Domestic political pressure spiked Ahmadinjad’s Fuel Swap push

A WikiLeaks cable reported this week suggested that the main Iranian obstacle to striking a nuclear fuel swap deal with the West was not the deal itself (or the Western countries involved), but internal Iranian politics. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… Continue Reading

Takeyh: “Just how stable is Iran’s clerical regime?”

Council on Foreign Relations scholar Ray Takeyh has an intriguing op-ed in the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times. He asks: “Just how stable is Iran’s clerical regime?” Takeyh starts with a little armchair psychology… Continue Reading

Why the U.S. Should Push a Fuel-Swap Deal in Turkey Talks Next Month

In January, Iran and the P5+1 countries, which includes the United States, will sit down in Istanbul for the second of the latest iteration of talks between the West and the Islamic Republic over the latter’s nuclear program. At PBS/Frontline‘s Tehran… Continue Reading

Ahmadinejad Cans FM, Replaces with Nuke Chief

Does the selection of Iran’s nuclear czar as its new (interim) foreign minister say anything about nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West? We don’t really know, and given that the next round of talks is only a month away, we might… Continue Reading