How the Left Views Langley
REVIEW: 'The CIA: An Imperial History’ by Hugh Wilford
Mohammad Mosaddegh
Forget the Bomb and Help Iranians Fight Their Regime
All the other options have failed.
Op-eds
Waiting for Thermidor: America’s Foreign Policy Towards Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran may be on an accelerated schedule for revolutionary decay, at least if compared to the USSR.
Op-eds
The Israeli Moment
If anyone is going to derail the Islamic Republic’s regional ambitions, Israel is really the only local counterweight that counts.
Op-eds
The Post-Post-JCPOA World
Is a nuclear Iran something Republicans must now simply accept?
Op-eds
Hassan Rouhani wants the US to surrender, but the pressure is on Tehran
“Surrender.” That’s the only option Iranian President Hassan Rouhani offered America during his (now forgotten) virtual address to the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)...
Op-eds
The Next Iranian Revolution
Why Washington Should Seek Regime Change in Tehran
Op-eds
Iran vs. Trump: Suleimani’s Legacy, and Khamenei’s Ambitions
The supreme leader and Trump may well end the long-running, region-defining clash. We just don't know yet quite how.
Op-eds
The Preeminent Challenge
The biggest foreign-policy challenge before Donald Trump isn’t North Korea, where the usual pattern of diplomacy and deception persists. Nor is it Russia; it doesn’t have the mus...
Op-eds
Don’t Fear Regime Change in Iran
President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran deal, and to relentlessly pressure the Islamic Republic, has elicited a predictable response. Critics cite history, particularly a count...
Op-eds
The Nuclear Deal Makes America Complicit in Iranian Crimes
The fundamental question when discussing a nuclear deal with Tehran is this: Are you prepared to fight over it? If not, then any deal is a good deal. This willingness to go to the mat also affect...
Op-eds
The Worst Thing for Iran’s Protesters? U.S. Silence
We are now six days into the Iran protests, and the questions that seized Washington during the 2009 pro-...
Op-eds
The Iranian Express
On November 30, 2016, Syria watcher Tobias Schneider tweeted out pictures of an Iraqi Shia militiaman boarding an Iranian commercial airliner en route to Damascus. One selfie taken on the plane s...
Op-eds
The Death of Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, a Machiavellian Prince
Co-written by Ali Alfoneh. Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the principal architect of the Islamic Republic, died of a heart attack at 82. The former parliamentary speake...
Op-eds
Post-Deal, Khamenei’s Remarks as Belligerent as Ever
“Our policy toward the arrogant U.S. government won’t change at all,” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei assured Iranians in his...
Policy Briefs
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
The Man And The Myth
Urbi et Orbi, the city and the world, Tehran and the globe. In his turban and clerical robe, softly speaking of peace, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, resembles a spiritual guide mor...
Op-eds
An Iranian Moderate Exposed
“To my esteemed enemy, Mohammad-Javad Zarif.” Iran’s former ambassador to the United Nations remains very proud of this dedication in his copy of Henry Kissinger’s ...
Op-eds
The Obama-Rouhani Communication Efforts Are No Historic Breakthrough
There's just something about Iran, perhaps an old Jedi trick, that clouds Western minds. No matter how many times one presents experts and journalists with the facts, they go right on repeat...
Op-eds
Meet the New Mullah
Iranians aren’t wrong to celebrate the presidential victory of Hassan Rouhani. It is a (small) thumb in the eye of the country’s clerical ruler, Ali Khamenei. Leaving aside foreign af...