As scenes of jubilation in Sunni cities coupled with fear and calls for jihad in Shia cities show how deep and explosive sectarian divisions are in Iraq, should Kurds be forced to stay on?
What will it take for negotiating parties to reach a lasting deal over Iran's nuclear programme–and what does it mean for the non-proliferation regime?
In his attempt to retain his popular support-base Rouhani has come close to losing the confidence of the Supreme Leader.
Experience shows us that drawing on our private moments to make public demands has been an effective way of claiming individual and collective rights in contemporary Iran, even if it generally leaves the state’s authoritarian structures untouched.
Recent political events that have swept across the Islamic world have fundamental implications for the most basic principles of political Islam. Some speak of a new wave of Islamic modernism in the Arab world. Meanwhile another Islamic context, Iran, is the setting for nothing less than an ideolog
Decades of corrupt and authoritarian governments in the region which brutally suppressed both secular opposition and moderate Islamists have created the breeding ground for a more nihilist ideology.
As violence in Iraq threatens to overshadow nuclear talks between the US and Iran, we must avoid the tendency to rely on simplistic binaries, and instead recognize the linkages between these challenging dynamics to encourage cooperation.
It is surely not overly pessimistic to anticipate tension between Kurd and Sunni Arab in the months and years to come, almost regardless of the outcome of the current fighting. But Kurds are looking like much the best sort of neighbour in this desperate region.
Desperate not to let the Assad regime fall, Tehran continues to support and strengthen connections with its ally in Damascus. What unites them in this alliance?
As a character Sepideh knows what she wants. She does not care for the manacles of custom or anything that may distract her from her true love, the Night Sky. Film review.
Internally, Sistani’s words directly addressed the fractured Iraqi political class. They are helping reunite Iraq’s dithering Shi’a factions under the strategic priority of fighting terrorism, and boosting moderate Sunnis.
A new social trend in the Islamic Republic of Iran seems to target not only state-sponsored religious norms of rectitude and morality, but also the very defining principles of the Iranian social order.
