Iran

By Christoph Bluth | – Donald Trump asked his senior advisers to examine options for air strikes against Iran’s main nuclear installation, the New York Times reported recently. According to the report, the meeting occurred the day after inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material. Key advisers reportedly counselled against […]

Donald Trump

Trump Bruited Strike on Iran Civilian Nuclear Facilities, which may kill as many as did Nuclear Bombing of Hiroshima

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Eric Schmitt, Maggie Haberman, David E. Sanger, Helene Cooper and Lara Jakes at the New York Times get the scoop. Their sources in the White House tell them that last Thursday, in a meeting with his senior advisers, Trump abruptly asked them if there were options for a US strike […]

Health Care

‘There Is No Insulin’: Desperate Iranians Tweet Calls For Life-Saving Drug

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL) – Tens of thousands of diabetics in Iran are said to be facing shortages of insulin, with many such patients and their loved ones complaining that the problem could have life-threatening consequences. Some Iranians have taken to social media to protest the scarcity of insulin pens and highlight their plight or that of loved […]

Donald Trump

Trumpie Wingnut DNI Ratcliffe hilariously blames Iran for pro-Trump Email Spoofs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I don’t know what it is about being in official Washington that degrades basic critical faculties. Like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, they start saying, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” The US Establishment believed that Iraq in 2002 was near to […]

Donald Trump

Is it an accident that Iran and the US, two Theocracies, are Coronavirus Basket Cases?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The coronavirus statistics in both Iran and the United States are horrible. The US has the worst record on dealing with the pandemic in the industrialized world. One clue to why the two countries are doing so badly with regard to basic public health strategy may lie in the importance […]

China

Has Russian media turned on its golden boy Trump, joining with China and Iran?

The Conversation

By Robert Hinck, Robert Utterback and Skye Cooley | – It can be easy to overlook how the rest of the world is making sense of America’s chaotic campaign season. But in many cases, they’re paying attention just as closely as U.S. voters are. After all, who wins the U.S. presidency has implications for countries […]

Donald Trump

With UN Embargo on Arms Sales to Iran Lapsing, Will Russia take on US to reap Bonanza?

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – As of today, the 2007 UN Security Council embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran expired. At least from the point of view of international law, Iran can now purchase powerful and advanced weapons such as the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft system, or the Su-30 fighter jet. Still, although Iranian […]

Armenia

Trying To Be Neutral: Iran Worried Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Could Turn Into Wider War

Golnaz Esfandiari

(RFE/RL ) – Sharing a frontier with both Armenia and Azerbaijan as they fight a bitter war over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh territory, Tehran is closely watching the conflict amid growing concern it could spill over the border. A number of artillery shells and rockets have recently landed in Iranian territory, including a residential area, only […]

Armenia

Where does Iran stand on Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh?

Middle East Monitor

By Marwan Kabalan | – ( Middle East Monitor) – While most attention is focused on the positions of Russia and Turkey in the ongoing conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Iran receives less attention. The former are the direct regional sponsors of the Armenian and Azeri parties to the crisis, but Iran is likely to […]