Iran

By Reese Erlich | (48hills.com) | – – During a recent reporting trip to Iran, I interviewed almost two dozen people at random in both rich and poor neighborhoods of Tehran. All the middle and upper-middle class people I spoke with said the government of President Hassan Rouhani had made economic progress, although not as […]

Iran

How Iran’s Bread Riots turned anti-Systemic & what it means for the Future

contributors

Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran started 2018 with protest rallies and anti-riot police in many cities across the country. Public protests against the regime caught many observers by surprise, just as the 2011 Arab Spring had done. But displays of public anger in Iran are not new. Throughout 2017, Iran witnessed […]

Featured

Nearly a year after Trump bombed Syria, al-Assad and Russia extend control

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian war limps along at the margins. It is over where it matters but continues in key demographic pockets. The two most significant are East Ghouta near the al-Assad-held capital of Damascus and the province of Idlib in the northwest of the country. East Ghouta […]

Environment

EVs are Better: Iranian oil tanker in East China Sea could burn for a month

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea could burn for as long as one month, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters on Wednesday, as the blaze raged for a fourth day following a collision with a freight ship. Dozens of rescue boats battled […]

Donald Trump

Iran’s Khamenei: Trump Unbalanced, Playing Crazy Games, but Iran policy will Fail

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran’s clerical leader, Ali Khamenei, gave a speech in Qom on Tuesday, in which he warned Donald Trump that his “crazy games” would not go without a response. Western news outlets such as the NYT tried to represent this speech as a threat, and some outlets […]

Featured

Iran’s Khamenei blames Early English Learning for Unrest, Bans Classes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iran’s government has apparently discovered the real reason for the protests that swept its small towns and working class neighborhoods during the past couple of weeks. English was being taught to third graders in some schools. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the clerical Leader of the country, has […]

Iran

Trump & Neocons Are Exploiting an Iran Protest Movement They Know Nothing About

contributors

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) | – – Iranians are protesting conditions worsened by U.S. policies, but Washington’s hawks see only an opportunity for regime change. The last time Iranians went out onto the streets in large numbers, they were protesting what they thought was a stolen election. It was […]

Donald Trump

Trump Engineered Saudi Soft Coup, attack on Qatar, to Save Self

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Michael Wolff in his new book Fire and Fury makes a number of allegations about Trump’s role in the Gulf crisis that, if true, help explain the mess in that part of the Middle East. Wolff asserts that Trump and his then inner circle–Jared Kushner, Steve […]

Iran

The Five Pillars of Iran: Poetry of Protest

contributors

By Nassrine Azimi | (Informed Comment) | – – Hiroshima—Throughout the massive public demonstrations in 2009, Iranians protesting against the notorious government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were often airing their anger and frustration at the abuses of the regime in rhyme. During this past week, people’s seething discontent has again spilled onto the streets, starting in […]