The negotiations in Vienna over the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, are almost certainly close to an agreement. The surest sign is that crude oil futures were sharply lower in mid-morning Asian trade Feb. 17 despite bearish developments due to the rising tensions on the Ukraine-Russia […]
Iranian Dilemma
A New Dawn Breaks In Tehran
On Thursday, Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath of office in a ceremony in the Majlis in Tehran. This will be a defining moment in the Islamic Republic’s political history, since in many ways, the country is at the crossroads. The Islamic system continues to enjoy a broad […]
JCPOA: A Bridge Too Far?
On Tuesday, Ebrahim Raisi will be formally confirmed as Iran’s next president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two days later, he will be sworn in as president in the country’s parliament. Yet another orderly transfer of power is under way in Iran. This transition is of momentous importance for […]
Religion And Politics (III)
Part I, Part II Secularism & secularization All fundamentalists are opposing any idea and/or social movement that carry secular values and propagate secularism and secularization. Those two terms are referring to a decline and/or marginalization of religion in public life. The secularization of society became the best thought of structural […]
Beautiful Plots: Israel Sabotages The Natanz Nuclear Facility
Over the weekend, Iran marked National Nuclear Technology Day. The stars of the show were going to be new advanced centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. Unfortunately, the stars did not shine and President Hassan Rouhani and his officials were left with a reminder of the previous time the […]
Delusions Of Self-Defense: Biden Bombs Syria
Every power worth its portion of salt in the Levant these days seems to be doing it. On February 25, President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes against Syria. The premise for the attacks was implausible. “These strikes were authorized in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq,” […]
US, Iran Edging Back To Negotiating Table
The frozen lake of US-Iran confrontation is generating a pinging sound. The cracking of the ice is yet to produce that loud booming thunderclap. But these are early days. It was only last Thursday that the US and the three European states who are party to the JCPOA (2015 Iran […]
Iran Under Nuclear Threats
The recent threats of nuclear attacks from Israel to Iran have created colossal tension, and Iran is under immense pressure. As a matter of fact, Isreal, the US, and their allies are blaming Iran for building nuclear facilities and using it as an excuse to attack Iran. Significantly, the US […]
Will Israel Launch An Attack On Iran?
At the start of the year, the armed forces of Israel and Iran were put on high alert. Both sides were expecting an attack. Israel even armed its “Lahav” corvette with two Iron Dome missile launchers, which has never happened before. There has only ever been one launcher on the […]
Sheikh Rouhani Stirs Up Trouble In The Middle East
If Joe Biden is inducted as President of the United States, he could support the plans of the Iranian and Turkish presidents. He could support the creation of an Iranian regional empire in the Levant and a Turkish regional empire in the Caucasus, both at the expense of Russia.
A Perfect Storm Gathers In Persian Gulf
On the first anniversary of the killing of the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a targeted drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020 that was approved by President Donald Trump, something had to happen. Tehran regularly insisted that the killing has not yet been avenged. And US […]
Assertive Germany Muddles Iran Issue
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, in a speech in Moscow on December 8 dwelt on the western attempts lately to maintain the model of a unipolar world order. He said the European Union’s dalliance with the idea of itself being a pole in a multipolar system is dissipating and warned […]
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