WASHINGTON - The popular uprisings that have brought turmoil to Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa have also underscored Washington's dearth of knowledge about forces on the ground in authoritarian states in the Middle East. One of the largest...
For years now, supporters of the Iranian opposition group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) have lobbied in vain to have the organization taken off the U.S. State Department's terrorism list. That day may now be approaching. A growing number of high-profile defense and...
On Monday night, Iranian security agents raided the home of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, separating him from his wife, searching his house, and arresting his son, Ali Karroubi, according to the local media outlet Saham News. Karroubi's own Web site reports that...
Egypt's revolution appears to have stiffened the spine of the Barack Obama administration when it comes to Iran. In the wake of the mass protests that ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Washington has begun to "tweet" in Farsi as well as Arabic....
Judging from official propaganda in both Iran and much of the Arab world, the uprisings that toppled Tunisia's dictatorship and threaten Egypt's authoritarian regime are the direct descendent of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. For the Iranians, that analysis is a boast;...
While expectations for any major breakthroughs in the latest round of talks between Iran and the major powers are virtually nonexistent, the two-day meeting that begins Friday in Istanbul could help ease growing tensions over Iran's nuclear program. The most realistic...
Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) plus Germany – will resume in Istanbul, Turkey, on Jan. 21. Although Turkey, which together with Brazil signed an agreement with Iran last May to store a...
The Barack Obama administration is preparing a new batch of sanctions against Iran to be announced next week in advance of nuclear talks in Turkey. Two Iran experts in Washington who are usually well briefed about U.S. Iran policy said more Iranian officials would be...
Although the recently released WikiLeaks secrets document the well-known animosity of Iran's neighbors to the radical Islamist regime – with their hopes for a U.S. attack on the nation over its nuclear enrichment program – talks to end the Iranian effort will...
Five senators sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama Monday warning the administration not to offer concessions in upcoming talks with Iran over its nuclear program. If Obama takes the advice, experts say, it could sink his engagement efforts with Tehran. The...
