The hardest part of publishing articles in the news is drafting the story’s headline. Headlines serve two essential purposes: to give a general idea of the subject that the article exposes and to trigger the reader’s curiosity or interest. Because the headline must be pithy, the second...
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a fundamentally ideological regime with the teleological goal of establishing an Islamist world empire. The mythology of this regime’s ideology naturally requires the existence of the forces of “good” and “evil” along a rigidly drawn line. The regime...
Iran’s recent elections display support for the reform movement, which many believed had become obsolete. Iran is undergoing not only an economic opening, but also a social one. After the P5+1, composed of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, signed the landmark nuclear deal with...
Nuclear development is an important path through which the Islamic Republic negotiates its position within the modern state system. Later this month, the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States plus Germany) and Iran are due to announce whether or not they have reached...
Iran’s goal in the nuclear negotiations is not just an easing of sanctions. Iran’s catastrophic economic situation is seen by many observers as the Rouhani government’s central motive to end the nuclear standoff – and the sanctions against Iran – as quickly as...
With hopeful signs coming from the Gulf, Israel and Congress promise a fight. The early hours of November 24, 2013, witnessed the signing of a new nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran in Geneva. After prolonged negotiations, both sides came to an agreement that would halt and even roll back...
Despite antagonistic identity politics, US-Iran relations have a history of pragmatic dialogue. This is the last of a two part series. Read part one here. What is there to say about rapprochement being unable to reemerge in light of changing geopolitical paradigms and actors? Violence was...
Military intervention involves serious risks of regional destabilization. The many actors stoking the long smoldering Syrian Civil War have now seen the conflict explode, following the Bashar al-Assad regime’s employment of sarin gas to stall the rebel advance in the Ghouta suburbs of...
"Political will is the precondition for the improvement of relations." The new Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has taken over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran from his predecessor, Ali Akbar Salehi, at a time when the entire Middle East and...
Whether Rouhani is a dealmaker depends partly on the actions of Obama and Congress. The Ahmadinejad era has officially come to an end. Rest assure, few in Iran are mourning this occasion. But questions still remain as to whether the new president, Hassan Rouhani, can usher in a new era. Here are a...
