Geneive Abdo
This article was first published in Foreign Policy.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meant to kick off his annual visit to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York with the grand gesture of releasing two U.S. hikers held captive for over a year. Instead, he has been humiliated in public by Iran’s powerful judiciary, which stated on Wednesday that the president could not fulfill that promise.
Sevda Zenjanli
TEHRAN– Since the last week of August, thousands of Azeris have engaged in ongoing demonstrations against the Iranian government over Lake Urmia, which is vital to the region’s water supply and is at risk of drying up.
Shayan Ghajar
In a meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet on August 28, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered two criticisms of the beleaguered executive in a public statement. Ahmadinejad, battling for political supremacy over Khamenei’s faction mere months ago, lost the struggle. Khamenei’s statement was published on his official site in its entirety, and summaries of the meeting were published on most official and semi-official news sites.
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Geneive Abdo
This article was first published in Al Jazeera.
Few could have imagined two years ago that the man who caused a Tehran spring that nearly brought down the Iranian regime, only for it to be saved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, would today be reduced to political impotence. But after a three-month conflict, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be grateful Khamenei has not ordered his arrest, and, at least for now, is content for him to serve out his term as a lame duck.
Shayan Ghajar
Despite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s warning in June that any harassment of his aides would be crossing a “red line” that would force him to make certain state secrets public, tensions between the president’s faction and loyalists in the Supreme Leader’s camp are coming to a head.
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Shayan Ghajar
Iran’s unwavering support for Syria has become axiomatic since the Arab wave of discontent began to shake Damascus. Iran has sent technical, material, and military support to Syria to help Bashar al-Assad quell protests. Syria’s strategic importance to Iran currently takes precedence over all the Islamic Republic’s other relationships. The Islamic Republic proved the primacy of its relationship with Syria by publicly claiming that Turkey, a trade ally and friendly neighbor of Iran, was fomenting Syria’s unrest by arming terrorist groups and engaging in secret talks with Israel.
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Shayan Ghajar
Though Turkey has invested a great deal of effort into its policy of maintaining good relations with neighboring states, the Arab winter of discontent has severely weakened the ability of the Turkish government to do so. Syria, which shares a border with Turkey stretching hundreds of miles, has proved particularly damaging to Turkey’s regional foreign policy. Forced to speak out on Syria’s burgeoning humanitarian crisis as Bashar al-Assad’s troops drive thousands to seek safety on the border between the two nations, Turkey’s stance has set it at odds with Syria’s staunch ally, Iran. more»
Shayan Ghajar
While the unrelenting attacks on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continue to curtail his power, some analysts in the United States mistakenly argue that his fall from grace may prevent future nuclear talks between Iran and the West. However, it is more likely that Ahmadinejad’s marginalization will have little impact on the nuclear impasse, as neither he nor his enemies in Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s faction have any motivation for real compromise on Iran’s enrichment program at present. more»