On the Middle East with Amberin Zaman

President Donald Trump says he has ruled out plans to ally with armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, after previously suggesting he would like them to help overthrow the Iranian regime. However, Asso Hassan Zadeh, a prominent figure in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, says there is reason to believe otherwise and that such an alliance may still be on the table.

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Iranian political scientist Hamidreza Azizi explains that a nuclear deal with the United States would be widely opposed by Iranians. He says trust in the regime has been irreparably damaged following the mass killings of protesters.

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Efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the US-Iranian standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program are continuing apace. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains implacably opposed to any concessions.

Iranian historian Arash Azizi discusses the suffering of ordinary Iranians and outlines the scenarios that could unfold as the regime faces its gravest threat since the 1979 Revolution.

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The Kurds of northeast Syria have suffered a series of humiliating setbacks over the past month, losing more than 80% of the territory they once controlled to central government forces. A US-mediated truce averted a potential bloodbath. Meghan Bodette of the Kurdish Peace Institute says new opportunities may be emerging, but ordinary Kurds expect their leaders to acknowledge the mistakes that led them here.

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UK historian Christopher de Bellaige says Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will fight till the bitter end as will the formidable Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. But their success is no longer guaranteed amid threats of US intervention and a new generation of young and fearless protestors bent on their fall.

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A fifth round of US-brokered talks between Israel and Syria began in Paris on Jan. 5. Elizabeth Tsurkov, a senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, explains why Israel may finally yield to US pressure and sign a security agreement with Syria’s new Islamist government — while remaining unlikely to extend the same protections to Syria’s Kurds as it does to the Druze.

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Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE are escalating anew in Yemen. Al-Monitor senior editor Joyce Karam says the clash is real, leaving the Trump administration torn between its top regional allies.

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Murad Ismael, a prominent Yazidi activist who has worked tirelessly to draw attention to his people’s ongoing plight following one of the first genocides of the 21st century, is vowing to change the way politics are practiced in Iraq.

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Chatham House senior fellow Renad Mansour explains why Iraq remains even more vital for Iran in the wake of its humiliating 12-day conflict with Israel, and how renewed US interest in Iraq with the appointment of a new envoy is adding to the heat.

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On the eve of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's historic meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington on Nov. 10, Al-Monitor spoke with former US Ambassador Barbara Leaf, the first senior US official to formally meet with him after the fall of the Assad regime.

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