A view of Tehran's skyline at dawn after several explosions were heard in the city on Oct. 26. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

Today, the United Nations Security Council is convening to discuss Israel’s recent airstrikes on Iran. “This was a serious escalation,” Chatham House’s Sanam Vakil told FP’s Rishi Iyengar. Still, Vakil said, “Israel has been relatively calibrated” in avoiding an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities or its energy sector.

For this and other reasons, experts hope de-escalation in the short term might be possible. Iran’s response has been muted so far, and Israel has a narrow window in which to act before the U.S. election on Nov. 5.

Meanwhile, the feared Israel-Hezbollah war is happening, “but it is remarkably one-sided so far,” wrote Georgetown University’s Daniel Byman and Skyeler Jackson. Following Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies in September, it commenced a large-scale military campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s response “appears anemic,” write Byman and Jackson, who speculate the most likely explanation is the militant group’s lack of capacity.

In Gaza, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month might not have been the turning point many imagine, as FP columnist Steven A. Cook argued at the time. On a recent FP Live, Gen. David Petraeus spoke with FP editor-in-chief Ravi Agrawal about how Israel’s thinking might change following Sinwar’s death. “I don’t think that a strategy of ‘clear and leave’ is going to ensure the destruction of Hamas,” Petraeus said, “nor will it provide a better future for the Palestinian people.”—Amelia Lester, deputy editor

New and Noteworthy

FP Live

Oct. 28-Nov. 1, join FP’s special election series, America Votes: What It Means for the World. FP’s Ravi Agrawal will be joined for a set of conversations with regional policy experts, broadcasting each day this week. It’s the United States’ election, but it matters for the whole world. Explore what’s at stake—this series is free and open to all to watch on-demand.

America Votes: What it Means for the Middle East
Oct. 28 | 11 a.m. EDT
The next president will be tasked with containing an escalating regional crisis in the Middle East. After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States sought to decrease its involvement in the region, but recent months have shown that desire to be futile. How might presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris differ in their approach to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as their broader strategy toward managing Iran, among other priorities? Chatham House’s Sanam Vakil and FP columnist Steven A. Cook will join. Register now.

America Votes: What it Means for Europe
Oct. 29 | 11 a.m. EDT
The transatlantic relationship might be the most obvious area of difference between Trump and Harris. Trump has threatened to pull out of NATO; Harris doubled down on the alliance in Munich. Harris has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “murderous dictator”; Trump boasts of their good relationship. How is Europe preparing for this future? Nathalie Tocci, the director of Rome’s Istituto Affari Internazionali, and Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, will join. Register now.

America Votes: What it Means for Africa
Oct. 30 | 11 a.m. EDT
Africa has been neglected by recent administrations; the last presidential visit was in 2015, though Joe Biden is due to visit Angola in December. How will the next president handle this large and diverse continent? Will trade and infrastructure be prioritized, or will African nations merely be a pawn in Chinese-American competition? Martin Kimani, a former Kenyan ambassador to the U.N., and Zainab Usman, the director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Africa Program, will join. Register now.

America Votes: What it Means for Latin America
Oct. 31 | 11 a.m. EDT
Latin America has largely come up as a scapegoat for immigration and drug cartels. But it’s a region that contains the United States’ largest trading partner, Mexico, and is also the site for intense geopolitical competition. What do we know about how Trump and Harris will manage relations with the region? Moisés Naím, a former Venezuelan minister of trade and industry and now chief international columnist for El País, and Catherine Osborn, the writer of Foreign Policy’s weekly Latin America Brief, will join. Register now.

America Votes: What it Means for Asia
Nov. 1 | 11 a.m. EDT
As China’s influence in Asia and around the world grows, how will the next U.S. president manage the world’s most important relationship? And beyond China, how do Trump and Harris compare on their approach toward other Asian countries? Ryan Hass, a former director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the White House National Security Council, and Lynn Kuok, the Lee Kuan Yew chair in Southeast Asia studies at the Brookings Institution, will join. Register now.

Álvaro Bernis illustration for Foreign Policy

Ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 5, FP is exploring the connection between foreign policy and the battleground states that will decide the election. How do foreign-policy issues affect how these states vote? Explore these compelling stories from the series, and keep an eye on FP’s Election 2024 hub page for all the developments integral to understanding the deeper geopolitical context of the upcoming election.

FP GUIDE TO GRADUATE EDUCATION

How Top Graduate Programs Prepare Global Leaders

The ever-evolving field of international relations demands that the next generation of leaders be equipped with the tools that a graduate education provides: a theoretical foundation from which to analyze complex global issues and practical experiences that hone one’s skills. Read how leading schools prepare students to excel in their chosen careers.

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