Could Iran democratize?
Yes, and sooner than you might think, argues Misagh Parsa in a thoughtful book on the state of dissent inside Iran. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent… Read more »
Search Results for: Haleh Esfandiari
After Iran’s protests: What comes next?
The recent protests in Iran are unlikely to change who is in power. But they will spark a change of the system, led by the system, according to Dina Esfandiary, a… Read more »
Iran’s ‘mythical moderate’: Rafsanjani blended economic liberalism, political authoritarianism
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (above, left) , who has died aged 82, was one of the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran; a shrewd politician who many Iranians saw as… Read more »
Nasrin Sotoudeh: The moral voice of Iran
Nasrin Sotoudeh has devoted her life to speaking out against the injustices of the Iranian regime’s systematic violations of human rights, women’s rights, the rights of minorities, political rights, the… Read more »
Middle East’s ‘distasteful theocracies’ under fire for rights abuses
The prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s draconian sentence for her peaceful activism shows the threat posed by Iran’s revolutionary courts to human rights work, the Center for Human… Read more »
From ‘Death to the Shah’ to ‘Death to the Dictator’: Iran’s revolution turns 40
Next week, the Islamic Republic of Iran will mark the 40th anniversary of the popular overthrow of its pro-Western monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Atlantic Council writes. Iran will be… Read more »
MidEast governments’ hostility to foreign analysts prompts protest
Middle Eastern governments and media are demonstrating increasing hostility to foreign researchers and journalists, according to an open letter signed by a group of distinguished scholars, academics, journalists, and… Read more »
A year on from JCPOA, Iran views civil society as security threat
To thwart widespread expectations that more open relations with the West would follow the signing of the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program last year, Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly warned… Read more »
Is the age of Middle East ‘regime change’ over?
With the tragic consequences of America’s role in the overthrow of Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya added to the failures of U.S. intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, the policy of regime change is being more… Read more »
‘Iranian Spring’ or hard-liners consolidating power?
Two Iranian poets who face lashings and prison sentences have fled Iran in a rare escape for local artists and activists ensnared in an ongoing crackdown on expression in… Read more »