Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is coming out that the US and Iran have been talking privately in Oman about a range of bilateral issues, including prisoner exchanges and Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program. This news emerged, according to Barak Ravid at Axios in the form of a complaint from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin […]
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Iran
It’s Not Just Iran: Conflict over Water Resources is on the Rise as Climate Crisis Grows
By Laureen Fagan ( Sustainability Times ) – The clash over water rights led to fighting between Iran and Afghanistan recently, in the latest battle over water resources among neighboring nations—clashes that are expected to become all the more common in hot and arid regions like the Middle East and Africa’s Sahel. At least two […]
Iranian Journalists Who Broke Mahsa Amini Story Stand Trial Behind Closed Doors
I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. The Big Issue ( RFE/RL ) – A revolutionary court in Iran this week began the trials of two female journalists who helped break the story of Mahsa Amini’s death. Amini’s death […]
Smoking Gun: Trump’s Theft of Classified Iran Materials Caught on Tape, May bring him down
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When Trump murdered several people by drone at Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020, including Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian government vowed that it would get revenge on him someday. It was a hollow threat. Iran’s rulers know better than to provoke the U.S. at that level. Ironically […]
Mahsa Amini’s Family Accuses Iran’s Security Forces Of Vandalizing Her Grave
( RFE/RL) – The family of Mahsa Amini have blamed Iran’s security forces for vandalizing the grave of the young woman whose death while in police custody in September 2022 ignited nationwide protests that have turned into one of the biggest threats to the Islamic republic’s leadership since it took power in 1979. The Amini […]
The Water Wars Begin: Did Climate Change contribute to Saturday’s Deadly Iran-Afghan Border Clash over Helmand River?
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reports that on Saturday deadly clashes broke out between Iranian border guards in the Zabul district of Sistan and Baluchistant Province and their opposite numbers on the Afghanistan side in the Keng District of Nimruz Province. Tasnim wrote, “Conscript “Mehdi Ahmadi” was martyred while guarding the […]
“Don’t Let them Kill Us:” How the Ayatollahs’ Iran became the Execution Capital of the World
Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment) – Under the previous Iranian Penal Code or IPC, which was in force until 2013, the charge of mohareb, “Waging War (on Islam,” was frequently used against political dissidents and people with connections to opposition groups abroad, even if they were non-violent. The new Penal Code has provided for their punishment […]
The Limits of Saudi Normalization with Israel
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration is devoting what energy the State Department has aside from the effort to defend Ukraine to achieving diplomatic normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The premise for this entry of the Saudis into the Abraham Accords is that it would seek an alliance with Israel against Iran. […]
Is Israel Over-Hyping the Supposed Iran Threat?
Review of Jonathan G. Leslie, Fear and Insecurity: Israel and the Iran Threat Narrative (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – “Words have consequences,” writes Jonathan G. Leslie on the last page of his book “Fear and Insecurity: Israel and the Iran Threat Narrative.” He argues that the predominant Israeli […]