Central Asia

The West is happy, for now, to let the meter run on negotiations with Tehran. How high a price is Iran’s supreme leader willing to pay?

Hardliners in the U.S. and Israel seem to be shifting on Iran’s nuclear program. Is a breakthrough possible in the Baghdad talks?

The world would be a worse place if Iran constructs a nuclear weapon. But engaging it on broader Middle East issues might make it rethink.

Talk of allowing its airstrips to be used in a military strike against Iran thrust Azerbaijan into the spotlight. It doesn’t want to be there.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s bellicose rhetoric over Iran has prompted push back from former intelligence chiefs. But a new coalition member is unlikely to help moderate his policy.

There are increasing signs that a breakthrough over Iran’s nuclear program could be in reach. But don’t expect Barack Obama to clutch at it yet.

The groups circling for if the Assad regime falls are no solution to the country’s problems. The U.S. and EU should steer clear, Indian Decade contributor Madhav Nalapat writes from Syria.

The United States faces a number of practical hurdles in getting its forces out of Afghanistan in 2014. But it has found an unlikely ally in its efforts.

The weekend talks on Iran’s nuclear program were hailed by many as progress. But the American right doesn’t see things that way.

With the U.S. in a presidential election year, don’t expect a major breakthrough at the talks that have started on Iran’s nuclear program. But compromise may come next year.

Heavily dependent on oil from the Middle East, Japan has been keen to encourage stability. But there are limits to what Japan’s soft power push can do in the region.

There’s much pessimism surrounding this week’s scheduled talks over Iran’s nuclear program. But a quid pro quo approach offers a solution.