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

The Politics of Hostage-Taking in Iran

by Mansour Farhang The day that Iranian students attacked the U. S. embassy in Tehran— November 4, 1979—marks a durably contentious date in US–Iranian relations. Henry Kissinger once described Iran under the late Shah as “that rarest of things in international… Continue Reading

The Republican Adoration of Egypt’s Sisi

by Derek Davison During Thursday night’s Fox News-sponsored Republican primary debate, moderator Megyn Kelly asked Texas Senator Ted Cruz whether he believes that the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) is an “ideological problem in addition to a military one.” This… Continue Reading

Death to America? Or a Life Sentence?

by John Limbert An Iranian political cartoonist recently drew a demonstrator in the streets shouting, “Life imprisonment to America.” In other words, the July 14 nuclear agreement between Iran and P5+1 (the JCPOA) has created a new reality and a… Continue Reading

The Consequences of Saudi Paranoia about Iran

by Shireen T. Hunter By militarily attacking Yemen, Saudi Arabia has committed its second aggression against a regional country in less than four years. The first was in Bahrain in 2011. This time, in addition to some Gulf Cooperation Council members,… Continue Reading