U.S. Must Pressure Qatar Not to Release Frozen Iranian Oil Revenues
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei thrust a long-simmering hostage controversy into the headlines on February 19.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Why is Iran’s FM talking about ‘advanced centrifuges’?
Iran views the nuclear program as more than the sum of its parts.
Op-eds
‘Axis of Resistance’ or ‘Axis of Espionage?’ Iran’s struggles to staff leadership
The Kuwaiti Al-Jarida newspaper reported on October 13 that Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed the Quds Force deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard...
Op-eds
Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi taps Vahid Jalalzadeh for new role
The appointment does not seem to fit well with Jalalzadeh’s previous record as the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee and some of his other roles.
Op-eds
Iran Summons Australian Ambassador for Instagram Post Celebrating LGBTQ+ Awareness Day
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Australia’s ambassador to Tehran over an Instagram post by his embassy celebrating an LGBTQ+ awareness day, Iranian state media reported on September...
Flash Briefs
Iran’s ‘election’ seeks to consolidate regime control
Iran’s Guardian Council, a 12-person body appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that approves candidates for office, permitted six out of 80 potential candidates to run in the special presidential...
Op-eds
Iranian Election Registers Lowest Voter Turnout Since 1979
The Iranian presidential election on June 28, which now moves to a runoff vote between two candidates, recorded the lowest voter turnout in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s history....
Flash Briefs
Iran’s Supreme Leader Pushes for ‘Maximum’ Turnout in Presidential Election Amid Voter Disillusionment
On the eve of Iran’s June 28 presidential election, the Islamic Republic’s leaders have bolstered efforts to drive voters to the polls. Yet the clerical regime faces widespread...
Flash Briefs
Biden Administration Allows Iran to Run Absentee Voter Stations on U.S. Soil
The Biden administration is permitting Iran to set up absentee voter sites for its upcoming presidential election on U.S. soil, Voice of America (VOA) reported on June 22. Iranian...
Flash Briefs
Why Does Iran Hold So Many Elections?
Constant—and highly stage-managed—elections are a useful tool for Iran's theocratic leadership to remain in power.
Op-eds
Iran’s Presidential ‘Election’ Seeks to Consolidate Regime’s Control
Iran’s Guardian Council, a 12-person body appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that approves candidates for office, has permitted six out of 80 potential candidates to run in the special presidential...
Policy Briefs
Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad Vying to Succeed Raisi
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered as a presidential candidate on June 2. Elections to select a successor to the late Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter...
Flash Briefs
The Death of Iran’s President Does Not Bode Well
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not always seen eye to eye with his country’s presidents. Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani nudged the Islamic Republic too close to the West for the supreme leader’s...
Op-eds
What Biden didn’t say about antisemitism
What aspects of the surge in hatred would have convinced a besieged Jewish community that the leader of the free world is not just an ally, but someone who fundamentally grasps the nature of contemporary threats?
Op-eds
Iran’s president in Sri Lanka, as Argentina seeks arrest of Iran’s interior minister
The AMIA suicide bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, a Jewish Community Center.
Op-eds
U.S. Presidential Elections Loom Over the Iranian Rial
Tehran’s inflation troubles present a critical vulnerability for the clerical regime.
Op-eds
Tehran Takes Caracas
On Monday, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi began a five-day tour of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, three Latin American countries governed by authoritarian, anti-Western regimes. Raisi’s three predecessors...
Op-eds
U.S. Should Sanction Tehran’s New Central Banker
Iran’s government appointed Mohammad Reza Farzin as the new governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in late December as the country’s national currency, the rial, plummeted against the U.S. dollar....
Policy Briefs
Obama’s Anti-Imperialist Fantasy Bears Bitter Fruit
The longer we refuse to acknowledge the mistakes of the Iran deal, the greater a price we pay
Op-eds
Iran’s Protesters Want Regime Change
America Should Lend Them a Hand