After decades of political setbacks, Iran’s former Revolutionary Guards commander has returned to the center of power. Is he an incidental beneficiary of war, or have observers underestimated him all along?
Gulf states and their partners are increasingly looking beyond their most immediate interests of containing the war with Iran. While recent talks between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran have kept de-escalation on the agenda, a broader regional security framework and non-aggression pact has also emerged, envisioning a longer-lasting solution to regional conflicts. The talks have yet to produce a settlement, but they reflect a growing recognition that Gulf security cannot depend entirely on Washington. Iran will still be there, and its neighbors will have to find ways of living with it.
Recent elections for the Israeli Knesset and American Congress may make less of a difference in the Middle East than some people think. Elections are significant indicators of national political trends, but do not always translate into changes in national security strategies. That is likely the case now in both nations.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed Western countries for the failure of international efforts to tackle drug trafficking and claimed that the Islamic Republic pays a high price for its contribution to combating the global illicit narcotics trade.
Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of Iran’s most senior clerics and a staunch supporter of the Iranian regime and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene
The daughter of Abdolfattah Soltani, a prominent human rights lawyer jailed in Iran, says hardline Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi is blocking the release of her father although he is legally eligible
Iran’s Fars News Agency (FNA), a mouthpiece of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), has published interviews with Iraqi politicians and militia commanders about Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir’s February 25 visit to Baghdad and its potential implications for the war against the Islamic State and for Iraq’s relations with Iran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, in a meeting with a top moderate figure has reportedly promised not to wage a campaign of repression against the moderate and reformist factions in the lead-up to the May 2017 presidential elections.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has responded to claims by the leadership of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) about the number of successful operations the latter has carried out in recent years.
The Iranian Navy on Sunday launched large-scale maritime exercises near the strategic Strait of Hormuz by showcasing warships, submarines and attack helicopters as well as test-firing new, advanced missiles. According to the Iranian media, the naval drills marked the last phase of Iranian Navy’s annual war game – dubbed “Velayat 95” – and covered an area of two million square kilometers, stretching from the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to north of the Indian Ocean and Bab al-Mandab Strait.
As the Trump administration is considering designating Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” two senior Iranian civilian leaders have strongly defended the I.R.G.C.’s military involvement in the Middle Eastern conflicts. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif this weekend praised the I.R.G.C.’s efforts to fight “terrorism” in the region and argued that Washington’s threat of designating Iran’s elite military unit will be futile.
A number of Iranians gathered in front of the country’s parliament on Saturday to protest the execution of drugs-related offenders, the Iranian media reports.
While the Iranian hardline media largely ignored the Oscar victory by the country’s world-renowned director Asghar Farhadi, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif hailed Farhadi’s accomplishment and used the occasion to attack the Trump administration’s plan to temporarily ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran.
An article published yesterday in Saudi daily Al Jazirah questioned the sincerity of President Hassan Rouhani’s diplomatic outreach to the Gulf Arab countries and called the Iranian president’s recent trip to Oman and Kuwait a “public relations” campaign to portray a positive image of Iran to domestic and international aud
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) evidently continues to deploy cadets to battlefields in Syria as part of training its future offers. According to a senior I.R.G.C.
أقدم مطبوعة محكمة مخصصة لدراسة الشرق الأوسط المعاصر، تغطي مجلة MEI الرائدة السياسة والمجتمع والثقافة في المنطقة.
