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Since October 7, 2023 and the launch of the genocidal war on Gaza, the U.S. and Israel have manufactured a reality in the Middle East—a new reality in which ceasefires have been redefined as a diplomatic cudgel to incapacitate any resistance to Israel’s wars and force surrender. Israel can continue its attacks, claiming self defense, while local, indigenous forces or resistance groups must adhere...

In mid-June, the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that was formally intended to bring a halt to the war and open a path for negotiations on a range of issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran, however, made clear that it would not proceed to any long-term deal unless the U.S. compelled Israel to end its war against Lebanon. Since the signing of the MOU, Isra...

The United States and Iran continue to push forward with talks building on their recently signed MOU to end the current war and resolve outstanding differences between the two countries related to sanctions and the Iranian nuclear program. Following the failure of the joint U.S.-Israeli attack against Iran, Tehran has put forward what amount to victors’ terms in ongoing negotiations; including ful...

The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement early Monday to extend the ceasefire for 60 days and open the Strait of Hormuz. The text of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) has not been released, but Iran has publicly indicated that the deal includes a permanent cessation of military operations across all fronts, including Lebanon specifically. The signing of the agreement is set for...

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed over the past two months that a deal with Iran is imminent. Following an exchange of military attacks between Iran and Israel this week, Trump is treading in familiar narrative waters. Iran has made clear it remains open to a deal and charges that the basic contours of an agreement were in place weeks ago. Trump, Iranian officials charged, sabotaged an...

Tehran suspended ceasefire negotiations over Israel’s escalating attacks in Lebanon and U.S. strikes on Iranian shipping, as any prospect of a deal grows increasingly remote. Iran’s Foreign Ministry says a permanent Lebanon ceasefire is now a prerequisite for any agreement, while Strait of Hormuz closures send fertilizer and diesel prices soaring. At the same time, Israel is pursuing a systematic...

Iran on Tuesday denounced U.S. strikes a day earlier as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations for a framework for a deal to end the war hang in the balance. The U.S. military confirmed that it had struck vessels near the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Monday in what called “self-defense strikes,” while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it shot down a MQ...

As President Donald Trump struggles to find a path to declare victory in his war of choice against Iran, he now claims he called off a resumption of military attacks he said were planned for Tuesday. Trump announced Monday that a planned military strike on Iran had been postponed at the personal request of the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, because “serious negotiati...

The ongoing deadlock between Iran and the U.S. over the Strait of Hormuz is now triggering a global economic crisis whose impacts are increasingly being felt at home. Any prospect of negotiations at present appears remote, as Donald Trump claims that the ceasefire between the two countries is on “life support,” while Iran maintains control of the vital waterway. The impact of the war has already b...

The U.S. military escalation in the Strait of Hormuz is taking center stage as President Donald Trump contemplates whether to resume the war against Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire remains in effect despite some limited military activity since Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. would begin an operation to “guide” merchant vessels from the Strait of Hormuz....

The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday it will leave OPEC effective May 1, ending its membership in the oil cartel that dates to 1967 and removing the group’s third-largest energy producer. Drop Site’s Ryan Grim, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, and Maysa Mustafa discuss the implications of the move. They are also joined by Jacquline Sweet to discuss her latest investigation revealing the highest pai...

Uncertainty remains over whether a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran will take place in Pakistan before the ceasefire agreement between the two countries is set to expire on Wednesday. As of Tuesday afternoon, there has been no official confirmation from either Washington or Tehran on whether the talks will happen. Drop Site’s Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill discuss the current state of pl...

Drop Site’s journalism is free to read because thousands of readers choose to fund it. If our work matters to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. The war against Iran launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 has not gone according to plan. What was initially portrayed as a quick regime change action that would destroy the Islamic Republic and spark a domestic uprisin...

Negotiations in Islamabad between Iran and the United States this past weekend ran for 21 hours from Saturday into Sunday and failed to produce a deal. When Vice President JD Vance emerged from the talks, he said that the U.S. had presented Iran with its “final and best offer,” framing the impasse around nuclear specifically—a framing Iran rejected. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who hel...

A fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire took hold this week as President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. warships and troops deployed to the Middle East for the war will remain in the region. Meanwhile, Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf will reportedly join Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in leading talks in Islamabad with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Ghalibaf reitera...

As heavy U.S.-Israeli airstrikes pounded targets across Iran on Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated his extreme threats against all Iranians in a post on social media, writing: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” Trump had previously given a deadline of Tuesday 8 p.m. ET to “Open the F****n’ Strait, you...

As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran stretches into its fourth week, Tehran is denying claims by President Donald Trump that the U.S. and Iran are in the midst of negotiations to end the war, saying that no direct talks are occurring. Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim , and Murtaza Hussain discuss the latest. Grim and Hussain are also joined by journalist Alexis Daloumis  on the ground in Sulaymani...

On Tuesday, Israel announced that it assassinated Iran’s top security official, Ali Larijani and the head of Irani’s internal security force and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on Iranians to begin preparing to overthrow the government in Tehran. President Donald Trump and his senior aides claim that Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capacity has largely been decimated and that Iran...

In an exclusive interview with Drop Site News, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Esmail Baghaei rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that he launched the war because Iran was “going to attack first,” calling it a “big lie.” “There was no intention on the part of Iran to attack the United States,” he said. “They claim that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States,” Baghaei added. “Did we...

Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss the latest developments in the U.S.-Israel war on Iran with Karim Makdisi, an associate professor at the American University of Beirut and a co-host, with his brothers, of the Makdisi Street podcast. With Hezbollah entering the war and Israel slowly moving troops into Lebanon, they discuss the spreading conflict in the context of I...

The U.S. and Israel continue to attack Iran in a massive bombing campaign that President Donald Trump characterized as the start of a regime change war. Tehran has launched an unprecedented series of retaliatory attacks at U.S. military bases and other targets across the region and has hit Israel with a series of intense missile strikes. There are widespread reports that the US-led attacks have ki...

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, there is a flurry of activity taking place inside the White House and Pentagon as Trump continues to deliberate whether he will authorize military strikes on Iran. A new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran are scheduled for Thursday in Geneva. Iranian officials tell Drop Site they are showing an “almost unbelievable level of flexib...

With a U.S. military build-up unprecedented since the 2003 Iraq invasion underway in the Middle East, Iran may soon find itself in the cross-hairs of a massive military onslaught. President Donald Trump has publicly said that diplomatic channels with Iran remain open and Iranian diplomats say they are in the process of drafting a document responding to U.S. demands recently presented in the indire...

On Friday, the High Court in the United Kingdom ruled on Friday that the government’s ban on the pro-Palestine direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful. The ruling marked a major legal victory for the group, which was founded in 2020 and campaigns against companies complicit in “the occupation, apartheid and genocide of Palestine,” with a focus on Israeli weapo...

The so-called Board of Peace that President Donald Trump officially launched in Davos, Switzerland last week is developing sweeping plans for a U.S.-backed administration to rule Gaza. Leaked documents exclusively reported on by Jonathan Whittall show the Board’s bureaucratic plans for total control of Gaza—without Palestinian participation or input. Whittall, who was a senior UN official in Pales...