Iran

By Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Arizona State University | (The Conversation) – Is Iran poised for a succession in leadership? Well, that depends on what you read. For weeks, rumors have been swirling about the health of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as a possible replacement. In late […]

Iran

Saudi Arabia Pursues ‘Cautious Detente’ With Longtime Rival Iran despite Looming Trump 2.0

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/ RL ) – Iran and Saudi Arabia have been bitter rivals for decades, vying to lead competing branches of Islam and standing on opposing sides of conflicts in Syria and Yemen. But Tehran and Riyadh have taken major steps to de-escalate tensions and boost cooperation, a move that appeared unthinkable […]

Featured

Israel’s Limited Strikes on Iran show the Enormous Constraints faced by Netanyahu

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The limited strikes on Iran carried out by Israeli fighter-jets early on Saturday morning Tehran time above all demonstrated the constraints under which even this extremist Israeli government has to operate. The bombings are said to have been limited to military targets, including missile manufacturing facilities. The first constraint Israel […]

Featured

Is Iran Next?

Fariba Amini

Newark, Del. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In 2005, in the summer of that year, while visiting Iran, I happened to meet an opinionated man. The first thing he asked me was whether I was coming from abroad. He could tell. I replied, yes. He told me, well you are lucky. Here we’re suffering. […]

Iran

Iran’s Leaders have everything to lose in a direct War with Israel; Why take such a Massive Risk?

Shahram Akbarzadeh

Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deakin University | – (The Conversation) – With Iran’s firing of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel overnight, the Middle East is again on the brink of what would be a costly, ruinous regional war. Israel and its ally, the United States, shot down most of the missiles. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]

Iran

Iran’s Strikes on Israel have set Conflict in the Middle East Spiraling, in rising Security Threat

The Conversation

By Javed Ali, University of Michigan | – (The Conversation) – Iran fired at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Oct. 1, 2024, amplifying tensions in the Middle East that are increasingly marked by “escalation after escalation,” as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it. Iran’s attacks – which Israel largely deterred with […]

Iran

Why Tehran chose to attack Israel

Ibrahim Al-Marashi

( The National ) – Iran is the first Middle Eastern state in the 21st century to strike Israel directly, having fired a massive salvo of ballistic missiles from its territory – not once, but twice – in just one year. But it is not the first Middle Eastern state ever to have done so. […]

Hizbullah

Biden’s Israel Policy Has Led Us to the Brink of War on Iran

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – On October 1, Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel in response to Israel’s recent assassinations of leaders of its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Hezbollah and Hamas. There are conflicting reports about how many of the missiles struck their targets and if there were any deaths. But Israel is now considering a counterattack that could […]

China

At UN, China slams US Sanctions on Iran, Accuses Israel of ‘Indiscriminate attacks on Civilians’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, during his first appearance at the annual UN General Assembly meeting, met on the margins of the conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He elicited from the Chinese one of the strongest statements of Chinese support we have seen. According to the UAE’s al-Khaleej, Wang […]