Articles

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Fresh from the lifting of international sanctions, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, is on a trade mission to Europe. Today, he’s in France where he’s been shopping for cars, planes and other goods. We’re going to hear now from a French-Iranian lawyer who’s been representing French companies in their negotiations with Iran, Ardavan Amir-Aslani. Mr. Amir-Aslani, welcome to the program. Read More »

airbus-

Agreements for 118 new aircraft, pilot training, airport operations and ATM support

ran officials have signed two agreements with Airbus covering new aircraft orders and a comprehensive civil aviation co-operation package. The agreements were signed at the Élysée Palace, Paris, during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s official visit to France with French President François Hollande. Read More »

Long considered the country of ayatollahs and suspected nuclear weapons, Iran is now moving towards reengaging with the West after years of sanctions. Read More »

THE GUARDIAN-

By: Denise Hassanzade Ajiri

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been authorized to run for the Assembly of Experts, a body charged with choosing the next leader. Bridging reformists and conservatives, the former president has emerged as a central figure in the new ‘moderate’ camp. Read More »

Foreign Affairs–

The Peace Talks and After

By Joshua Landis and Steven Simon–

President Bashar al-Assad is winning in Syria. Russia has shifted the balance of power there dramatically. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the UN might insist that Assad negotiate with his opponents and ultimately cede power to them, but the Syrian president has no intention of accepting such demands. His advisers state that he will go to talks in Geneva this month “to listen, but not to negotiate.” In other words, he is still out for victory on the battlefield. As the United States enters the now delayed UN negotiating process, it will have to stay flexible in its expectations and objectives in light of the shifting military balance on the ground. Read More »

THE GUARDIAN-

By: Saeed Kamali Dehghan –

Rana Rahimpour caught by new legislation that means dual citizens of some countries, including Iran, can no longer use visa waiver programme
A BBC journalist has been stopped boarding a plane from London to the US because of her dual British-Iranian nationality.
Rana Rahimpour, a presenter at the BBC’s Persian service based in London, was stopped at Heathrow airport on Tuesday before catching a flight to New Jersey. US authorities told her she could no longer fly to the US under the visa waiver programme because of her Iranian citizenship. Read More »

THE NEW YORK TIMES-

By: David Sanger –

WASHINGTON — President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerryhave a simple explanation for their surprising success in getting Iran to dismantle much of its nuclear infrastructure, ship out 98 percent of its nuclear fuel and release five American prisoners: Patient diplomacy, backed by escalating economic sanctions, accomplished more than military action ever could have. Read More »

THE NEW YORKER-

BY ROBIN WRIGHT-

Fourteen months ago, President Obama authorized a top-secret, second diplomatic channel with Tehran to negotiate freedom for Americans who had disappeared or been imprisoned in Iran. It was a high-risk diplomatic gamble. The initiative grew out of nuclear negotiations, launched in the fall of 2013, between Iran and the world’s six major powers. On the margins of every session, Wendy Sherman, the top American negotiator, pressed her Iranian counterparts about the American cases. Read More »

POLITICO MAGAZINE-

Maybe it’s time to stop the knee-jerk demonizing of Tehran.

By Stephen Kinzer

The demonization of Iran is arguably the most bizarre and self-defeating of all U.S. foreign policies. Americans view Iran not simply as a country with interests that sometimes conflict with ours, but as a relentless font of evil. This is true across the political spectrum, from Hillary Clinton’s assertion in 2008 that she is ready to “totally obliterate” Iran to Sen. Ted Cruz’s recent description of Iranians as “people who want to kill us.” American politicians rarely speak that way about any other country. Iran occupies a unique place in our pantheon of enemies. Read More »

THE NEW YORK TIMES-

By: Roger Cohen –

Some people cannot stand good news. It troubles their fixed view of the world. These would include Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican presidential candidate, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who were cast into a huff by the confirmed reversal of Iran’s nuclear program and its release of several Americans, including Jason Rezaian of The Washington Post. Read More »