Category: khamenei
-
Iran Policy Has Gone Postmodern
The Trump administration’s analysis of the war with Iran is an exercise in pure narrative. Cook-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist4Steven A. Cook By Steven A. Cook, a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Demonstrators raise their phones showing images of Iran’s supreme…
-
Islamization from Above, Secularization from Below: Turkey and Iran as Case Studies
INSS Insight No. 2008, July 10, 2025 Despite more than twenty years of promoting Islam under Erdoğan in Turkey and over four and a half decades of Islamic rule in Iran, secularization processes are observable in both countries, especially among the younger generation. In Turkey, despite efforts by the government to promote religion through the…
-
Operation Rising Lion: Achievements, Open Questions, and Future Scenarios
INSS Insight No. 2007, July 9, 2025 Operation Rising Lion, carried out on Iranian soil was a highly significant campaign, showcasing operational artistry, excellence, and a sophisticated, complementary international diplomatic effort. Whereas gratification is in order, the campaign must be analyzed objectively and professionally. Were its goals truly achieved? Has an existential threat to the…
-
The Strike on Iran Was ‘Jacksonian’
What did the U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities achieve? Nothing of significance, sneers Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth describes them as “historically successful.” Walter Russell Mead would like us to step back and look at the question in its broadest perspective. “Just when the conventional wisdom that America was in terminal decline had congealed…
-
Iranian resistance groups need to show their cards
On June 23, 2025, President Donald Trump raised the specter of regime change in Iran in a Truth Social post. “If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!,” he said. While Trump’s team clarified that regime change was not a war aim, speculation remains rife in Iran, especially given…
-
Opportunity knocks on Netanyahu’s US visit after Israel-Iran war
MENASource July 7, 2025 • 10:38 am ET Shalom Lipner “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars,” US President Donald Trump pledged after recapturing the Oval Office last November. That’s much easier said than done. In fact, the “Complete and Total CEASEFIRE” between Israel and Iran, which he heralded in…
-
Iran is a Terrorist State
OPINION — Since 1984, Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The designation is justified, given Iran’s continued support of proxies and criminal organizations that kill and terrorize innocent people. That behavior continues today, with the government of Ali Hosseini Khamenei surveilling, harassing, and detaining thousands of Iranians for allegedly aiding Israel —…
-
The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program
New Atlanticist July 1, 2025 • 3:43 pm ET Kimberly Donovan On June 24, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that China can continue to purchase Iranian oil. This announcement caused shockwaves, since it would effectively reverse long-standing US foreign policy toward not just Iran but also China, Washington’s most potent competitor in the economic…
-
Why Israeli Attacks Brought Fear But Not Regime Change to Iran
Editor’s Note: Javad Heiran-Nia directs the Persian Gulf Studies Group at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies in Iran and has written several times for Stimson on Iran’s foreign and domestic politics. Hessam Habibi Doroh is a researcher at Khayrion Think Tank, a Bratislava based think tank and consulting platform focusing…
-
Balancing acts and breaking points: Iraq’s US-Iran dilemma
MENASource June 30, 2025 • 4:11 pm ET C. Anthony Pfaff Even without the current conflict between Israel and Iran, the prospects for future US-Iraq relations have often appeared dim. Due in part to the reduced threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and also to public opposition to US military presence…