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tehranbureau An independent source of news on Iran and the Iranian diaspora

Commentary

03/25/2010A Step Too Far

A Step Too Far

[ opinion ] "This trip to Israel was a New Year's gift to the Iranian regime," read one reaction from an internet user who, like many, was enraged by Caspian...

31 Comments
03/21/2010Biden, Israel, and Tehran's Hardliners

Biden, Israel, and Tehran's Hardliners

[ opinion ] In the depth of their worries about the deep crisis into which they have brought Iran over the past nine months; amid all the problems that they...

49 Comments
03/17/2010What's next--the 'Arabian' Gulf?

What's next--the 'Arabian' Gulf?

[ comment ] Whenever officials of the Islamic Republic start paying too much attention to something it usually means that there is cause for concern, that a new fault has...

23 Comments
03/15/2010Sharpen the Peaceful Weapon

Sharpen the Peaceful Weapon

Smarter slogans can boost the opposition's strength on and off the street. [ opinion ] The next major occasion slated for street protests in Iran is unclear. Will it...

5 Comments
03/12/2010Breaking the Stereotypes of Persia and Iran

Breaking the Stereotypes of Persia and Iran

The Green Movement: Breaking the Stereotypes of Persia and Iran. [ comment ] The West has constructed the dual identities of Persia and Iran as alter egos, the former the...

25 Comments
03/04/2010A Winning Strategy

A Winning Strategy

A Winning Strategy: Principles for Effective Civil Disobedience in Iran. [ opinion ] In the nine remarkable months since the fraudulent June 12 election, more and more people in Iran...

15 Comments
03/04/2010Different Shades of Green

Different Shades of Green

[ opinion ] The debate over the future direction of the Green Movement has taken on new urgency since the events in Tehran on February 11, the 31st anniversary of...

67 Comments
03/03/2010Iranian DNA or Fear of Déjà vu?

Iranian DNA or Fear of Déjà vu?

Is the Green opposition beset by the inability of Iranians to work together, or is it simply trying to avoid repeating the mistakes of 1979? [ analysis ] The one...

29 Comments
02/25/2010Deciphering Rafsanjani

Deciphering Rafsanjani

[ analysis ] Iranians are a complex people. Talking in riddles and metaphors is a cultural thing that everyone learns from a young age. Iranian politicians have mastered this 'art...

21 Comments
02/24/2010Was Rigi's arrest by Iran staged?

Was Rigi's arrest by Iran staged?

[ analysis ] The arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi, the commander of the Baluchi Jundollah movement, is a major victory for Iran. For years, Rigi had masterfully eluded capture, staying for...

36 Comments
02/20/2010The Militarized Death of the Republic

The Militarized Death of the Republic

This was first published by Tehran Bureau on July 6, 2009. The momentous June presidential election in Iran and its bloody aftermath will probably be remembered as a turning...

26 Comments
02/16/2010Post-Imperialism in Iran

Post-Imperialism in Iran

[ comment ] The 1979 Iranian Revolution took place during the Cold War, when Third World societies were deeply affected by anti-imperial ideologies. The Revolution's politicized Islamic movement was influenced...

30 Comments
02/12/2010Were the Greens Defeated?

Were the Greens Defeated?

[ opinion ] February 11, the thirty-first anniversary of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, finally arrived. Many people had high hopes that the day would represent another major advance for...

52 Comments
02/10/2010Overview: Reading 22 Bahman

Overview: Reading 22 Bahman

[ analysis ] February 11 may mark a decisive day for the Iranian regime. Its leaders hope to prove to domestic and international audiences that they are in full control...

3 Comments
02/06/2010Mousavi and Martyrdom

Mousavi and Martyrdom

How the regime calculates the personal challenge. [ opinion ] Columbia University professor Hamid Dabashi considers Iran's Green Movement a civil rights struggle. Others contend that there is a revolution...

22 Comments
02/02/2010We Are Our Dogs

We Are Our Dogs

The paradoxes of the Islamic Republic. "I wish I were one of your dogs," a friend once said as she sat at the table waiting for me to cut...

13 Comments
01/30/2010New sanctions miss the target

New sanctions miss the target

[ comment ] On Thursday, the Senate approved S2799 -- the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 -- which authorizes President Obama to impose sanctions on any...

23 Comments
01/26/2010UPDATED: Who Murdered Ali-Mohammadi?

UPDATED: Who Murdered Ali-Mohammadi?

[ analysis ] On January 12, 2010, Dr. Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a professor of physics at the Faculty of Science at the University of Tehran, was assassinated in front of...

40 Comments
01/22/2010Khiabani on the Arab Street

Khiabani on the Arab Street

[ comment ] "It's not pleasant being Arab these days," Lebanese historian and journalist Samir Kassir observed in his posthumously published book, Being Arab. A stalwart of the Arab left,...

41 Comments
01/20/2010Another liquidation by internal forces?

Another liquidation by internal forces?

[ opinion ] Another political murder rocked Iran this week. This time the victim was Vali Haji Gholizadeh, who was shot dead outside his home on Tuesday, January 19, in...

8 Comments
01/19/2010 From Birmingham to Tehran

From Birmingham to Tehran

Reflections on Dr. King's Influence on the Pro-Democracy Movement in Iran "The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption. The aftermath...

18 Comments
01/12/2010The Question of Political Strategy in Iran's Green Movement

The Question of Political Strategy in Iran's Green Movement

[ opinion ] What is now known as Iran's Green Movement was born on June 13, 2009, in reaction to massive electoral fraud during the Islamic Republic's tenth presidential election....

24 Comments
01/09/2010A Response to the Leveretts

A Response to the Leveretts

A Response to Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett Flynt Leverett directs the New America Foundation's Iran Initiative and is a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. Hillary...

48 Comments
01/05/2010Fighting Revolution

Fighting Revolution

[ analysis ] As the Islamic Republic prepares to celebrate its anniversary next month, similarities between the current turmoil and the one that led to a successful revolution 31 years...

25 Comments
01/04/2010Can the Khomeinis challenge Khamenei?

Can the Khomeinis challenge Khamenei?

[ opinion ] The Tehran-based Parsine news Web site recently reported about the possible move of the Khomeini family to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. According to the...

17 Comments
01/04/2010Strategic Leaking

Strategic Leaking

[ comment ] Pretend for a moment that you are the president of the United States and you have gotten yourself into a bit of a hole with your Iran...

9 Comments
12/31/2009 Technology and U.S. Foreign Policy

Technology and U.S. Foreign Policy

[ opinion ] Last week, the Obama administration took a positive step in addressing what had been an embarrassing incongruity in U.S. policy towards Iran. While publicly espousing democratic ideals,...

5 Comments
12/28/2009The start of an Iranian intifada

The start of an Iranian intifada

[ analysis ]An Iranian-style intifada seems to be in the making. At the beginning of the current period of opposition, which started soon after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection, quiet periods...

72 Comments
12/25/2009Thursday at Toopkhaneh

Thursday at Toopkhaneh

An eyewitness account. [ dispatch ] I was early for the appointed time of 3 p.m. but already police stood in fours and fives, elsewhere in groups of a dozen...

No Comments
12/25/2009Letter from Tehran

Letter from Tehran

[ comment ] Tehran is still Tehran. It's as if I never left, but merely stood aside to blink or rub from my eyes the smoke that sits heavy on...

9 Comments
12/22/2009Iran After Montazeri

Iran After Montazeri

A legacy that will haunt the regime. [ analysis ] The demise of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri brought an important chapter in the history of the Islamic Republic to a...

8 Comments
12/15/2009The Regime's Mousavi Problem

The Regime's Mousavi Problem

[ analysis ] Six months into a deep political crisis, a growing set of indicators is emerging that show the Islamic Republic of Iran is so fed up with post-election...

33 Comments
12/14/2009Opinion: The Wrecking Ball

Opinion: The Wrecking Ball

[ comment ] Back in the summer of 1979, months before the Iranian mob -- egged on by Ayatollah Khomeini -- seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, U.S. diplomats in...

9 Comments
12/13/2009Seeing Green

Seeing Green

[ comment ] It's been a busy day of driving through Tehran in hired cabs. Heavy traffic afforded me time to ponder, an exercise I practiced almost Zen-like in order...

10 Comments
12/09/2009Opinion: Help Iranians Harness the Internet

Opinion: Help Iranians Harness the Internet

[ comment ] The United States and the international community should support efforts to provide unfiltered Internet access to the Iranian people, and take measures to curb censorship by the...

12 Comments
12/07/2009Every Which Way But Lose

Every Which Way But Lose

[ analysis ] Iran's controversial presidential election left a thorn in the government's side, and few signs indicate a return to calm in the near future. A running "calendar battle"...

2 Comments
12/03/200928-Mordadism: A Postmortem

28-Mordadism: A Postmortem

[ comment ] This year, Iranians around the world are commemorating the 56th anniversary of the CIA-sponsored coup of 1953, or as we call it indexically on the Persian calendar,...

5 Comments
12/03/2009The Supreme Leader's Slow Purge

The Supreme Leader's Slow Purge

[ analysis ] Half a year after Iran's disputed presidential election, the Islamic regime is suffering from partial paralysis. Despite thousands of arrests, scores of killings, widely publicized show...

14 Comments
12/01/2009The Hardliners' Nulcear Dilemma

The Hardliners' Nulcear Dilemma

[ comment ] Iran's rejection of a preliminary agreement it reached on Oct. 1, 2009, in Geneva, has taken its confrontation with the United States and its allies in the...

18 Comments
11/29/2009A Footnote?

A Footnote?

[ comment ] By the time Sir Winston Churchill became a British premier for a second time in 1951, he was already a legend. He rose from the First Lord...

19 Comments
11/27/2009The lost cause and the mojo thief

The lost cause and the mojo thief

[ comment ] Despite the belief, held by many, that the fiery movement originating from the heart of the Iranian youth's discontent would lead to regime change, no government overthrow...

18 Comments
11/24/2009Hezbollah's Man in Iran

Hezbollah's Man in Iran

[ comment ] Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour is a careful man. Ever since his right arm was blown off in Iran's Damascus embassy in the early 1980's, he has become more...

11 Comments
11/21/2009Courageous & Principled: Journalists Isa Saharkhiz and Ahmad Zeidabadi

Courageous & Principled: Journalists Isa Saharkhiz and Ahmad Zeidabadi

[ profile ] Nov. 10, 2009, marked the 55th anniversary of the execution of Dr. Hossein Fatemi (1919-1954), the distinguished Iranian journalist who served as Foreign Minister during Dr. Mohammad...

12 Comments
11/13/2009Since the 1979 revolution, relations...

Since the 1979 revolution, relations...

[ comment ] Since the 1979 revolution, relations between the United States and Iran have vacillated between outright enmity and degrees of cooperation, from American support for Iraq during its...

11 Comments
11/10/2009Narges Kalhor: Little Brother

Narges Kalhor: Little Brother

Narges Kalhor is the daughter of Mehdi Kalhor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's media advisor. In the following letter to the little brother she never met, she hints of the Orwellian lessons ahead....

31 Comments
11/03/2009The Hostage Crisis, 30 Years On

The Hostage Crisis, 30 Years On

[ feature ] Nov. 4 marks the the day, 30 years ago, when Islamic leftist students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 69 people hostage. Seventeen of them...

1 Comment
11/03/2009Nuclear proposal leaves Ahmadinejad on the sidelines

Nuclear proposal leaves Ahmadinejad on the sidelines

[ comment ] Iran's judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani has become the latest high-ranking Iranian official to express skepticism about an international proposal to send the country's nuclear fuel abroad for...

1 Comment
10/31/2009'Same old tricks'

'Same old tricks'

[ comment ] Iran's purported response to IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei's plan should not have come as a surprise to anyone. True to form, Iranian administrations have always shown...

4 Comments
10/25/2009Iranian Greens are not Revolutionaries

Iranian Greens are not Revolutionaries

[ comment ] It has been four and a half months since the Islamic Republic of Iran, like the giant of fables, foolishly broke the jar that contained its life....

21 Comments
10/22/2009The Faltering Islamic Leviathan

The Faltering Islamic Leviathan

The faltering Islamic leviathan and the rebirth of the private cult in Iran. [ comment ] Despite the apparent success of the Iranian regime's initial crackdown against the post-election uprising,...

13 Comments
10/19/2009The Sheikh of Reform: Mehdi Karroubi

The Sheikh of Reform: Mehdi Karroubi

[ profile ] During national election campaigns in any country, politicians are known to make bold declarations and set lofty goals. Very few deliver even on a fraction of those...

8 Comments
10/17/2009Worse than Shah-era Capitulation Laws

Worse than Shah-era Capitulation Laws

30 years after the revolution, foreigners 'more equal' under Iranian law. [ comment ] Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic, became a hero and the leader...

12 Comments
10/14/2009Learning from History, Charting the Future

Learning from History, Charting the Future

What are Iranians calling for? Expanded civil liberties, or a ground-up change? [ comment ] Amidst the chaos of today's Iranian politics, many questions remain unanswered. The most relevant: what...

5 Comments
10/14/2009Abandoned

Abandoned

Obama's Lost Opportunity [ comment ] Events in Iran have unraveled like a nightmare for many of us Iranians. First, the presidential election, which seemed to hold some promise...

10 Comments
10/13/2009Changing Tehran: No Pain, No Gain

Changing Tehran: No Pain, No Gain

[ comment ] Things rarely change in Washington. Frustrated by an adversary's policies, the reflex action of political moderates up and down Pennsylvania Avenue is for increased sanctions, and for...

19 Comments
10/10/2009Another Aviation Scapegoat

Another Aviation Scapegoat

[ comment ] Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (IR-CAO), was let go after only two and half months in the job. He is being replaced...

1 Comment
10/06/2009The case of the missing Iranian nuclear physicist

The case of the missing Iranian nuclear physicist

[ comment ] New information has emerged indicating that the United States may have become aware of the developing Qom uranium enrichment facility by an Iranian nuclear scientist -- or...

7 Comments
09/30/2009Dissent at the Top

Dissent at the Top

Photo: Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Mohammad Datsgheib [ comment ] The seismic effect of Iran's June election has now reached the Assembly of Experts, the most conservative institution in the...

2 Comments
09/30/2009The only viable way to confront Ahmadinejad

The only viable way to confront Ahmadinejad

[ opinion ] Why would anyone be shocked by the so-called revelation that another uranium enrichment facility exists somewhere near Qom? It amazes me how even Iranians of the...

20 Comments
09/27/2009Has Iran violated its nuclear safeguards obligations?

Has Iran violated its nuclear safeguards obligations?

[ analysis ] On Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, the Iranian government sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) to say it was constructing a second uranium...

11 Comments
09/25/2009Iran's 'secret' nuclear plant: an instant reaction

Iran's 'secret' nuclear plant: an instant reaction

[ comment ] Less than a week before Iran is due to meet six world powers, including the United States, over its atomic programme, the news of a "secret" Iranian...

10 Comments
09/25/2009Ahmadinejad: 'Sanction us!'

Ahmadinejad: 'Sanction us!'

How an oil embargo against Iran would help the hard-liners [ opinion ] Before going to face the empty seats of the United Nations General Assembly and the angry Iranians...

3 Comments
09/25/2009Ejei steps in to find Karroubi's lost marbles

Ejei steps in to find Karroubi's lost marbles

[Comment] The other week, the live debate program on Iran's channel 2 had a well-known guest...

3 Comments
09/19/2009D-Day for the Greens

D-Day for the Greens

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 19 Sept 2009 Comment Quds Day was crucial to both the Green Movement and the hardliners. The Green Movement wanted to demonstrate...

13 Comments
09/17/2009Co-opting Quds Day

Co-opting Quds Day

Kayhan's banner headline quotes from Ayatollah Khomeini: "I'm going to smack this government in the mouth." By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 17 Sept 2009 Comment This year...

16 Comments
09/10/2009Iran's Animal Farm

Iran's Animal Farm

Animal Farm meets 1984 By HANA H. in Tehran | 10 Sept 2009 Comment Iranian politics is an unpredictable madhouse made up of all the crazies, majorly deluded and...

19 Comments
09/08/2009Where is Iran headed?

Where is Iran headed?

Living in a bubble, increasingly out of touch. Archive photo. By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 8 Sept 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] Comment The crackdown on peaceful demonstrators protesting...

28 Comments
09/06/2009Coup Leaders Afraid to Face the People

Coup Leaders Afraid to Face the People

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI | 6 Sept 2009 Friday prayers, religious holidays and religious ceremonies have always been used by the Islamic Republic to showcase the support that it supposedly...

7 Comments
09/05/2009IRGC declares open war on the reform movement

IRGC declares open war on the reform movement

Nikahang Kowsar/Roozonline Reporting from Tehran | 5 Sept 2009 The emergence of Mohammad-Ali Jafari, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as the new spokesman for the right-wing establishment push against...

2 Comments
09/02/2009Ahmadinejad & Family Take on 'New' Foreign Policy

Ahmadinejad & Family Take on 'New' Foreign Policy

The joke in Iran is that the country has three Foreign Ministers, including Johns Hopkins-educated pediatrician, Ali Akbar Velayati (in gray suit), special adviser on foreign affairs to Ayatollah...

15 Comments
08/31/2009

Shariati on Religious Government

The Islamic Revolution once looked more Ali Shariati than Ali Khamenei -- though it is said that Ayatollah Khamenei was also a fan of Dr. Shariati at one point. The...

11 Comments
08/29/2009

Isolated, weak and as delusional as ever

Ahmadinejad, pictured with the halo of light he claims the audience saw over his head the first time he addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, says "Torture...

17 Comments
08/25/2009

The Bloody Red Summer of 1988

The 1980s were the bloodiest and darkest in the contemporary history of Iran. Ayatollah Khomeini (center), has his hand kissed. Seyyed Asadollah Lajevardi (lower right in white turtleneck and...

36 Comments
08/21/2009

Hajji Corleone, Sonny Seyyed and the Rapists who got away

Crumbling brotherhood: A younger Mehdi Karroubi seated next to a younger Ali Khamenei. By HANA H. in Tehran | 21 August [TEHRAN BUREAU] Comment When Mehdi Karroubi went public...

8 Comments
08/20/2009

Ahmadinejad's Security Cabinet

Photo: Sadegh Mahsouli (standing) says he is worth $160 million. He was a penniless IRGC officer at the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Ali Khamenei, then president, seated on...

2 Comments
08/19/2009

London Calling

Iran and the UK have a long intertwined history -- but familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. Members of Prime Minister Mossadegh's family went to school in Britain; even Ali...

2 Comments
08/11/2009

Patriots and Reformists: Behzad Nabavi and Mostafa Tajzadeh

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 11 Aug 2009 Of all the reformist leaders who have been the target of the wrath of Iran's hardliners, none, with the...

47 Comments
08/10/2009

IRGC: Arrest Mousavi, Khatami, and others

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 10 Aug 2009 Comment Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, head of the political directorate of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the backbone...

13 Comments
08/09/2009

The Show Goes On

Show Trials, Part II By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 9 Aug 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] comment & analysis The second installment of the mass trial staged against reformist...

24 Comments
08/08/2009

Fooling themselves alone

Iran's show trials resumed on Saturday. Photo/Fars News By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 8 Aug 2009 As the trials of more than 100 political prisoners, charged with inciting...

11 Comments
08/06/2009

If I Confess...

A statement for the times. By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 6 Aug 2009 Mehdi Bazargan, Iran's first prime minister after the 1979 Revolution, is one of the...

26 Comments
08/05/2009

Why Russia & China Love Iran's Hardliners

Russia knows how to play the hardliners -- by keeping them in need. By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 5 Aug 2009 Marg bar Amrica -- "Death to...

24 Comments
08/02/2009

Show Trials Get Under Way

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a prominent reformist and a cleric (clutching white piece of paper), was part of a group of 100 or so opposition figures who went on trial...

34 Comments
07/31/2009

Mahmoud's friends, enemies and the iditots in between

By Hana H. in Tehran | 31 July 2009 Comment After the post-election unrest in Iran, one man stood by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This man did all the dirty...

8 Comments
07/28/2009

Showdown between Khamenei and IRGC?

Who's really in charge? Is there a confrontation looming between Iran's supreme leader and the Revolutionary Guard? By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 28 July 2009 analysis Two...

34 Comments
07/25/2009

America's Misguided Left

The support of some on the American left for Ahmadinejad is badly misguided. By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 24 July 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] comment Iran's rigged presidential...

51 Comments
07/23/2009

A Charter for the Green Movement

After weeks of virtual silence following his declared intention to form a new political front, Mir Hossein Mousavi's official Web site, Ghalam News, announced Wednesday that the opposition leader...

7 Comments
07/23/2009

Lines Are Drawn in Iran

By FARIDEH FARHI in Honolulu | 22 July 2009 [IPS] With the historical Friday Prayer sermon given by former president and current chair of the Council of Experts and...

No Comments
07/20/2009

People driving movement, not politicians

By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 20 July 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] Op-Ed On May 21, I headed to Tehran to cover a president election that no one can claim...

14 Comments
07/17/2009

Rafsanjani's Sermon, Split in the Leadership

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 17 July 2009 Today's much anticipated Friday prayer ceremony was held at Tehran University. Crowds of people, some who could not get inside,...

10 Comments
07/15/2009

Comment: 'Indiscriminate US Sanctions Resulted in Crash'

Iranians gather near the debris of the Caspian Airlines plane which crashed into a farmland near the city of Qazvin, northwest of Tehran. -- AFP A personal account of...

82 Comments
07/14/2009

The Ultimate Unveiling of Iranian Women

Photo/Newsha Tawakolian By FARZANEH MILANI Have you considered the gender makeup of the two opposing camps in Iran today? On one side, is an all-male cabal of gun-totting, club-wielding...

29 Comments
07/13/2009

A Call to Prayer, More Protests

Rallying around Rafsanjani. A victory for the reformists? By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 13 July 2009 The leader of Tehran's Friday prayers is selected on a rotating basis...

12 Comments
07/09/2009

18 Tir: The Past and Pending

Sign reads: "Evin Prison Accepting Students" I remember very vividly the eeriness of the streets; the quiet whispers of the wind. Had ghosts trodden there? Perhaps, as there was...

3 Comments
07/08/2009

Faith No More

7 July 2009 There is too much blood. Too much blood on the streets, too much blood on the news, on Facebook, in emails. There is blood everywhere. My...

33 Comments
07/07/2009

Crocodile Tears for Iranians

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 5 July 2009 Elections in Iran, whether presidential, parliamentary, or even for city councils, are always preceded by great debates over a...

59 Comments
07/07/2009

Reformers Hold Firm

By ROBERT DREYFUSS | 6 July 2009 Efforts by the Ahmadinejad-Khamenei regime to silence the opposition clearly aren't working yet. The street protests, brutally suppressed, have quieted. But the...

1 Comment
07/05/2009

The significance of 18 Tir

By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 5 July 2009 The many tools implemented by the Islamic Republic to sedate its populous are the same ones now being used as detours...

5 Comments
07/02/2009

The Widening Divide Among Iran's Clerics

The rift in the clerical establishment By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 30 June 2009 As the Iranian government crisis enters its 19th day, fissures among the clerics...

9 Comments
06/30/2009

Why Do Arabs Not Revolt?

Photo/Stephan Geyer By RAMI G. KHOURI in Beirut The stark contrast between the street demonstrations in Iran in the past two weeks and the absence of any such popular...

43 Comments
06/28/2009

I could have settled for Michael Jackson

By M.E. Dabiri in Tehran | 28 June 2009 I say, I don't accept him as my president. I haven't accepted him for the past four years, and I...

11 Comments
06/25/2009

A View from the Frontline

Last week, a group of friends and I organized a medical team to help the wounded and injured in the streets. As we sewed up gashes and patched up...

39 Comments
06/25/2009

Who will lead?

Who will lead? The Experts Assembly has the power to remove Ayatollah Khamenei. By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut | 25 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] While Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini lived,...

3 Comments
06/25/2009

Iran's New Revolutionaries

By BABAK SARFARAZ in Tehran | 24 June 2009 For those steeped in the arcane art of Khamenei-watching, June 19 holds a special significance. On that day, after issuing...

8 Comments
06/24/2009

Leaving Tehran

By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 24 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] I decided to leave Iran a couple of days ago for several reasons. First of all, it was...

14 Comments
06/24/2009

The Arabs' Forlorn Envy of Iranians

Broadly speaking, the Arab world has maneuvered itself into a lose-lose situation vis-a-vis developments in Iran -- despite different views of the Islamic Republic. By RAMI G. KHOURI in...

16 Comments
06/23/2009

A Way Forward

Photo: Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 23 June 2003 Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered what was widely considered to be a completely polarizing...

15 Comments
06/23/2009

This is not my country

Near Azadi Square, June 20, 6 p.m., Tehran. Photo/TehranBureau By HANA H. in Tehran | 23 June 2009 I am an Iranian and I love my country but what...

55 Comments
06/21/2009

Larijani: Between Khamenei and Kant

By MARSHA B. COHEN | 21 June 2009 Perhaps it's the same video clip being broadcast over and over again, exaggerating the significance of a particular moment caught by...

3 Comments
06/19/2009

Iran Makes History Again

Protester holds up sign quoting Ayatollah Khomeini, "A nation derives its ("real," scribbled in) legitimacy from the vote of the people." Photo/via Flickr By RAMI KHOURI in Beirut |...

14 Comments
06/18/2009

Rafsanjani's next move

Differences over foreign policy are central to the crisis in Tehran By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut TEHRAN BUREAU | The clearest sign of the bitter division within Iran's political...

4 Comments
06/17/2009

Iran's Rural Vote and Election Fraud

Photo/Nieman Foundation By ERIC HOOGLUND I just heard a CNN reporter in Tehran say that Ahmadinejad's support base was rural. Is it possible that rural Iran, where less than...

10 Comments
06/17/2009

Another coup for the Hardliners

By MEA CYRUS in London | 12 June 2009 What happened at the polls today was sadly predictable. One strong indication right from the start was that the supreme...

1 Comment
06/16/2009

Iran's Power Struggle

By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut As he surveys the aftermath of the rioting in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be assessing the crisis he faces. Referring the complaints from...

4 Comments
06/15/2009

No Fools

By M. E. DABIRI in Tehran | Received June 15, 2009 (published 3 July 2009) [TEHRAN BUREAU] opinion This is an insult to one's dignity. If they had cheated...

No Comments
06/13/2009

Faulty Election Data

By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 13 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] Iran's Interior Ministry has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of yesterday's election. This has been rejected...

28 Comments
06/13/2009

Who Voted for Ahmadinejad?

By ROBERT DREYFUSS in Tehran | 12 June 2009 I went off in search of Ahmadinejad voters today in Tehran. They are noteasy to find. It's perfect election weather...

9 Comments
06/13/2009

Why I Voted

By M.E. DABIRI in Tehran | 12 June 2009 I stood in line at 9:45 on a warm, sunny morning at the Al-Rahman Mosque, four blocks from my flat, in...

1 Comment
06/12/2009

The Supreme Leader's One Vote

By MEA CYRUS in London | 5 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] Back in 1997, many believe that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had made up his mind to back the...

8 Comments
06/10/2009

Girl Power

By JASON REZAIAN in Tehran | 10 June 2009 It was to be one of Mir Hossein Mousavi's final campaign stops, a medium-size stadium in the lower half of Tehran,...

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06/09/2009

Statement of Academics

8 June 2009 By Professor Ervand Abrahamian, City University of New York | Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, School of African and Oriental Studies | Professor Haleh Afshar, University of York |...

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06/04/2009

Obama's Home Run in Cairo

By ROBERT DREYFUSS in Dubai | 4 June 2009 [The Nation] I watched President Obama's Cairo speech from Dubai, the sprawling and frenzied city of gold and shopping malls...

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06/04/2009

The ghost of elections past

By AFSHIN SALIMPOUR in Tehran | 3 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] It was a masterstroke of attack in the form of defense. In Iran's second televised presidential debate of...

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06/03/2009

Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel

By GARETH PORTER in Washington, D.C. [IPS] 3 Jun 2009 -- A report on Iran's nuclear programme issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories...

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06/03/2009

Iran's Ralph Nader?

The Curious Case of Mehdi Karroubi | 3 June 2009 [TEHRAN BUREAU] Mehdi Karroubi -- the former chairman of the Iranian Parliament, an ethnic Lur and an outspoken critic...

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05/28/2009

Of Loos and Language (The Iranian Version)

Of Loos and Language: the Iranian version By M.E. DABIRI in Tehran I have the dubious distinction of having always lived in a country whose language I did not...

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05/25/2009

The Big Picture

An evolving geopolitical landscape: U.S., Iran, Russia and Central Asia By REZA AKHLAGHI in Toronto [TEHRAN BUREAU] Iran's geographic position situates it uniquely in Central Asia, the Middle East,...

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05/22/2009

Israel & Iran's nuclear program

Israel vis-a-vis Iran's Nuclear Program: the Crux of the Issue By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles [Tehran Bureau] Although the Obama administration has made it clear that it wants...

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05/02/2009

Unseen Iran

What's it like not to see Iran, but smell, touch and hear it? "A Scent of Iran" is the second installment of UNSEEN IRAN, Mani's travel log. Part 1,...

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05/01/2009

Vartan Gregorian to Obama: Send a message!

Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Foundation, published his would-be letter from President Obama to the Iranian leadership in U.S. News & World Report. Born in Tabriz, Iran to...

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04/29/2009

Middleman

What's it like not to see Iran, but feel, smell and touch it? This is the first installment of Mani's travel log to Iran. By MANI DJAZMI en route...

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04/09/2009

The View from Washington

THE OBAMA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE... US-IRAN MEETING... good/don't expect movement soon By CHRIS NELSON in Washington D.C. [The Nelson Report] Much punditry has already been expended arguing that while the...

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03/18/2009

Iranian Election Plot Thickens

Khatami's withdrawal from the election campaign is bad news for Ahmadinejad. By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut [Tehran Bureau] The withdrawal of Mohammad Khatami from Iran's presidential election has disappointed...

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03/06/2009

Three not so wise men

Iran's reformists may run three candidates for president, boosting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chances of being re-elected.By GARETH SMYTH in Beirut In 2004, around 80 reformist deputies staged a sit-in and...

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03/04/2009

Islamic influences in Florence

By KAMIN MOHAMMADI in Florence [Tehran Bureau] Visitors flock to the marvel of Renaissance expression, an ebullient city which, between the 14 to 16th centuries, led the world in...

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01/25/2009

A Guide to Iran

A jaunt through Tehran, Esfahan and Persepolis. By JASON REZAIAN in San Francisco The joke was barely out of my mouth before I regretted making it. "The Great Satan," I'd...

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01/23/2009

Persepolis, a la Grecque

Photo/Effie-Michelle MetallidisBy EFFIE-MICHELLE METALLIDIS in Shiraz My hand scrapes along a wall of fallen Persepolis as the sun wanes. We've reached the site just as the centuries-old ritual between...

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12/18/2008

An American in Tehran

Welcome to Mehrabad. By MICHELLE MAY in Tehran As I sat squashed, dehydrated, and inhaling stale air on Air France flight 554, I worried that I had bit off...

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12/11/2008

Nowruz in Abu Dhabi

Desert storm: Emiratis and Qataris flex their muscles (with a little help from their friend). By GOLNOUSH NIKNEJAD in Abu Dhabi [Tehran Bureau] It was back in March, a...

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