Michael Makovsky, the CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, testified that the emerging nuclear deal with Iran will hurt American interests and credibility in the Middle East at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. In the beginning of his testimony (.pdf), Makovsky highlighted five significant shortcomings...

An Iranian-flagged vessel targeted a United States Navy destroyer and helicopter in the Gulf of Aden with a laser device multiple times this week, CNN reported Thursday. According to a U.S. defense official, the USS Forrest Sherman was “conducting routine maritime operations” in international waters when its bridge area and the...

The Obama administration’s decision to target the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) but not the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad was a “half-measure” that has led to the “latest U.S. failure in Syria,” a staff editorial appearing Wednesday in The Washington Post argued. The latest U.S. failure in Syria is particularly...

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, often described as a moderate, said that Friday’s observance of Qods Day is a time for Iran to “shout its hatred” of Israel, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Wednesday. “People will tell the world on the Quds Day that the Muslim nations will never forget Palestine and occupation...

In a brief statement today in Vienna, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the nuclear negotiations with Iran will be extended once again, though they are “not open-ended” and that the United States was “absolutely prepared to call an end to this process.” The Times of Israel reported: “Some tough...

It would be a mistake from a number of perspectives for the United States to ally with Iran in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Iranian human rights activist Amri Basiri wrote in an article published on Tuesday in The Hill. Basiri argued that it...