This week we examine the potential impact of new protests on US-Iran negotiations, fallout from the US Supreme Court striking down President Trump’s landmark tariff policy, new rare earth magnet facilities in India and the United States, and the potential for faster-than-expected rate hikes in Japan.

The risk of a new round of Israeli strikes against Iran is shaped less by a discrete ‘decision’ than by an unstable equilibrium left unresolved by diplomacy, deterrence signaling, and regional de-escalation.

A month of accelerating developments, including missile tests, executions, high-level signaling, and military warnings, illustrate a dangerous reality: both Israel and Iran believe they are prepared, and both are looking to deter the other through strength rather than compromise.

How Iran navigates the new normal of Middle East geopolitics will shape not only its own regime survival but also the stability of an already volatile region.

What makes Iran so important to global geopolitics? And how would a regime change impact great power rivalries involving Russia, China, and the West?

The destruction of Iran’s buried uranium enrichment facility at Fordow is central to Israel’s war plans. But success won’t come easy, nor will it last very long.

The nuclear issue is a visible and urgent pretext, but the real structural goal is to weaken and ultimately dismantle the Iranian regime through a comprehensive strategy of attrition.

Iran appears to be dialing back proxy activity in Yemen and Iraq amid bilateral nuclear talks, but this isn’t necessarily a paradigm shift in the making.

Despite initial descriptions of the talks as “constructive” the prospects for a sustainable agreement remain bleak.

Though the ‘maximum pressure’ of the first Trump administration was unsuccessful in deterring Iran, it’s about to make a comeback – and this time in a much more volatile Middle East.

With Israeli strikes now landing inside Iran, Tehran faces a dilemma in managing a conflict that has historically been fought via indirect means.

The post-JCPOA Iran nuclear program is edging toward the ‘breakout’ point, leading to some difficult choices for the next US administration.

Domestic issues are likely behind a recent strike on Pakistan, but the swift and in-kind reaction undoubtedly caught Tehran by surprise.

New nationwide protests are heaping pressure on the Rouhani regime; but all routes to a political solution remain blocked off.

Maximum pressure is working – just not in the way that US officials had hoped it would.

The usually opaque factional infighting of Iranian politics has spilled out into the open, highlighting a Rouhani administration that’s teetering on the brink.

Less than a year out from President Trump’s May 2018 announcement that the United States is withdrawing from the JCPOA, Iran’s oil industry is struggling more than many anticipated.

Iran’s military strategy calls for asymmetric warfare against a much more powerful foe in the United States, with a focus on increasing the military and economic costs of any potential conflict.

Ebola spreading in DRC, Bank of Japan mulling an end to Abenomics, and Iran finds itself under US sanctions once again.

Iran sanctions are disruptive for both energy markets and US strategy toward the Middle East.