Reconciliation

The doors at Takt-e Soileman, Iran. Photo by Monica Byrne.

by Monica Byrne Before I traveled to Iran, I didn’t want to read anything about Iran. Certainly nothing written by mainstream American news media, which often draws an absurdist caricature of the country. I wanted to arrive with an open… Continue Reading

Ambassadorial Recall Signals Deepening Rifts Among Gulf Sheikhs

by Emile Nakhleh Yesterday’s public announcement by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain that they’re withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar signals a serious rift within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The seismic regional changes that have occurred… Continue Reading

When Silence Is Hardly Golden

by Henry Precht The recent telephone conversation between Presidents Obama and Rouhani — and their positive descriptions of the exchange — are precisely on target for bringing an end to the Iran-US Cold War. Distrust has been the background noise for that… Continue Reading

Former Insiders Criticise Iran Policy as U.S. Hegemony

by Gareth Porter via IPS News A review of Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett’s “Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran” (Metropolitan Books, 2013) “Going to Tehran” arguably represents… Continue Reading

Embassy Safety: Learning from Mistakes in Tehran and Benghazi

by Charles Naas My dear friend and colleague, Henry Precht, in his discussion Wednesday about the sad path of US-Iran affairs in the last 30 years, did not mention that a day after his snowy trip to the State Department,… Continue Reading