It's not being highly publicized,but there were several significant developments in a regional summit of Iran, Turkey and Russia in Istanbul today when one reads between the lines.Especially as it was a high level summit, with Putin, Erdogan and Ahmadinejad in attendance, not foreign ministers. It's also worth remembering, as I reported yesterday that Syria's Basher Assad was on han...

The greatest foreign policy challenge the Obama administration faces is Iran. The problem posed by Iran is compounded by the sheer number of ways in which Iran is a problem for the US. First and foremost, there is Iran’s nuclear programme. But then there is also Iran’s support for Shiite extremists in Iraq, its role as the major backer of the rejectionists of Hamas and Hezbollah and it...

This is how a pragmatist understands US foreign policy in conjunction with the Iranian nuclear weapons crisis! Yesterday morning I wrote a short commentary on the Obama administration's lack of understanding about Iran and that country's quest to obtain nuclear weapons. The writing was in response to reports of new sanctions being placed on Iran by Washington that were ostensibly designe...

Iran is quickly advancing towards becoming a nuclear state.  In troubling developments in air power, Iran can now deploy UAVs, and Russia may have supplied Iran with new air defense systems, including their long range S-300 surface to air missiles.  If they haven’t, the system is being used as a bargaining chip by Russia.  There

The Obama administration and Congress are gearing up for a battle over sanctions against Iran, with Capitol Hill resisting White House pressure on measures the administration says could antagonise allies and complicate its foreign policy

Barack Obama's charismatic aura is obscuring an uncomfortable truth. His foreign policy is in crisis: problems with Iran and Russia are merging into a single, nasty mess. The US president must be tough enough not to be panicked into macho gestures, writes Gideon Rachman

Last week, Secretary of State Clinton was bloviating about how nicely things were working with the Russians on Iran sanctions now that the Obama Administration has pressed that reset button and ditched all that nasty Cold War fallout. Ummm no, sorry. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told her in no uncertain terms that Russia was definitely not signing on to any sanctions against Iran at this...

According to RIA, reporting from Buenos Aires, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus has confirmed that his country would be happy to host an interceptor missile base, if talks between Poland and the United States continue to stall. Hmm. Russia is not going to like this and anything Russia does not like Germany and France absolutely hate. In any case, what happened to the EU's common foreign policy?

Obama signs new sanctions against Iran into law from Hawaii while leaving himself wiggle room to lift same sanctions if he so chooses! Once again Iran must be quaking in its boots or in whatever footwear is actually worn there! That country is currently holding war games lasting 10 days in the Strait of Hormuz having warned the world that any new sanctions would be met with them closing this criti...

The Obama administration has completed its foreign policy team for the interlocking conflicts of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan by appointing another high-profile former envoy as a special adviser on Iran.