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Sanctions

While the U.S. Focuses on Iran, Russia and China See Strategic Gain

OPINION — Russia and China are certainly concerned about the desperate state of Iran’s regime, an invaluable transactional partner to both countries. [...] More

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Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

Russia’s War Economy Lifeline: Inside the Sanctions Evasion Network

DEEP DIVE — Nearly three years into the most comprehensive sanctions regime ever imposed on a significant economy, Russia’s defense industrial base [...] More

Iran’s Supreme Leader Should Listen to the People

EXPERT OPINION — The Iranian people are saying they want new leadership. And it’s not too hard to understand why so many merchants, university [...] More

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky (L) speak next to the first batch of Ukrainian made drone missiles "Peklo" (Hell) delivered to the Defence Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on December 6, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Long-Range War: How Drone & Missile Strikes Are Taking the Fight Deep Inside Russia

DEEP DIVE – By any traditional definition, the city of Ryazan doesn’t belong on a list of battlegrounds in the Ukraine war. There are no Ukrainian [...] More

Can Western Sanctions Stop Putin’s War?

Can Western Sanctions Stop Putin’s War?

DEEP DIVE – Looking at the recent headlines from Russia, this much seems clear: the West’s sanctions against the country are finally working.Oil [...] More

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) speaks during a press conference after arriving at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran on September 27, 2025

Defiance Meets Desperation as Iran Faces Fresh UN Sanctions

EXPERT INTERVIEW – The United Nations has reimposed sweeping economic and military sanctions on Iran, ten years after lifting them under the 2015 [...] More

Russia’s Billion-Dollar ‘Shadow Fleet’

DEEP DIVE – On January 10, the oil tanker Eventin was steaming westward from Russia along Germany’s Baltic coast, bucking eight-foot waves and biting [...] More

Russia’s Economy in 2025: A War Machine Running Low on Fuel

DEEP DIVE — Nearly three years into its costly war against Ukraine, Russia’s economy is faltering under the strain of sanctions, inflation, and high [...] More

How Russia’s War Machine Keeps Raking In Money

DEEP DIVE — More than two and a half years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia's economy shows surprising resilience. Despite an [...] More

Russia Sanctions 101 - Via a Top White House Advisor

OPINION — “Since the start of the [Ukraine] war, the liquid portion of the [Russian] national wealth fund has fallen by nearly half. Defense outlays [...] More

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on China: Don’t Call it ‘Decoupling’

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — Eight days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a Johns Hopkins crowd that America does “not seek to decouple our [...] More

Russia's Wounded Economy — How Bad is it?

Russia's Wounded Economy — How Bad is it?

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — The European Union has made its long-awaited decision to cap Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel and to prevent European [...] More

Biden Holds the Cards on Iran, But Will He Play Them?

Gary Grappo is a former U.S. ambassador who held senior positions including Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; [...] More