Iran cracks down on armed nationalist group
In a rare escalation, four Iranian men took up arms against the Islamic Republic’s security forces during a standoff the dissents broadcast live on Instagram on March 8. The footage captures...
Khuzestan Province
Mohammad Mokhber: Khamenei’s Confidant
On May 19, 2024, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. Mohammad Mokhber, the first deputy president, will serve as interim president until Iran holds elections for a new president. Iran...
Policy Briefs
Iran’s Slow Boil
The clerical regime in Tehran has held the streets. It remains to be seen, however, if the strategies employed to keep the ayatollahs afloat will prevail. When Mahsa Amini, a young Sunni Kurdish-Iranian girl, died on September 16 in the custody of the morality police, nationwide demonstrations erupted, often with young women and girls on the frontlines.
Op-eds
War in Ukraine Is Destabilizing the Middle East and North Africa
The war in Ukraine is already setting the Middle East on fire.
Op-eds
Biden Looks Away While Iranian Protesters Call for the Regime’s Overthrow
In Iran, nationwide protests are calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The unrest started in the water-deprived province of Khuzistan but has spread to neighboring provinces and major cities,...
Op-eds
The Impact of the Ahwaz protests in Iran
Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority on July 7 launched extensive anti-regime protests centered in the country’s western Khuzestan Province. Extreme water shortages affecting the Ahwaz were the catalyst for...
Policy Briefs
Iran Conducts Major Wave of Executions and Shootings of Ethnic Minorities
Tehran has killed dozens of members of Iran’s ethnic minorities in recent weeks, especially among Iran’s Baluch and Ahwazi Arab communities. Ethnic minorities are increasingly conducting anti-regime...
Policy Briefs
Iran facing calls to be kicked out of Olympics after execution of boxer
The Islamic Republic of Iran imposed yet another extrajudicial death penalty on a champion athlete last week, sparking renewed calls from sports advocacy organizations for the regime to be banned from...
Op-eds
Iran to execute 2nd wrestler, sparking outrage from US State Department
Execution of decorated wrestler Mehdi Ali Hosseini is imminent
Op-eds
Iranian Laborers Need Our Help
With the celebration of American employees on Labor Day in early September, U.S. workers enjoy what their counterparts in the highly repressive Islamic Republic of Iran cannot: the right to form and join...
Op-eds
Iran’s Enemies
They are many and varied.
Op-eds
Human Rights Situation in Iran
Read the full testimony...
Congressional Testimonies
The Dire Consequences of Iran’s Water Crisis
The Islamic Republic’s decades-long mismanagement of water resources has led to a shortage of...
Policy Briefs
Hezbollah Calls the Shots in Iran’s Syria Policy
President Donald Trump is reportedly about to extend a terrorism designation to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in its entirety. The IRGC is both the dominant force inside I...
Op-eds
Tehran’s Deployment Pattern in Iraq
“The United States intends to preserve Daesh in order to make Muslims dependent on America,” Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani declared using the Arabic acronym for the Isla...
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
Analysis: To confront Iran’s jingoism and domestic repression, change its regime
The self-immolation death of an Iranian Arab last week in the province of Khuzestan offers a window onto the court of a neglected alternative to an Iran on the brink of nuclear weapons breakout:...
Op-eds
A Fruit Vendor’s Self-Immolation and the Neglect of Arab-Iranians
Tragedy struck Iran’s Arab-majority province of Khuzestan on Sunday as a fruit vendor died af...
Policy Briefs
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
Iran’s ‘Moderate’ New President Still Supports Assad
In Iran and abroad, the election of President Hassan Rouhani has created an atmosphere of optimism not seen since Mohammad Khatami's presidency, which ended in 2005 in disappointment for Kha...