Iran’s Presidential Elections: Has Hassan Rouhani Met His Match?

by Shireen T. Hunter Until only a few weeks ago, Iran’s hardliners lacked a candidate of any stature in Iran’s forthcoming presidential elections in May 2017. These principlists floated names of people such as Saeed Jalili, a former negotiator on… Continue Reading

Iran’s Conservatives Try a Bit of Democracy: Will It Work?

by Farideh Farhi Iran’s presidential election is slightly over two months away, and Iran’s conservatives are still struggling to find a candidate to rally around against President Hassan Rouhani who has the support of a fairly unified alliance of moderates… Continue Reading

Is Rouhani in Trouble?

by Farideh Farhi While the United States is moving towards wrapping its rather unusual election, Iran is about to begin its electoral cycle. The date for the combined presidential and municipal elections was set for May 19, prior to the… Continue Reading

Iranian Hardliners vs. Reformists: The Future of the JCPOA

by Pupak Mohebali Three years after reformer Hassan Rouhani became president of the Islamic Republic of Iran and eight months after signing the historic nuclear deal by Iran and the P5+1, Shahin Dadkhah left Iran for good and moved to… Continue Reading

The Iran Deal Implementation and Afterwards

by Farideh Farhi I am pretty sure it was not planned. But the Implementation Day for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—January 16—was also the anniversary of the day Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left Iran in 1979. This coincidence is… Continue Reading