The reality is that the punitive measures to come could hurt Iranian officials more than previous ones, but the real victims again will be average Iranians. And let’s be honest, that’s the whole point.—Jason Rezaian

Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers?—French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire

Israel has every right to defend its borders, including the boundary with Gaza. But officials are unconvincing when they argue that only live ammunition — rather than tear gas, water cannons and other nonlethal measures — can protect Israel from being overrun.—NY Times Editorial

The full consequences of Trump's decision cannot be known, but they almost certainly will include a further erosion of America's credibility with its allies and others, and tacit encouragement for Iran to revive its nuclear program. That will be bad for the country and for the world.—Los Angeles Times editorial

That the Trump administration has evidently colluded with Israel to influence Americans’ understanding of a major strategic issue fits an established, dispiriting pattern. If the president can convince us that the Iran nuclear deal damages our national interest, which encompasses the security of our allies, very well. But if he can’t, then I’d prefer not to hear it from a foreign leader.—Steven Simon

It’s relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don’t really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.—Yuval Noah Harari

Everybody wants to right the world; nobody wants to help his neighbor.—Henry Miller

As I say, one needs either a heaven or a hell in which to flourish—until one arrives at that Paradise of his own creation, that middle realm which is not a bread-and-butter Utopia of which the masses dream but an interstellar realm in which one rolls along his orbit with sublime indifference. —Henry Miller

I want to tell you the Jewish people have a long memory, so we remember the proclamation of the great Cyrus the Great, Persian king, 2500 years ago, he proclaimed that the Jewish exile in Babylon could come back and build our temples in Jerusalem.—Benjamin Netanyahu to Donald Trump

With many experts speculating that the unrest in Iran is far from over, the day may not be far off when the Iranian people can seek justice for the crimes committed against them. By helping those people to retain access to the internet and social media, and by weakening the system’s repressive institutions through diplomatic démarches and other appropriate measures, the international community can help to protect the victims...—Juan E. Garcés, chief lawyer in Spanish legal case against Gen. Augusto Pinochet