Gareth Porter
The Quincy Institute’s “New Paradigm for the Middle East” calling for a definitive end to the disastrous policy the United States has pursued in the region for nearly two decades offers the first coherent analysis of what is wrong with that policy and the first conceptual framework for a fundamentally different approach. The paper makes it clear, moreover, that the U.S. military presence continues to be a crucial part of the problem.

Hikmet Çetin
From its onset, COVID-19 has repeatedly sent us a clear message: “I am deadly. If you do not work together to defeat me, I will keep on killing you.” Unfortunately, humankind has so far not heeded this haunting message.

Reese Erlich
Some analysts speculate that the Trump Administration is seeking to provoke Iran into military retaliation. This might be the final stretch for his failed policy of ‘maximum pressure.’

While the dispute over the UN arms embargo on Iran looms large on the horizon, the European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal –France, Germany and the UK (E3) – continue to refuse to take a clear stance on the UN arms embargo, which put them in a dilemma that they want to avoid, an analyst tells the Tehran Times.

Ellie Geranmayeh
Iran’s rumoured talks with China on a partnership agreement could have significant economic benefits and provide it with valuable geopolitical bargaining chips.

Ivo Daalder
The new China-Iran partnership represents a massive failure of the administration’s Iran policy. Had Trump decided to continue working with the Europeans on strengthening the original deal, Iran would likely have rebuffed Beijing’s advances.

Ardeshir Zahedi
On numerous occasions, I have spoken and written about the history of relations between Iran and the United States of America. I was asked by the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute to elaborate on ties between the two countries before the Iranian Revolution of 1979 — to recall the mutual benefits that both countries enjoyed and envision how to start a new chapter of hope and reconciliation. It is indeed time to end the 41 years of futile hostilities.

Saeid Jafari
As the U.N. arms embargo on Iran nears its October 2020 expiration date, the United States has intensified its campaign to extend the ban. Iran has strongly condemned the U.S. move and has said that since Washington has pulled out of the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it has no right to invoke the agreement’s sanctions snapback mechanism.

Pepe Escobar
Iran after the revolution was all about social justice. It set up a very elaborate health care network, similar to Cuba’s, but with more funding. A large hospital network. When the coronavirus hit, the US was even preventing Iran to get test kits. Yet the system – not the private sector – managed. There was no full shutdown. Everything was under control. The numbers – even contested by the West – they do hold. Iran is now producing everything it needs, tests, face masks. None of the hospitals are full.

Gareth Porter
The International Atomic Energy Agency has once again lent itself to the political interests of the United States and Israel, provoking a needless conflict with Iran.