Iran

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished
  • Commentary

    • Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

    Of all the fronts in President Trump’s peacemaking agenda, the South Caucasus has delivered the most concrete results. The August 2025 Washington Declaration, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan and witnessed by Trump, marked an important step toward peace in the region. The two sides initialed a peace agreement and advanced plans to unblock regional connectivity, including through the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave through southern Armenia. Implementation of TRIPP has since made notable progress, but construction has yet to start. A breakthrough on those two tracks would, in turn, unlock Armenia–Türkiye normalization, transforming a long-fractured region into an area of trade and interdependence.

    The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change
  • Commentary

    • The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

    Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel.

    Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One
  • Analysis

    • Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

    Within 48 hours this week, Iran filled six of the most important posts in its battered military and security establishment. Read together with the biographies and mandates behind them, the appointments show how Tehran is drawing lessons from successive wars and preparing for a prolonged period of insecurity, without proving it has abandoned negotiation.

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    Senior Iranian Delegation Visits Damascus for Talks
  • Analysis

    • Senior Iranian Delegation Visits Damascus for Talks

    Iran’s Fars News Agency reports that a high-level Iranian parliamentary delegation left Tehran for Damascus on January 3 to hold meetings with senior Syrian officials. The chairman of Iranian Parliament’s Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, heads the delegation.

    January 3, 2017

    Ahmad Majidyar

    Iran Hosts International “Down with USA” Exhibition
  • Analysis

    • Iran Hosts International “Down with USA” Exhibition

    News Brief: On December 29, senior Iranian civilian and military officials participated in the closing ceremony of The Third International Grand Award of “Down with USA” held in Tehran. The organizers of the event had asked artists, photojournalists, cartoonists and documentary-makers from all over the world to submit their works for the competition and promised monetary rewards for the winners.

    December 30, 2016

    Khamenei Loyalist Accuses London of “Coup Plot”
  • Analysis

    • Khamenei Loyalist Accuses London of “Coup Plot”

    Heydar Moslehi, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s special representative to the Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC), has launched a scathing attack on Western embassies in Tehran.

    December 30, 2016

    Qassem Suleimani in Aleppo Angers Russian Generals
  • Analysis

    • Qassem Suleimani in Aleppo Angers Russian Generals

    News Brief: Shia News, an Iranian website, commented that the sudden appearance of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, in the streets of Aleppo after it was recaptured by Iran-led forces generated anger among the top Russian military brass.

    December 29, 2016

    Iranian Military Base for Russia Illustrates Tehran’s Real Agenda
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis

    • Iranian Military Base for Russia Illustrates Tehran’s Real Agenda

    On December 27, Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan gave a lengthy interview about Iranian regional policy objectives. In his remarks, Dehghan made it clear that Russia can count on access to military sites on Iranian soil should circumstances require it.

    December 28, 2016

    IRGC Sees Victory in Syria Vital to Expanding Its Hegemony in Region
  • Analysis

    • IRGC Sees Victory in Syria Vital to Expanding Its Hegemony in Region

    A top Iranian general has said the “liberation” of the Syrian city of Aleppo was a “strategic” victory for Iran over the United States and regional countries. “When Aleppo was liberated, polici

    December 27, 2016

    Iran’s Water Shortage Crisis Worsens
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis

    • Iran’s Water Shortage Crisis Worsens

    The Ministry of Energy, which is in charge of water resources in Iran, has again admitted that the country is facing a

    December 27, 2016

    Iran Has 75,000 Mosques but No Leadership
  • Analysis

    • Iran Has 75,000 Mosques but No Leadership

    Ali Jannati, a former minister of culture under President Hassan Rouhani, has strongly attacked the state of the Iranian society and a lack of political leadership in the country. He said that there were “75,000 mosques and 800 Friday prayer leaders” in Iran today, but ordinary people still had “no one to turn to for leadership.”

    December 23, 2016

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