Iran starts talk of inking arms deals with Russia—not quite the behavior of a responsible status quo power in the Middle East.

Putin and the Ayatollah are getting together, but there are many things they won’t be discussing. President Obama’s strategic genius, for example.

Noises about centrifuge reductions notwithstanding, Tehran isn’t really showing the friendlier post-deal face some thought it might.

It turns out, Iran doesn’t seem to be all that interested in promoting a stable order in the Middle East in cooperation with the United States.

The Russian President announced that Bashar al-Assad would consent to a coalition government with a “so-called healthy” opposition, while refusing to rule out further Russian involvement in the war there.