The Gulf’s Wartime Unity Is Unraveling Some states want escalation; others are pushing for restraint.

The Iran war has underscored long-standing differences in how Gulf states perceive threats, manage risk, and position themselves within the regional order.

U.S. and Iran Agree to 2-Week Cease-Fire The announcement came less than two hours before Trump’s deadline was set to expire.

Iran has agreed to the two-week truce, but the warring parties offered conflicting accounts on the terms. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/07/i...

The War Will End With a Hormuz Toll Booth Iran will likely control the waterway. The question is whether diplomats find a way of making that workable.

An Iran-Oman transit authority would not just become a reparations mechanism but a regional security architecture, writes Amir Handjani.

Trump Is Attacking Iranians, Not Just Iran The destruction of infrastructure is killing ordinary people.

The war has already resulted in the devastation of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and the resentment and anger of many anti-regime Iranians toward the U.S. and Israel. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/07/t...

There’s a heated debate in Washington about the next steps in Iran. Should the White House exit and declare victory, or try to finish the job?

John Bolton will join FP Live on April 9 to discuss Trump’s strategy.

Register here: foreignpolicy.com/live/bolton-...

Preventing an Iranian Bomb Is Only Getting Harder A weaker, angrier, more suspicious regime with a less cautious supreme leader and leverage over Hormuz. What could go wrong?

At the end of the war, Iran will still almost certainly have the core ingredients needed to build a bomb—and more incentive than ever to do so.

China’s Absence Draws America Deeper Into Risky Wars The lack of a counterweight encourages intervention and overreach.

Beijing has no interest in becoming embroiled in a U.S. war in the Middle East.

Free Trade Is Dead in Washington Trumpian chaos conceals a wider bipartisan shift aimed at China.

In Washington, concerns about tariffs have become secondary to the fear that without protection, China will eclipse the United States. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/06/t...

Democrats Already Have an Affordability Agenda They should reclaim key parts of Joe Biden’s record, rather than run from it.

The last president built a serious federal agenda and made real progress on the pressures crushing U.S. families: jobs, housing, health care, energy, education, and child care.

In Defense of the Hive Mind Vince Gilligan’s “Pluribus” asks whether an AI-led society would really be that bad.

“Pluribus” dares to question if a world run by machine learning and automated decision-making might be the only panacea for modern life.

India’s Stranded Seafarers Hope New Delhi Can Save Them The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has left thousands of Indian sailors at risk.

Approximately 20,000 seafarers are still stranded on the ships stuck west of the Strait of Hormuz, writes Kanika Gupta.

Russia’s River of Consciousness An undercover journalist travels the Volga to catch a glimpse of life under Putin.

“Volga Blues” is Marzio Mian’s chronicle of a monthlong journey he took down the entire 2,000-mile river in the summer of 2023.

Two Takes on Modern France Plus, more international fiction releases in April.

This month, FP’s editors are reading the latest in French literature, with a pair of novels that channel old philosophical traditions into new perspectives on the country today.

Trump’s Rhetorical Terror Violent language has become a consistent and completely counterproductive part of Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

The administration’s rhetoric squanders global goodwill and generates further resistance.

Sing, O Muse, of the Rage of Donald Trump! The war in Iran has all the elements of a Greek tragedy.

As in so many Greek tragedies, the root cause of this disaster is hubris, writes columnist Emma Ashford. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/06/t...

The Lost Children of Minab It has been one month since missiles struck a school in the Iranian port town.

It has been one month since missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh school, killing at least 171 people, most of them children. Stefanie Glinski and Mohammad Mohsenifar report on a grieving city.

Iran’s Zarif Wants a Bilateral Reset With U.S. That the Gulf Can’t Accept Former FM’s terms for ending the war leave out the states that absorbed the most damage.

Mohammad Javad Zarif’s proposed regional security network is an attempt to insert Tehran into the postwar architecture before it is built without Iran at the table, writes Muhanad Seloom.

Today on FP Live: Meghan L. O’Sullivan will join FP’s Ravi Agrawal at 4:00PM ET to discuss the latest in the war in Iran and the global energy shock.

Tune in live: foreignpolicy.com/live/meghan-...

Pakistan’s Peacemaking Is a Setback for India As Islamabad positions itself as a mediator in the Iran war, New Delhi is sidelined.

Islamabad has cast itself as a neutral mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Iran Is the Dumb, Disastrous Remake of Desert Storm Trump is trying to rerun the first Gulf War, badly, in an international system that won’t allow it.

If Trump is looking for a rerun of the 1991 Gulf War, he is likely to be disappointed.

The Next Global Food Crisis Has Already Begun Blocked fertilizer shipments plus La Niña spell trouble for farmers around the world.

The foundation of tomorrow’s food supply is rapidly deteriorating.

U.S.-South Korea Relations Are at Breaking Point The Iran war has confirmed how little Washington cares for its ally’s welfare.

The U.S.-South Korea alliance is close to rupturing, and Washington is at fault.

The Energy Shock Hits Latin America The Iran war has led the region’s leaders to recalibrate their economic policies.

The global energy shock has hit Latin America, bringing with it both economic pressures and heated political conversations.

How China Reinvented the BRI Western tariffs accelerated its transformation into a sophisticated extension of China’s industrial policy.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative hasn’t just returned; it has also been fundamentally repurposed.

Why Jet Fuel Is the Real Harbinger of the Energy Crisis The Iran war is torching the products that make the world go around.

The price of jet fuel has more than doubled in the month since the war began to more than $195 a barrel as a global average.

Why Trump’s Speech Was So Worrying Certain outcomes to the U.S. war in Iran now seem more likely than ever.

Trump’s rashness and inconsistency have likely led governments worldwide to further reconsider the soundness of a U.S.-led global order. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/03/t...

Outsource AI Risk to the Right People Nuclear history shows the importance of keeping skeptics in the room when thinking about safety.

Nuclear history shows that the scientists who built a transformative technology repeatedly failed to control it.

How Hezbollah Stands to Benefit From an Israeli Invasion A renewed occupation could play to the guerrilla group’s strengths.

As Israel moves to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah appears to be calculating that a war of attrition would play to its strengths, writes columnist Anchal Vohra.

America’s War Machine Runs on Tungsten—and It Could Run Out U.S. operations in Iran risk draining limited U.S. stocks.

The U.S. war machine is reliant on a powerful metal that you’ve likely never heard of: tungsten.

Will the Iran War Evaporate the Gulf’s AI Oasis? The Iran war has punctured—though not completely popped—the region’s tech bubble.

The Gulf states’ investments in U.S. tech have continued apace even during the war.