Whatever happened to the Iranian cyberthreat? Not all that long ago, American officials were preoccupied with the growing disruptive capabilities that the Islamic Republic had begun to demonstrate on the World-Wide Web. That, however, was before the start of negotiations over Iran's atomic program in 2013. Those talks allowed Iran's cyber activities to recede from public view, as policymakers in Washington focused their attention on nuclear diplomacy with Tehran, while Iranian hackers temporarily became more cautious in their choice of targets and the visibility of their attacks. More recently, worries about Iran's cyber capabilities have taken a back seat to concerns regarding Iran's growing conventional military might, and its mounting regional adventurism in places like Syria and Yemen.

The world "should wait for our great move," said a top Hamas leader, speaking to Palestinian protestors during violent clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border, "when we breach the borders and pray at al Aqsa."

With hundreds around him chanting, "We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs," and with 20,000 Palestinians protesting along the border - some burning tires, others throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks - Yahya Sinwar declared during April protests that Hamas was "following in the path of martyr Yasser Arafat in resisting the enemy" and "if we explode we will explode in [Israel's] face."

The Islamic Republic's war on women;
A kinder, gentler gulf posture?;
Mismanagement adds to Iran's water woes;
A different kind of insurance policy;
Iran's increasingly rickety rial

Russia's troublesome Taliban ties;
A new focus on nuclear competition

Iran's persistent headscarf protests;
A public rebuke to Rouhani;
The Islamic Republic's complicated approach to cryptocurrency;
Soleimani's star rises

Responding to the PA's terrorism racket;
Pakistan's tactical counterterrorism;
How Israel helped thwart an ISIS airline plot;
Squeezed in Iraq and Syria, ISIS heads east

Military skirmishes and escalating threats between Iran and Israel of late are raising the risks of a catastrophic regional war, prompting questions about what the United States should do to prevent it.

To date, President Donald Trump has focused more attention on defeating the Islamic State group in Syria than on preventing Iran from filling the resulting void with its own military and proxy forces and, in the process, further implanting itself in Syria as part of its quest for a land corridor all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

The question of Khamenei's legitimacy;
Using Moscow to hedge against Washington;
Iraq's militias look to Iran

Russia digs in in Syria;
Expanding the definition of "foreign agent"

The Russian threat to NATO connectivity;
In post-conflict Syria, the advantage goes to Russia