Articles by: "Mohammed Ayoob"
Mission impossible: getting Iran out of Syria

As the Syrian civil war reaches its denouement with the imminent fall of the Idlib enclave—the last stronghold of forces fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime—Iran’s presence in Syria has reached the top of the American agenda …

Between the US and Iran: the Indian dilemma

While US President Donald Trump has been busy bending over backwards to placate the authoritarian rulers of Russia and North Korea, his visceral animosity against the Iranian regime remains undiminished. His threat to impose sanctions …

The US and Iran: back to square one

President Donald Trump announced this morning (Australian Eastern Standard Time) that the United States is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—and re-imposing the highest level of sanctions on Iran. …

Gaza points the way to Palestine’s future

Events on the Gaza–Israel border during the past few days clearly demonstrate the irrelevance of the two-state solution to the Israel–Palestine conflict. On 30 March, as many as 30,000 Palestinians gathered at several points on the …

Trump, North Korea and Iran

President Donald Trump has stunned allies and adversaries alike by accepting North Korean President Kim Jong-un’s invitation to meet with him in May to discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The speed with which he …

The United States and Southwest Asia

The dynamics of Southwest Asia are in many ways distinct from those of neighboring South Asia and the Middle East, although they’re connected to what’s happening both to the east and west of it. The …

Dangerous portents in the Middle East

Many had assumed that the situation in the Middle East would stabilise after the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Unfortunately, the region appears to have become even more volatile and a …

The United States courts India

It can’t be mere coincidence that US secretary of state Rex Tillerson’s first major foreign policy speech on 18 October was about America’s relations with India. The address, delivered on the eve of his visit …