Iran

By Frud Bezhan | ( RFE/RL) | – – Stunning landscapes, famous hospitality, and numerous World Heritage sites. Iran’s potential as a holiday destination is vast, but foreign tourists have largely avoided the country ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The reasons are numerous. The visa process can be lengthy and complex. Some female […]

art and photography

Painting of the Day: Girl w/ Wine Cup, Isfahan, Iran, 1650

contributors

British Museum | Persian Watercolor in style of Muhammad Qasim | – – “Girl with a wine cup Style of Muhammad Qasim Safavid Iran, Isfahan, 1640-50 Ink and opaque watercolour on paper By 1650 drawings of young men or women holding wine cups in the countryside had become standard rather than hackneyed fare in Persian […]

Iran

The Mystery of Washington’s Iran Derangement Syndrome

contributors

By Danny Sjursen | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – “Everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region,” Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters on a mid-April visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, “you find Iran.” I must admit that when I stumbled across that quote it brought up uncomfortable personal memories. East Baghdad, […]

Democracy

Is Rouhani’s Reelection a step toward Democracy for Iran?

contributors

Ebrahim Deen | (Informed Comment) | – – Hassan Rouhani’s victory in Last Friday’s Iranian presidential election, by a large majority, portents a continuation of the country’s path toward global reengagement, both on a more popular level and in terms of economic and political cooperation. The intensified nature of this electoral campaign does however point […]

Human Rights

Iran: Does the Rouhani Win Matter for Human Rights?

contributors

By Tara Sepehri Far. | ( Human Rights Watch ) | – – In Second Term, Should Move on Rights Reforms When the 2017 election season kicked off April 21, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did not go into the race possessing an enviable track record of defending human rights. While he achieved his 2013 election […]

Iran

What Iranian women want: rights, jobs and a seat at the table

contributors

By Azadeh Davachi | (The Conversation) | – – Issues affecting women were conspicuously absent from Iran’s 2017 presidential election. That’s unless one finds useful the leading conservative candidate Hojjat al-Islam Ebrahim Raisi’s comment that his government would enhance women’s dignity within the family, because women should be “good mothers and wives”. The absence was […]

Elections

Rouhani’s win a Victory for Reform, will Trump waste Opportunity?

contributors

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – In Iran’s election, Hassan Rouhani’s re-election was not a forgone conclusion. Criticism of Rouhani’s performance focused on growing unemployment, as the economy was not keeping pace with new entries into the workforce. Official rates put unemployment at 12% but this rate is estimated to be much […]

Donald Trump

America Should stay the Course with Rouhani

contributors

By Robert Harvey | (Project Syndicate) | – – LONDON – Hassan Rouhani has won re-election as Iran’s president in a landslide, meaning that it is he who will be dealing with an antagonistic US President Donald Trump. What will their relationship mean for the 2015 international agreement that has, for now, frozen Iran’s nuclear […]

Donald Trump

Trump in Absolute Monarchy during Iran’s Election

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The spectacle of Trump and of cronies such as alt-Neo-Nazi Steve Bannon hobnobbing with the Saudi monarchy, of the president curtsying to King Salman and receiving a huge gold medal from him (for what, bashing Islam relentlessly?) was made all the more seedy by its juxtaposition […]