Victory Without Soldiers?
With the war in Syria becoming ever more complex and murderous, it’s worthwhile to revisit a guiding principle of Barack Obama: The use of American military power is likely to do more harm...
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Khomeini’s Grandson Tests Iran’s Political Waters
As Iran’s fractious political elites prepare for the February 25, 2016, elections for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects the supreme leader, th...
Op-eds
Rohani Deal With IRGC Could Torpedo Nuclear Agreement
Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s diplomacy and the landmark nuclear bargain may have reduced the gaps between Tehran and the global powers, but the agreement is widening dif...
Op-eds
Our Iranian Interlocutor
Antisemitism has never been an easy subject for America’s foreign-policy establishment. Read through State Department telegrams and Central Intelligence Agency operational and intelligence...
Op-eds
In Iran, A Father And Son Vie For Nation’s Future
Ahmad Jannati and his son Ali Jannati are symbols of the growing generational gap within the political elite of Iran. Jannati the elder perceives him...
Op-eds
Rohani Under Fire as Iran Power Struggle Sharpens
Iranian President Hassan Rohani won the war, so to speak, but risks losing the peace. He managed to reach an international diplomatic solution in the confrontation over Iran’s nu&...
Op-eds
Iran’s Impossible Return to the 1990s
Two men personify the post-revolutionary phase of the Islamic Republic in the 1990s: then-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani, his Supreme National Security Counci...
Op-eds
A Raw Deal for Iran’s Dissidents
Iranian dissidents are increasingly worried that — with the nuclear deal signed and business prospects looming — the West will give Iran a pass on human rights. European dignitaries v...
Op-eds
Iran’s Succession Crisis Overshadows Nuclear Pact
The July 14th Vienna agreement between Iran and global powers may, at least for a time, contain the crisis over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme but an impending succession battle i...
Op-eds
The IRGC’s Ambivalent Response to the Nuclear Deal
With all eyes fixed on the battle between President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress over the nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s struggle against Iranian critics of the deal...
Policy Briefs
History Contradicts the Dream of Iranian Moderation
Most backers of the nuclear accord with Iran hopefully insist that the theocratic regime will moderate once sanctions are lifted. Plugged back into the global economy, Iran will become less milit...
Op-eds
Iran’s Expendable President Rouhani
While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif celebrate their recent nuclear negotiating triumph, neither they nor their Washington-based fans should pop the&nb...
Op-eds
Analysis: Europe to Drop Sanctions on Iranian Terrorists and Entities
Along with the Iran nuclear agreement, the European Union has agreed to remove sanctions on Iranian entities and individuals deeply involved in terrorism. Making matters significantly wo...
Op-eds
The Iranian Nuclear Paradox
The lines are clearly drawn in Washington on President Obama’s plan for a nuclear deal with Iran. As negotiations for a final agreement continue well past their June 30 deadline, most...
Op-eds
The IRGC v Rohani: Spy v Spy
While the United States has pinned its hopes for a negotiated solution to the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme on Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s government, the “...
Op-eds
Learning from Rafsanjani’s Memoirs
Secretary of State John Kerry broke with years of U.S. and international policy on Tuesday, indicating that revealing past...
Policy Briefs
Iran’s Losses Mount in the Syrian Quagmire
“We must possess Syria. If the chain from Lebanon to here [Tehran] is cut, bad things will happen,” former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a December 24, 2...
Op-eds
Transformational Diplomacy
Many supporters of an Iranian nuclear agreement believe that a deal could help to moderate, even democratize, Iranian society. Barack Obama’s constant allusions to the transformative potent...
Op-eds
Admiral Shamkhani, Rohani’s Iron Fist in an Iron Glove
President Hassan Rohani’s appointment of Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani as secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) in September 2013 was initially seen as a...
Op-eds
Reported Israeli Raid on Sudan Could Reveal Khartoum’s Duplicity
Sudan may have joined the Saudi-led fight against Iran-backed p...