Over the past year, an extensive debate has been underway in Iran regarding its nuclear doctrine and its validity. For decades, the Islamic Republic strove to achieve nuclear threshold capability while refraining from actually developing nuclear weapons, based on the view that such a capability provides deterrence without exposing Iran to the costs associated with a nuclear breakout. However, developments since October 2023, particularly the two American-Israeli strikes on Iran over the past year, have shaken the Iranian security...
Reactions in Iran to the security agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan reflect a cautious and complex approach regarding its implications. At this stage, most commentators do not view the agreement as a cohesive anti-Iranian military alliance or an “Islamic NATO” capable of shifting the regional balance of power. These commentators emphasize the gaps between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, as well as the ambiguity surrounding their military commitments. However, others identify the agreement as an...
The war between the United States and Iran presented China with a complex strategic challenge: maintaining its relations with Iran, the Gulf states, and the United States all at once, while safeguarding its economic and energy interests in the region. Despite possessing the economic tools to exert significant influence, Beijing chose to limit its response primarily to the diplomatic arena and refrained from using the leverage at its disposal. This article argues that Beijing’s conduct should not be viewed as passivity, but...
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has operated under varying degrees of international sanctions, with the most significant measures targeting its energy sector and financial system in response to its nuclear program. Over the past four decades, Iran has not only adapted to these constraints but has systematically institutionalized sanctions evasion as a central pillar of its economic survival strategy. In recent years, Iran and Hezbollah have increasingly turned to cryptocurrencies as a way to bypass U.S. sanctions. The...
The confrontation between the United States and Iran surrounding the Strait of Hormuz has entered a more dangerous phase than before. The American move, which initially focused on targeting maritime and military infrastructure in the area of Bandar Abbas and applying concentrated pressure on Tehran, has expanded following the Iranian response against vessels, U.S. military bases, and the Gulf states. Washington seeks to combine cumulative military pressure with maintaining an open diplomatic channel; to deny Iran the ability to turn...
This interactive map documents strikes by Iran and its proxies across the region, alongside U.S. strikes, from April 2026 onward. It is continuously updated and draws on open-source intelligence (OSINT), visual documentation, official statements, and media reporting. The project aims to provide an accessible, data-driven, and current picture of the conflict as it develops.
Azerbaijan’s conduct in the 2026 Iran war is better described as alignment tempered by restraint than as neutrality. Beneath an official insistence that it stood outside the conflict, Baku remained a close energy, arms and intelligence partner of Israel and a state whose strengthening ties to Washington — embodied in the U.S.-brokered Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which Tehran openly opposes — placed it on the side Iran was fighting. That alignment made Azerbaijan a target, as demonstrated in the Iranian...
The war in Iran and the subsequent worsening economic crisis have accelerated the ongoing erosion of the country’s middle class, which has been particularly hard hit by high inflation, the impact of sanctions, declining purchasing power, and a growing employment crisis. In recent months, Iranian scholars and commentators have warned of the downward mobility of large segments of the middle class into lower socioeconomic strata and of their increasing dependence on government assistance, undermining their ability to sustain the...
This article examines Russia’s position toward the Iranian nuclear program, as reflected in its official responses to strikes against Iran in June 2025 and March 2026, as well as during the discussions at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in April–May. Under the current circumstances between the United States and Iran, Russia has no need to introduce drastic changes to its policy regarding the Iranian nuclear issue and can continue to maintain the position it has formulated in...
The Israeli strike in Beirut following Hezbollah’s rocket fire on northern Israel, and the subsequent round of exchanges between Israel and Iran, illustrate both the complexity of the American effort to curb escalation and Israel’s challenge of separating the Lebanese arena from Iran. The Trump administration sought to advance a renewed agreement between Israel and Lebanon, strengthen the Lebanese government, restrict Hezbollah’s freedom of action, and preserve maneuver space regarding Tehran. However, it failed to prevent an...
Since the outbreak of Operation “Roaring Lion,” and even more so against the backdrop of the escalation in Lebanon in recent weeks, the perception emphasizing Hezbollah’s importance as a strategic component of Iran’s security doctrine has grown stronger in Tehran. Hezbollah’s decision to join the campaign alongside Iran was perceived in Tehran as an expression of its commitment to the pro-Iranian axis in the region and of the continued relevance of Iran’s proxy strategy—which appeared to be eroding following the...
The Data Analytics Center at the Institute for National Security Studies presents a real-time situation report regarding the military campaign on the Iranian and Lebanese fronts.
The report includes a dedicated dashboard featuring selected data, accompanied by an interactive map depicting the situation on the ground.
The data is updated continuously and as accurately as possible, based on intelligence assessments, open-source information, and media reports.
