Covering topics ranging from security and politics to business and society, IranSource draws on written analysis and multimedia content to inform a broader public conversation about Iran from an array of angles and perspectives.

It aims to identify the challenges, opportunities, and policy conundrums facing the US-Iran relationship and present a range of options to address them.

Editor: Holly Dagres

The views expressed in IranSource are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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Iran’s Alliance With Russia in Syria: Marriage of Convenience or Strategic Partnership?

IranSource
Nov 20, 2024

2025 will be a decisive year for Iran’s nuclear program

Diplomatic deadlines and regional factors will force Iran to decide soon whether to strike a deal or seek a nuclear weapon. Either choice will have major ripple effects.

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Iran’s Alliance With Russia in Syria: Marriage of Convenience or Strategic Partnership?

IranSource
Nov 20, 2024

How to wrestle with an ayatollah 

By
Khosro Sayeh Isfahani

If one looks closely, the ancient Persian sport of wrestling might have answers to understanding how to contain Iran

Civil Society
Freedom and Prosperity

Iran’s Alliance With Russia in Syria: Marriage of Convenience or Strategic Partnership?

IranSource
Nov 1, 2024

How the death of Abdul Malik al-Houthi could impact the Houthis and Iran

By
Emily Milliken and Caitlin Miller Hollingsworth

While Abdul Malik al-Houthi is still alive today, his death in the near term would impact the Houthi’s ability to operate and widen a leadership vacuum within Iran’s Resistance Axis.

Conflict
Iran

Content

IranSource

Sep 19, 2018

Iran’s Alliance With Russia in Syria: Marriage of Convenience or Strategic Partnership?

By Sina Azodi and Arman Mahmoudian

Russia’s alliance with Iran to buttress embattled Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is approaching a critical phase, as pro-government forces consider how to retake Idlib province, the last major stronghold of Syrian rebels. While this alliance has successfully shifted the balance of power in favor of the Syrian government, it will likely not lead to a […]

Iran Russia

IranSource

Sep 18, 2018

New Hardline Voices Rise in Iran’s Theocratic Center

By Rohollah Faghihi

On August 16, a number of young hardline clerics held an anti-government protest in Qom that highlighted differences among conservatives. The rally was supposed to be against “financial corruption” and “government mismanagement,” but the banners held by the attendees, which contained messages threatening moderate President Hassan Rouhani, turned the event into an even more controversial […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 17, 2018

Iran’s Human Rights Situation and Trump Administration Policies

By Masoud Mostajabi

Iran’s human rights record continues to deteriorate but there are effective ways to advocate for improvement that include making demands as specific as possible and enlisting broad multilateral support. These were the main conclusions of a September 13 panel on the topic organized by the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative. The system imposed in […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 17, 2018

Trump’s Iran Endgame Undermines Major US Security Interests

By Sina Toossi

The logical conclusion of the Trump administration’s Iran policy seems not to be regime change but regime collapse. Though Secretary of Defense James Mattis has denied that either are on the agenda, the White House’s rhetoric and actions betray a different motive. The US president himself has trumpeted the harsh impact of reinstated sanctions and […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 14, 2018

Ahmadinejad Tried Making a Comeback—Until Iran’s Judiciary Stepped In

By Arash Azizi

As is the norm for most authoritarian regimes, fortunes rise and fall quickly for men of power in Iran. But the former chief of staff and vice president of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had it coming for a long time. As the closest confidante of the former president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei has long been despised by much […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 13, 2018

Why on Earth is former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tweeting?

By Holly Dagres

Over the past year and a half, the former Iranian president has been a social media enigma. All of Ahmadinejad’s tweets are in English—leading many to believe that he's not the author.

Iran

IranSource

Sep 12, 2018

Iran Through the Lens of al-Qaeda

By Nelly Lahoud

As the United States solemnly commemorates the seventeenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, questions about the relationship of Iran and al-Qaeda linger. Over the years, US courts have ruled that Iran provided al-Qaeda support to carry out its signature attacks, namely the 1998 East Africa bombings, the USS Cole in Yemen, and the […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 11, 2018

Iran’s Political Debate Over Negotiating With the Trump Administration

By Farhad Rezaei

President Donald Trump’s offer to “meet with the Iranian president without preconditions if they wanted to meet” has been roundly rejected by Iran’s hardline establishment but has sparked a lively debate over the wisdom and efficacy of such a move in alleviating pressure on Iran’s economy. During a recent meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 10, 2018

Iran and the US Should Use the UN to Reopen a Channel for Dialogue

By Daniel R. DePetris

To say that the US-Iran relationship is at new low would be an understatement. Whatever slim opening existed as a result of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been closed shut, replaced by a cacophony of mutual threats, personal insults, financial sanctions and the absence of even basic communication between Washington and […]

Iran

IranSource

Sep 7, 2018

Discrimination and Past Due Payments: Some of the Problems Iranian Workers Face

By Holly Dagres

Since the December 2017 nationwide protests in Iran, there have been countless strikes and labor protests. During the months of June and July alone, railroad workers and truck drivers went on strike in over two dozen cities across the country. Unionization is banned in Iran and security forces constantly crack down on labor rights activists, […]

Iran
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