Bookkeepers, Mad Mullahs, and the Sources of Iranian Conduct

by Paul R. Pillar The Trump administration’s policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran so far shows no sign of inducing any desirable change in Iranian policy. Several reasons underlie this failure.  The administration has given the Iranian regime no realistic… Continue Reading

Iran’s Khuzestan Arabs

by Scheherezade Faramarzi The September gunfire assault on a military parade in the predominantly Arab Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran and the alleged Iranian retaliatory assassination plot in Denmark shed rare light on the plight of Khuzestan’s estimated four million… Continue Reading

U.S. Syria Policy Is a Strategic Failure

by Daniel Brumberg U.S. policy toward Syria pivots around vague and potentially incompatible goals that are not linked to adequate means. The White House wants to insure the permanent destruction of the Islamic State (ISIS or IS), expel Iranian and… Continue Reading

Why Trump’s Paris Fiasco Really Matters

by Rajan Menon You’ve probably had your fill of the media coverage, punditry, tweets, and wisecracks surrounding President Trump’s controversial trip to Paris, officially undertaken to honor the Allied soldiers, especially the Americans, who perished in France during World War… Continue Reading