Analysis

A senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has 

U.S. military officials said on Wednesday that three U.S. Navy ships and a Marine helicopter had an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter with an Iranian Navy vessel in international waters in the Persian Gulf. The amphibious assault ship U.S.S.

U.S. Secretary Rex Tillerson’s yesterday remarks at a Congressional hearing have drawn angry reactions from Tehran. Tillerson told the House Foreign Relations Committee that the Trump administration has not yet finalized its Iran policy but emphasized that it is determined to counter Iran’s subversive activities in the Middle East. “Well, our Iranian policy is under development. It’s not yet been delivered to the president. But I would tell you that we certainly recognize Iran’s continued destabilizing [role] in the region.

ranian security forces today dismantled a “terrorist unit” in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to the public relations directorate of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (I.R.G.C.) Ground Forces. “After receiving intelligence regarding the presence of a Takfiri terrorist team in Ghasr-e Ghand region of Sistan and Baluchestan, I.R.G.C. ground forces units from the Quds Base were deployed to the area. They clashed with terrorists today (Thursday) after bringing under siege the highlands of Ghasr-e Ghand,” the I.R.G.C.

After President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh last month, Iranian leaders were worried about the creation of a U.S.-supported alliance of regional Arab states led by Saudi Arabia to counter Irani

She was a fearless trailblazer who spurned the comforts of Victorian England for a life of adventure and accomplishment, including extensive exploration through uncharted Arabia in the uneasy last days of the Ottoman Empire.

Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell, a documentary from New York-based filmmakers Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbuhl, opened earlier this month in New York City, and will roll out to other major centers through July.

Six months after the heavily publicized defeat of Syrian rebel forces in Aleppo to the Assad government, the once magnificent metropolis and largest city of northern Syria is still reeling from the consequences of years of violent conflict. The elaborate communal, economic and material threads that for centuries had made up the social fabric underpinning the city’s wealth, as well as its physical and societal integrity, may have been irreparably damaged. Today, much of the city lies in rubble and many of its once proud inhabitants have been reduced to abject poverty.

Read the full article on The New Yorker. 

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, presumably for what it depicts, but what is the value of what a picture doesn’t show? To some, it is nothing; for others, it is everything.

Read the full article on Middle East Eye.

Two weeks ago, Tunisian security forces used excessive force to try to stop peaceful demonstrators in El Kamour Tataouine, killing one of them. Six years after the 2010-2011 uprising, many Tunisians are wondering what is left of their revolution.

In November-December 2015 Chennai and its neighboring coastal districts in India experienced torrential rainfall followed by a devastating flood. Amid the chaos and widespread impact, the event brought people and institutions in and outside Chennai together, to provide support to the victims affected by the flood. Help reached the affected areas and their residents from different sections of society and in variety of forms. The lessons from this case study and others like it can help urban centers elsewhere in Asia to plan for similar eventualities.

Iran and its allied militia forces will continue to defy American threats, establish control over regions along Iraqi-Syrian border, foil “plots” by the U.S.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has voiced opposition to the Iraqi Kurdistan’s decision to hold an independence referendum in September.

Iranian leaders continue to blame the United States and Saudi Arabia for last week’s terrorist attacks in Tehran although Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has confirmed that the Islamic State was behind the assaults.

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Robert S. Ford, Alex Vatanka, and Ruba Husari provide analysis on  the Trump administration’s handling of the G.C.C. crisis, how Iran and energy markets have responded to it, and the escalating conflict in eastern Syria.

Iranian-led Afghan Shiite militia forces have made significant territorial gains in southeastern Syria and have reached the shared border between Syria and Iraq, the Iranian media reports.