and celebrated before either side confirmed what it had committed to. This is not how durable agreements are made. It is how pauses are managed before the next round.

By Sunny Peter

/ 28 Apr 2026

Pause Without Peace: How the US-Iran Ceasefire Was Built to Fail

Until Such Time As

The US-Iran ceasefire holds ‘until such time as’ a permanent agreement is reached. No timeline. No mechanism. No definition of what constitutes permanent. The clause renders the agreement structurally impermanent from the moment of signing. It is a war designed not to end.

By Sunny Peter

/ 23 Apr 2026

The Blockade Is the War

The US naval blockade of Iranian oil exports did not end with the ceasefire announcement. It continued under different legal framing as a mechanism of pressure. Washington called it enforcement. Tehran called it a continuation of war by other means. Tehran was closer to the truth.

By Sunny Peter

/ 20 Apr 2026

No One Left to Veto

Israel’s diplomatic isolation has reached a point unimaginable five years ago. European partners are suspending agreements. The ICJ has issued binding orders. The ICC prosecutor has sought arrest warrants. The architecture of impunity is intact — but the walls are visibly thinning.

By Sunny Peter

/ 16 Apr 2026

God, Israel and the Rest of Us

Pope Leo offered a prayer for peace. Trump announced a ceasefire extension. Israel launched strikes within the hour. The gap between the moral vocabulary being deployed and the military reality has never been wider. The world is governed by people who have learned to speak peace while waging war.

By Sunny Peter

/ 14 Apr 2026

What Tehran Already Knew

Iran arrived at the Islamabad talks knowing what the United States wanted and knowing it could not give it. The negotiations were not a search for agreement — they were a ritual of managed disagreement between parties too exhausted to fight and too far apart to settle.

By Sunny Peter

/ 13 Apr 2026