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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Approved or Disqualified, Ahmadinejad Shakes Up Iranian Politics

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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Approved or Disqualified, Ahmadinejad Shakes Up Iranian Politics

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

Approved or Disqualified, Ahmadinejad Shakes Up Iranian Politics

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

Apr 13, 2017

Approved or Disqualified, Ahmadinejad Shakes Up Iranian Politics

By Shahir Shahidsaless

The news shocked Iran: controversial former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered to run again for president in the May 19 election. In front of tens of reporters, he visited the Interior Ministry on April 12 and filed the necessary documents. 

IranSource

Apr 10, 2017

Why Iran’s Upcoming Presidential Election is Hard to Predict

By Holly Dagres

If there’s one lesson from the 2016 U.S. presidential election, it’s that surprises are always possible—even if the polls say otherwise. On May 19th, Iranians will cast their ballots to elect the next president of Iran and it is useful to keep that lesson in mind.

IranSource

Apr 10, 2017

Book Forecasted Rouhani Realpolitik

By Sina Azodi

President Hassan Rouhani, who is running for re-election May 19, is one of the pragmatic forces of the Islamic Republic who has a background in the Islamic Republic’s national security establishment. He served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator from 2003-2005.

IranSource

Apr 5, 2017

Iran Must Stop Assad Gas Attacks in Syria

By Barbara Slavin

Iranians know better than most the horrors of chemical warfare.

IranSource

Mar 31, 2017

Why Iran Sees Its Missile Program as a Red Line

By Adam Weinstein

During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein’s missiles and bombs lit up the skies over Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, and various frontier towns. It was a blitzkrieg of a campaign, initiated by Baghdad with the intent of inflicting mass civilian casualties.

Iran

IranSource

Mar 29, 2017

Iran’s Durable Alliance with Assad’s Syria

By Sina Azodi

Iran’s involvement in Syria’s civil war is the Islamic Republic’s first overt foreign policy intervention in the Middle East and its most enduring.

IranSource

Mar 28, 2017

US and Iran Navies Should Seek Persian Gulf Hotline

By Barbara Slavin

Every few weeks comes a new report that speedboats manned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy have come dangerously close to US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Iran

IranSource

Mar 16, 2017

At Nowruz, Iranian Americans Welcome Court Decision Staying Visa Ban

By Barbara Slavin

The decision by a federal judge in Hawaii to block the Trump administration’s second attempt at banning travel to the United States by citizens of a half dozen Muslim-majority nations is another victory for tolerance, democracy and national security.

IranSource

Mar 15, 2017

As Trump Confronts Iran, Chabahar is in the Eye of the Storm

By Maya Mirchandani

On the roller coaster of ties between the United States and Iran, President Trump’s apparent extreme hawkishness towards Tehran is one more loop in which the world has turned upside down.

IranSource

Mar 13, 2017

Iran’s Presidential Election: Who Will Run Against Rouhani?

By Sina Azodi

Iran is set to hold its next presidential elections on May 19, when President Hassan Rouhani, who is being supported by pragmatists and reformists, will be running for a second term. HisOsulgarayan (Principalist) opponents have been working on plans to defeat him. They have two potential strategies but given current circumstances, it is likely that Rouhani […]

Iran
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