The speech delivered by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud at the Iran Freedom Rally drew attention, and raised more than a few eyebrows.
The speech delivered by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud at the Iran Freedom Rally drew attention, and raised more than a few eyebrows.
Mohsen Milani is the Executive Director of the Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies at the University of South Florida, where he is a professor of international relations.
On Sat. June 15 Iran announced the results of its latest presidential election. In what many saw as a surprise, Hassan Rowhani — a relatively moderate cleric — emerged as the outright winner. Instead of protests in the streets as followed the 2009 reelection of the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this time Iranians took to the streets […]
The rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a telling story of how the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei operates. Ahmadinejad has been mistakenly perceived as the man of the people. The ascendancy of the son of a poor blacksmith to the […]
Russian Spy Games By Edward Lucas Foreign Affairs The Cold War may have officially ended and the rest may be the new policy, but Russia and the U.S. are still adversaries, says Lucas. While Ryan Fogle’s, the 29-year-old third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, gamble may seem absurd, the extraordinary thing about […]
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s eleventh presidential election will take place on June 14, 2013. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s time in office will end soon afterwards, but he will always be remembered for his outrageous comments including his denial of the Holocaust or the non-existence of homosexuals in Iran. Ahmadinejad’s undiplomatic language and his controversial comments were […]
Iranian political system is characterized by its duality of power: In the executive branch we have the dual offices of the President and the Supreme Leader, in the legislative branch we have the Parliament and the Council of Guardians, and in the military we have the regular forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). […]
President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet picks are both progressive and hard-line. His choices upset both the clerics and the West. On one hand, Ahmadinejad is breaking a taboo by appointing three women ministers to the cabinet. On the other hand, he is continuing the same anti-West attitude by appointing a minister accused of bombing a Jewish center […]
As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is officially inaugurated as the President, the question on everyone’s mind is what does the future hold for Iran. The one thing that is confirmed is the election crisis is far from being over. Ahmadinejad’s reformist opponents, along with the two former presidents and notable members of the family of Ayatollah Khomeini, […]
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei officially endorsed President Ahmadinejad on Monday for his second term in office. Ahmadinejad was declared the victor of the disputed elections that took place on June 12th in which he allegedly won almost two-thirds of the vote. In the ceremony marking the official start of his second term in office, Ahmadinejad […]
Defying the government ban, ten of thousands of Iranians gathered yesterday at Tehran’s main cemetery for the 40-day commemoration of those killed in the aftermath of the election. Police used tear gas and baton to break up the demonstration. The Press TV reported that 50 people were arrested in the protest. Renowned Iranian filmmaker Panahi […]
Iranian clerical regime has one less controversy to deal with as Mr. Mashaii resigned from his post of first Vice President. As discussed in my previous post, Mr. Mashaii was President Ahmadinejad’s pick, but he was severely criticized by the clerical regime for stating in 2008 that Iranians are friends with Israelis. The resignation was […]
Another power struggle is going on in Iran and its not reformist politicians against the hard-line political establishment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has maintained his choice of Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaii as first vice president over the objections of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Rahim-Mashaii upset hard-line clerics and politicians in 2008 by stating that Iranians were “friends […]