The Two Faces of Trump’s “Peace”: Gaza as Stage, Iran as Target

Donald Trump speaking at a podium during a campaign rally, symbolizing the public messaging referenced in the article.

Earlier today, Donald Trump pre­sen­ted the first mee­ting of his new­ly crea­ted “Board of Peace” in Washington. It was a careful­ly staged event desi­gned to pro­ject the image of a United States res­ha­ping glo­bal order. Trump spo­ke of respon­si­bi­li­ty coope­ra­ti­on and announ­ced more than $7 bil­li­on in huma­ni­ta­ri­an and recon­s­truc­tion aid for Gaza. Only hours later, however, […]

Bolton’s Warning Reveals the Logic Behind U.S.–Iran Diplomacy: Negotiation as a Mechanism of Strategic Constraint

Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS John C. Stennis, operating in the Arabian Sea during 5th Fleet missions.

In a recent CNN inter­view, for­mer natio­nal secu­ri­ty advi­ser John Bolton remark­ed that Donald Trump “may strike Iran,” adding that “no decis­i­on is final.” At first glan­ce, this sounds like the fami­li­ar ambi­gui­ty of American for­eign poli­cy messaging—a way to keep opti­ons open, to avo­id com­mit­ting to a sin­gle cour­se of action, and to main­tain stra­te­gic fle­xi­bi­li­ty. But Bolton’s phra­sing does […]

The Cycle of Fear: Iran’s Uranium as a Symptom—and Why Disarmament by the Great Powers Remains the Only Path to Peace

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran, photographed by IAEA/Paolo Contri, showing Iran’s civilian nuclear infrastructure.
This ent­ry is part 3 of 3 in the series The Four Lies of the World Order

Iran’s cen­tri­fu­ges spin not out of ambi­ti­on but out of fear. This fear grows from deca­des of iso­la­ti­on and sanc­tions and from the memo­ry of govern­ments that col­lap­sed when they had no pro­tec­tion. The world sees ura­ni­um. Iran sees sur­vi­val. And this dif­fe­rence in per­cep­ti­on lies at the cen­ter of the Iran nuclear pro­gram and […]