The mediator and Iran claim progress was made …<\/p>\n
… but the U.S. signals are mixed:<\/p>\n
“House Democrats are expected to force a vote<\/a> next week designed to stop Trump from launching strikes<\/a> without first obtaining congressional approval” …<\/p>\n … and “former soldiers are begging [Trump] to pull back”:<\/p>\n Claims “that Iran has restarted its nuclear program, has enough available nuclear material to build a bomb within days, and is developing long-range missiles that will soon be capable of hitting the United States … are either false or unproven” …<\/p>\n … and the prospect that the mullahs “might be pushed aside and Iran\u2019s current hybrid regime \u2014 part clerical, part military \u2014 … give[s] way to a more conventional officer-led government … is an unlikely path to liberal democracy”:<\/p>\n “[C]ritics fear that without oversight by the UN, Indonesian forces could be used as \u201cpawns\u201d by the US \u2013 Israel\u2019s foremost ally \u2013 to control Palestinians in Gaza and formalise the occupation of the enclave”:<\/p>\n Vance and a “powerful Iran-backed Iraqi armed group” differ on the prospects for a long war:<\/p>\n “In an email to embassy workers Friday morning, Ambassador Mike Huckabee warned them that if they wanted to leave Israel, they ‘should do so TODAY'”:<\/p>\n The five-percentage-point advantage of sympathy for Palestinians over Israelis “is not statistically significant, but it contrasts with a clear lead for the Israelis only a year ago (46% vs. 33%) and larger leads over the prior 24 years”:<\/p>\n “While Beijing will not send troops or battleships, it will continue working quietly in other ways to ensure Tehran’s survival”:<\/p>\n\n
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