Current sectionMiddle East NewsAnalysis Any agreement with the United States is likely to give Iran the resources and confidence to revive the strategy it has long used to destabilize the Middle East through proxies, militias and economic coercionShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe01:47 PM • May 29 2026 IDTThere was a brief moment – seven months, to be precise, from the end of the 12-day war on June 24, 2025, to the start of the second war with Iran on February 28, 2026 – when it looked like the Middle East might just put aside decades of war and political instability and turn its attentions to economic development, and maybe even offer a modicum of freedom and democracy to its long-suffering people.In the NewsIran's Comeback Threatens Gulf Prosperity and Regional ResetHow Israel Has Turned Much of Southern Lebanon Into a Civilian No-go ZoneFrance to Investigate Israeli Forces' Treatment of Gaza Flotilla MembersUN Report Accuses Israeli Forces of Rape, Sexual Abuse of Palestinian DetaineesAll of Israel's Rotten Apples Shelter in the Shade of a Single Tree: NetanyahuRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMI'Israelis Are More Genocidal Than You Think': The 'Counter Hasbara' of Andrey XFreed Gaza Flotilla Activists Report Sexual Abuse, Rape in Israeli CustodyFormer Israeli Soldier Dies by Suicide in Miami at Age 23Netanyahu's Promises of Victory in Iran End in a Glorious U.S. CapitulationWill Trump Forgive Netanyahu Over Iran? The Emerging Deal Suggests Not'What We Did in Gaza Is Certainly an Act of Revenge for October 7'