The Reformers' Swan Song
For Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a man viewed as the architect of the Islamic Republic who was the nation's most powerful figure for two decades, the outcome of presidential elections this coming June...
View ArticleArab fear of the "extended arm of Iran"
The recent capture of Sanaa by Zaidi fighters was celebrated in the Iranian media as a "victory for the revolutionaries". The Arab press, by contrast, accused Iran of trying to influence events in...
View ArticleThe threat of a regional conflagration
It is not clear what Saudi Arabia hopes to achieve with the war in Yemen. In any case, the ongoing airstrikes are not going to solve any problems. On the contrary: many new ones are emerging, such as...
View ArticleReining in the lion
Until recently, General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards "Quds" Force, was still being hailed as a military hero and man for the future. But more and more details are...
View ArticleA lesson for the powerful and the disempowered
Granted, elections in Iran have little impact on the real political conditions in the Islamic Republic, where to this day the leader of the revolution retains his hold on the reins of power. But even...
View ArticlePie in the sky
Four months after the historic nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been left practically empty-handed. UN sanctions against Iran have been largely lifted, but those still in force are so...
View ArticleThe Shia shakedown
Religious scholars in exile are challenging the basic tenets of Shia Islam. Their professional authority is indisputable. And they are in close contact with Shia teaching activities in their homeland...
View ArticleRouhani, take note!
With the latest presidential election result, Iranians have sent a clear message across the nation and to the world at large. Their voices should be heeded, writes Ali Sadrzadeh in his commentary | The...
View ArticleTrump's UN debut: The axis of evil is back
The USA no longer accepts the nuclear agreement with Iran in its current form and instead wants to renegotiate elements of the international treaty. President Hassan Rouhani now has to manoeuvre...
View ArticleSleepwalking into war
War between Iran and Saudi Arabia would be of no use to anyone, not even to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Ben Salman in Riyadh or Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. On the contrary: both men could...
View ArticleAn own-goal for the hardliners
The blaze of popular wrath that has been ignited in Iran's provinces has long since begun to consume the cities as well. Initially intended by hardliners as a demonstration of dissatisfaction with...
View ArticleAt risk of Syrianisation?
Was the recent unrest in Iran merely a harbinger of a bigger political quake? Prominent sociologists and political scientists are predicting some more extensive social shock waves. And one man who made...
View ArticleThe lonely "axis of evil"
In the new Cold War between the USA and the Islamic Republic the theocracy is taking on the status of the defunct Soviet Union, writes Ali Sadrzadeh. Tehranʹs powerbrokers have, however, come up with...
View ArticleHow the Germans came to Iran
During the First World War, the German Empire allegedly attempted to incite Muslims to engage in a holy war against Russia and Great Britain. This common cliche is also often used to explain the...
View ArticleA theocracy at the crossroads
In its 40th year, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in a state of disintegration, says one of the country's strategists. The theocracy has arrived at a crossroads and the world cannot be indifferent to...
View ArticleIranʹs wartime commander
Once mocked as the "commander of the gossips" because he spread crazy ideas about the West in TV talk shows, Hossein Salami is now the new head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. The appointment of...
View ArticleWhere are the USA and Iran heading?
Now the nuclear agreement in its present form no longer applies to Iran either. On Sunday it began enriching uranium beyond the 3.67 percent mark, thus exceeding the limit set by the agreement....
View ArticleIs war with Iran on the horizon?
So far, Iraq has always been neutral in the face of a possible war between Iran and the USA. But recent Israeli air raids on Iranian bases in Iraq reveal a different reality: Tehran's rulers apparently...
View ArticleEra of the Khamenei vassals
Once again there was not much to vote for in the Islamic Republic. Half of the candidates were excluded anyway. But for Khamenei, the election was part of a larger plan, namely full-scale preparation...
View ArticleFaith and the coronavirus
The "holy" city of Qom, the centre of Shia scholarship, was the starting point of the corona epidemic in Iran. The ayatollahs vehemently and successfully resisted quarantine and the virus spread...
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