By Sondoss Al Asaad

Sanctified semantics: Lebanon’s risky drift into the ‘Abrahamic’ politics

BEIRUT—President Joseph Aoun’s description of Lebanon as a place where “all the Children of Abraham can meet” was portrayed as a gesture of coexistence during his address to Pope Leo XIV.

By Mona Hojat Ansari

How the Iran-US mediator obsession sidelines what actually matters

The real barrier to diplomacy isn't that Tehran and Washington can't talk —it’s that Washington insists on dictating all terms

TEHRAN – Hopes for a renewed diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the U.S. have lingered ever since their last round of talks was shattered in June by Israeli and American airstrikes—an unprecedented bombing campaign targeting Iranian nuclear, civilian, and military sites that killed approximately 1,100 people and raised serious questions about Washington’s choice to bomb a country it was negotiating with.

By staff writer 

Venezuelan voices vs. America’s cannons

TEHRAN – Venezuelans took to the streets in Caracas and other cities this week to protest escalating U.S. military pressure. The demonstrations follow the continued presence of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in the Caribbean and thousands of U.S. troops in the region. The U.S. has also carried out more than 20 strikes on maritime targets in the Caribbean and Pacific since early September, killing over 80 people, actions that Caracas says go beyond anti-drug operations and threaten Venezuelan sovereignty.