“Russia’s role in Iranian history since the nineteenth century is well known, to be sure. But especially for the period until World War I, it tends to be narrated in a patterned and somewhat reductionist manner, typically through the lens of the ‘Great Game,’ with Iran a mere buffer state between Russia and Great Britain, […]
Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the US: Why Diplomats Matter
George B. Lambrakis was a State Department Foreign Service officer from 1957 to 1985, after two years with USIS in Vietnam and Laos. He served in Iran during the Islamic Revolution 1978-1979. He is interviewed by Fariba Amini. Fariba Amini: The first Trump administration abandoned the JCPOA. Why do you think now in his second […]
On Int’l Women’s Day: In Memory of Iranian Women who have Struggled for Freedom
Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – When Ruhollah Khomeini was still in Neauphle-le-Château, in various declarations and interviews, he had promised that women would have the freedom to choose their attire. That they would have the same rights as men. “In an interview with a left-leaning Lebanese newspaper, he said that Islam believes in the total […]
Interview with Miko Peled, Director of Palestine House of Freedom
Interview by Fariba Amini with Miko Peled, Israeli peace activist and Director of Palestine House of Freedom. Photographs by Fariba Amini © 2025. F.A. You were raised in a Zionist family. You also served in the Israeli army. Your father, Matti Peled was a general during the 1967 war. You sister, Nurit who is an […]
On the 46th Anniversary of Iranian Revolution: An Interview with Amb. John Limbert
“No one should be surprised that the Iranian Revolution took a religious form. The fact that God appears on almost every page does not reflect religious convictions of my own, nor for that matter any conscious design at all, but simply arises from the circumstance that in any description of the fabric of Iranian life […]
The Fatal Despair of Exile: An Iran they could neither Live in nor Leave Behind
Nothing takes me from the butterflies of my dreams to my reality: not dust and not fire. What will I do without roses from Samarkand? What will I do in a theater that burnishes the singers with its lunar stones? Our weight has become light like our houses in the faraway winds. We have become […]
“Trump is the one to Blame” for Current Iran Crisis: An Interview with Gary Sick (Pt. 2)
This is part II of Fariba Amini’s two-part interview with Columbia University Political Scientist and former National Security Council Adviser (to President Jimmy Carter) Gary Sick, among America’s foremost Iran specialists. Part I is here. Gary Sick. Courtesy Columbia University. Fariba Amini: How do you see Trump’s internal and foreign policy agenda in the coming […]
Why is Iran so Central to US Policy? An Interview with Doyen of US Iran Experts, Gary Sick (Pt. 1)
Gary Sick was the national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter. He was present at the White House during some turbulent times- the Iranian revolution, Camp David Accord and more. He had served previously under President Ford and, for a short period, under Reagan. Later, he taught at Columbia University and for nearly 30 years […]
Is Iran Next?
Newark, Del. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In 2005, in the summer of that year, while visiting Iran, I happened to meet an opinionated man. The first thing he asked me was whether I was coming from abroad. He could tell. I replied, yes. He told me, well you are lucky. Here we’re suffering. […]
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