Articles | vatanka

Iran strikes unleashed a war the US cannot control

March 4, 2026

With Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. seeks to reshape the balance of power without falling into a quagmire, while Iran believes it must strike back hard enough to avoid permanent strategic loss.

After Khamenei: Iran enters its most uncertain transition since 1979

March 2, 2026

Whether the system emerges intact, transforms itself, or begins to fracture will depend as much on decisions made in the US as on those made in Iran.

Tehran Has Discovered Moscow Is a Fair-Weather Friend

February 27, 2026

Iran’s Look East doctrine resulted in a strategic partnership but not a strategic commitment.

Iran’s Divided Opposition

February 13, 2026

Only a unified movement can threaten the regime

With the US and Iran on a knife-edge, can Oman once again step in to mediate?

February 5, 2026

Thus, by mid-January, Gulf capitals were no longer questioning whether Oman should mediate — but whether Oman could prevent a conflict neither side may intend but both are dangerously capable of triggering.

In the US-Iran Standoff, Oman’s Mediation Matters More Than Ever

February 5, 2026

Muscat’s facilitation of talks has helped the region more than once. Now Oman must act quickly to convince Iran to make meaningful concessions and prevent conflict.

Iran protests seem different. They may lead to real change.

January 16, 2026

People are not protesting because they suddenly discovered activism. They are protesting because the habits of coping and waiting for conditions to improve have finally stopped working.

Khamenei did this to himself

January 14, 2026

The US can help — without another Middle East quagmire

Iran’s political deadlock

January 7, 2026

The timing of the protests matters. After the 12-day war, many Iranians hoped the shock of confrontation would prompt a strategic reassessment at home. The logic was straightforward: External pressure had peaked, and national unity had been demonstrated, so perhaps now was the moment for internal recalibration.

How Iraq’s vote will shape the next phase of US-Iran competition

November 18, 2025

An Iraqi parliament inclined to police those conduits under US pressure would tighten the vise; whereas, a parliament content to muddle through would keep Iran’s arteries open.

The taboo of regret: Iranian reflections on the seizure of the US embassy in 1979

November 3, 2025

It was a rare moment of candor from someone who has stood near the center of power for four decades. Nateq-Nouri’s broader message was that the Islamic Republic’s missteps were not fate but choice — that the state’s permanent confrontation with the US was not inevitable but constructed and, therefore, could one day be reversed.

Iran’s nuclear calculus in an unsettled Middle East

October 15, 2025

Iran’s nuclear trajectory is more like a cautious glide along a familiar route than a leap into the unknown, made up of tactical, reversible steps aimed at buying time rather than fundamentally changing the project.