The Week’s Most Interesting Reads

This is America’s Middle East strategy on steroids. Stephen Walt explains that “Trump has if anything doubled down on U.S. support for America’s traditional Middle East client states.”

New sanctions on Iran threaten humanitarian trade. Esfandyar Batmanghelidj explains the significance of the sanctions designation of Parsian Bank for the financing of food and medical imports.

Is Trump’s Iran policy meant to start a war? Trita Parsi and Sina Azodi warn that the administration’s pressure campaign could lead to war.