Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Peiman Salehi
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The world cannot contain Iran forever outside the global order
For months the world has remained fixated on a single number: 450 kilograms. That figure — referring to Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium — has become the center of international negotiations, military threats, and diplomatic deadlock between Tehran, Washington, and Israel. American officials continue to insist that Iran must…
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War beyond the battlefield: How the Iran conflict Is reshaping global power and the world economy
These nights in Tehran the sound of fighter jets has become part of everyday life. Explosions echo across the city at irregular intervals and the uncertainty of what comes next hangs over millions of people. Yet the war unfolding in the Middle East is no longer confined to the battlefield.…
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Trump’s Iran miscalculation: When power meets a civilisation that refuses to collapse
Donald Trump’s confrontation with Iran appears to have been built on a fundamental misreading of the country he chose to confront. The assumption in Washington seemed to be that a sudden decapitation strike against Iran’s leadership could trigger a rapid political collapse. In that scenario, eliminating senior figures would produce…
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From Greenland to the Gulf: Is Washington replacing the rules with raw power?
By early 2026, US foreign policy appears less anchored in the language of rules and more openly framed in the language of leverage. The past year has seen escalating tensions in Venezuela, renewed territorial rhetoric over Greenland, mounting friction within NATO, and an increasingly securitized posture in the Middle East.…
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From Waltz to Hormuz: Why a Gulf escalation would backfire systemically
Most analyses of potential US escalation against Iran in the Gulf remain confined to deterrence logic and regional balances of power. The debate often focuses on credibility, retaliation, and red lines. Yet such framing misses a deeper structural reality. When viewed through the lens of classical international relations theory, a…
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When silencing dissent backfires: How Western censorship fuels the very instability it claims to prevent
For decades the West has presented itself as the global guardian of free expression. Freedom of speech has not only been framed as a moral value but as a functional pillar of democratic stability and political legitimacy. Yet as the war in Gaza has intensified and narratives around Israel have…
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UN resolutions on Gaza and the Golan: Global legitimacy under pressure, but no path to real peace
The two recent United Nations resolutions one calling for an end to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and another reaffirming Syria’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights have been celebrated in parts of the international community as signs of a shifting global conscience. Yet what they truly reveal is something…
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Why the new UN resolution on Gaza signals a US-led trusteeship, not a path to peace
The recent passage of the US-backed Gaza resolution at the UN Security Council represents one of the most paradoxical moments of the post-October 2023 crisis: a plan endorsed by thirteen members of the Council yet openly opposed by the two actors whose future it most directly shapes, Israel and Hamas.…
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From Kant’s dream to today’s reality: The United Nations and the crisis of global legitimacy
In 1795, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant published Perpetual Peace, envisioning a world governed not by empires but by laws a federation of nations built on the principles of justice, reason, and restraint. A century and a half later, in the aftermath of two world wars, humanity attempted to realize…
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The 2231 rift: How Iran’s defiance exposes the deep divide in the global order
On 18 October 2025, the date that was supposed to mark the formal end of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the very mechanism that anchored the Iran nuclear deal, the world instead has witnessed the widening of a profound geopolitical divide. What should have been a technical expiry of restrictions…
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Gaza ceasefire: between political declaration and field reality
The ceasefire announced on 9 October 2025 appears to mark a turning point after two years of exhausting military and humanitarian devastation in Gaza. Yet, upon closer examination, it raises more questions than it answers. According to official statements, the “first phase” of the deal includes halting hostilities, the exchange…
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Israel’s strike on Doha: A turning point for US alliances and Gulf sovereignty
The Israeli airstrike on Hamas leaders in Doha on 9 September 2025 should be understood as far more than a military action. It was a direct assault on the sovereignty of a US ally, Qatar, and a symbolic rupture in the fragile architecture of Middle Eastern diplomacy. For decades, Doha…
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The SCO summit and the Middle East in a multipolar world
The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Beijing was accompanied by a striking military parade and a series of ambitious economic proposals. Much of the global commentary presented the event as further evidence of a transition from US dominance to a new Chinese century. Yet this framing oversimplifies the…
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When water becomes war: The moral failure of global governance in the Middle East
The Middle East today is witnessing a transformation that goes far beyond conventional geopolitics or the competition for oil. One of the most urgent yet underexplored dimensions of its crisis is the question of water, which has increasingly become both a scarce commodity and a weapon in the hands of…
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Iran challenges the West not just militarily, but philosophically
After more than four decades since the Islamic Revolution, it remains clear that many Western policymakers still don’t understand Iran. But perhaps the problem isn’t only Iran it’s the limits of a worldview that assumes liberal norms are universally applicable. Today, Iran is not merely a state at odds with…