This past week, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told an audience in Norfolk, Virginia that an American or Israeli strike on the Iranian nuclear sites would be “catastrophic” and that American officials should make it clear to the government of Israel that “they do not have a blank check to take action that could do grave harm to American vital interests.” Read more »

Today’s news dramatizes the contrast between Iran’s Syria policy and that of the United States.

American policy is devastatingly described in a Washington Post editorial today as “reprehensible” and “morally indefensible” for its passivity. The editorial must be read in full for the anger behind it to be fully understood. (Parenthetically, it raises the question of whether the Post will endorse for re-election a candidate whom it has described in this manner.) Read more »

The so-called “Non-Aligned Movement,” a relic of Cold War days, is now meeting in Iran. Iran is a dictatorship where freedom of thought, press freedom, academic freedom, and free elections are non-existent. But we can be sure that these inconvenient facts will be ignored by the delegates gathered in Tehran. Read more »

Last May, Vice President Biden took an extremely hard line on Iran.  ”We will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon by whatever means we need,” he said. Read more »

Secretary of State Clinton’s blast at Russia and China last Friday blamed them for holding up international action against the Assad regime in Syria, but surely their position on Syria was not news. Clinton complained that they were “blockading” progress and “paying no price.” Read more »

Why is it significant that the vice president of Iran has used a United Nations forum to deliver an appalling anti-Semitic speech?

This happened yesterday in Geneva, as the New York Times reported. Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi blamed “Zionists” for the world’s drug trade, citing the Talmud and leaving his audience at the anti-drug conference in shock. Read more »

While there has been considerable discussion in the United States about jihadis who may be fighting in Syria against the Assad regime, less attention has been paid to the presence of Hezbollah fighters acting on the side of that regime.

Asharq Alawsat, the London Arabic-language newspaper, reports on this issue today in a story entitled “FSA: Hezbollah fighters in Syria, carrying out raids.” According to the FSA, the Free Syrian Army, there are also Iranian elements present. What are they doing? According to the newspaper’s sources, the Iranian are providing technical advice and assistance: “there are also Iranian specialists present in the northern areas [of Syria] close to the Turkish borders who have set-up operation rooms…in order to intercept the telephone calls of activists and FSA members…the Iranian specialists’ tasks include training, communication operations and uncovering activists.” But the Hezbollah men are operational: they are snipers. Read more »

Francois Hollande is not even president of France yet but France’s tough position on the Iranian nuclear program already looks weaker.

Today the former French prime minister Michel Rocard is in Tehran meeting with top officials including the foreign minister and the nuclear negotiator. As this trip comes only days after Hollande’s victory, and as Rocard is like Hollande from the Socialist Party, it is hard to believe there was zero coordination or that Rocard would have gone if Hollande had asked him not to. If that is indeed the case, let us hope M. Hollande says so, and fast. Read more »

“When we took office, let me remind you, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran,” Biden said. “We were the problem. We were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe.” Read more »

I’ve written articles recently on several Middle East subjects.

In a National Review article entitled “Egypt: Pity the Winner,”  I discussed the Egyptian presidential elections, the remaining candidates, and the economic crisis the winner will face. Read more »