The capability of reaching a final nuclear agreement is in constant jeopardy as long as President Obama continues to implement the Obama Doctrine in spite of sharp opposition from stakeholders both at home and abroad.

Iran’s influence is spreading. It exerts control over Hezbollah in Beirut, over Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, over the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and now over the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

“For the first time in 1600 years, no Christmas and Easter masses were celebrated in Mosul.”

Neither side really wants a full-scale war, but unintended escalation is very much possible.

Sunni Wahhabism or Shi’ite fundamentalism paired with nuclear weapons or access to nuclear material is a nightmare scenario of the worst sort.

During the course of the next 12 months, we could easily see development in one or more of these threats: a total meltdown in Iraq and neighbouring Middle Eastern states; a nuclear Iran, toward which Israel might well lose its patience, in the absence of meaningful American support; and a renewed Russian campaign against the rest of Ukraine, or even a Baltic state or two

The United States recently signed a $11 billion arms deal with the tiny Persian Gulf sheikdom, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member, Qatar. The deal included twenty-five AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Patriot air defence missile batteries and portable Javelin anti-tank missiles. It constitutes the biggest arms deal the United States has undertaken this year and comes after four-years of selling those GCC states billions and billions of dollars worth of arms and military technology.

An independent report on the 1 September 2013 massacre at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, published on the one-year anniversary of the attack, has confirmed the suspected involvement of the government of outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The report, which incorporates the testimonies of the 42 surviving eyewitnesses to the massacre, was compiled by the Human Security Centre (HSC), a London-based global foreign policy think tank; and the Ashraf Campaign (ASHCAM), a human rights group set up last year to advocate for Iranian refugees living in Iraq.

The deadline for a nuclear agreement with Iran has been extended until November 2014, whilst the sides try to bridge gaps that remain between them. At this time, the consequences of an agreement, and those of a failure to reach one, could define regional stability and security in the near future.

The decision by the UK government to take steps towards the re-opening of the UK Embassy in Iran carries with it a potentially dangerous precedent, firstly in misrepresenting the values supposedly underlining UK foreign policy, and secondly in providing tacit approval for Iran's current actions, and by extension how Iranis conducting itself regionally and internationally.