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 […]
Jamshid Barzegar on the Authenticity of Iranian Elections Jamshid Barzegar is a Senior Iran Analyst and Editor at the BBC Persian Service. He was previously head of BBC Persian Radio and Online Service as well as Editor-in-Chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Persian service known as Radio Farda. Mr. Barzegar is currently pursuing a PhD degree at […]
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 […]
Mehrzad Boroujerdi on Iran’s Fractured Politics Mehrzad Boroujerdi is the President of the International Society for Iranian Studies and Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Syracuse University. A political scientist by training, Dr. Boroujerdi is the author of Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism. He is also editor, most recently, […]
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 […]
Frederic Hof on Syria’s Weight on Iran’s Security Interests Ambassador Frederic C. Hof is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. In 2012 Ambassador Hof was tasked by President Obama to head the Syria policy at the State Department. Ambassador Hof was previously the special coordinator for regional […]
Haleh Esfandiari on Iran’s Election Dyamics Haleh Esfandiari is the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. Dr. Esfandiari taught Persian language at Oxford University and, prior to coming to the Wilson Center, she taught Persian language, contemporary Persian literature, and courses on the women’s movement in Iran […]
Abbas Milani on the Islamic Republic’s Declining Fortunes Dr. Abbas Milani, is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University and a Professor in Division of International, Comparative, and Area Studies. He is considered one of the leading experts on Iranian contemporary history and politics. Dr. Milani is also one of the […]
Hooman Majd on Iran’s Potential for Change Hooman Majd is one of the leading observers of Iranian politics known for his on-the-ground view of events taking place in Iran’s complex political system. The grandson of a prominent ayatollah and the son of an Iranian diplomat, Mr. Majd’s writings have challenged Western stereotypes around socio-political […]
Barbara Slavin on Iran’s Regional Dynamics Barbara Slavin is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. The author of a 2007 book, Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation, Ms. Slavin is a regular commentator […]
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest contributing piece by Mitchell Belfer. Mr. Belfer is Editor-in-Chief of Central European Journal of International and Security Studies. He is based in Prague, Czech Republic. _____________________________________________________________________ by Mitchell Belfer Iran’s upcoming 14 June elections will likely be a somber affair. After suffering four years of wanton suppression including leadership incapacitation, the torture […]
Iran’s presidential election will be held on June 14. Under Iran’s election law, observation of the voting process is a crime unless this monitoring is pre-approved. Generally, presidential candidates are only allowed to have one representative at each polling station to monitor the process. In 2009, it was claimed by Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the presidential […]