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»
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»
Reza H. Akbari
The history of the Islamic Republic can be described as a lopsided battle between the conservative and reformist parties. The conservatives have thus far dominated the reformists by controlling key political positions and organizations. Excluding the eight years of Mohammad Khatami’s reformist presidency from 1997-2005, various conservative groups have been the uncontested force in the Iranian regime. more»
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.
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Shayan Ghajar
On May 2, when much of the world’s attention was focused on the declaration that Osama bin Laden had been killed by American forces, Iran’s state-owned news services claimed that Israeli jets were massing in Iraq to prepare for a strike on Iran. Israel denied the Iranian allegations while simultaneously increasing its calls for the international community to deal with Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Both Iran and Israel have increased the belligerence of their rhetoric against one another in recent weeks, a sign that the sea changes in the political landscape of the Middle East are leaving both nations feeling vulnerable and anxious about potential geostrategic disadvantages.
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Shayan Ghajar
Tension between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council states heightens daily as diplomatic and political wrangling over the future of Bahrain continues. However, amidst the flurry of articles analyzing the Machiavellian attempts to gain geostrategic dominance in the Persian Gulf, the fact that sectarian tensions are galvanizing widespread outrage in Iran is often overlooked.
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Shayan Ghajar
While protests continue to shake Syria and President Bashar al-Assad ends the48-year state of emergency, Iran and the United States continue to trade accusations of interference in Syrian affairs. more»