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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Why Trump’s Zig-Zag Diplomacy Towards Iran Will Fail

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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Why Trump’s Zig-Zag Diplomacy Towards Iran Will Fail

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

Why Trump’s Zig-Zag Diplomacy Towards Iran Will Fail

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

Aug 3, 2018

Why Trump’s Zig-Zag Diplomacy Towards Iran Will Fail

By Shahir Shahidsaless

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy – like his other policies – has seemed more about self-gratification than national interest.  He quit the Iran nuclear deal, undoing years of diplomacy, largely to erase part of the legacy of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Assisted by his administration, the current president poses as a hero forcing the Iranian […]

Iran

IranSource

Aug 2, 2018

Back to the Future Off Hormuz

By Owen Daniels

“If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” After a long week of Iran headlines – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laying out the administration’s Iran strategy, Presidents Trump and Rouhani trading implicit threats of war, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Commander Qassem Suleimani addressing […]

Iran Saudi Arabia

IranSource

Aug 2, 2018

First Wave of Resumed Iran Sanctions Targets Automobiles, Currency, Gold

By Holly Dagres

As part of the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US Treasury Department will restore sanctions on a number of key Iranian sectors and activities on August 6. Here’s what you need to know about this set of sanctions: What is the JCPOA? The JCPOA or Iran nuclear deal […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 31, 2018

Could Releasing Iran’s Green Movement Leaders Help Reformists?

By Arash Azizi

It all started with a rumor. By July 28, many Iranians discussed the imminent release of the Green Movement leaders—Mir-Hossein Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi—who are under house arrest since early 2011 for leading the 2009 post-election protests. Karroubi’s son, Hossein, said that a “credible source” had informed him that Iran’s Supreme […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 30, 2018

Trump Says He’s Willing to Meet Iran’s Rouhani Without Preconditions

By David Wemer

Eight days ago, US President Donald J. Trump warned Hassan Rouhani of dire “consequences” should the Iranian president persist with his threats against the United States. On July 30, Trump said he would be willing to meet with the Iranian leader at any time “with no preconditions.” “If they [the Iranians] want to meet, we’ll […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 30, 2018

Renewed Iran Sanctions Will Bolster the Regime and Undermine the Private Sector

By Sina Azodi

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and pursue a policy of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic has been coupled with a public diplomacy campaign in alleged support of the Iranian people. But the result is likely to be a stronger central government, as sanctions crush private enterprise and force […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 27, 2018

Iranians Await New Sanctions With Stoic Pessimism

By Giorgia Perletta

Tehran – President Donald Trump’s all-cap Twitter threats that Iran would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” if it got into a war with the United States has only compounded a sense of gloomy expectation in the Iranian capital. Judging from this author’s recent visit to Tehran, Iranians are resigned […]

IranSource

Jul 25, 2018

What Exactly is the US Policy Toward Iran?

By Faysal Itani

On July 22, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed an audience that included many members of the Iranian diaspora. The speech focused on the Iranian regime as a danger to its own people and to US interests—kleptocratic, terroristic, and totalitarian. The accusations were specific and the language was strong which could indicate a harsh […]

Iran Syria

IranSource

Jul 24, 2018

Trump’s Twitter War Unites Iranian Factions and Bolsters Rouhani

By Holly Dagres

As is so often the case with the current occupant of the White House, a presidential tweet muddied the message of the rest of the Trump administration. Iranians had been focusing on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “Supporting Iranian Voices” event at the California-based Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. But shortly after Pompeo finished […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 23, 2018

Trump’s Angry Iran Tweet

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump, in a late-night, all-caps tweet on July 22, threatened Iran with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have suffered before” if Iranian leaders continued to threaten the United States with war. Trump’s tweet was an apparent response to a comment by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Iranian diplomats […]

Iran
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