Why Did Hamas Conduct a Terrorist Attack on Israel and Why Now?
OPINION — On October 7th, the day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Hamas launched its deadliest terrorist, military, and hostage-taking attack […] More
Posts Tagged ‘Iran’
Hezbollah is Operating in Latin America. What does that mean for the U.S.?
SUBSCRIBER+REPORTING — The United States this month, announced a fresh slate of sanctions on a family nexus of seven Hezbollah operatives and bankrollers spanning Lebanon to Latin […] More
Lessons Learned from Listening to Iran
OPINION — “Today I want to talk about Iran-U.S. mutual threat perceptions and deterrence policies, its historical perspective, but more from an Iranian perspective. I’m […] More
Exclusive Interview: Iran and the Ransom Conundrum
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – Hostage negotiations are one of the most difficult political issues for a U.S. administration to deal with, particularly in light of a […] More
What Iran is Really After: A Subscriber+Exclusive Interview
EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER+INTERVIEW — Iranian forces recently attempted to seize two oil tankers in separate incidents within a few hours of each other in the Gulf […] More
U.S.-Iran Stand-Off Hints of Old “Tanker War”
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – Less than a month ago, with global attention fixed on the Ukrainian offensive, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis (ret.) sought to open […] More
Can Riyadh Leverage Failed Negotiations?
OPINION — Two months ago, the Saudis took unprecedented public steps to show the Houthis (and the world) they were serious about ending their involvement in the […] More
The Middle East is Rebalancing: Where Do America and China Fit In?
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Syria this week marks the first visit by Iranian leader since the beginning of Syria’s war […] More
Judging Iran and Making it Personal
BOOK REVIEW: Judging Iran – A Memoir of the Hague, the White House, and Life on the Front Line of International Justice By Hon. Charles […] More
As China Looks to Allies, Taiwan Does the Same
ANALYSIS/INTERVIEW — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is U.S.-bound this week, with scheduled stopovers in New York and Los Angeles. The visit is an unofficial one, […] More
Warning Signs of a More Dangerous Global Conflict
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT — If President Joe Biden’s recent remarks in Poland and President Vladimir Putin’s in Moscow just a day later are any […] More
A Coming Year of Change in the Middle East
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Change is a constant in the Middle East as the past several months have demonstrated with focused attention on protests in Iran, […] More
What it Will Take to Bring Change to Iran
Warner served as Ambassador to Iran from 1993 to 1997, headed Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Office of National Intelligence from 2009 to 2020, […] More
Tehran’s Protest Problem may run deeper than it thinks
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Students at dozens of universities across Iran faced tear gas and gunfire over the weekend as they continue to defy officials in […] More
Iran’s Protesters Deserve Our Support
OPINION — The death of Masha Amini, the 22-year-old lawyer who died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police, has sparked an outcry from […] More
Iranian-backed attacks on Albania highlights need for Cyber Capacity Building
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Albania, a NATO member state, cut diplomatic ties with Iran earlier this month after blaming Tehran for a cyberattack against Albanian government […] More
How Iran Makes Israel Protector of the Palestinian People
OPINION — Iran openly proclaims its goal of eliminating Israel. Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander of the Iranian Army, stated that Iranian forces are working […] More
The Impact of JCPOA
As the world waits to see whether a new nuclear deal will be agreed to with Iran, Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly spoke […] More
Iran: Deal or No Deal?
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — The EU may be losing confidence in the prospect of a new nuclear agreement with Iran. The Iran nuclear deal, known as […] More
Deal or No Deal on Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Bottom Line: After a several-day hiatus brought about by a now-withdrawn Russian demand concerning relief from newly imposed Western sanctions, JCPOA talks appear ready to […] More
JCPOA: If We Get to Agreement, what will it Mean?
After recent hurdles in the nearly year-long talks aimed at re-instituting the nuclear agreement with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), […] More
Ukraine and an Assessment of how a Bad Situation Could Get Much Worse
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE – What we are witnessing in Ukraine is a tragedy that, just a few months ago, many considered unthinkable – no, unimaginable: a […] More
How Iran is Winning, One Attack at a Time
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — This week, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement confirming that “U.S. forces at Al Dhafra Air Base, near Abu Dhabi in the United […] More
What we Know and Should Expect from Iran’s New President
Dr. Kenneth Dekleva served as a Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatrist (including 5 years at the U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russian Federation and 2 years at the U.S. […] More