Lebanon faces escalating violence and mounting displacement as Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket attacks intensify ahead of planned US-backed talks in Washington on April 14.

I speak with Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame, who says Hezbollah disarmament by force is an illusion, warns the Washington meeting is not yet real negotiations, and cautions that continued escalation could further destabilize Lebanon.

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“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as the old adage goes — a logic Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, put into practice by offering his military’s expertise in countering Iranian drones to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during a regional tour that concluded Sunday, as the Atlantic Council’s Yevgeniya Gaber noted.

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Iranian-American academic Vali Nasr says rising civilian deaths and the destruction of iconic sites such as the Qajar-era Golestan Palace are turning even the most anti-regime Iranians against the US‑Israeli war, which many now see as a threat to the nation itself.

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On Feb. 28, the first day of the war in Iran, at least 175 people — most of them children — were killed when a U.S. missile struck a girls’ school in Minab. Since then, the civilian death toll has steadily risen, turning even some of the regime’s most ardent critics against the conflict, according to Skylar Thompson, deputy director of Human Rights Activists in Iran.

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Russia has close military and diplomatic ties with Iran but it also has cordial relations with Iran's foes, notably Israel. At the same time, it is bogged down by its own war with Ukraine. So how much actual assistance can it provide to Iran as it seeks to withstand Israel and the United States?

Iranian American academic Nicole Grajewski unpacks the complexities.

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President Donald Trump says he has ruled out plans to ally with armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, after previously suggesting he would like them to help overthrow the Iranian regime. However, Asso Hassan Zadeh, a prominent figure in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, says there is reason to believe otherwise and that such an alliance may still be on the table.

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Iranian political scientist Hamidreza Azizi explains that a nuclear deal with the United States would be widely opposed by Iranians. He says trust in the regime has been irreparably damaged following the mass killings of protesters.

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Efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the US-Iranian standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program are continuing apace. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains implacably opposed to any concessions.

Iranian historian Arash Azizi discusses the suffering of ordinary Iranians and outlines the scenarios that could unfold as the regime faces its gravest threat since the 1979 Revolution.

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