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US sailors conduct routine maintenance on a jet blast deflector on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on July 9, 2025. (US Navy)
Middle East
Middle East
Header image
Commentary
Caption
Military personnel arrive in a Chinook before Iraqi soldiers take part in a live-fire exercise for under the surveillance of US-led coalition forces at Basmaya base, Iraq on January 27, 2016. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
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Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants take part in an anti-Israel rally in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 18, 2015. (SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images)
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U.S. President Barack Obama, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R), at the White House November 6, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a press conference on January 17, 2016 in the capital Tehran. (ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
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St. Elijah's Monastery, Mosul, Iraq, February 15, 2005, before its destruction. (Doug/Wikimedia)
Commentary
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Screenshot of the Iranian news program that aired footage of the 10 U.S. sailors who were taken hostage. (Sepah News)
Experts
James Barnett
Research Fellow
Michael Doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
