Trump seeks grand bargain with Erdogan

US military convoy entering Iraq from Syria The morning after a summit meeting often holds surprises. Turkey lost no time to follow up on President Recep Erdogan’s hugely successful but “difficult” talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday.  On Wednesday itself, Ankara formally conveyed to Washington Erdogan’s decision that the Turkish …

Don’t expect US-Iran war before 2021

(Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders report directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R))  There is no reason to disbelieve the boast by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming credit personally for US President Donald Trump’s decision to designate Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a “foreign terrorist organisation” under American law. It …

With eye on US, Iran revs up ‘resistance front’

(Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force visiting the frontline somewhere in Iraq.) A new phase is beginning in Iran’s approach to the situation since last May when the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran had thus far prioritised the consolidation of Western opinion against President Trump’s decision with a …