Attiya Ahmad

Earlier today, the U.S. and four other allied naval forces started a three-day maritime exercise in international waters close to the Iranian coastline.

The Middle East Institute (MEI) will be relocating its offices from its historic brownstone townhouse on February 1, 2017 for an expected 2-year renovation as part of the Institute’s expansion campaign. The Institute’s temporary offices will be located around the corner of the same block, at 1319 18th St NW.

President Hassan Rouhani has again come out to strongly argue that his government’s bid to attract maximum foreign investment is to “promote national interests.” “We are Muslim and revolutionary Iranians. We neither idolize nor fear outsiders and will use constructive interaction with the world to advance public and national interests,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has warned the Trump administration against “politicizing” Iran’s military activities. “We hope that the issue of Iran’s defense program… does not turn into a pretext for political games,” Press TV quoted Zarif as saying.  Zarif, who spoke alongside visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, was specifically responding to the latest reports that Iranian forces have test launched a new ballistic missile.

The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) will continue armed resistance against the Iranian regime, the group’s leader said in an exclusive interview with the BBC Persian published on January 30.

Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi – the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) – has announced that its forces are ready to “liberate” western Mosul.

Ali Tayyeb-Nia, Iran’s Minister of Economy, appeared in front the parliamentarians and defended the Rouhani government’s policies to combat large-scale smuggling operations that hurt the Iranian economy. Tayyeb-Nia claimed that the value of smuggled good into Iran has decreased from “$25 billion to $15 billion.”

The news of Iran’s latest ballistic missile test has provoked international concern. At the request of the United States, the U.N.

Fars News, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), has published an interview with the spokesperson of the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Force), on the question of the military campaign to free the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State. Ahmad al-Assadi, the spokesperson of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi paramilitary organization, claimed in the interview that the next phase of operations to liberate west of Mosul from the Islamic State is underway.  

A senior Iranian official credited the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) for

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Paul Salem, Robert S. Ford, and W. Robert Pearson provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the Trump administration’s controversial travel ban, the Syrian regime’s dismissal of calls for a cease-fire, and the upcoming meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

President Donald Trump’s Wednesday remark that he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” has raised questions in Tehran.

Iranian officials and state-run media have reacted angrily to President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the entry of the citizens of Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

Tasnim News, an outlet that is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), has published a rare video footage of its correspondent’s account of Shiite militia operations in Iraq. In what the outlet calls “exclusive” video, the correspondent is seen accompanying fighters from Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Force) in the battle for Mosul against fighters from the Islamic State.