IranSource

Sep 20, 2018

Iranian Attacks in Iraq Are More About Messaging Than Reality

By Borzou Daragahi

US and Iranian officials traded accusations earlier this month over an attack on Iran’s consulate in the southern city of Basra, followed by mortar or rocket attacks that appeared to target US missions in the capital, Baghdad. Tehran blames Washington for being behind the trashing of its consulate. The allegation was simply untrue. The protesters […]

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Sep 19, 2018

Khamenei Reversal on FATF Suggests US-Iran Talks Possible Under Trump

By Shahir Shahidsaless

President Donald Trump’s policy towards Iran is imposing “maximum pressure” purportedly aimed at bringing Iranians back to the negotiating table. Trump demands renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal which, according to him, has “terrible flaws.” He also wants restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and a change in the Iran’s aggressive policies in the region. Trump […]

Iran

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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 […]

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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 […]

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