28 h. ago Netanyahu outplayed Trump on Iran. Now the US risks being mired in another war | Mohamad Bazzi

If Trump wants to be the peacemaker he claims to be, he must negotiate a new deal with TehranBefore dawn on Friday, Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes against more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and air defense systems. The surprise Israeli attack also killed some of Iran’s most senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The Iranian regime called it a “declaration of war” – and western powers raced to prevent a wider regional conflict that could draw in the US along with other countries in the Middle East.While the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claims that he’s trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the attack is as much intended to blow up ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Donald Trump’s administration. While Trump’s overall foreign policy has been a disaster, for months he had resisted Netanyahu’s pleas to give Israel a green light to attack Iran, with US assistance. Trump insiste...

Events

44 h. ago Trump scrambles to claim credit for Israel’s Iran attack he publicly opposed

Discordant US response as president says he was fully aware of plans for what Marco Rubio called a ‘unilateral action’ Middle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump is walking a tightrope as he claims that he was fully aware of Israel’s plans to launch massive airstrikes against Iran while continuing to distance the US from those strikes and deny Washington took any active role in the preparations.The White House’s messaging has shifted quickly from Marco Rubio’s arms-length description of the Israeli attack as a “unilateral action”, to Trump claiming on Friday morning that he was fully in the loop on the operation and that it came at the end of a 60-day ultimatum he had given Iran to “make a deal” on its nuclear programme. Continue reading...

Politics

45 h. ago Voices: Why Israel’s attack on Iran proves Netanyahu is an unhinged messiah

Israel’s prime minister sees himself not only as the protector of Israel, but the saviour of the West. This, he believes, is how he should go down in history, writes former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas

Politics

51 h. ago Voices: Netanyahu’s ‘Israel first’ attack on Iran shows that Trump can shout – but no one is listening

Although the US president can effectively bully friendly states such as Canada, when it comes to the ‘strong men’ of the world, he has been played time and again, says Sean O’Grady

Politics

54 h. ago Israel snubbed Trump plea not to strike Iran after President said just hours before that an attack could 'blow' nuclear deal talks

Israel snubbed US president Donald Trump's plea not to strike Iran just hours after he said that an attack would 'blow' nuclear deal talks. 

Politics

3 d. ago US tells embassy staff to evacuate in Iraq over fears Israel is ready to attack Iran, as trump warns 'it could be dangerous'

Fears of an Israeli attack on Iran have escalated dramatically in recent days, with delicate nuclear talks between Iran and the United States appearing to stall.

Events