Editor’s Note: The following is a contributing guest piece by Muhammad Sahimi. Dr. Sahimi is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the NIOC Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Sahimi is a well-known analyst on Iran’s political developments and its […]
I’ve contended in previous posts (here, here and here) that President Obama’s failure to enforce his numerous threats against the use of chemical weapons by the Bashir al-Assad regime in Damascus is a significant reason to doubt the credibility of his repeated vows to use military force to stop Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. So is my argument undermined now […]
Recently a peaceful election took place in Iran. While the moderate candidate won this past election and there was not a repeat of the protests that took place in 2009, the reality is that the moderate candidate was part of a group of chosen conservative candidates that were permitted to run by religious officials. The […]
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 […]
Hassan Rohani, the 65-year-old Western educated cleric and a former chief nuclear negotiator, is the seventh President of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979. Iran’s state-run television reported that Mr. Rohani won over 50 percent of the electoral vote. Mr. Rohani ran on a platform of moderation, mending ties with the outside world, and easing social […]
Blogger’s Note: The following is a co-authorship piece by Soushiant Zangenehpour and Alireza Ahmadian. The 2009 (S)election Shock: What Happened? Nearly four years ago today, the world witnessed an orchestrated mass deception called “election” unfold over the course of a few hours in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Some of us in Vancouver, Canada […]
Two decades of international community administered talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijani territory, have failed to reach a resolution. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s petro-dollar aided exponential increase in defence expenditure amid pitched rabble-rousing and frequent sniper skirmishes in the region has led many to fear that the disputed landlocked mountainous […]
Each week the editors at FPA choose five must reads from around the web and five of the best of ForeignPolicyBlogs.com. So if you’re looking for reading for the weekend, we’ve got you covered.
The major speech on counter-terrorism policy President Obama delivered last week at the National Defense University has generated a great deal of commentary about its implications for drone strikes and Guantanamo detainees. Little noticed, however, is the underlying message it sends to Iran’s leaders. Mr. Obama has made it a habit of talking tough to […]
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 […]
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, […]
A post last month argued that President Obama was fast approaching a defining moment for his foreign policy in view of the mounting evidence that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria used sarin, a lethal nerve gas, in violation of Mr. Obama’s numerous warnings not to do so. The day of reckoning has now arrived […]
Eric Trager on the Muslim Brotherhood’s view of Iran and Iran’s foreign policy Eric Trager is the Next Generation Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is an expert on Egyptian politics and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Dr. Trager was in Egypt during the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolts. He visits the country on a […]
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 […]
Meir Javedanfar on Israel’s View on Iran’s Elections Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-born Israeli Middle East expert. He lived in Iran until eight years after the revolution. He was educated in British universities and now lives in Israel. Asia Times called him “one of the best informed observers” of the Middle East. Mr. Javedanfar is the publisher and editor of the website Iran–Israel Observer. Previously, he […]