Iran

Angry Iranians continue to demand accountability after authorities admitted to mistakenly downing a passenger airplane in Tehran.

In the age of Twitter diplomacy, a breakthrough from the vicious cycle of US-Iran hostility would require statesmen in both capitals with the vision to break the stalemate and the courage to resist attacks.

The Quds Force commander was seen by some as the future of Iran’s leadership, in recent years having evolved out of the shadows of spymaster to increasingly in the spotlight as a celebrity officer who took selfies with Shia militias. Now, the seemingly untouchable commander is a martyr—something he always said he dreamed of—and the memes have gone international.

While facing sobering external challenges, Iran has not lost sight of its domestic and expatriate political opposition.

As Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei age, the international community of Shia Muslims faces a looming void in religious and political leadership.

After forty years, the evidence should be clear to even the most benighted. The hostage-taking of 1979-1981 was an unmitigated disaster for Iran and its people.