A Death In Tehran

(PBS | Frontline | 17 November 2009) - At the height of the protests following Iran’s controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death — filmed on a camera phone, then uploaded to the Web — quickly became an international outrage, and Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government’s hold on power.

In A Death in Tehran, FRONTLINE revisits the events of last summer, shedding new light on Neda’s life and death and the movement she helped inspire. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran, the United States, Israel and Nuclear Weapons
Can Diplomacy Work?

Carnegie Endowment for Peace | Washington D.C. | 20 November 2009

Dr. Trita Parsi, one of America’s foremost experts on Iran, is the author of Treacherous Alliance – the Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States (2007) which won the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Polk Award. Dr. Parsi has a PhD from Johns Hopkins/SAIS. He is now the President of the National Iranian American Council, adjunct scholar at the Middle East Insitute and a regular writer and sought-after commentator on Iran. He will speak on the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, the Iranian decision making process, the Iran dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and prospects for a resolving the crisis.

This event is sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Americans for Peace Now, Churches for Middle East Peace and the Middle East Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Iran After the Election

Columbia University – School of International and Public Affairs| 5 December 2009

The recent elections in Iran, and subsequent challenges to their legitimacy, have been a matter of enormous internal conflict in Iran, and of seemingly endless debate in the rest of the world.  As protesters continue to take to the Iranian street to voice their opposition to the elections, fault-lines are emerging amongst the ruling elite.  These momentous events constitute a significant challenge to the legitimacy of the Iranian regime and the future of the Islamic Republic.  The conference will be an opportunity to have leading Iranian scholars and analysts discuss the impact of the recent elections, Iran’s relationship with the international community and the theocratic foundations of the Islamic Republic.

The one-day conference being held at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs  will feature Ervand Abrahamian, Asef Bayat, Hamid Dabashi, Shahla Talebi discussing the “Aftermath of the Election,” Farideh Farhi, Gary Sick, Wayne White, Judith Yaphe discussing “International Challenges,” and Houchang Chehabi, Mansour Farhang, Hossein Kamaly, Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, and Abdolkarim Soroush “Appraising the Life of the Republic.”  For more event information and to register, visit the conference website.

US seizes mosques allegedly linked to Iranian government

(Associated Press | 13 November 2009) - In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four U.S. mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government. Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Moves to Seize Properties Tied to Iran

(Benjamin Weiser | New York Times | 12 November 2009) - Federal prosecutors in Manhattan began legal action on Thursday to seize properties in Queens and across the country where several mosques are located in a broad move against a nonprofit organization that was accused of illegally providing money and other services to Iran. 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 »

Bunkers or Breakthrough?

(Roger Cohen | New York Times OpEd | 5 November 2009) — In his last month as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei finds himself at the explosive crux of the world’s nuclear politics, ferrying messages between the Obama administration and Tehran. “They are talking through me,” he says. 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 »

Beneath the hype: Is Iran close to nukes?

(The Real News Network | 7 October 2007) - In this five-part series, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern and Iraq whistle-blower Greg Thielmann discuss respectively the role of faith-based intelligence in disinformation (Part 1) and under what conditions Iran would restart its suspended weapons program (Part 2).  In the question and answer session, McGovern and Thielman discuss the implication of US silence on Israel’s nuclear weapons (Part 3); the disconnect between the intelligence community, government and the public (Part 4); and the potential causes of armed conflict in Iran (Part 5).

Part 1:  Disinformation and Faith-based Intelligence

(Ray McGovern | The Real News Network | 7 October 2009) - Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern speaks on disinformation, Iran, and “faith-based intelligence” Read the rest of this entry »