Iran

( RFE/RL ) – Less than a month before Iran’s June 18 presidential election, there are few signs of enthusiasm about the vote. For many Iranians, voting in the Islamic republic has often been a choice between bad or worse. Elections in Iran are tightly restricted, with candidates being preselected by hard-liners on the country’s […]

Elections

Iran: The Election Trump did succeed in Spoiling

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford, U.K (Special to Informed Comment) – Although Iran is one of the few countries in the Middle East that has regular presidential, parliamentary and local council elections, those elections are far from free and fair when judged by the standards of advanced democracies. The June, 2021 polls will be even more flawed, in large […]

Iran

A Thaw in Coldest of Mideast Cold Wars? Saudi Arabia is suddenly talking to Iran

Middle East Monitor

By Omid Shokri | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years. Both countries pursue conflicting interests in particular issues in the region with a specific ideology in foreign policy. The two countries are rivals not only in the Islamic world and the region, but […]

Iran

Campaign of Israel’s Netanyahu against Biden Iran Deal crashes and burns along with his Career

Oraib AlRantawi

( Middle East Monitor) – The Israeli security and military delegations flocking to Washington in the past few weeks have returned disappointed following their failed efforts to dissuade the Biden administration from returning to the Vienna Agreement with Iran and lifting the imposed sanctions. Israeli security and military believe that Washington is determined to close […]

China

The Cold War Has Already Turned Hot — on the Internet

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com) – America has a serious infrastructure problem. Maybe when I say that what comes to mind are all the potholes on your street. Or the dismal state of public transportation in your city. Or crumbling bridges all over the country. But that’s so twentieth century of you. America’s most urgent infrastructure vulnerability is […]

Donald Trump

No, Kerry didn’t Leak Israeli strikes to Zarif; but Trump did leak Israeli Intel to Russia

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ted Cruz and other far right demagogues have charged for over half a decade that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was misguided because you can’t trust anything Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarid says. Now all of a sudden they are treating an offhand remark by Zarif in a leaked interview […]

Afghanistan

U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan Could Bring Iran Opportunities, Threats

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/RL) – The announced withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan will grant Iran one of its biggest wishes and lead to the departure of all foreign forces, which Tehran has long blamed for insecurity in the region. Analysts say the pullout of U.S.-led NATO forces from Afghanistan could potentially give Iran more room to […]

Iran

The Iranian Government is more Pragmatic in dealing with Sunnis than its Sectarian image Implies

Shivan Mahendrarajah

St. Andrews (Special to Informed Comment) – The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is often depicted by its enemies and their press (the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel in particular) as an ideological and sectarian Shiite state, drunk on fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism, however, is a key part of the politics of these […]

Iran

Israeli Intelligence Chiefs Assess that Biden, Iran will Rejoin Nuclear Deal; Netanyahu wants to Stop it

Middle East Monitor

By Motasem A Dalloul | – After two weeks of deliberations in Vienna about reactivating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday that, “There is a real goodwill on both parts to reach an agreement.” He pointed out that the […]