Research & Commentary Results

May 23, 2017 – Ahmad Majidyar, director of the IranObserved project at the Middle East Institute, joins host Paul Salem to discuss Hassan Rouhani’s reelection as president, the election’s implications for U.S.-Iran relations during the Trump presidency, and Iran’s broader strategy in regional conflicts.

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) Aerospace Force today revealed that the country has recently built a third underground ballistic missile production factory, the

The U.S. Senate Relations Committee today approved a new set of sanctions against Iran for its ballistic missile program, support for terrorism, and human rights abuses.

The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) have seized eight villages from the Islamic State in western Mosul, the Iranian media reports. According to Iraqi officials, the paramilitary forces have also launched operations in northern Ba’aj and have secured the control of the main road linking al-Adaniyah district and the two of al-Ba’aj. According to a P.M.F.

The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) said that President Donald Trump’s statements at the Riyadh summit was only a confession to Iran’s superior power in the region. “50 world leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia and their only word was that Iran enjoys an uncontrollable power, and it is an honor for us (Iran),” Brigadier General Hossein Salami stressed. He warned that any actions against Iran would have dire consequences.

The election of Emmanuel Macron is certainly bad news for terrorist organizations in the Middle East. At the same time, it is unlikely that France will modify its attitude in regards to larger regional challenges, for instance, the ongoing Syrian civil war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. air strike last week targeting Iranian-led forces in southern Syria signaled escalating tension between Washington and Tehran over the six-year conflict in Syria. The U.S. military said it carried out the raid because an Iran-directed convoy was advancing toward a “de-confliction zone” near the al-Tanf region, where the U.S. military is training Syrian opposition forces to fight the Islamic State. The militia forces reportedly did not respond to U.S. warnings.  The air strike – the first such action by the U.S.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani today met with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow to discuss the conflict in Syria, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The two sides pledged to continue support for the Bashar al-Assad regime against armed opposition groups.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump’s designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and defended the Lebanese group and its role in both Lebanon and Syria.

Iran-supported units within the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iraqi paramilitary forces called Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), have seized the al- Qairawan region in western Mosul from the Islamic State, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported today.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged the new government in France to play a more active role in the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (J.C.P.O.A.), the nuclear agreement t

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Yousef Munayyer, Alex Vatanka, Jonathan M. Winer, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including President Trump’s trip to Israel and the prospects for a peace process, the reelection of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russia’s planned naval drill off the coast of Libya this week, and the Afghan Taliban’s decision to reject peace talks.

On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the United States and its regional allies that stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved without Tehran’s help.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that the Islamic Republic would continue its ballistic missile program despite Washington’s concerns, the Iranian media reported. “American authorities should know that whenever we need to test a missile for technical reasons, we will carry it out. And we will not wait for them or their permission,” he said defiantly after U.S. and Saudi leaders criticized Tehran’s regional policies at the Riyadh summit.

Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces has blamed the United States for regional instability and claimed that the withdrawal of the U.S. forces would restore peace and security in the Middle East. “The only way to [restore] peace and tranquility to the region is the departure of the Americans and the renunciation of aggressive and terrorist operations by dependent and reactionary regimes against independent countries,” Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said on Sunday. His remarks were a reaction to the latest comments by U.S.