Iran

By Rahman Bouzari | – (OpenDemocracy) – The recent round of spontaneous protests against the petrol [gasoline] price hike has to be contextualized as part of the “long-term revolutionary process” in Iran. The 2017-18 uprisings changed the Iranian political landscape for good. Since then, the Islamic Republic has entered into an ‘organic crisis’ par excellence. […]

Iran

Iran: Violent Gov’t Crackdown on Protesters with Live Fire and many Casualties, hidden by Internet Blackout

Human Rights Watch

(Human Rights Watch) – (Beirut) – Iranian security forces appear to be using excessive force against protests that emerged after an abrupt government increase in fuel prices across the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities have ordered the near-total shutdown of the internet. Occasional video footage of protests posted on social media amid the […]

Donald Trump

Iran: Economic Blockade and Crowd Protests were also How the US made the 1953 Coup

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The crowd protests that grew to affect 100 cities over the weekend in Iran were sparked by the government increasing the price of gasoline by as much as 3 times overnight. But the underlying discontents with the government have been caused by a sinking economy, expected to shrink by 9% […]

Iran

Outrage In Iran Over Hike In Gas Prices As Economic Woes Worsen

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) – Iranians are blasting their government for rationing gas and greatly increasing its price, with many concerned that the move will lead to inflation and greater hardship in a country where so many people are struggling to make ends meet. The state-run National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in an overnight announcement on […]

Featured

Mired in a Trump-Fuelled Recession, 20 Iranian Cities erupt with Gasoline Price Protests

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Deutsche Welle reports that the tripling of the price of gasoline by the Iranian government very early Friday morning provoked protests throughout Iran, in at least 20 cities. In Sirjan, a protester was killed. The government drastically slowed down or even cut off the internet. The biggest rallies were in […]

Donald Trump

Iran’s Rouhani: Trump too Erratic to Deal with, but is Open about Ambitions to Steal ME Oil

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said this week that the United States used to justify its military presence in Syria on the grounds that it was fighting terrorism. He said that Donald Trump has let the cat out of the bag and admitted that the real reason is to steal Syrian […]

Iran

How Saudi-Iranian oil rivalry has been shaped by American power

The Conversation

By Sukru Cildir | – The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both oil-rich states in the Middle East, has oscillated from co-operation to conflict throughout history. Alongside a range of factors that shape their rivalry including sectarianism and nationalism has been the politics of oil. Oil is a strategic international commodity, and its use […]

Donald Trump

How the Trump Administration has Made Iranian Nuclear Enrichment only Rational

Akan Malici

By Akan Malici (Informed Comment) – It would be rational for Iran to pursue a nuclear bomb. Ironically, the U.S. has long been compelling it in this direction. The U.S. also bears the blame for the newest escalation, as it does for the enemy relationship generally. U.S. leaders will be quick to discard these statements […]

Iran

Iraq Protests Heat Up Long-Standing Rivalry Between Iraqi And Iranian Shiite Religious Leaders

Niqash

By Elias Thomas | – ( Niqash.org) – Behind the scenes of Iraq’s demonstrations, a decades-old rivalry between two centres of religious learning and authority, one local and the other in Iran, is playing out. 3.11.2019 Politics Protests in Baghdad. In early October, snipers shot at unarmed protesters on the streets of Iraq, who were […]