Back with Trita Parsi
On 7 May 2026, Trita Parsi and I were on the podcast of the “Community Alliance 4 Peace and Justice” hosted by Mehlaqa Samdani. It provided us with an excellent opportunity to talk about President Trump’s “Project Freedom,” which he announced on 3 May 2026 and launched the following day, 4 May 2026, only to pause it the following day, 5 May 2026.
It is clear that the president is desperately searching for a way to bring the war to an end on favorable terms for the US and Israel, but just can’t find a workable strategy. Trita and I believe there is no way he can win this war in any meaningful way, and indeed, the US and Israel have lost it. Trita, however, is a bit more optimistic than I am about getting a meaningful ceasefire and working out a deal that ends the war. Let’s hope he is right.
"The New World Order Refuses to Die Quietly"
China is rapidly undermining US power through economic development and trade links with countries around the world.
The US seeks to forestall and reverse this process through the political coercion of friends and conducting military assaults against foes.
What stands out to me most in the Iran-US-Israel dynamic is that many Western analysts still assume overwhelming force automatically creates control. History suggests otherwise.
Iran’s real advantage is endurance, strategic patience, and its ability to impose long-term economic and geopolitical costs without needing conventional superiority. The longer this drags on, the more the conflict becomes about exposing the limits of American and Israeli power projection rather than “defeating” Iran outright.
And once energy markets, shipping lanes, and regional infrastructure become part of the equation, escalation stops being easily manageable.