The Iran war dominated discussions at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Spring Meetings this week in Washington, DC.
CFR President Michael Froman analyzed the conversations:
The United States and Iran announced on day 10 of a two-week ceasefire that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened, a promising sign of cooperation as questions loom over whether the countries will extend the truce.
Get the background:
The Bay of Pigs invasion, a CIA plan to train Cuban exiles to overthrow the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, began 65 years ago today.
The operation failed. "The Bay of Pigs was one of the biggest U.S. foreign policy fiascoes of the 20th century," writes expert James Lindsay.
Read more:
CFR convened bipartisan conversations with hundreds of Americans across the U.S. late last year.
"Americans want the United States to lead, but to do so in ways that are disciplined and grounded in tangible benefits to their lives," expert Rebecca Lissner writes.
Kharg Island serves as Iran’s primary oil terminal, handling roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports.
Recently, it has become a high-value target in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Here's what to know:
The United States declared victory over measles in 2000. Now it's coming back.
Rising vaccine skepticism, disruptions to public health infrastructure, and cuts to vaccination programs around the world have fueled a global resurgence.
Questions abound over how the FIFA World Cup will play out both on and off the field as tensions simmer between the United States and several participating countries.
Here's what to know:
Matthias Matthijs’s career has spanned academia and think tanks.
He sat down with CFR to discuss the benefits of observing European politics from afar, the importance of remaining open-minded in your career, and conducting dissertation research in London’s House of Lords tea room.
"President Donald Trump has gone back and forth between threatening to end the Iranian civilization, seeking to uphold a fragile ceasefire, blockading the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiating with the Iranian regime," write experts Elisa Ewers and Ariane Tabatabai.
Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since fighting erupted on April 15, 2023, and remains the world’s largest internal displacement and hunger crisis. 12 million people have been forcibly displaced, while tens of millions face acute hunger: https://on.cfr.org/4mzt8x0
April 15 marks the third anniversary of Sudan’s civil war and the specter of genocide once again has descended upon the country, writes international law expert David J. Scheffer.
The recent theater of atrocity crimes has been El Fasher, a city in the country’s western Darfur region.
The Trump administration has declared a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, betting that Iran will buckle under economic pressure before the global energy crisis forces the United States to back down, writes expert Max Boot.
"The United Nations needs a robust, standalone initiative dedicated exclusively to a humanitarian corridor [through the Strait of Hormuz]," argues expert Sam Vigersky.
"The question is no longer whether the lack of one will cost lives, but how many," he writes.
Even with a tenuous ceasefire in place, the market shocks of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure have governments rethinking their energy strategy.
Think tank experts from around the world analyze the geoeconomic impacts of the Iran war and how countries could adapt to this changing landscape:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been "the most vocal and influential voice in Europe’s far right," writes expert Liana Fix.
His defeat "will have important implications for Ukraine, NATO, European integration, the far right in Europe, and Hungarian relations with the United States."
"The peace talks between the United States and Iran ended early Sunday morning in Islamabad, Pakistan, without a deal to end the now 7-week old Iran war. Each side blamed the other for the failure to secure a breakthrough," writes expert James Lindsay.
Questions abound over how the FIFA World Cup will play out both on and off the field as tensions simmer between the United States and several participating countries.
Here's what to know:
When Washington chooses not to comment on democracy abroad, authoritarians and their backers fill the silence, expert Michelle Gavin argues.
"Developments in Cameroon and Burkina Faso illustrate how easily silence is interpreted as approval," she writes.
The United States declared victory over measles in 2000. Now it's coming back.
Rising vaccine skepticism, disruptions to public health infrastructure, and cuts to vaccination programs around the world have fueled a global resurgence.
Iranian support has boosted the military capabilities of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, helping them project force into the Red Sea.
The group has now launched its own attacks in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, making Yemen another front in the growing regional conflagration.
"The United States may have struck a fragile ceasefire deal with Iran, but the war has inflicted damage on U.S. relationships in Asia that were already strained after more than a year of President Trump’s unpredictable approach to foreign policy," writes Josh Kurlantzick. https://on.cfr.org/4slUqIp
Vice President JD Vance arrived in Budapest this week to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of Hungary's critical election on Sunday.
Some polls show the opposition is leading, but the path to reform is filled with challenges, argues expert Liana Fix.
"With the Trump-Xi summit delayed by the Iran war, the question isn’t what to negotiate with China. It’s whether Washington moves ahead to build the institutional architecture for managed trade," write Liza Tobin and Addis Goldman.
Peru is about to elect its 9th president in a decade. Many resigned or were impeached—and some are serving time in prison.
With the first round of voting scheduled for April 12, here's a look at who has led the country over the past 10 years and why they left office.
The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan—but critical negotiations lie ahead and the truce is already looking tenuous.
Ahead of talks set for April 10 in Islamabad, the two sides reportedly remain far apart on core issues: https://on.cfr.org/4dyKnMv
📆 Today | 10:00 am ET
CFR President Michael Froman will join IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in a live discussion for the IMF Spring Meetings 2026 Curtain Raiser.
Watch their conversation: https://on.cfr.org/4vgmbF0
“The odds are stacked against a quick and easy negotiation,” writes expert James M. Lindsay on President Trump’s recent announcement of a ceasefire with Iran—and the challenges ahead.
https://on.cfr.org/4egBt6q
A coronation organized by the Nigerian Igbo community in South Africa led to tensions that left at least 26 people injured and hospitalized in March. "South Africa can defeat xenophobia, but not before it has undergone some soul-searching," expert Ebenezer Obadare writes.
https://on.cfr.org/4t6pihs
CFR President Michael Froman sat down with Edward Felsenthal to discuss President Trump’s emerging foreign-policy doctrine, the rise of “coalitions of the willing,” the role of business, and what he’s most worried and most optimistic about in foreign affairs going forward.
Read the full interview:
