Current Analysis The Diplomatic Dance with Iran A six-month diplomatic [http://www.dawn.com/news/1084989/iran-nuclear-deal-possible-in-six-months] dance with Iran is underway—each step as dainty as a minuet because any misstep is weighted with danger. The issue is Iran’s nuclear research program and the UN inspections that are taking place as a Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Nowruz Mobarak It’s been a long, cold, snowy winter across much of the globe, so we thought we’d do something to celebrate spring. Nowruz is the traditional Persian new year’s holiday, observed in Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdish lands and beyond where Persian culture has had an influence. A pre-Islamic holiday, Nowruz The Editors • 3 min read
Current Analysis The Battle Over Higher Education in Iran The educated middle class that played an influential role in electing Hassan Rouhani to the Iranian presidency in June 2013 is anxious to see his promises of “prudence and hope” fulfilled. One area that Rouhani’s administration is expected to reform is higher education, which was targeted for politi Mohammad Ali Kadivar • 10 min read
Current Analysis Handshakes in Geneva Everyone is happy with the interim agreement reached with Iran in Geneva on November 23 -- that is, everyone who really wants to defuse the tensions over Iran’s nuclear research program. The Editors • 10 min read
Current Analysis Iran, the Twenty-First-Century Island of Stability Iran’s 1979 revolution, in helping to push out Jimmy Carter and bring in Ronald Reagan, offered up one of the few instances in the latter half of the twentieth century where domestic politics in a Third World country affected domestic politics in the United States more than the other way around. Aya Kevan Harris • 4 min read
Current Analysis An "Electoral Uprising" in Iran “Last night I sat in traffic with my wife and daughters for three hours,” a Tehran office manager recounted, “and the car did not move one meter.” The day before, Iranians had chosen Hassan Rouhani as the Islamic Republic’s seventh president. “All the cars honked their horns, and people danced and c Kevan Harris • 16 min read
Current Analysis Wrapped in Surprise, Stuffed with Politics Many Iranians are pinching themselves and smiling uncontrollably after Hassan Rowhani’s victory in the June 14 presidential election. The purple-clad campaigners for Rowhani (or Mohammad Reza Aref, who stepped aside for Rowhani a few days before the balloting) still taste the bitterness of 2009, whe Arang Keshavarzian • 3 min read
MER Article Iran and the Gulf War September marks the seventh anniversary of the war between Iran and Iraq. It now ranks as the longest inter-state military conflict in the Middle East in this century. It has also been the most costly in terms of human lives lost, property destroyed and numbers of people uprooted from their homes. A • 19 min read
Current Analysis Iran and the IAEA at Parchin Few foreign policy issues garner as much interest in the American press as the Iranian nuclear program [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero121612]. As illustrated by last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for President Obama’s nominee as secretary of defense, former Republican S Aslı Bâli • 5 min read
Current Analysis Argo and the Roots of US-Iranian Tensions The box-office hit Argo brings back long-faded memories of the Iran hostage crisis for many Americans. News in November 1979 that US diplomats had been taken hostage in Tehran shocked the United States. Students stormed the US embassy, blindfolding 52 Americans and threatening them at gunpoint. The Narges Bajoghli • 3 min read
Current Analysis International Law and the Iran Impasse On any given day, provided her paper of choice still features international coverage, the average American newspaper reader can expect to be treated to one or two articles on attempts to halt advances in Iran’s nuclear program. These articles might cover efforts to levy fresh sanctions against the I Aslı Bâli • 10 min read
Current Analysis Condi-ist Manifesto In one of the most nonsensical sentences published in the Washington Post since the US invasion of Iraq, and perhaps ever, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice writes in a November 23 op-ed [http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/condoleezza-rice-syria-is-central-to-holding-together-the-middle Sheila Carapico • 2 min read