In his inaugural address this January, Donald Trump declared that his proudest legacy would be that of “a peacemaker and unifier”, pledging that US power would “stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable”.
Five months later, his second presidency is witnessing the spectacular unraveling of that lofty aspiration.
A president who vowed to end global conflicts – including one which he said he would resolve within his first 24 hours – has instead presided over their escalation – most recently the spiraling conflict between Israel and Iran.
The timeline of the latest conflict resuggests a stark disconnect between Trump’s aspirations and reality: the wave of Israeli airstrikes came just hours afterTrump urged Israel not to attack Iran.
Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, took pains to describe the Israeli attack as “unilateral”, stressing that the US was “not involved in strikes against Iran” – only for Trump to then insist he had been well informed of Israel’s plans – and warn that further attacks would be “even more brutal”.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has emerged as Trump’s primary diplomatic negotiator in the Middle East and Ukraine, still reportedly plans to go to Oman this weekend for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, but it appeared unlikely the Iranians would attend.
Trump’s muddled peace agenda was already disarray long before Thursday’s attacks.
The Gaza ceasefire his administration helped broker collapsed within weeks, with Israel resuming massive bombardments and imposing a three-month total blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory, where the death toll has now surpassed at least 55,000.
In Ukraine – a conflict Trump once bragged he would end on his first day back in office – Russian forces have pressed ahead with a summer offensive, entering the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in three years and accumulating more forces – evidence that Putin has no interest in Trump’s peace overtures and intends to expand the war further.
Meanwhile, Trump’s abrupt announcement of a ceasefire between India and Pakistan was met with fury in New Delhi, where officials denied his claims of brokering the deal.
And while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged to Congress that the Pentagon has developed contingency plans to seize Greenland and Panama militarily, it’s unclear how territorial conquest fits into Trump’s definition of peacemaking.
His first term ended no wars, nearly sparked conflict with Iran, and saw his signature “peace” achievement – the Abraham accords – normalize relations between Israel and countries that weren’t fighting it anyway.
Part of Trump’s appeal to voters was precisely a promise to avoid foreign entanglements. In the stands at the inauguration viewing party, supporters told the Guardian how they valued his restraint in military deployment and favored his America-first approach that prioritized domestic concerns over international aid and intervention. And there is a an argument that for Trump peace is not an absence of conflict but rather Washington’s distance from it.
There is one potentially optimistic interpretation for the latest strikes in Iran. Alex Vatanka, the Iran director from the Middle East Institute in Washington, suggested that Israel’s attack could be a calculated gamble to shock Iran into serious negotiations. The theory holds that Israel convinced Trump to allow limited strikes that would pressure Tehran without triggering regime change, essentially using military action to restart stalled diplomacy. On Friday Trump suggested that the strike on Iran might have even improved the chances of a nuclear agreement.
“This is not likely to bring Iran back to the negotiating table,” said Andrew Borene, executive director of global security at Flashpoint and a former staff officer at the US’s office of the director of national intelligence. “It marks the opening of yet another rapidly expanding flashpoint within the global context of a new hybrid cold war, one that will be fought both on the ground and in the darkest corners of the web.”
Whether this strategy succeeds depends entirely on Iran’s response. The regime could either return to negotiations chastened, or abandon diplomacy altogether and pursue nuclear weapons more aggressively. Early indicators suggest Tehran may not be in a conciliatory mood after having its facilities bombed and leaders killed.
But even if the more optimistic readings prove correct, it does not change the broader reality: every major conflict Trump inherited or promised to resolve has intensified on his watch.
Trump promised to be a peacemaker. Instead, he’s managing multiple wars while his diplomatic initiatives collapse in real time. From Gaza to Ukraine to Iran, the world appears more volatile and dangerous than when he took his oath five months ago.
Understanding what is happening in the Middle East is more important than ever.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/14/trump-gaza-ukraine-iran-israel
Number of personnel in the armed forces
Air Force and missile defense
Missile and drone arsenal
Intelligence and special forces
Conclusions.
In terms of military power, Iran wins in terms of numbers: soldiers, missiles, drones, and a large fleet. However, Israel has a qualitative advantage: modern fighter jets, missile defense, cyber infrastructure, nuclear capabilities, and innovative technologies. In the event of war, Iran has the resources for a long-term, large-scale campaign, but Israel may be able to deliver a decisive technological blow first, with US support and thanks to its dominance in critical areas.
Former Iranian parliament member Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s presidential election, Tasnim news agency reported.
“The second stage of the presidential election was held on Friday, July 5, and according to the results of vote counting, Masoud Pezeshkian was elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the report said.
The agency noted that such a conclusion was made, “according to the announcement of the election headquarters spokesman, based on the counting of 30 million 530 thousand 157 votes received from all offices inside and outside the country.”
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank presented an analysis of the most important elections in the countries of the world in 2024, more video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=eGb95W02MgF6KzXU.
Subscribe to Experts Club’s youtube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
Active Group and Experts Club have conducted a joint study on the attitudes of Ukrainians towards the countries of East Asia and the Middle East. The research was presented at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency in June 2024. The research was presented by Maksym Urakin and Oleksandr Poznyi. The results of the study are as follows:
The results of the study are as follows:
Completely positive – 1.7
Mostly positive – 5.0
Mostly negative – 22.7
Completely negative – 53.6
Difficult to answer – 17.0%.
Positive – Negative – 69.6%.
On January 22, 1992, diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Iran were established. Since the end of January 1992, the Iranian Embassy has been operating in Kyiv.
The joint research by Active Group and Experts Club on the attitudes of Ukrainians towards the countries of East Asia and the Middle East was conducted in April-May 2024. It covers such countries as Turkey, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, India, China, Republic of Korea, DPRK, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Syria, and Iraq. Full information on the research is available on the website of the Club of Experts at
Video – https://interfax.com.ua/news/video/986648.html
A snap presidential election in Iran, organized in the wake of the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, is scheduled for June 28, Al-Arabiya TV channel reported on Monday.
According to Iranian media, candidate registration will take place from May 30 to June 3. The deadline for campaigning is from June 12 to the morning of June 27.
The day before, a helicopter carrying Iran’s president crashed in a mountainous area in heavy fog in the northwest of the country, near the border with Azerbaijan. On Monday morning it became known that all the people in the helicopter were killed. In particular, in addition to the president, Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdollahian died.
On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed that Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will serve as the country’s president. Khamenei also said that Mokhber will have a maximum of 50 days to hold the country’s presidential election.
In addition, according to Iranian media, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has been appointed acting foreign minister.
Earlier Experts Club think tank presented an analytical material about the most important elections in the countries of the world in 2024, more video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=eGb95W02MgF6KzXU Subscribe to Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
The Conservatives have won a majority of votes in the Iranian parliamentary elections, a number of Iranian media reported on Monday.
On March 4, the election commission completed the vote count in the elections to the country’s legislature. According to preliminary results, conservative candidates are leading in all provinces of Iran, including Tehran, local media reported.
The candidates will compete for 45 of the 290 seats in the parliament in the second round.
Approximately 25 million Iranian citizens took part in the March 1 elections to the country’s parliament and the Council of Experts. According to preliminary unofficial data, the turnout was approximately 41%.
A record number of candidates were allowed to participate in the parliamentary elections – more than 15.2 thousand people, which was almost 75% of the total number of candidates who initially registered. About 1.7 thousand of the candidates admitted to the elections are women.
According to the Iranian Constitution, five seats in the 290-seat parliament should go to representatives of religious minorities. 144 candidates competed for 88 seats in the Council of Experts, which elects the country’s Supreme Leader.
Many candidates who advocate reforms in Iran were banned from participating in the parliamentary elections, and some political figures, including former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, were not allowed to run for the Council of Experts, Iranian media reported.
The first meeting of the newly convoked parliament will be held in late May.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank made a video dedicated to the top 10 elections in the world this year. More detailed analysis is available at
