Saudi Dissident Gets EU’s Top Human Rights Prize

by Eldar Mamedov On October 29, the European Parliament awarded the EU’s top human rights prize—the Sakharov prize for freedom of expression—to Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. Saudi authorities accused Badawi of blasphemy and sentenced him to 1,000 lashes and 10… Continue Reading

Will Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Undermine the Nuclear Deal?

by Mahmoud Pargoo Iran revealed one of its missile inventories 500 meters underground on October 16, only a few days after it tested a new medium-range ballistic missile. The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, condemned the test, describing… Continue Reading

How Iran Views Saudi Arabia’s Regional Policies

by Adnan Tabatabai Antagonism between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a new peak this year. The wars in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen—as well as the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran, and the recent catastrophic stampede in… Continue Reading

John Kerry: We Have a Middle East Strategy

by Derek Davison In a speech in Washington on Wednesday to kick off the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s “Arab World Horizons” project, Secretary of State John Kerry articulated and defended the Obama administration’s Middle East strategy. He described the… Continue Reading