As a war volunteer with the Iranian Red Crescent, I remember seeing women give to the war effort what they had in their possession, from a pair of gold earrings to a dozen eggs, all with joy and resolution. They allowed and encouraged their men to march to the front lines knowing well what possibilities laid ahead. Women fought alongside men and supported their efforts behind the scenes. Then I saw them welcome their men back, carrying them to the martyrs’ cemetery. I wrote this book because their actions needed exclusive attention, and because they are part of our larger understanding of Iranian women and gender.
-
2022-08-02
-
2022-07-11
At the end of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war – which Azerbaijan won with Turkish support and Russian diplomacy – Iran was widely seen by analysts as the conflict’s biggest loser, in terms of its regional strategic interests.
Without wasting much time, however, Tehran flipped those fortunes by very proactively engaging its soft power in the South Caucasus to advance its geo-economic interests. This is arguably due to Iran’s concerns over Turkish-Azerbaijani expansionist designs in the region.
-
2022-06-16
The four-day visit to India by Iran’s Foreign Minister Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on June 8-11 can be seen as an exploratory attempt by the two countries to reset their relationship, aligning it with the changing times in regional and international politics. New opportunities are arising for both countries. Both New Delhi and Tehran are conscious of the imperative to upgrade their ties.
-
2022-05-09
The unannounced arrival of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Tehran on Sunday makes yet another wrinkle to the geopolitics of West Asia. In a short trip of a few hours, Assad had meetings with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raeisi and returned to Damascus.
-
2022-05-06
Some three weeks after the reported meeting of the CIA chief William Burns with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Sultan, the OPEC+ ministerial held a videoconference on Thursday. The OPEC+ meet drew satisfaction that “continuing oil market fundamentals and the consensus on the outlook pointed to a balanced market.” The press release issued in Vienna says the ministerial “further noted the continuing effects of geopolitical factors and issues related to the ongoing pandemic” and decided that the OPEC+ sticks to the monthly production adjustment mechanism agreed in July last year “to adjust upward the monthly overall production by 0.432 million barrels/day for the month of June 2022.”
-
2022-05-03
The fifth round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia were held in Baghdad on 21 April in the presence of Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and unlike the previous four rounds of meetings, reports suggest the discussions were promising.
-
2022-04-12
While long on aspiration and flourish, implementation of the comprehensive strategic partnership has seemed short on substance, highlighting China’s long-held strategy of viewing Tehran as an expendable piece in its chess match with Washington.
-
2022-04-01
Tensions between Russia and western countries in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion have raised hopes in Iran that it might offer an alternative to Russian gas exports to Europe. Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world, with 34 trillion cubic metres of natural gas - about 17 percent of the world's total reserves. While some believe this means Iran has genuine potential to replace Russia, Iranian analysts and energy experts remain doubtful. The CEO of an Iranian gas engineering and development company said that the country is technically unable to export gas to Europe.
-
2022-02-10
While the normalisation of UAE-Iran ties remains tentative, UAE leaders aware of the role they can play as underwriters of the restored nuclear deal. The Biden administration, eager to consolidate the restored JCPOA, will likely encourage the UAE to reprise its role as Iran’s primary gateway to the global economy, with the U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Department of State engaging directly with UAE regulators and companies to help them navigate the new compliance landscape. The potential is enormous. UAE-Iran trade grew at an annualised rate of 28 percent between 2001 and 2011. Had this growth been sustained for just five more years, total trade would have exceeded $80 billion. What matters most for the long-term viability of the nuclear deal is not whether trade with Europe will return to pre-sanctions levels, but whether revitalised trade with the UAE can accelerate Iran’s reintegration into the global economy.
-
2022-02-04
On 4 February, a Danish court found three members of a Saudi-backed Iranian opposition group guilty on of espionage and financing and supporting terrorism. The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), recognized as a terrorist group by Iran, has bases in Denmark and the Netherlands.[…] According to the prosecution, the trio also used banks based in Austria and Dubai in the UAE to funnel about 4.8 million dollars, facilitated by Saudi Arabia, to the Iran-based opposition group.