North Korea’s nuclear test this week, coming on the heels of last December’s launch of a long-range ballistic missile along with reports (here and here) that Pyongyang is developing a mobile missile launcher, underscores a point I’ve argued in earlier posts (here and here): It is exceedingly difficult for Washington to stop a rogue regime […]
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest contributing piece by Jamshid Barzegar. Mr. Barzegar is a Senior Iran Analyst with the BBC Persian Service. Mr. Barzegar will be one of the participating guests in the upcoming FPA series on the Iranian elections:A Candid Discussion on Iran’s Presidential Elections ____________________________________________________________________ by Jamshid Barzegar The recent […]
Freedom: “The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” Freedom of information! Freedom of speech! Freedom to assemble! Freedoms Western democracies’ citizens enjoy are distant dreams for many people worldwide. Desired freedoms are continuously fought for but often denied. Unfortunately, Iran is among the countries continuously making […]
The eleventh Iranian presidential election is scheduled to be held this June. Local council elections will also take place at the same time as presidential elections. To take an analytic look at this year’s Iranian elections from a number of relevant angles, the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) will be discussing the elections with leading observers and […]
Whereas ancient philosophers pondered if a falling tree makes a sound if no one is around to hear it, technological advances in the past decade have raised a similar question: If something occurs and it is not posted on Facebook, Twitter, or somewhere else in cyberspace, did it actually happen? The Internet and social media […]
On March 5, 1957, under the Atoms for Peace Program, Iran started its nuclear program with the United States’ assistance. Initiated during the Eisenhower administration and reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the relationship aided Iran’s quest for peaceful atomic energy. In 1968, Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international agreement created to […]
Siamak Dehghanpour is an Iranian-American journalist and television personality. He is the host of the “OFOGH”, a news television talk show program on the Voice of America (VOA) television’s Persian News Network (PNN). OFOGH (Horizon) covers a wide range of issues in Iranian affairs as well as geopolitics of the Middle East. Mr. Dehghanpour is […]
On Wednesday, January 2, the U.S. House of Representatives, in a unanimous resolution, condemned the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its systematic abuse of Iran’s Bahá’í minority. Resolution 134, or H. Res. 134, “calls on President Obama and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, “to immediately condemn the Government of Iran’s continued violation […]
The upcoming presidential elections in Iran is scheduled for June 14, 2013. Iran’s 2009 presidential election was fraught with accusations of fraud and irregularities. While the elections inside Iran received significant international media attention, the results of Iran’s out-of-country voting (external vote) in 2009 did not receive a well-deserved scrutiny. With Iran’s preparations to hold […]
In 2012 Iran was one of the key topics in American presidential debates. Its nuclear program and foreign policy subjected the country to harsh U.S.-led international sanctions that have wreaked havoc on the Iranian economy, so far impacting mostly the lives of ordinary Iranians without a change in Iran’s strategic calculus. In March, the country […]
The Set-Up Overflowing with distrust, deception, and ulterior motives, America and Iran’s tumultuous saga has the makings of a made-for-TV, B-rated movie. The twists, turns, and over-the-top drama are a guilty pleasure for movie viewers just as news junkies cannot get enough of the endless dramatics between the United States and Iran. The world wants […]
The Iranian government has always been sensitive to Persian satellite TV programs beamed from various Western countries into Iran, in particular from the United States. While some Iranian TV programs by the diaspora advocate regime change in Iran, some offer merely entertaining programs including the latest TV series from Turkey, South America and the United […]
“Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must –at that moment– become the center of the universe.” –Elie Wiesel Human rights abuses including, but not limited to, slavery, genocide, political persecution, and religious discrimination, are imperfect and irreparable stitches in a nation’s narrative tapestry. While these […]
The year was 1967 , ten years after the United States and Imperial Iran signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement as part of America’s Atoms for Peace program. At the time Iran debuted its first nuclear facility in Tehran, a 5-megawatt nuclear research reactor, supplied by the United States and fueled by highly enriched uranium. Fast […]
In a recently published piece by Your Middle East, a leading European digital magazine covering all things Middle Eastern, Omid Habibinia, an Iranian journalist in exile, sheds light on the plight of Iranian journalists inside Iran. In his piece Mr. Habibinia underscores the bravery of many Iranian journalists who, despite widespread repression, arrest, and torture of their […]