Leverage Through Sanctions Not a Long-Term Strategy

Last week, the U.S took a page out of its well-worn foreign policy playbook and imposed new sanctions on North Korea. The similarities between the U.S approach to North Korea and Iran are striking, centering on a strategy of sanctions, isolation, and containment. It can be argued that the U.S has had more success isolating North […]

The Significance of Today’s Events

    Today clearly breathed new life into Iran’s opposition movement. Opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi both took the risk and attended alongside countless other mourners. (Mousavi’s convoy was reportedly attacked en-route back to Tehran by plain-clothed security officials who cut off the convoy and bashed in a window of one of the […]

New Moon Conflict in Iran

In a dispute between senior clerics in Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei officially declared  Sunday to be the Eid al-Fitr (the end of the holy month of Ramadan), while the majority of high-ranking Shiite clerics in the cities of Qom and Najaf declared it to be on Monday, according to BBC Persian. Although the […]