Persians

Of Presidents and Persians

Iran’s New ‘Nuclear’ Weapon

What happens if the U.S. declines to fight for the Strait of Hormuz.

Is the Islamic Republic Down and Out in the Levant and Beyond?

Since October 7, 2023, Iran’s theocracy has watched its entire westward foreign policy crash, disabled by an Israeli counterattack and its shockwaves.

Don’t Repeat Obama’s Mistake in Iran

The 44th president drew a ‘red line’ in 2013, then imposed no consequences when Syria crossed it.

Israel Can’t Substitute for the U.S. in the Middle East

The Jewish state can protect its neighborhood, but the Persian Gulf needs a superpower’s attention.

FDD Identifies 19 Websites as Part of an Iranian Global Influence Operation

FDD researchers have uncovered the Iranian role in creating a network of at least 19 websites that present themselves as independent sources of opinion and analysis for audiences across the globe. Other...

The Azerbaijanis, Not the Azeris, Are Hosting COP29

The Republic of Azerbaijan will host the annual  UN  Climate Change Conference known as COP29 in November 2024. For many who will attend COP29 and follow the process, this will be their first...

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.

The Iranian theocracy’s downfall is a goal worth working toward

Fate is sometimes kind to America. Such merciful intervention happened last summer when Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, rejected the Biden administration’s effort to revive former President Barack...

Iran’s policy toward the Caucasus and Central Asia

Excerpt Much of the analysis on Iranian foreign policy focuses on both Iran’s positonality in relation to the Middle East, and its claim to the mantle of Shia Islamic leadership. However, a more detailed...

Tehran, the Day After

What might happen in Iran if America or Israel bombed the nuclear sites?

The Israeli Moment

If anyone is going to derail the Islamic Republic’s regional ambitions, Israel is really the only local counterweight that counts.

An Iraqi Perspective on Israel

Growing up in Iraq, my curriculum in Baghdad’s elementary school included a “nationalism class” and required that we read a text by the Governor of Baghdad and Saddam Hussein’s maternal uncle, Khairallah...

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,...

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...

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...

The forgotten refugees of the Middle East

Jews who were forced to flee from their homes in Arab lands

Iran’s Multiethnic Society Explains Why Tehran Fears Democracy

Iran faces the democracy conundrum: in multi-ethnic states where one non-majority group prevails over others, democratization entails risk of loss of empire.

Iran stokes antisemitism about ‘Esther, The Girl who became Queen’

“A Zionist hero has infiltrated our streaming services” in Iran

Covid-19 And Middle Eastern Tyranny

In the democratic West, many expect there to be a post–Covid-19 reckoning. That politicians who did poorly in handling the pandemic will fall from office. There isn’t a clear understanding of what...