On June 21, 2025, the United States joined the Israel-Iran conflict by conducting airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities—Operation Midnight Hammer. This attack—involving B-2 stealth bombers flown from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri—was the first ever direct U.S. military attack against Iranian territory and the first use of the…
When President Donald Trump huddled with his advisors in the Situation Room last Friday night, the first and most important question should have been: What is the best policy option to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon? The answer is beyond dispute: The best possible way to guarantee that…
The Trump administration is showing through words and deeds its disdain of the way previous administrations have pursued human rights for the last half century, but it has sent different signals about how it wants to change course. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has argued, in the foreign policy “realist” tradition,…
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-IRAN WAR Hours after President Trump announced that a ceasefire was “in effect,” Israel today accused Iran of breaching the terms of the truce…
President Donald Trump’s first few months in office have seen a flurry of actions seemingly designed to benefit powerful corporate interests. From weakening ethics rules to halting key enforcement mechanisms, these developments have raised serious concerns about the long-term health of U.S. regulatory institutions. But even amid domestic retrenchment, corporations…
On June 5, in Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Mexico’s lawsuit against seven U.S. gun manufacturers and one distributor is barred by the immunity they enjoy under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). The…
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-IRAN WAR — U.S. RESPONSE The U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear sites has widened its scope for a military response, Iran said today, adding, “Mr Trump,…
On June 21, the United States conducted airstrikes on three nuclear sites in Iran—Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan—marking the first direct U.S. military attack on Iran’s nuclear program. The strikes bring the United States directly into the Israel-Iran War that began on June 13 with Israeli attacks against Iranian nuclear and…
Israel / Iran A New War or a New Stage in an Ongoing War – Observations on June 13 Israeli Attack against Iran by Amichai Cohen and Yuval Shany Israel and Iran: A War with No Off-Ramp by Dalia Dassa Kaye Top Experts’ Backgrounder: Military Action Against Iran and US…
President Donald Trump’s controversial federalization of members of the California National Guard and his deployment of at least 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles has raised a series of novel, important, and challenging questions about the scope of the Executive Branch’s legal authorities when it comes to domestic use of…
Diplomats at the United Nations in New York have their 2025 buzzword: “UN80.” It’s a quintessential U.N.-style acronym for the reform process to mark the 80th anniversary of the U.N. system. While it sounds like a planned and virtuous project, in reality it is a hasty restructuring to balance the…
The United States maintains more than 750 military bases around the world—not just to fight wars, but to prevent them. That same principle has guided U.S. investment in the global footprint of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the agency tasked with protecting the health and security of Americans—to…
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-IRAN WAR — U.S. RESPONSE President Trump said yesterday that “based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or…
On the night of June 12, 2025, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began an ongoing campaign of airstrikes across Iran, bombing military facilities, nuclear sites, civilian industrial sites, and civilian apartment buildings. An IDF airstrike on one apartment building reportedly killed 20 children. By June 19, IDF airstrikes had killed…
This past weekend’s attacks targeting two Minnesota state lawmakers marks a deadly escalation of political violence in the United States and comes during a period of elevated threats against public officials at all levels of government. At the federal level, U.S. Capitol Police have documented a spike in threats against members…
Since late 2021, Just Security has published more than 300 articles analyzing the diplomatic, political, legal, economic, humanitarian, and other issues and consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine, including many in Ukrainian translation. The catalog below organizes our collection of articles primarily about the war into general categories to facilitate…
(Editor’s note: This article was originally published on June 21, 2019. It is republished today with an Authors’ note.) [June 18, 2025 Authors’ Update: With President Donald Trump reportedly considering bringing the United States directly into the armed conflict between Israel and Iran, and in particular offensive strikes against Iran’s…
In a health clinic in Uganda, a doctor recounts that five babies have been born HIV positive among the 20 deliveries at the facility between mid-January and mid-April, a devastating change after years of virtually eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The head of another Ugandan facility that provides HIV treatment…
A smartphone focuses on people clustered on a dark road, backlit by streetlights and sheltered by skinny trees. The group is protesting as part of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, which began in 2022 after Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman, died in police custody. The protesters are…
Just Security will be on a reduced schedule on Thursday, June 19, 2025, for the Juneteenth holiday. We will not be publishing daily newsletters or articles except in the case of breaking developments. Readers may be interested in catching up on Juneteenth Reading Recommendations from members of our community, and…