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Foreign Policy

February 2026

6 Questions About Operation Epic Fury

Donald Trumppresident
I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,

World Leaders, U.S. Lawmakers React to U.S. Strikes on Iran

Thomas Massierepresentative
Trump says his goal is to topple the Iranian regime, but the American people are tired of regime change wars that cost us billions of dollars and risk our lives. We don’t want to be at war with a country of 90 million people in the Middle East.”
Jim Himesrep.
Everything I have heard from the Administration before and after these strikes on Iran confirms this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame. As I expressed to Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio when he briefed the Gang of Eight, military action in this region almost never ends well for the United States.”
Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security,
We did not participate in these strikes, but are in close contact with our international partners, including the United States, Israel, and partners in the region. … We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. … We call for a resumption of negotiations.”
Tim Kainesenator
These strikes are a colossal mistake, and I pray they do not cost our sons and daughters in uniform and at embassies throughout the region their lives. The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran.”

Iran Is Built to Withstand the Ayatollah's Assassination

Ruhollah Khomeinian Iranian cleric, politician, political theorist, and revolutionary who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran and served as its first supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989
Keeping the Islamic Republic safe is more important than protecting any one person, no matter how important
Ruhollah Khomeinian Iranian cleric, politician, political theorist, and revolutionary who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran and served as its first supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989
Preserving the Islamic Republic is more important than preserving any individual, even if that individual were the Imam of the Age”

Oil Markets Brace for Disruption After U.S.-Israel Strikes on Iran

The [Hormuz] threat stays a paper tiger until or unless the Iranian leadership feel they have nothing left to lose,
We will likely see a jump on Monday, but after that, if there is no firm evidence that oil production is affected at scale, the market may move on,
Given what is unfolding, they are going to want to do more. They want to signal that they are the responsible custodians of the oil market, so I suspect Saudi Arabia and others will take steps to ensure supplies with potentially a larger increase” than that already flagged

U.S., Israel Begin ‘Major Combat Operations’ in Iran

Donald Trumppresident
Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world,
Donald Trumppresident
For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,
In a brief phone call with The Washington Post just after 4 a.m. Saturday, President Donald Trump said his main concern is ‘freedom’ for the Iranian people, and that the U.S. is working to make Iran a place that’s ‘safe,
Donald Trumppresident
All I want is freedom for the people,

Pakistan Says It’s in ‘Open War’ With Afghanistan

Islamabad bombed major Afghan cities, accusing Kabul of harboring the Pakistani Taliban

Zabihullah Mujahidtaliban spokesman
Our operation last night was a retaliatory operation and a response to Pakistan’s operation, not an attack to start a war against Pakistan,
Khawaja Asifminister of Defence
[T... T]he Taliban became a proxy for India,
Just like the zookeepers, we sincerely hope that Punch will soon become comfortable in an environment with the other monkeys and no longer need the soft toy,
Raja MohanfP columnist
Pakistan does not view its border problem with Afghanistan as merely cartographic but existential,
Amir Khan Muttaqiforeign Minister
Afghanistan has never been a supporter of violence and has always preferred to resolve issues based on mutual understanding and respect,
In an election we tried to make into one of unity versus division, the electorate chose division—just not the division we were campaigning most against,
As everyone knows, the conflict about Greenland isn’t over yet,
Donald Trumpu.S. President
We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. There’s nothing close. I’d love not to use it, but sometimes you have to. We’ll see what happens,

Ukraine’s Lost Generation

At the beginning of the war, Russian forces occupied the settlements across the river from Pechenihy

Lyudmyla Deykoa student government, Bohdanivka school principal
These are our students. We understood that we have to do everything to keep the children in our [community],
The number of children is decreasing, but, well, how can I leave them?”
We [have] a generation of primary school kids who might well have never been to school physically,
The state is just not able to cope with everything,
It’s impossible to totally close the schools” near the front line
Educational losses can actually affect the GDP of a country,
We were supposed to have funds for 20 schools like that. We managed to do six, which was better than nothing,
Of course, it hurts—young people with kids leaving our community,
I came back here for the Ukrainian school,
You just basically went to bed, and you didn’t know whether you would wake up,

Why No One Is Pushing Back on Trump’s Iran Threats

A quarter century of “forever wars” has inured Democrats and even Europeans to U.S. aggression

Dominique de Villepinfrench politician and diplomat; 95th Prime Minister of France
In this temple of the United Nations, we are the guardians of an ideal, the guardians of a conscience,
William Wohlforthamerican political scientist
Most people believe that Trump will limit this to an air campaign,
There was a narrative with the Iraq War,
William Wohlforthamerican political scientist
Not only did Bush work hard to build a substantive case, domestically and internationally, the administration sought to develop domestic and international legal justifications,
Harold Hongju Kohyale Law School scholar
In six years, Trump has moved from the doctrine of ‘preemptive assassination’ that led to his killing of [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem] Suleimani, to a full-fledged embrace of performative militarism and preemptive war that fosters a cult of forever war,
The Europeans are gun-shy. They don’t want to get into yet another fistfight with Washington,
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! … HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Donald TrumpuS President
I don’t need international law,
They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,

War With Iran Would Be Illegal and Stupid. Democrats Should Care.

David Janovskylegal expert
There’s no indication that there’s any sort of circumstance that would give the President the unilateral authority to order military action,
Tim Kainedemocrat
A war with Iran would be a grand disaster. Completely unnecessary.”
What I fear is that we don’t have the ability to bring the full power of pressure against Iran.”

Europe Is Decoupling From U.S. Tech

Thomas Régnierfootballer
They have replied to us and limited the service to premium subscribers,
Alexandra Geesegerman politician
Mastodon doesn’t want a business model,
David Chavalariasmathematician and research director
EU law says academia should be able to access when working on systemic risks that threaten our society and democracy due to the design of the platform,... That is not to say the error is intentional.”
Thomas Régnierfootballer
We need tech sovereignty to take our destiny in our own hands,
Enough is enough. The ongoing Grok scandal — which has seen a wave of images of child sexual abuse material, and image-based sexual violence against women, published on X — is a disgrace,
We must also make sure that Europeans have portability rights that are not a burden on them but on the gatekeepers — so they can move their content and data easily to another platform and are never again locked-in to one platform and vulnerable to harm,
Trump has become a lobbyist for Big Tech,
The days of censoring Americans online are over.”
Our goal is to build a platform like the old Twitter,
If X wants to operate in the EU, it must allow users to move to other sites with their data and audience as stated by EU law,

Tehran Has Discovered Moscow Is a Fair-Weather Friend

The latest cycle of U.S.-Iran escalation has followed a familiar script: sharpened rhetoric from the United States, calibrated military signaling by Iran in the Persian Gulf, indirect diplomacy through Oman, and Israeli warnings that remain deliberately ambiguous but unmistakably real

The Pentagon and Anthropic’s High-Stakes Game of Chicken

James G. StavridisuS Navy admiral
As we have seen so often, when the military is given a mission that is open-ended, the military effort often expands significantly,
Luke Barnesaustralian astrophysicist
If you’re pursuing immediate tactical advantages and signaling to these companies that you will provide very beneficial contracts to the first company that is willing to cross those ethical lines, it starts a race to the bottom, which we would not only see in the United States but in other rival countries, and that potentially creates a really dangerous global dynamic,
We had a lot of oversight and transparency … I don’t see any evidence that any of that still exists, not least of which is because they fired all of those teams,
Anthropic has until 5:01 p.m., Friday, to get on board or not,

The Shadow War That’s Strengthening Europe

Shadows of honor guard service members are cast on a wall beside the Ukrainian trident during a funeral ceremony for unidentified soldiers at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv

Russia is testing us in the gray zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war,
Since cutting off Western support is a key precondition for Russia to subdue Ukraine, the Kremlin has decided to raise the stakes by launching a deliberate campaign of sabotage against Western nations.”
Russia’s covert sabotage operations have consistently backfired, reinforcing the prevailing perception of Russia as a hostile force rather than achieving any strategic advantage.”
The threat emanating from hybrid warfare has been recognized,
Yvette Cooperbritish Foreign Secretary
Every missile and drone that strikes Ukraine only strengthens our resolve,
The Kremlin fails to recognize that acts of vandalism, arson and other physical hostility … only reinforce Russia’s reputation as an aggressor and strengthen further Western unity against Moscow.”

U.S., Iran Make ‘Significant Progress’ in Nuclear Talks, Mediator Says

Marco Rubiosecretary of State
Iran refuses—refuses—to talk about ballistic missiles, to us or to anyone, and that’s a big problem,
Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidiminister of Foreign Affairs
We’ve been exchanging creative and positive ideas in Geneva today,
The visit comes at an important juncture in normalization of India-Canada bilateral relations,
My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,

Can Critical Minerals Calm the Trans-Atlantic Relationship?

In recent weeks, critical minerals have emerged as a rare area of cooperation between U.S. and European leaders, even as they clash over Greenland, the NATO alliance, and Russia’s now four-year-long invasion of Ukraine

I think that they have pretty reasonable and understandable reasons to believe that the United States could turn around and engage in precisely the same kind of mineral coercion that China has engaged in,
They’re concerned that if Trump doesn’t believe that cooperation is forthcoming, he’s demonstrated a willingness to use kinetic force to achieve policy outcomes,
They are absolutely late to the game,
If the trans-Atlantic relationship has come under huge amounts of stress and a lot of people are worried that it could just fall apart, critical minerals [are] kind of the only thing that’s still really keeping it together,
Efforts to diversify imports have yet to produce tangible results and bottlenecks hamper progress in domestic production and recycling,
We’re now at this inflection point where they have the regulations, they have the targets,

But Seriously, What if Russia Wins?

John Hackett vividly imagined how a global war between NATO and the Soviet Union might play out in The Third World War