Could the Mullahs Fall This Time?

As protesters poured into the streets of Iran in the biggest and bloodiest demonstrations since June, Trita and Rouzbeh Parsi say this time could be the breaking point.

(Trita Parsi & Rouzebeh Parsi | The Daily Beast | 27 December 2009) – With the government growing increasingly desperate—and violent—the new clashes on the streets in Iran may very well prove to be the breaking point of the regime. If so, it shows that the Iranian theocracy ultimately fell on its own sword. It didn’t come to an end due to the efforts of exiled opposition groups or the regime-change schemes of Washington’s neoconservatives. Rather, the Iranian people are the main characters in this drama, using the very same symbols that brought the Islamic republic into being to close this chapter in a century-old struggle for democracy. Read the rest of this entry »

IAEA Condemnation of Iran: An Omen of New Sanctions or a Symbolic Slap on the Wrist?

(Juan Cole | Informed Consent | 28 November 2009) – The board of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday condemned Iran for secretly building a new nuclear enrichment facility at Fordo near Qom, and called on it to mothball the new site. The resolution was backed by the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including China and Russia, as well as Germany. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran’s Dangerous Power Vacuum

Ahmadinejad’s grip is slipping. The ayatollah is losing ground. And the military is on the rise. Gary Sick on how Obama should handle the aftershocks of a political earthquake.

(Gary Sick | The Daily Beast | 27 November 2009) - Iran is at a revolutionary juncture, one of those hinge moments in history when an explosion of actions and debates produces towering outcomes—often unintended—that bend the course of events the way a black hole in space bends a beam of light. In the tumult of these moments, it is almost impossible to know how it will end; only in retrospect does the outcome appear inevitable. Read the rest of this entry »

The Plight of Iranian Journalists

(Muhammad Sahimi | Tehran Bureau | 8 November 2009) - Except for a brief period in the beginning of President Mohammad Khatami’s first term (1998-2000); and earlier, between 1941, when Allied forces occupied Iran, and 1953, the year the CIA-led a coup against the popular government of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, freedom of the press in Iran has been under constant assault over the past century. Hundreds of Iranian journalists have been jailed or driven into exile. Many have been murdered. In short, Iran has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Read the rest of this entry »

Patience with Iran

(Robert Dreyfuss | The Nation | 5 November 2009) - The Green Movement opposition flexed its muscles again in Iran this week, taking advantage of anti-American protests on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran (aka “the nest of spies”) to rally thousands of anti-Ahmadinejad protestors into the streets. Read the rest of this entry »

13 of Aban Protests

On the 30th Anniversary of the Takeover of the US Embassy Students Take to the Streets in Protests across Iran

(Editor | Peace with Iran | 4 November 2009) – Today is the 13th of Aban:  the official day Iranians commemorate the student takeover of the US Embassy during the 1979 Revolution.  This year, the 30th anniversary of this historic day,  students also mobilized.  This time they took to the streets to protest their government and to demand their voices be heard and the rights of all Iranians be respected. Read the rest of this entry »

IRAN: Khatami says protesters won’t back down

(Jeffrey Fleishman – Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times | 11 October 2009) – Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has posted a strong declaration on his website that the protest movement in Iran will not die despite violent crackdowns by the military and police. Read the rest of this entry »

Iranian blogosphere reacts to Obama’s Peace Prize

(Dispatch | Tehran Bureau | 11 October 2009) - Outside of the United States, the news that U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize resonated perhaps most strongly with Iranians. Read the rest of this entry »

The Mixed Blessings of the Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama was named this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his diplomatic efforts. The unexpected choice made him the third U.S. president to be so honored while still in office.

There have been mixed, even critical reviews of President Obama winning this honor. In our coverage we wanted to share the reactions, examine the implications, and reflect on the purpose, at times more political than laudatory, of the Nobel Peace prize. Read the rest of this entry »

Obama Begins Meaningful Engagement With Iran

(Robert Naiman | Truthout | 8 October 2009) - The relationship between the United States and Iran with respect to Iran’s nuclear file is playing out at two levels. One level revolves around formal obligations and agreements and diplomacy. The second level is the long-running contest between the United States and its allies and Iran and its allies for power and influence in the region. The contest at the formal-obligations level on the nuclear program is a proxy for the contest for power and influence, and accommodation on the nuclear program likely implies some acceptance of Iran’s power and influence in the region. Read the rest of this entry »