Archive
Ellen Laipson The State Department's recent naming of a Persian-speaking press spokesman, Alan Eyre, opens a potentially important channel in the long-stagnant U.S.-Iran relationship. The absence of contact or inability to communicate at official levels means that American diplomats are… Read More
The following is from the executive summary of the State Department issued its Human Rights Report for 2010: The government severely limited citizens' right to peacefully change their government through free and fair elections, and it continued a campaign of postelection violence and… Read More
Afshin Molavi A war of words has erupted between Iran and its Persian Gulf neighbors over the fate of Bahrain, catapulting unrest in the tiny island nation into a regional crisis with both political and sectarian overtones. In a reflection of the tensions, a Gulf Arab foreign… Read More
David Albright and Andrea Stricker The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a longstanding opposition group, claimed on April 7 that the Iranian regime has a secret facility producing centrifuge components for uranium enrichment, a process that can be used for both peaceful… Read More
Semira N. Nikou Libya’s rebellion has put Iran in an awkward position. Tehran has tried to balance support for the Libyan opposition, which it views as part of a region-wide “Islamic awakening,” with rejection of the NATO-led military strikes. Iranian officials charged that the U.… Read More
Kourosh RahimkhaniAlthough never elected to office, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is a major political figure, with speculating mounting that he may be a presidential candidate in 2013. Who is Mashaei, besides chief of staff for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Mashaei was issued a visa to participate in… Read More
Robin Wright The U.N. decision to appoint an investigator to track Iran’s human rights violations is the latest move by the international community to increase pressure on Tehran. The resolution follows a report by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in which he said he was “deeply… Read More
Semira N. Nikou
After weeks of relative silence, Iran has become increasingly outspoken about Bahrain’s political crisis since Saudi Arabia deployed troops to back up the beleaguered monarchy on March 14.
Iran has long had political, strategic and religious interests in Bahrain,… Read More
Michael Eisenstadt Political change sweeping the Middle East has heightened concerns about a shifting balance of power in Iran’s favor. But Tehran’s experience in Iraq provides critical insights into the limits of the Islamic Republic’s regional influence, and its propensity to be its… Read More
Mark N. Katz After a year of cooperation on Iran, Russia now opposes new sanctions or other tough measures to pressure Tehran on its controversial nuclear program. The failure of recent diplomacy to get Iran to comply with U.N. resolutions, and reassure the world that it is not secretly… Read More
Farideh Farhi Iran’s Assembly of Experts voted March 8 to replace former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the chairmanship. What happened and why is the outcome significant?On March 8, the Assembly of Experts, effectively pushed former President Rafsanjani from the leadership of a top… Read More
Fareed Mohamedi Oil prices have risen worldwide because of political unrest and upheavals in the Middle East. How has Iran been affected by the turmoil in oil sales?The sudden rise in oil prices amid uncertainty and upheavals in the Middle East could create a political cushion for… Read More
Semira N. Nikou Iran has tightened the squeeze on Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi amid opposition attempts to mobilize new protests. The regime has dodged persistent questions about whether the two leaders—both prominent figures in the 1979 revolution—and their… Read More
Suzanne Maloney Iran’s stability is once again in question, as historic protests sweep the Middle East and revive the flagging fortunes of its own opposition movement. Expectations of the Islamic Republic’s inevitable demise are further fueled by the revolutionary state’s own… Read More
Michael Adler The United Nations has obtained new information that Iran may have worked on making nuclear weapons, according to a report distributed in Vienna February 25. Its nuclear watchdog agency also said Iran appears to have overcome setbacks from the Stuxnet cyber-virus that set… Read More
Mehdi Khalaji For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood was the largest organized opposition party in Egypt. It is Islamist. What are its similarities and differences with Iran’s Islamic revolution?The current revolt in Iran is against Islamism, but the recent uprising in Egypt is neither Islamist… Read More
Robin Wright The United States imposed new sanctions on two top Iranian officials for engaging in “serious human rights abuses” since the disputed 2009 election. In a striking run of statements on February 23, the White House, State Department and Treasury Department issued three separate… Read More
Omid Memarian
What is the Mujahedeen-e Khalq organization?
The Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), or the People’s Mujahedeen Organization, was founded in 1965 as an urban guerilla group opposed to the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It participated in the 1979 Revolution but later broke with… Read More
Kevan Harris Iran’s labor movement and working class have been pivotal political actors for more than a century, with one of the longest records in the Middle East. Iran has witnessed hundreds of strikes in major industries over the past two decades. And thousands of workers participated… Read More
Robin Wright The Obama administration has become increasingly outspoken about Iran since the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings. The main focus has notably shifted from Iran’s controversial nuclear program to issues of democracy and human rights abuses. For the first time, the… Read More
Semira N. Nikou Iranian leaders have welcomed the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Tehran and Cairo have had tense and difficult relations. The two predominantly Muslim countries had rival forms of rule: Egypt is secular and Iran is an Islamic… Read More
Shaul Bakhash Iran’s revolution marks its anniversary on Feb. 11. What is the political situation in Iran today?Iran marks the revolution’s 32nd anniversary in dramatically altered circumstances. It emerged from the disputed 2009 presidential election as a far more militarized state. The… Read More
Daniel Brumberg Strategically, Iran is hedging its position on the new Middle East turmoil. The theocrats like to publicly portray the democratic revolts in Tunisia and Egypt as an Islamist tsunami sweeping away corrupt autocracies to replace them with Islamic regimes. But… Read More
Semira N. Nikou Iranian leaders, from both the regime and the opposition, are increasingly speaking out about the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere. The two sides view the protests from starkly different perspectives, however. The theocracy likes to take credit for inspiring the… Read More
Mehrzad Boroujerdi The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is better noted for its dense, jargon-filled technical reports than for grooming future political personalities. Yet former IAEA officials have recently catapulted into the political spotlight of two pivotal countries in the… Read More
Emile Hokayem How does the selection of new Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati--a Sunni Muslim hand-picked by Hezbollah, a Shiite movement--alter Iran’s influence or reach in Lebanese politics in practical terms?The swift change in government reflects the ascendancy of Hezbollah in Lebanese… Read More
Steven Heydemann In Tunisia, a small, homogeneous state on the southern Mediterranean, a popular uprising forced the overthrow of a long-ruling dictator in early 2011. Ruthless repression of mass protests failed. In just one month, Tunisians ousted an entrenched authoritarian regime… Read More
Michael Adler in Istanbul Why did talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers in Istanbul January 21-22 fail to produce any agreement or significant movement toward a compromise?The talks deadlocked after Iran imposed two preconditions on any deal designed to assuage fears that the… Read More
Michael Elleman International concern—and diplomacy—over Iran’s nuclear program have focused largely on Tehran's growing abilities to enrich uranium, a process essential for both peaceful nuclear energy and to make a bomb. But a second key issue is the Islamic Republic's ability to actually… Read More
Geneive Abdo Iran’s leaders face a host of problems at home and abroad that deeply impact international diplomatic efforts. The outcome of current talks between Tehran and the world’s six major powers—as well as any future initiatives—is likely to be heavily influenced by the regime’s… Read More