Brief Analysis In a climate where many clerics are unhappy about their situation and some are losing faith in the…
Author: Mehdi Khalaji
Whether or not Tehran is proven to be involved, the incident holds significant implications for the regime’s international diplomacy and…
The foreign minister had much to say about the IRGC branch’s political interference at home and close relations with Moscow,…
The Vatican’s outreach to Iraq is laudable in its goal of decreasing religious violence, but Western officials should be realistic…
Say, ‘Shall I inform you who are the greatest losers in respect to their deeds? Those whose efforts go astray…
Khamenei and other regime officials have been quick to swear revenge, but for now they may focus more on stoking…
Emboldened by their success in attacking Gulf and U.S. interests with relative impunity, Iranian leaders are now aiming to disgrace…
Khamenei’s latest guidelines for Iranian culture and governance focus on resisting any efforts to reform the regime’s decisionmaking tendencies. On…
As clerics are pushed ever further to the political margins, the regime will need to double down on its current…
The Supreme Leader’s two New Year’s speeches provide a valuable look at the regime’s internal dynamics as it attempts to…
Unlike in 1989, the Revolutionary Guards and other powerful Iranian institutions will probably play an outsize role in determining and…
The nuclear deal and the negotiations leading up to it have been a significant source of factional confrontation inside Iran…
While the Experts Assembly elected this month may be formally tasked with appointing the elderly Khamenei’s successor, the real decision…
The Iranian regime’s anti-Western regional policy has become much more important to its identity than Islamic ideology, so confronting Tehran’s…
The release of a special-committee report to the Majlis will be seized on by hardliners, who will continue to voice…
If the Supreme Leader is able to continue his strategy of purposeful ambiguity by manipulating the media and parliament, the…
The agreement is a significant achievement for Rouhani, but the hardliners are already moving to ensure that it does not…
In all likelihood, Khamenei’s potentially imminent successor will be even more of a hardliner, and he could renege on a…