Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Frud Bezhan

Frud Bezhan covers Afghanistan and the broader South Asia and Middle East region. He can be reached at BezhanF@rferl.org

Authoritarianism
More Iranians Move Their Protests To Rooftops Amid State Crackdown

More Iranians Move Their Protests To Rooftops Amid State Crackdown

Frud Bezhan

I’m Frud Bezhan, regional desk editor for Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. ( RFE/RL) – Fewer Iranians have protested on the streets in recent days, more than three months after the nationwide antiestablishment demonstrations erupted. From the outset, the authorities responded […]

Afghanistan
Taliban Imposes New Dress Code, Segregation Of Women At Afghan Universities

Taliban Imposes New Dress Code, Segregation Of Women At Afghan Universities

Frud Bezhan

By Frud Bezhan | – ( RFE/RL/Radio Azadi) – KABUL — The Taliban has imposed a new dress code and gender segregation for women at private universities and colleges in Afghanistan, in line with a decree issued to educational institutions and obtained by RFE/RL. All female students, teachers, and staff must wear an Islamic abaya […]

India
Pakistan's 'Brotherly' Ties With Saudi Arabia Hit 'Rock Bottom'

Pakistan’s ‘Brotherly’ Ties With Saudi Arabia Hit ‘Rock Bottom’

Frud Bezhan

By Frud Bezhan | – ( RFE/RL) – But the long-standing economic, political, and military ties between the South Asian state and the oil-rich Middle East kingdom have been based less on common values and more on transactions, experts say. Riyadh has provided huge financial support in the form of cheap oil and loans to […]

Iran
Oil-Tanker Attacks Potentially A 'Dangerous Escalation' in US-Iran Confrontation, Expert Says

Oil-Tanker Attacks Potentially A ‘Dangerous Escalation’ in US-Iran Confrontation, Expert Says

Frud Bezhan

(RFE/RL) – Attacks on two commercial oil tankers in the Gulf Of Oman have escalated tensions in the Middle East and raised the prospect of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States. Washington and its allies in the region have blamed Tehran for the blasts on board the Norwegian-owned Front Altair and Japanese-owned […]

Iran
"Ghost Tankers:" Can Iran Evade Trump's Severe Sanctions on its Oil Sales?

“Ghost Tankers:” Can Iran Evade Trump’s Severe Sanctions on its Oil Sales?

Frud Bezhan

Iran has previously had barter deals with China and India

Iran
Things are So Bad in Iran that Afghan Migrants are Going Home

Things are So Bad in Iran that Afghan Migrants are Going Home

Frud Bezhan

Kabul (RFE/RL) – More than 400,000 undocumented Afghan migrants left Iran for Afghanistan so far in 2018, many of them in buses from Herat, near the Iranian border, to Kabul. Mohammad moved back to his native Kabul after living more than 10 years in Iran, where he washed cars and worked in construction to earn […]

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Women's Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
  • Threat to Rule of Law: Sen. Padilla thrown to Ground, Cuffed at Noem DHS Press Conference

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved