Alex Raufoglu is RFE/RL's senior correspondent in Washington, D.C.
The US Treasury Department has extended for another 30 days a sanctions waiver allowing at-risk countries to purchase Russian oil shipments at sea, as supply disruptions linked to the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continue to roil global energy markets.
The Trump administration has allowed a controversial waiver on sanctions targeting Russian seaborne oil to expire, reimposing restrictions that had temporarily enabled countries such as India to continue purchasing Russian crude despite Western efforts to curb Moscow’s wartime revenues.
The Trump-Xi summit offered fresh clues about how Beijing is positioning itself on Iran amid growing tensions over sanctions, regional security, and the future of energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Representative Brian Mast told RFE/RL during a Council on Foreign Relations event that he believes Europe should take greater responsibility for supporting Ukraine because the war is "in their backyard."
Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute focusing on national security and transatlantic relations, told RFE/RL in an interview that Iran appears to be borrowing directly from Russia’s negotiation strategy.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Sam Brownback argued that Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly operating as part of a “dark alliance” of authoritarian states -- one built on surveillance technology, censorship, ideological control, and the suppression of religious and civil society groups.
A senior US State Department official warned that Russia is likely to reposition forces toward NATO’s eastern flank once the war in Ukraine ends, raising concerns that the Baltic states could face intensified military and hybrid pressure from Moscow in the years ahead.
The United States has announced an additional $1.8 billion in humanitarian assistance for UN-led relief operations worldwide, including continued support for Ukraine.
At the center of the congressional push is the Ukraine Support Act, legislation that would authorize more than $1 billion in direct security assistance for Kyiv, provide $8 billion in loans, tighten sanctions on Russia, and limit presidential authority to unilaterally lift existing sanctions.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Ken Moriyasu, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, says Beijing may tactically help ease tensions between Washington and Tehran, but will resist any effort that could threaten the survival of Iran’s regime.
The latest exchange between Washington and Tehran over a proposed path toward de-escalation has raised new questions about what comes next in the growing crisis around the Strait of Hormuz.
Former senior US diplomat Gordon Gray, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under President George W. Bush, says indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran are likely to continue despite what he described as significant pain and pressure on both sides.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to steady ties with Italy and the Vatican during a visit to Rome shaped by disputes over Iran, NATO, and migration. He also defended Washington’s military posture in the Middle East and warned Tehran against trying to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Barry Pavel, a former senior director for defense policy and strategy at the National Security Council, who served as a special assistant to the president under George W. Bush, unpacks the strategic meaning behind recent developments in the US war with Iran.
For retired four-star general Philip Breedlove, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the Iran crisis is exposing a West that is “more divided than its adversaries.”
With tensions high in the Strait of Hormuz, retired US Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murrett spoke to RFE/RL about the challenges, concerns, and potential solutions. The US military posture “is important in creating leverage for a diplomatic solution that would allow free and open navigation,” he said.
As the Iran war strains ties between Washington and its European allies, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting Rome and the Vatican in a trip analysts say is as much about damage control as diplomacy.
Mark Katz, professor emeritus at George Mason University and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, tells RFE/RL in an interview that Moscow is walking a narrowing tightrope -- one that could reshape its influence both in Tehran and far beyond.
Max Meizlish, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former official at the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), looks behind the "mafia state" that makes up the Iranian regime.
Matthew Tavares, a former Pentagon analyst, tells RFE/RL the West is no longer facing a partnership of convenience between Moscow and Tehran, but a strategic alignment that spans the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of warfare.
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