Published in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Even as it passed its seventieth anniversary, the 1953 coup in Iran has remained a hotly debated political topic. This is true in the public spheres of Iran, which saw its last democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, overthrown in the coup, and in those of …
Published by the Spectator It took more than a year of waging war, but Israel has finally succeeded in killing its top target in Gaza: Yahya Sinwar. Alongside Mohammad Deif, who is thought to have been killed by an Israeli strike in July, Sinwar was the man most responsible for organising the horrific attacks of …
Published by Al Majalla As leader of a militia that has been at war for every day of its existence, Hassan Nasrallah was no stranger to danger. But one summer night in 2006, he must have felt death to be particularly close. He was in southern Beirut, in a command building of Hezbollah, with two …
Published by the Atlantic Iran’s attack on Israel yesterday evoked a sense of déjà vu. On April 13, too, Iran targeted Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones—at that time marking a first-ever in the history of the two countries. The latest strikes were notably similar: more show than effect, resulting in few casualties (April’s …
Published by the National In the days leading up to Iran’s missile attacks against Israel on Tuesday, the country’s political class was polarised along predictable lines. Centrists and reformists urged caution and pleaded with the government to not fall into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trap by getting drawn into a war with his government. Hardliners, on …
Published by the Atlantic At the center of current conflicts in the Middle East is a long-running staring contest between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. And Netanyahu seems to have calculated that, even if Israel moves ferociously against Khamenei’s so-called Axis of Resistance—the region-wide network of militias arrayed against …
Published by the Atlantic Iran’s newish president and foreign minister could hardly be more different in demeanor. President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks informally, often goes off script, and loves to crack jokes. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a career diplomat who earned his Ph.D. in Britain, chooses his words with painstaking precision. But the two men have been saying …
Published in The National For any newly elected leader, picking a country to make his or her first official visit holds great significance. It’s no exception for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who assumed office in July. There was much chatter around which country he would visit first and what that might say about his administration’s foreign policy …
Published in The Atlantic Even by the standards of the American far right, Tucker Carlson’s airing of Holocaust-revisionist views on his popular show on the platform X seemed to hit a new low. On an episode that streamed September 2, Carlson gushed at his guest Darryl Cooper, introducing him as the “most important popular historian working in …
Published on IranWire By any fair measure, the Islamic Republic of Iran is among the worst human rights violators in the world today. It executes more people than any country except China and it came 176th out of 180 in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, to mention just two examples. This is reflected in …