Rafsanjani’s Death Weakens Rouhani’s Reelection Prospects
News Brief: On January 8, former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died of a heart attack in Tehran at the age of 82. An influential cleric and politician, Rafsanjani was the chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council, a body that mediates between the parliament and the hardline watchdog Guardian Council.
As Iranian leaders were mourning the death of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a dangerous confrontation was brewing between the US and Iranian naval forces near the Strait of Hormuz. Fars News Agency, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), reported the incident but did not provide details.
“There will be no peace in Afghanistan without Iran.” This was a remark a top Iranian diplomat made last week in an expansive interview with the country’s media.
Corruption Charges Roil Tehran and Threaten Rouhani's Reelection
According to Transparency International, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a serious corruption problem. It ranks 130 out of 168 countries surveyed. Previously such international assessments rarely made headlines among the Iranian population who are busy trying to make a living. But the issue of large-scale institutional corruption involving top regime figures has recently exploded as a daily topic of conversation.
Rouhani's Special Advisor Warns Against “American Islam”
News Brief: In a blistering attack, Ali Younesi, President Hassan Rouhani’s special envoy for minority rights, portrayed all the conflicts of the Middle East as a result of Western plots. “There is no other way but regional cooperation to bring about border security and combat extremism,” Younesi said. He was particularly scornful toward the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel.
Khamenei Defends Increasingly Unpopular Syrian Military Intervention
News Brief: On December 5, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defended the Islamic Republic’s military intervention in Syria, arguing that the Iranian forces had to neutralize enemy threats in Syria to avoid their infiltration inside Iran’s territory.
News Brief:Mohsen Rezaei, the long-time former head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), has launched a scathing attack on the government of President Hassan Rouhani and its pol
IRGC Claims Superiority over “Declining” America in Middle East
News Brief: A top Iranian general hailed the Islamic Republic’s growing military power in the region and claimed that “America’s power is in decline.” Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), added: “All statistics and indicators suggest that America’s po
Saudi Analysis: Iran’s Response to Bahrain Terror Attack Proves Dialogue Impossible
Salman al-Dossary, Editor-in- Chief of al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, observed that the Iranian response to the January 1 terror attack on a Bahraini police station, killing a police officer and allowing prisoners to escape, proves that there is no basis for a constructive dialogue between the Arab Gulf states and Iran.
News Brief: Iran’s Guardian Council has announced that it will reassess incumbent President Hassan Rouhani’s eligibility to run for reelection next May.
Top Iranian Cleric Equates Obeying Elected Officials to “Obeying Satan”
News Brief: A top Iranian cleric has openly questioned the legitimacy and authority of elected officials in the Islamic Republic. “We don’t have any narration [a precedent in Shiite traditions] that says obeying a person who has come to power through a majority of people’s votes is compulsory,” opined Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the head of Imam Khomeini Organization for Learning and Research in the holy Iranian city of Qom.
Turkey Warns Iran against Breach of Syria Cease-Fire
The Turkish foreign minister has openly urged Iran to “play its role as an underwriter of the ceasefire in Syria.” Mevlut Cavusoglu specifically demanded that Tehran rein in Shiite militiamen and the Lebanese Hezbollah and make them “stop violating” the ceasefire in Syria that was agreed on December28.
Tehran has rejected reports about explosions in the oil-rich Khuzestan Province on the border with Iraq. Earlier reports suggested that the group “Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz” had blown up two pipelines and warned of more attacks to come. The group justified its attacks to “protest at the continuing occupations” of “Ahwazi [Khuzestan] land” by Iranians.
