Cover: Edited version of US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps aircraft along with US Army Patriot missile batteries line up on the runway for an elephant walk during a routine operational readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base in Japan on May 6, 2025. (US Air Force)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sits beside Iranian officials and other leaders during his swearing-in ceremony in Tehran on July 30, 2024. On the first row, second to the left, is Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. (Getty Images)
Cover: Edited version of US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps aircraft along with US Army Patriot missile batteries line up on the runway for an elephant walk during a routine operational readiness exercise at Kadena Air Base in Japan on May 6, 2025. (US Air Force)
Mourners carry the coffins of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, during a funeral procession on January 4, 2020. (Mohammed Sawaf via Getty Images)
Worshippers take part in a fitness session after prayer in a mosque of the Bagcilar district in Istanbul on February 8, 2024. (Yasin Akgul via Getty Images)
A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service raises the victory gesture as others hold upside-down the black flag of the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq, on June 30, 2017. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)
Gloria and Ken Levy Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Aaron Y Zelin
Commentary
Long Read
Caption
Afghan security forces patrol during ongoing clashes between security forces and Islamic State militants in eastern Nangarhar province on July 26, 2016. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leads Friday prayer in Tehran, Iran, on October 4, 2024. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)