by Ausaf Sayeed | Jun 13, 2026 | Geopolitics, India, Iran, Middle East, USA, West Asia
In a single Thursday, the war over Iran shifted from the brink of catastrophe to the cusp of a deal. On June 11, President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran “very hard” and seize Kharg Island, through which nine-tenths of Iranian oil flows; by nightfall, he had...
by Ausaf Sayeed | Apr 10, 2026 | Geopolitics, India, Iran, Middle East, West Asia
When President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 7, 2026 — barely ninety minutes before his own military strike deadline expired — the world heaved a sigh of relief. Oil prices plunged 14–16 per cent. Equity markets from Tokyo to Frankfurt...
by Ausaf Sayeed | Apr 5, 2026 | Geopolitics, India, Iran, Middle East, West Asia
One month into the US-Israeli assault on Iran, the conflict has produced outcomes few anticipated or desired. Indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran—facilitated through Oman and Qatar—were still active when the strikes began on 28 February 2026. Goalposts...
by Ausaf Sayeed | Mar 5, 2026 | Geopolitics, Iran, Israel, Middle East
In the lexicon of international diplomacy, silence is rarely the absence of a position. For a civilisational state that once anchored its global identity in moral authority — the land of Gandhi’s non-violence and post-Independence non-alignment — India’s studied...
by Ausaf Sayeed | Mar 3, 2026 | Geopolitics, Iran, Israel, Middle East, USA
On the morning of February 28, 2026, a coordinated US-Israeli airstrike—codenamed “Operation Epic Fury”—reduced decades of carefully constructed Iranian theocracy to rubble, both literally and figuratively. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader for 37 years, was...
by Ausaf Sayeed | Jun 4, 2025 | Geopolitics, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, USA
The once-robust partnership between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fracturing into a complex rift, marked by deepening policy disagreements, personal distrust, and diverging strategic priorities. While the broader...
