Featured Article

Wither the Iranian Presidency?

Rasool Nafisi

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was touring the UN last week, delivering acerbic speeches and giving interviews, back home in the Iranian parliament questions were raised not about Ahmadinejad himself, but about the institution of the presidency in total, and whether…

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  • News Features

  • Iran Unlikely to Agree to Military Phone Line with U.S.

    October 5th, 2011

    Shayan Ghajar

    In an interview broadcast live to one of Iran’s primary state-owned TV channels the evening of October 4, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated that Iran may be amenable to maintaining communications with the United States to prevent international incidents between the two nations in the Persian Gulf.
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  • Q&A: Can Iran Send Ships to America’s Maritime Borders?

    September 29th, 2011

    Editor’s Note: Amid threats from Iran to deploy warships to U.S. coastal waters, InsideIran’s Shayan Ghajar conducted an interview with W. Jonathan Rue, a Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, DC. From 2007-2011, he was an active duty Marine officer in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as an advisor to the Iraqi Army. more»

  • Ahmadinejad’s Trip is the Least of Our Worries

    September 22nd, 2011

    Ali Kiani

    Editor’s note: this article was written by an industrial engineer in Iran.

    I got on my work shuttle to go to a factory in Hashtgerd, a city 40 miles west of Tehran. I am an industrial engineer who graduated about two years ago. The bus is full of factory workers, clerks, and engineers. The radio is on and the broadcaster is announcing the news of Ahmadinejad’s trip to New York. more»

  • Q&A: Azeri Protests Could Inspire Nationwide Uprising

    September 21st, 2011

    Editor’s Note: Amid the environmental protests in the Iranian Azeri region, InsideIran’s Reza H. Akbari conducted an interview with Hassan Shariatmadari in Germany to paint a broader picture of the ongoing tensions in that region. Mr. Shariatmadari is a prominent Iranian Azeri activist who has been active in Iranian politics since before the 1979 Revolution. Hassan Shariatmadari’s political activities include work in organizations urging free elections, separation of religion and state, and greater cultural rights for Iran’s minorities. more»

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  • Media Analysis

  • Prominent Dissident Cleric Condemns Islamic Republic

    October 10th, 2011

    Reza H. Akbari

    One of Iran’s most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Ali-Mohammad Dastgheib, issued two letters to the Assembly of Experts and condemned the state of “lawlessness,” which has dominated the country during the past two years. more»

  • Iran’s Supreme Leader Rejects Two-State Solution for Palestine

    October 3rd, 2011

    rahbar_19 Reza H. Akbari

    “Any plan that divides Palestine would be rejected,” said Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran on October 1. These remarks were made during the 5th International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada held in Tehran.

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  • Iran to Send Naval Vessels to Gulf of Mexico

    September 27th, 2011

    Shayan Ghajar

    While Iran’s military commemorates the start of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in 1980 during its annual “Sacred Defense Week,” two prominent Iranian commanders indicated September 27 that the Islamic Republic’s naval forces may soon assert their presence just outside of United States territorial waters in the Atlantic.
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  • Iranian Politicians Criticize Ahmadinejad’s Opening to U.S. in New York

    September 26th, 2011

    Reza H. Akbari

    Ahmadinejad’s speech at the 66th United Nations General Assembly was generally received positively by the Iranian politicians; however, some of the conservative factions in the parliament ridiculed his comments about easing tensions between Iran and the United States. more»

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  • Critical Comments

    Questions Surround Alleged Terror Plot

    Shayan Ghajar

    On October 11, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced the dismantling of an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi and Israeli ambassadors in Washington D.C. which he described as having been “directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Quds Force.” However, despite the flurry of American officials decrying the alleged high-level Iranian government involvement in the plot, serious questions surrounding the case remain unanswered.
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    Hikers’ Case Casts Doubt on Ahmadinejad’s Credibility, Authority

    Shayan Ghajar

    The freeing of the two remaining American hikers from prison in Iran has occurred just before Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. However, rather than serving as a convenient public relations maneuver to bolster the Iranian executive’s image during his sojourn to the United States, the conclusion to the hikers’ detention has only served to highlight Ahmadinejad’s ultimate irrelevance in determining and expressing Iran’s policies. more»



    Azeri Uprising Triumphs Over Government Crackdown

    Shayan Ghajar

    Determined protesters in Iran’s ethnic Azeri region have managed to accomplish something unparalleled by other protest movements in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential elections: securing a concession from the government. Unlike the other mass protests that have wracked Iran in recent years, the demonstrators have not demanded free elections or the release of political prisoners. Instead, the thousands of Azeris gathering in Iran’s northwestern cities demanded that Lake Urmia, an enormous saltwater lake of incalculable ecological, cultural, and economic significance, be saved from its current slide towards oblivion. more»



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