khalijefars News, Blogs, Art and Community

Suzanne Maloney, Natan Sachs, Bruce Riedel, Daniel L. Byman, Hady Amr, Mara Karlin, Samantha Gross, Frank A. Rose, Richard Nephew, Steven Pifer, Célia Belin, Dror Michman, Tamara Cofman Wittes, Tanvi Madan, and Kadira PethiyagodaTuesday, May 8, 2018

Editor’s Note:

President Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and will re-impose sanctions. What does this move mean, and what are its implications for the Middle East, for U.S. allies in Europe, for energy markets, and more broadly? Brookings experts weigh in below. Read More »

Tehran’s Advantage in a Turbulent Middle East
By: Vali Nasr

Over the last seven years, social upheavals and civil wars have torn apart the political order that had defined the Middle East ever since World War I. Once solid autocracies have fallen by the wayside, their state institutions battered and broken, and their national borders compromised. Syria and Yemen have descended into bloody civil wars worsened by foreign military interventions. A terrorist group, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), seized vast areas of Iraq and Syria before being pushed back by an international coalition led by the United States. Read More »

By: Djavad Salehi-Isfahani Thursday, May 3, 2018

Since December 2017, Iran’s currency, the rial, has lost one-third of its value. And on April 10, the exchange rate’s rapid depreciation prompted the government to halt domestic foreign-exchange transactions and outlaw foreign-currency holdings of more than €10,000 ($12,000). Read More »

by: John Feffer 3 May 2018

The president giveth and he taketh away.

Donald Trump is a stern and wrathful leader. He thinks nothing of raining down fire and fury upon the enemies of his “chosen people.” Indeed, he even flirts with ending the world if he doesn’t receive due respect and the requisite number of burnt offerings. But he can also reward his followers, and those who curry his favor, with positions of power and untold riches. Read More »

By: Ishaan Tharoor May 4 2018

We are entering the final stretch ahead of President Trump’s likely decision to pull out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

His administration has to decide by May 12 whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran, ones that have been repeatedly waived since the agreement was signed by the Obama administration in 2015. The recent appointments of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton — two vociferous Iran hawks who were doggedly opposed to the deal — seem to make it all the more likely that Trump will follow through on his threats to scuttle the deal. Read More »

By:Mehrdad Khonsari

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What is at stake when President Trump announces his decision on 12 May to stay or part with the ‘JCPOA’ (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) involves not just reopening old wounds and the renewed threat of proliferation in the Middle East, but also the prospects of another costly war in the region. What is also disturbing is the fact that an inexperienced American president should defy consensus opinion not just amongst his closest international partners but also amongst his own foreign policy community thereby subjecting regional and international security to wanton risks. Read More »

By Carl Bildt April 19 2018

The White House and Europe are on a collision course in the nuclear deal with Iran. That’s bad enough, but there are signs things might get even worse. Read More »

Iran: 12 Prisoners in Imminent Danger of Execution

At least 12 death row prisoners have been transferred to solitary confinement in Rajai Shahr prison of Karaj in preparation for execution. It is believed that their sentence will be implemented on Wednesday, May 5. Read More »

By Roger Cohen

We are tethered to a buffoon. He rages and veers, spreading ugliness, like an oil slick smothering everything in its viscous mantle. He’s about to bomb Syria. He’s not about to bomb Syria. His attention span is nonexistent. He attacks the foundations of our Republic: an independent judiciary, a free press, truth itself. His cabinet looks terrorized, the way Saddam Hussein’s once did. Read More »

By: Sina Toossi 19 January 2017

The community has demonstrated political power, but it must do more to offset a potential blow to U.S.-Iran relations in these uncertain times. Read More »