By Elijah J. Magnier – Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington expecting to revive the image that has sustained much of his political career: that no Israeli leader understands the United States better than he does, and that no American president, Republican or Democrat, can resist his pressure. Instead, he received less than ninety minutes behind […]

By Elijah J. Magnier Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can already present himself as a winner in the war against Iran, although he has not achieved the collapse of the Iranian political system. His success lies elsewhere. He persuaded President Donald Trump that a short military campaign could break Tehran, accelerate internal disintegration and produce […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – President Donald Trump is caught in a strategic trap of his own making. Bombing Iran every night, or expanding the campaign to additional targets, has neither persuaded Tehran to concede nor deterred it from enforcing its own rules governing navigation and security in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, every threat […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The United States House of Representatives has passed the $1.1 trillion National Defense Authorization Act by 216 votes to 212, advancing legislation that could transform Israel’s military future. The most consequential provisions do more than facilitate weapons deliveries. They seek to institutionalise technological, industrial and logistical cooperation between Israel and […]

By Elijah J. Magnier There is a growing possibility that President Donald Trump will attempt to end the war against Iran with a highly visible attack on the country’s remaining nuclear related sites. The objective would not necessarily be to eliminate Iran’s nuclear knowledge or future capacity, an outcome air power cannot guarantee, but to […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The United States is no longer fighting Iran merely to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It is fighting to prevent Tehran from demonstrating that American dominance in the Middle East has been fundamentally weakened. Ships, oil exports and navigation fees remain the immediate instruments of confrontation, but the deeper subject […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The most significant consequence of the renewed war between the United States and Iran may ultimately prove to be political rather than military. In Iran, Israel and the United States, influential factions believe continued warfare can deliver strategic gains. The essential difference is that Iran’s most uncompromising forces do not […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the United States and Iran now appears effectively frozen, leaving wide scope for further military escalation. The confrontation has evolved into something less than a declared war but far beyond a limited exchange of fire. Washington appears to be combining sustained military pressure with […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The war between the United States and Iran has returned not through a formal declaration, but through the language of ships, airstrikes, congressional notifications and the contested sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz. Every night, American aircraft strike targets inside Iran. Every following round, Iran answers across the Gulf, targeting […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – The dispute over Iran’s proposed service fee in the Strait of Hormuz is being presented as a provocation, a power grab or a disguised toll on international shipping. That reading is too narrow. The fee is not the real issue. It is the test. The real issue is whether the […]

By Elijah J. Magnier – More than 1,000 days after the 7 October 2023 attack and the beginning of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the conflict has entered one of its most deceptive phases. The word “ceasefire” exists on paper, but killing has not stopped. Israeli strikes continue almost daily, Palestinians continue to die, reconstruction […]