By Professor Mahmood Monshipouri

Upending Trump’s tumultuous legacy

Trump’s legacy and his failed policies, including failure to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, were on ballot in the recent U.S. presidential election.

Ghalibaf rejects as weak any settlement with Washington

TEHRAN — Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has strongly rejected any settlement with the United Sates as a weak move hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said a big deal between the two countries is possible.

By Mahmood Monshipouri

The implications of declining U.S. leadership

The Trump administration’s ongoing policy of withdrawal from international institutions—including the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the 2016 Paris Climate Change Accord, the Open Skies Treaty, and now the World Health Organization (WHO) in the middle of the greatest global health crisis—demonstrates the declining U.S. leadership ever since the post-World War II order was created.  This latest move is made at a time when the world relies heavily on the WHO’s leadership to steer the COVID-19 pandemic response.  

By Mahmood Monshipouri

A real European army: A naive or prudent idea?

A new strategic debate has engulfed not only the European continent but also other great powers across the globe.  The idea of an EU collective defense, now dubbed as “an integrated EU military” is not new—as it has in the past been briefly mentioned by Silvio Berlusconi when he was the Italian prime minister, but more recently, by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

By Mahmood Monshipouri

U.S. withdrawal from nuclear deal: Unsettling implications

The U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Iran and the leading world powers, which has lifted sanctions in exchange for verifiable limits on Iran’s nuclear program, has created a whole host of problems, not just for Iran but for the European Union (EU) member states.

By Mahmood Monshipouri

Military Strikes against Syria

The U.S. surgical attacks—coordinated with France and Britain—against chemical facilities in Syria on Saturday April 13, 2018, in response to the alleged chemical weapons attacks in rebel-held Douma, fell far-short of achieving a broader goal based on a coherent strategy to deal with the Syrian civil war.

By Mahmood Monshipouri

Tillerson’s Exit and future of Iran Nuclear Deal

SAN FRANCISCO - Could the departure of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from the U.S. Department of State deliver a coup de grace to the Iran nuclear deal? One potential consequence of Tillerson’s ouster is that President Trump would likely pave the way for abandoning the Iran nuclear deal—otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

By Mahmood Monshipouri

U.S.-Qatar strategic dialogue: What's the target exactly?

CALIFORNIA - The United States and Qatar have had longstanding economic and political ties since the 1970s.  Rarely, if ever, has any domestic, regional, or international development fundamentally changed or even undermined this valued and cooperative relationship.