Clinton and Baker on Iran, Israeli strikes, and diplomacy
In an interview with Charlie Rose at the State Department last Wednesday, June 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Former Secretary of State James Baker discussed the role of diplomacy in resolving US- Iranian tensions [watch the interview here, read the transcript here]. Baker said the U.S. must pursue all non-military means to prevent an […]
Iran News Roundup 11/1
Michele Bachmann claims that Iran threatened US and Israel with nuclear attack Guardian: Iran expected to play role of the spoiler in Istanbul conference on Afghanistan Iran economy minister survives impeachment vote over bank scandal Iran suspends 2 soccer players for ‘immoral’ goal scoring celebration Ilan Berman: Why engaging with Iran is still a bad […]
U.S. military leaders push for direct communications with Iran
In January 2008, the U.S. Navy was on the verge of opening fire on three Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats, which were taking provocative action in close proximity to the American ships. Fortunately, no shots were fired that day, but the danger of armed conflict breaking out between two nations already on the brink was clear. […]
Afghanistan’s Hidden Opportunity
Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan has become the world’s leading producer of opium and heroin. This has humanitarian as well as security implications for both the United States and Iran and highlights perhaps the most obvious issue where mutual antagonism between the United States and Iran has prevented the two countries […]
Ethnic Overshadowing in Iran
The domestic situation in Iran has been overshadowed by recent talk of the deal brokered between Iran, Turkey and Brazil, imminent UN sanctions, and Congress’s push for unilateral sanctions. While last week’s protests against the execution of five Iranians encompassed all Iranians, there was especially large participation by Iranian Kurds. (Recall that four of these […]
Iran Interested in Stable Afghanistan…For Now
The Sunday Times has recently claimed that Iran has been involved in training insurgents in Afghanistan to kill NATO troops. This claim has in turn been repeated by various other news sources like FOX News, The Australian, Global Times, Taipei Times, etc. But the source of this allegation is two Taliban commanders. How kind of […]
What Obama didn’t say on Tuesday night
photo credit: The White House, Pete Souza Tuesday night, President Obama delivered a much-anticipated speech on the situation in Afghanistan. He announced that he will be sending 30,000 additional troops in the first part of 2010, and will begin withdrawing troops in the Summer of 2011. The speech made no direct references to Iran, and […]
U.S. sees Iranian aid to Taliban as insubstantial
Reuters (and only Reuters) has the story: The United States believes that Iran has supplied arms to insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan but top advisers to President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the information was conflicting and any threat appeared unsubstantial. Shi’ite Iran is not a comfortable ally of the hardline Sunni Taliban, but analysts […]
As Israel installs new hardline PM, US and Iran meet on Afghanistan
Today, Benjamin Netanyahu will become Israel’s newest Prime Minister, leading a hardline Likud government alongside Avigdor Lieberman’s ultra-nationalist (and largely racist) Yisrael Betenyu party and incorporating Ehud Barak’s Labor party. The newly-formed government will place Kadima leader Tzipi Livni in the awkward position of leading the pro-peace movement (Livni is not widely regarded as a […]
CSM: Obama should hold Nowruz town-hall to send message to Khamenei
A great idea from Joshua Gross at the Christian Science Monitor: The Iranian calendar offers Obama an ideal opportunity to reach out to them and challenge common misperceptions. Nowruz, the Persian New Year, will be celebrated later this month. Obama should take advantage of this unique moment to travel to California and hold a town-hall […]
Clinton sets date for first US-Iran meeting on Afghanistan
From the New York Times: BRUSSELS — Setting up the prospect of its first face-to-face encounter with Iran, the Obama administration proposed a conference on Afghanistan later this month that is likely to include Iran among the invited participants, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday. “We presented the idea of what is being […]