The Obama administration seemed to operate under the premise that signing the nuclear deal with Iran would bring it in from its international isolation and serve as an incentive for it to become a more responsible member of the international community. Read Here – Arab News
Spouses of politicians rarely take center stage on Iran’s political scene and, for the most part, remain entirely out of the public eye. Few Iranians know very much about their presidents’ wives, including their names. Effat Marashi, however, is an exception. Read Here – AlMonitor
For the first time since the demise of the Qajar dynasty in the early 20th century, Iran is extending its political and military reach to what it considers its rightful sphere of influence: Mesopotamia and the areas of the eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula with sizeable Shiite communities. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
The Sultanate has always preferred to tackle disagreements through engagement, rather than brinksmanship, posturing, or provoking—the strategies that define Saudi-Iran relations today. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
In 2017, Saudi Arabia will continue to pursue two key goals: to reduce its economy’s dependence on oil revenues and government spending; and to position the Kingdom as a regional hegemon that can meet any threat. The country’s transformation will be difficult, but it is necessary, not least for regional stability. Read Here – Project […]
What comes next in Iraq is on everyone’s mind. Trump will inherit Iraq, its internal ethnic divides and external pressures between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He will inherit a complex, deliberate way of war solidified over eight years by Obama, yet born of the experiences of U.S. generals — including several who will now serve […]
Rafsanjani’s death reflects a growing reality for Tehran’s theocrats. The first generation of revolutionaries are now in their late sixties, seventies, and eighties. They are, literally, a dying breed. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has served as Supreme Leader since 1989, will be seventy-eight this year. Read Here – The New Yorker
His command of the issues was solid, his delivery even better. His body language signaled confidence, even though he was the youngest and least experienced person in the room. He had charisma. But most important of all, he made a more powerful case for his country than any Saudi official had done before. Read Here […]
Short of last-minute diplomacy, Donald Trump will inherit another hostage crisis with Iran on Inauguration Day—thirty-five years after the first hostage drama at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran ended, as Ronald Reagan was sworn in, and exactly one year after the Obama Administration’s swap to free five more Americans. Read Here – The New Yorker
The tumultuous events that have swept the Mideast like a whirling sandstorm have hardly abated; crises and conflict are now entrenched. Thus, looking back at the results of President Barack Obama’s two-term legacy, it’s clear we are facing a Mideast meltdown with dangerous and far-reaching consequences for the region and the world at large. Read […]
looking beyond borders 