Iran’s Make-Believe Moderates
Barack Obama and his tireless secretary of state sold the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in part as a means to reinforce Iranian “reformers," "moderates," and "pragmatists."...
Iranian Green Movement
Iran’s False Choice: Rebranding Hard-Liners as ‘Moderates’
Iranians went to the ballot box last Friday to cast their votes for the Assembly of Experts and the Majles, Iran’s parliament. Reading ...
Op-eds
The Revolution Devours Its Own
Laura Secor surprised me. I had expected to read yet another journalist’s account of an Iran where “reformists,” though bruised and battered, remain hopeful and allied to &ldquo...
Op-eds
Hardliners Set to Dominate Iran’s February Elections
The Obama administration hopes that the Iran nuclear deal reached last July can “strengthen the hand” of Iran&rs...
Policy Briefs
Rouhani’s Pyrrhic Victory
“Today is a historical day,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said as the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 nations – the UN Security Council and Germany – agreed...
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
The Iranian Attack Against Me, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal
I recently commented on Senator Charles Schumer’s rejection of the Iran deal. My remarks, which appeared here August 9th, included a reference to an exchange of messages between the Obama A...
Op-eds
Analysis: Iran Nuclear Agreement Won’t Improve Human Rights
The euphoria surrounding the agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons program last week has not altered the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic. “The...
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
Ali Alfoneh: Tehran’s Brutal Crackdown Continues
Almost two years into the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, and just as long after the start of the latest round of nuclear negotiations with Tehran, human rights in Iran show no signs of improvement...
Op-eds
Iran Under President Rouhani: Nuclear Negotiations, Regime Insecurity and Increased Suppression
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Legislative Testimonies
Iran’s Greatest Vulnerability
Iran is on the march all over the world, from Syria and Iraq to Venezuela and Cuba (where they have a Hezbollah base). Except when they unceremoniously retreat, as in recent days when their floti...
Op-eds
Still Needed: Regime Change in Iran
In December 2010, a Tunisian fruit-stand vendor set himself ablaze to protest the arbitrary closure of his business. Mohamed Bouazizi’s suicide sparked an upheaval in Tunisia that...
Op-eds
Are Booming German-Iran Business Relations Hurting Israel?
Fresh trade data show Germany’s industry secured a windfall in revenue due to the easing of Iran sanctions. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, German exp...
Op-eds
Rouhani, a Nuclear Deal and the IRGC
Even in the...
Policy Briefs
The Iranian Death Spiral (Continued)
I don’t believe that economic misery brings down regimes. The pidgin Marxism that passes for serious analysis among all too many of our deep thinkers would have us believe that misery...
Op-eds
Is the Price of Watermelons Relevant to Iran’s Nuclear Crisis?
The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, famously said the 1979 Islamic Revolution was “not about the price of watermelons.” To parse...
Op-eds
The Long Shadow of the Iran-Iraq War
For a conflict that still captivates much of Iran’s ruling elite, the Iran-Iraq War gets very little attention in the United States. Over the years, we’ve...
Op-eds
Sandstorm
The great medieval historian Ibn Khaldun centered his understanding of history on asabiyya, which is perhaps best translated as esprit de corps mixed with the will to power. In his maste...