On January 24th, a Russian-made Iranian passenger aircraft carrying 157 passengers and 13 crew crash-landed in northeastern Iran injuring at least 46 people. The Taban Air aeroplane caught fire upon landing at Mashhad airport at 7:20am local time. Iran has a bloody aviation history. Last July, a Caspian Airlines jet carrying 168 people crashed into […]
It is no secret that Arab governments have long worried about Iran’s growing influence in the region and they are trying to limit Iranian influence among its population. Here are some of the current news stories that highlight this tense relationship between Arab countries and Iran: Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported that Arabsat, leading […]
Two of Iran’s opposition leaders, Mohammed Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi, have apparently dropped their demand for a new presidential election, saying that while they still believe the vote in June was fraudulent, they accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of state. Mehdi Karroubi is a former presidential candidate, who has been very vocal in his […]
Disappointment over the Islamic Republic’s intransigence in its nuclear policy has given further credence to Western suspicions that Iran may be buying time to develop a nuclear military capability to blackmail regional states of the Persian Gulf and/or Israel. But at present, Iran’s deeply paranoid and insecure leadership is contemplating its other nuclear option: this […]
The Islamic Solidarity Games, which were to be held in Iran in April, have been called off because the countries could not agree on what to call the Persian Gulf. The Iranian organizers used the words “Persian Gulf” on the planned logo and medals, angering the Arab countries who call it Arabian Gulf. This debate […]
Sean Patrick Murphy, one of our own very bloggers here at FPA, looks at an acclaimed and Oscar-nominated Iranian movie “Children of Heaven”: http://globalfilm.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/01/19/children-of-heaven-1997/
As for China, long on an energy buying binge in world markets to feed its impressive economic growth, Iran sits at the center of its long term, geo-energy landscape. For Beijing’s rulers, any damage to its geo-energy interests in Iran would be seen as a direct blow to the country’s long-term economic prosperity.
As 2010 starts, the same two stories that dominated the headlines in 2009 are in the news already. The post-election protests and the ongoing game of nuclear brinkmanship are still continuing. Here is an AFP video that highlights the major events that took place in Iran in 2009, giving us an insight as to what […]
An immediate reflection of this detachment is seen in the absence of a clerical figure leading today’s masses in the streets of Iran and the shrinkage of Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karrubi into nothing more than symbolic figures with no significant impact on the movement’s direction.
Hi. My name is Derek Catsam. I am the Senior Blogger for the Foreign Policy Association’s Africa Blog. We are undergoing immense growth and transition at the FPA Blogs. One of these is to consolidate our many fine blogs (which make up the largest network of foreign affairs blogs anywhere) into coherent, managable categories. This blog will be combined […]
Overview: Iran dominated the headlines in 2009. While Iranians inspired us with their fight for their right to have fair elections, the Iranian government kept on disappointing us with their crackdown on post-election protests and their controversial nuclear program. The 2009 Iranian presidential election between Ahmadinejad and Moussavi generated an unprecedented level of anticipation. The […]
The United States is not taking the support offered by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the Iranian nuclear program lightly (Here is a previous blog I wrote on this topic). This week as the Turkish prime minister met with President Obama in Washington D.C., Iran’s nuclear program was very much a topic of […]
Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran a story that showed just how desperate the Iranian government is getting. If harassing Iranian protesters living in Iran was not enough, the Iranian authorities are now threatening Iranians living abroad. As the article states: In recent months, Iran has been conducting a campaign of harassing and intimidating […]
This year, newspapers all around the world have been dominated by one topic: Iranian post-election turmoil. Therefore, it is not surprising that an Iranian reformist leader is on the Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers. Though it is a pleasant surprise that the person is Zahra Rahnavard, wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi. Here is what […]
Just in case you missed it, Maziar Bahari was on the Daily Show on Monday night. Bahari, a Newsweek reporter, was arrested in the aftermath of the Iranian election and kept captive for 118 days. When John Stewart commented, “You were imprisoned in Iran…” Bahari replied, “Yes. Because of you.” While it sounds ridiculous, it […]