U.S. involvement in the Iran war highlights strategic entrapment, diverging objectives, and the escalating risks of regional and global instability.
By Dr Nadeem Malik

Read more: thefridaytimes.com/12-Mar-2026/...

#IsraelIranWar #USforeignpolicy #MiddleEastconflict, #USIsrael #Irannuclearcrisis

Has Israel Betrayed The United States In The War Against Iran? The Israel–Iran war has pulled the United States into a widening conflict, raising questions about strategic entrapment and the true alignment of U.S. and

The Israel–Iran war has drawn the United States into a conflict shaped by Israeli priorities, raising questions about alliance and strategy
By Dr Nadeem Malik

Read more: www.thefridaytimes.com/12-Mar-2026/...

#IsraelIranWar #USforeignpolicy #MiddleEastconflict, #USIsraelalliance #Irannuclearcrisis

The Greater Israel Gamble: Pakistan In The Shadow Of An Iranian Inferno The objective of the USA and Israel is not pluralism or regime change in Iran, but to destroy it strategically, plunge it into chaos, and weaken its role as a

The USA and Israel’s invasion of Iran aims to destabilise the region, targeting leadership, nuclear sites, and Iran’s strategic influence
By Ambassador M. Alam Brohi

Read more: www.thefridaytimes.com/02-Mar-2026/...

#Iran #IranIsraelConflict #Israel #IsraelIranWar #MiddleEastWar #irannuclearcrisis

"Trump warns of possible limited strikes against Iran, while Iran and US prepare for war over Tehran's nuclear program. " #IranNuclearCrisis https://fefd.link/SNV5D

The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence: How Iran’s Nuclear Dream Became a Crisis Countdown As Iran confronts existential pressure, this essay calls the bomb a fantasy: without a great-power patron or legitimacy, nuclear ambition accelerates crisis instead of delivering deterrence. The Islamic Republic’s security situation has never been this bad. It is in an extreme state of crisis. The threat now targets the very top of the system and its main institutions. Fingers are on the trigger. Even in the bleakest days of the eight-year war with Iraq, the regime did not face a crisis at this level. After the mass killings of January 2026, and as the United States and its allies intensified their military posture around Iran, a familiar claim resurfaced across the Islamic Republic’s media: if the Islamic Republic had an atomic bomb, it would not be facing an “existential threat” today. This claim is repeated not only by a segment of the regime’s supporters inside Iran, but also by think tanks close to the Revolutionary Guards, geopolitics bloggers aligned with official discourse, and even parts of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” left. Some go even further and urge the Islamic Republic to “seize the moment” and complete the path to building a bomb now! But this story, and the prescription that follows from it, is less strategic analysis than end-times fantasy. It ignores the actual history of nuclear proliferation and, at the same time, erases the Islamic Republic’s real place in the global order. The question is whether an atomic bomb could ever have brought security to the Islamic Republic. Nuclear powers and life in the cracks To answer this question, we have to look at second-tier nuclear powers: India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Contrary to the crude stories told by resistance-minded people, Islamic or otherwise, none of these countries became nuclear in a geopolitical vacuum. Their weapons programs took shape inside the security cracks of the international system, within the “logic of containment” practiced by first-tier powers. India moved in this direction amid Sino-Soviet rivalry, aiming to balance a nuclear China, and with direct Soviet help. Pakistan’s program was driven by its rivalry with India, within an equation in which both the United States and China played roles. North Korea, too, was a direct product of the Cold War, the Sino-Soviet split, and later Beijing’s instrumental use of Pyongyang as a security buffer against the United States. The common thread in these cases is simple: they were either tied to the security perimeter of a major power, or their militarized nuclear programs were tolerated because they served a major power’s strategic interests. Their path to the bomb was not a rogue act, nor proof of a “neither East nor West” policy. It was folded into a larger security architecture. In other words, their nuclear status aligned, more or less, with the interests of a first-tier power in East or West, and those powers shielded them internationally from existential threats and from the dangers that come with nuclearization. A “third way” without a patron The Islamic Republic, however, sought a different route from the start of Ali Khamenei’s rule, when the nuclear temptation took hold. In the 1990s, when Tehran began to seriously consider nuclear capability as a deterrent umbrella, the world no longer ran on Cold War logic. The Soviet Union had collapsed. Russia was redefining itself in the post–Cold War order. China was deeply intergrated into global markets. Neither was in a strategic confrontation with the United States that would make it willing to “lend” nuclear deterrence the way the Cold War had sometimes allowed. Security lines were clearer. Spheres of influence were more settled. The model of providing the bomb to guarantee influence had, in practice, been filed away. Yet the Islamic Republic wanted a bomb, or at least “nuclear ambiguity,” the ability to sit at the threshold. But it wanted this without becoming Russia’s or China’s security appendage, and outside any formal security bloc. This was the “third way”: a bomb without a patron, deterrence without a protective umbrella, and power projection without the objective geopolitical conditions that make it viable. The warning that was ignored Over the past three decades, there were countless moments when the Islamic Republic could have realized the project was flawed at its core. Even if that reality was missed in the 1990s, June 2010 should have been a wake-up call, when UN Security Council Resolution 1929 passed with the affirmative votes of China and Russia. That vote carried a blunt message: neither Beijing nor Moscow would pay the cost of the Islamic Republic’s militarized nuclear project. The era in which first-tier powers used “containment logic” to manage proliferation had passed. And even if it returned, Iran did not—and does not—sit in the geopolitical position where such a model would apply. Consider a clearer example: even the Shah’s government, despite being a U.S. security partner in the Middle East and the Soviet Union’s southern neighbor, was never placed in a containment geography through nuclear weapons. And yet even this alarm was ignored. From then on, the Islamic Republic stayed on a path that neither the United States nor Europe, nor even its eastern partners, were willing to tolerate. A program that fit neither the non-proliferation order nor any stable balance-of-power logic. If Iran today tries, as a regional power with limited means and boxed-in opportunities, to use the bomb—or even “nuclear ambiguity”—to play the role of an American counterpart, it would simply be attempting that same third way again, a path with no successful historical precedent. On that path, it won’t be only the United States that resists. Russia and China will, too. Their opposition is not driven by ethics or international law, but by their own security interests. A second-tier power that acquires nuclear weapons and tries to design a confrontational equation with a first-tier power destabilizes the surrounding order for everyone, including Beijing and Moscow. The fantasy of binding Tehran to great powers The resistance-minded will say there is still a solution: bind ourselves to China and Russia. One says we should have given Russia the Nojeh Air Base in Hamedan. Another says Chabahar should have been handed to China so they would “fall in love with us.” Another advocates granting China exclusive purchase of Iran’s oil through a 25-year deal, committing that all our oil is for you, and it will not be offered elsewhere. Over four decades, the Islamic Republic has implemented many such groundless schemes. The cost of these fantasies is the situation Iranians are trapped in today: bombs poised to fall from the sky, bullets waiting in the streets. Throughout these years, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly tried to pin itself to the security margins of Russia and China through long-term contracts and military and political cooperation. But these efforts never became a real strategic security partnership. The reason is simple: neither Russia nor China sees Iran as an actor worth nuclear risk. This does not mean Iran has no value to them. Iran’s presence in their orbit can carry security value. The problem is different. The Islamic Republic wants to be in their orbit in order to act as a counterpart to the United States and claim a stronger role in the Middle East. That is precisely what makes Moscow and Beijing decide that a strategic alliance with Tehran is not worth the cost. China and Russia have countless conflicts with Washington, but all three capitals agree on the “special privileges” of being global powers. None of them wants a middling actor to acquire the ambition to challenge the hierarchy. For them, this is something that must not be allowed to happen—regardless of their rivalries. Blaming governments misses the point Inside and outside the Islamic Republic, some blame this failure on Iranian governments they call “naively optimistic” about the West. They say Khatami, Rouhani, and now Pezeshkian were West-worshippers, and if not for them, the big deal with Russia or China would have happened. This is a fundamental inversion of reality. Beijing’s and Moscow’s security calculations were never waiting on Iranian governments, nor did those governments have decisive control over foreign policy. Over roughly four decades, foreign policy has been fully in Ali Khamenei’s hands—the very person who has spared no effort to build such an alliance. Shifting the blame downward follows the Supreme Leader’s familiar pattern: refusing responsibility for major decisions and passing the costs onto subordinates. The nuclear file and the country’s current condition are no exception. A bomb would not have brought security It is unclear what condition the Supreme Leader is in today in Tehran. Perhaps he now understands that an atomic bomb would not have brought security to the Islamic Republic, not today and not ten or twenty years ago. Even in the best scenario, it could only have moved the timing of direct confrontation slightly forward or back. Without a global patron, without a place in an international security architecture, and without domestic legitimacy, a nuclear bomb is not a deterrent umbrella. It is a banana peel that speeds up crisis. And perhaps the response to those prescribing the bomb in the darkest days of Iran’s contemporary history is this: for the Islamic Republic, the nuclear program was not a protective shield but a crisis countdown. A tool meant to sit at the heart of the regime’s security strategy, it swallowed billions of dollars, bankrupted Iran, and ultimately placed the Supreme Leader’s head under the guillotine of his greatest enemies.

The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence: How Iran’s Nuclear Dream Became a Crisis Countdown #NuclearDeterrence #IranNuclearCrisis

Trump's Bold U.N. Stance on Iran: Nuclear Showdown or Diplomatic Dance?

#IranNuclearCrisis #TrumpUNSpeech #GlobalSecurity #GeopoliticalTensions #NuclearNonproliferation #UnreadWhyInsights #trendingvideo #LatestNews #latestupdates #news #shorts #Reels #WATCH #Breaking #BreakingNews

U.S. Strikes on Iran: Operation Midnight Hammer's Impact and the Road to Negotiations

#IranNuclearCrisis #OperationMidnightHammer #USIranTalks #MiddleEastGeopolitics #DiplomaticNegotiations #trendingvideo #LatestNews #latestupdates #news #shorts #Reels #WATCH #Breaking #BreakingNews

Iran’s Khamenei Breaks Silence With First Public Appearance Since Israel War Began Iran’s Supreme Leader Reemerges Publicly Amid Fallout From Iran-Israel War Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes first public appearance since conflict began

Khamenei Reappears in Tehran After Iran-Israel War and U.S. Strikes on Nuclear Sites

#KhameneiAppearance #IranIsraelConflict #IranNuclearCrisis
#IAEABlocked #TehranAshoura2025

امریکی حملے سے فردو نیوکلیئر سائٹ کو شدید نقصان پہنچا ہے، ایرانی وزیر خارجہ

مزید جانیں : pakistanmatters.pk/34323/

#FordowAttack #IranNuclearCrisis #PakistanMatters

Trump Disaster: Lied About Destroying Iran’s Nuclear Sites 900 Pounds of Uranium Now Unsecured
#TrumpLied #IranNuclearCrisis
#NationalSecurityFailure #LooseUranium
#TrumpDisaster
#RecklessLeadership
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#MiddleEastCrisis
#DiplomacyMatters
#GlobalSecurityRisk

Iranian FM Araqchi arrives in Moscow for talks with Putin – as it happened Iran's parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz after US & Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear ...

Iran's parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz after US & Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. Oil prices surged. Iranian FM Araqchi is in Moscow for talks with Putin. #IranNuclearCrisis #News

اسرائیل نے ایران کی فورڈو نیوکلیئر سائٹ پر حملہ کیا، جو امریکی حملے کے ایک دن بعد ہوا۔ ایرانی حکام کے مطابق قریبی آبادی کو فی الحال کوئی خطرہ نہیں۔ کشیدگی بڑھ گئی ہے۔ #IranNuclearCrisis #IsraelStrikes #theworldurdu

Nuclear watchdog IAEA calls for crisis meeting over US attacks on Iran IAEA calls emergency meeting following reported US attacks on Iran. Details are emerging. #IranNucl...

IAEA calls emergency meeting following reported US attacks on Iran. Details are emerging. #IranNuclearCrisis #News

US war is with nuclear programme, not Iran; Washington still open to diplomacy: JD Vance yespunjab.com?p=134764

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UN chief warns of 'rathole of retaliation' after US strikes on Iran - Yes Punjab News At the UN, Pakistan joins China and Russia to condemn US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, despite recent high-level US-Pakistan military engagement.

UN chief warns of 'rathole of retaliation' after US strikes on Iran yespunjab.com?p=134732

#UNSecurityCouncil #IranNuclearCrisis #PakistanUN #USIranTensions #ChinaRussiaAlliance #AsimMunir #TrumpPakistan #IAEA #IsraelIran #InternationalLaw #Geopolitics #UNResolution #MiddleEastConflict

At the UN, US envoy Dorothy Shea warns Iran: any direct or indirect attack on Americans or bases will trigger massive retaliation. Says strikes aimed at dismantling Iran's nuclear capacity. #USIran #UNSC #IranNuclearCrisis #theworldpk

Encountered heavy fortification at Iran's nuclear site; Trump warns of further strikes for swift peace. Iranian missiles wound 10 in Israel. #IranNuclearCrisis https://fefd.link/wcVQD

برطانوی وزیراعظم اسٹارمر نے کہا کہ امریکہ کے ایران پر حملوں سے ایٹمی خطرہ کم ہوا۔ انہوں نے ایران پر مذاکرات میں واپسی پر زور دیا جبکہ ایران ایٹمی ہتھیار بنانے کی تردید کرتا ہے۔ #IranNuclearCrisis #UKSupportsUS #theworldurdu

Iran Strikes Israeli Hospital, Israel Threatens Supreme Leader in Escalating Conflict   Israel Vows Retaliation as Iranian Strikes Injure Hundreds and Hit Major Hospital Tensions between Israel and Iran have erupted

Israel-Iran Conflict Escalates: Hospital Hit, Hundreds Injured

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#UNPeaceTalks #WarUpdates #InternationalNews

Natanz plant severely damaged in Israeli airstrikes; 15,000 centrifuges likely destroyed. 🚫🇮🇱 #IranNuclearCrisis https://fefd.link/fQ2Gw

"US pulls diplomats from Iraq amid fears of possible Israeli strike against Iran, as the country inches closer to nuclear capabilities." #IranNuclearCrisis https://fefd.link/hnl9a

Israel’s Shadow War Goes Public: Mossad Strikes from Inside Iran Inside the Mossad’s War in the Shadows: How Israel Made Iran Its Intelligence Battlefield By the time Israeli fighter jets

Mossad’s Secret War: How Israel Operated Deep Inside Iran

#Mossad #IsraelIran #MiddleEastConflict #IntelligenceWar
#IsraelDefense #TehranStrike #IranNuclearCrisis #CovertOps
#WorldNewsUpdate #GeopoliticalTensions

Israel's strike severely damages Iran's Natanz nuclear site; multiple advanced centrifuges destroyed. #IranNuclearCrisis https://fefd.link/rwHpl

Netanyahu briefs PM Modi on 'evolving situation' after Israel's military operation against Iran - Yes Punjab News PM Netanyahu briefed PM Modi on Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear site. India urges restraint, monitors developments, and stresses peace and dialogue.

Netanyahu briefs PM Modi on 'evolving situation' after Israel's military operation against Iran yespunjab.com?p=133426

#IsraelIranConflict #OperationRisingLion #ModiNetanyahu #IranNuclearCrisis #NatanzStrike #IndiaForeignPolicy #MiddleEastTensions #IDF #IsraelDefenseForces #GlobalDiplomacy

Israeli Strikes Wipe Out Iran’s Top Military Chain of Command – NYTimes ow.ly/YVtz50W91w7 #IsraelIranConflict #OperationRisingLion #MiddleEastTensions #IranNuclearCrisis #OilPricesSurge #MilitaryStrikes #NatanzStrike #IranLeadership #TehranUnderAttack #StraitOfHormuz

Iran calls uranium enrichment a national interest. With 60% levels reached, is nuclear diplomacy on the edge again?
#JCPOA #IranNuclearCrisis #MiddleEast
Read Full Article: stratheia.com/us-iran-nego...

Iran Rejects Direct Nuclear Talks with US as Trump Threatens Military Action | AI News Brew <p>Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated significantly on March 31, 2025, as both nations exchanged stern warnings over Iran's nuclear program and potential military action.</p><p>Iran...

Iran Rejects Direct Nuclear Talks with US as Trump Threatens Military Action
ainewsbrew.com/article/3747

#IranNuclearCrisis #USIranTensions #NuclearDeal #TrumpIran #GlobalSecurity #MiddleEastCrisis #DiplomaticCrisis #MilitaryThreat #InternationalRelations #NuclearDiplomacy

Trump on Iran: “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.” The art of the deal is now the art of the threat. Nothing says diplomacy like promising airstrikes on national TV. #TrumpThreats #IranNuclearCrisis #ArtOfTheDealbreaker #DiplomacyByBombs #2025Geopolitics