Iran

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – Relations across the Persian Gulf are deteriorating fast. Iran and Saudi Arabia are once again at daggers drawn and sounding highly menacing to each other. The last time they were on the verge of a showdown, which they eventually averted, was in early 2016 following the […]

Elections

The Iranian Election: It’s the Economy, Stupid!

contributors

By Stella Morgana | The Conversation | – – On May 19, Iranians will choose their next president and determine what direction the country will take. The race has become tighter now that Tehran’s conservative mayor Mohammad-Baghar Ghalibaf has withdrawn his candidacy and backed the hardliner cleric Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi is the main competition for […]

Elections

Iran Election: Rouhani charges Rivals are ‘Executioners & Jailers’ in Risky Move

contributors

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL ) | – – Less than two weeks before voting in Iran’s presidential election, incumbent Hassan Rohani has risked crossing the political establishment’s “red lines” in an unusually blunt attack against two conservative rivals. In a campaign speech in the western city of Hamedan, Rohani said on May 8 […]

Elections

Iran: Will Voters’ Economic Gloom Doom Rouhani’s Reelection Bid?

contributors

By Nader Habibi | (The Conversation) | – – Markets breathed a collective sigh of relief after Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency. But there’s another vote this month that’s just as consequential yet has received far less attention: Iran’s May 19 presidential election. If the incumbent moderate Hassan Rouhani doesn’t win a second term, […]

Iran

Syria: Rebels denounce De-escalation Zones ok’d by Russia, Iran, Turkey

contributors

TeleSur | – – Signatories to the agreement say that there should be a cessation of hostilities in safe zones designated by the three powers by Friday. Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday signed a memorandum on creating safe zones in Syria, while a delegation of the armed Syrian opposition walked out and shouted angrily […]

art and photography

Picture of the Day: Iranian Woman Tambourine Player, 1848

contributors

British Museum | Persian Costumes | – – “Portrait of a young woman; single-page painting mounted on album folio. A young woman kneels on a yellow and white carpet while holding a large tambourine to the right with both hands. She wears an orange blouse, a blue jacket fastened at the waist, and a bright […]

Investment

Iran Committed to Nuclear Deal, Opens Bonanza to European Investors

contributors

EurActiv | euroefe.es | translated by Sam Morgan | – – The head of the Iranian atomic energy agency (AEOI) said on Saturday (29 April) that his country will honour its commitments to the nuclear agreement regardless of who wins the presidential election on 19 May. EURACTIV Spain reports. Ali Akbar Salehi insisted Iran would […]

Elections

No Woman Has Ever Run For Iranian President. Will Azam Taleghani Be The First?

contributors

By Golnaz Esfandiari. | ( RFE/RL) | – – Update: Ms. Taleghani has been disqualified. Her journey is still amszing. On April 14, a tiny, frail-looking woman wearing a chador and using a walker made her way slowly up the stairs of Iran’s Interior Ministry in Tehran. Seventy-three-year-old Azam Taleghani was there to register as […]

Donald Trump

Can we survive simultaneous Trump, Ahmadinejad Presidencies?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Monitoring, which translates foreign-language news reports, has a rundown on reactions in Persian to the surprise registration by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to run for president in the May 19 Iranian elections. Ahmadinejad was a complete disaster and made Iran a laughingstock by his erratic pronouncements, his […]