https://www.scmp.com/rss/521527/feed Peiman Salehi is a political analyst focusing on Iran’s foreign policy, multipolarity, and global South alignments. He explores post-Western diplomacy and alternative global orders. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi On most nights, the sound that defines Tehran is not conversation or traffic. Instead, it is a distant explosion, a jet overhead, a pause in the rhythm of ordinary life. A few days ago, that distance collapsed. An explosion in eastern Tehran, where I live, shattered the windows of our home. Glass fell across my books and laptop, damaging it beyond repair. For a moment, the abstract language of conflict became immediate and physical. And yet, almost as quickly, life resumed. The city has not... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347576/life-iran-illustrates-shifting-realities-amid-us-israel-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347576/life-iran-illustrates-shifting-realities-amid-us-israel-war?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:30:09 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi The United States’ forcible removal of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from power has reignited a debate over international law and sovereignty. But this risks obscuring a more consequential fact: global energy markets are not governed primarily by liberal market logic, but are shaped by geopolitical strategy. Venezuela matters less as a case in itself than as a signal of how energy is being repositioned amid intensifying US-China economic competition. For decades, many assumed that energy... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3338823/energy-markets-are-political-venezuela-latest-proof?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3338823/energy-markets-are-political-venezuela-latest-proof?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:30:14 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi For much of the modern era, power was easy to recognise. It belonged to the states that could win wars decisively, enforce sanctions effectively and impose political outcomes far beyond their borders. That definition no longer works. The world is moving towards what scholars have described as a form of “distributed multipolarity”, a landscape in which no single actor – not the United States, not China, not Russia – can fully shape events in the way great powers once expected. Tools once seen as... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3335006/welcome-world-where-wars-dont-end-and-sanctions-dont-work?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3335006/welcome-world-where-wars-dont-end-and-sanctions-dont-work?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Dec 2025 21:30:09 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi The arrival of United States President Donald Trump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, may appear to be a routine diplomatic gesture, but it carries far greater symbolic weight. His visit marks a turning point in Washington’s struggle to remain relevant in a world where its power no longer defines the terms of engagement. For decades, Asia listened when America spoke. Today, it still listens, but it no longer obeys. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was born in an era when the Global... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3330749/gone-are-days-unlimited-us-power-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3330749/gone-are-days-unlimited-us-power-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Oct 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi The rejection of the Russian-Chinese proposal at the UN Security Council on September 26 closed the final diplomatic window to delay the return of sanctions against Iran. This moment signals a turning point in Gulf security and global power dynamics. For Tehran, already battered by inflation and economic isolation, the return of sanctions narrows options and makes asymmetric responses more likely. The Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly one-fifth of global oil supply passes, remains Iran’s... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3327585/return-iran-sanctions-moment-reckoning-china-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3327585/return-iran-sanctions-moment-reckoning-china-and-world?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:30:08 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi At the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged member states to accelerate the creation of an SCO development bank, a proposal that could mark a turning point in Asia’s financial landscape. While headlines focused on the high-profile presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Xi’s proposal points to the SCO’s evolution from a security bloc into a financial actor. Xi also pledged US$1.4... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3324123/how-sco-development-bank-could-shift-global-financial-order?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3324123/how-sco-development-bank-could-shift-global-financial-order?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:30:07 +0000 Peiman Salehi Peiman Salehi At the latest Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, much of the attention was focused on efforts to advance a multipolar world order. However, the meeting also highlighted a quiet but decisive shift taking place between two of its members – Iran and China. Iran’s growing role in shaping new pathways for the Global South and Beijing’s support for Tehran’s accession to Brics underscore the strategic importance of this shift. Iran was officially invited to join Brics in August 2023. This... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3317371/irans-eastward-pivot-why-china-now-tehrans-strategic-default?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3317371/irans-eastward-pivot-why-china-now-tehrans-strategic-default?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Jul 2025 21:30:06 +0000