Iran Is More Than Persia
Ethnic Politics in the Islamic Republic
Turkmenistan
More than Just Friends? New Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan Agreement on Joint Energy Production in the Caspian Sea
On January 21, 2021 the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for joint development of the newly named Dostluq (friendship in Azerbaijani...
Op-eds
Iran’s Longstanding Cooperation with Armenia
Domestic Azerbaijani Opposition May be Rising
Memos
Female Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber hits hospital
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan claimed credit for today’s suicide attack that targeted a hospital in the northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan that killed eight people. The Taliban has...
Op-eds
Project Midan
Developing and Building an Underground Nuclear Test Site in Iran
Monographs
Taliban routs Afghan forces in western Afghan district
The Taliban has routed an Afghan National Army company and a border police force while pressing its offensive in the western Afghan district of Bala Murghab in Badghis province. Bala Murghab distri...
Op-eds
Profiles of Iranian Repression
Architects of Human Rights Abuse in the Islamic Republic
Monographs
The U.S. Should Sanction Iran’s Key Slush Fund and Its Brutal Custodian
At first, he couldn’t identify the sound. But Amir Atiabi, an inmate in Iran’s Gohardasht Prison, was curious. Over the course of several nights in 1988, he ...
Op-eds
A little pivot to Central Asia
Kazakhstan is one of the ten largest countries in the world, yet most Americans couldn’t find it on a map. It spans Central Asia, home to the world’s most sophisticated civilizations...
Op-eds
The U.N.’s Parade of Dictators
Founded in 1945 to promote global peace, human dignity and freedom, the United Nations is celebrating its 70th anniversary — with a parade of dictators. The ceremonies will peak on Monday,...
Op-eds
And Now, Iran Wins a Seat on Governing Board of UN Agency for Women
It’s not only at the nuclear talks that Iran is goose-stepping right over those polite U.S. diplomats to grab all it can get. At the United Nations, Iran has just w...
Op-eds
Christians Persecuted at Alarming Rate in Iran, Arab World, US Report Says
Christians are under siege in the Middle East, and the Obama administration is not doing enough to stop religious persecution by its allies, according to a new report from a bipartisan federal co...
Op-eds
Iranian Influence in the South Caucasus and the Surrounding Region
Introduction On behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, I would like to thank Chairman Burton and Ranking Member Meeks for the opportunity to submit written...
Legislative Testimonies
Pro-Taliban Pakistani Islamist Leader Targeted in Suicide Attack
The former leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party that supports the Taliban, was the target of a female suicide bomber in Pakistan's violence-ridden northwest. Qazi Hussai...
Op-eds
Female Suicide Bomber From Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin Strikes in Kabul
Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) has claimed credit for a suicide attack in Kabul today that targeted foreigns and was executed by a female. At least 12 people, mostly foreign workers, were killed i...
Op-eds
2 Uighur Gitmo Detainees Transferred to El Salvador
The Department of Defense announced the transfer of two Uighur detainees from Guantanamo to El Salvador yesterday. The t...
Op-eds
Jamshid Muhtorov, the Islamic Jihad Union, and Joshua Foust
As regular Gunpowder & Lead readers will know, one of my preferred genres of writing is known informally as the “evisceration.” My...
Op-eds
US Predators Kill 4 ‘Militants’ in North Waziristan
Unmanned US strike aircraft attacked terrorist targets in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency for the third time in less than three weeks, killing four "militants" in an area known t...
Op-eds
The Blind Who Will Not See: The President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Iranian Death Spiral
I sometimes wonder where some of our smartest people get their ideas. Take Defense Secretary Bob Gates, for example. Discussing the possibility of military action against Iranian nuclear weapons...
Op-eds
Four Countries Joined Gasoline Exporters to Iran
Despite the US sanctions, Iran has exported above 1 million tons of gasoline from 7 countries during the first four months of the current Iranian year (started March 20). United Arab Emirate...