Latest Articles about Iran
June 2010 Briefs
IRAN HANGS ANOTHER RIGI, FUTURE OF JUNDULLAH UNCERTAIN On June 20, 2010, just weeks after his brother Abdolhamid Rigi was hanged by the Iranian state (see Militant Leadership Monitor, May 2010), Jundullah chief Abdolmalek Rigi was marched to the gallows of the infamous Evin prison... MORE
Iran’s Nuclear Crisis Causes Unease in Armenia
Armenia is watching, with unease, the latest developments in neighboring Iran’s standoff with the international community over its controversial nuclear program. The new, harsher sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Tehran last week raise fresh questions over the growing Armenian-Iranian economic ties which... MORE
Iran Integrates the Concept of the “Soft War” Into its Strategic Planning
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this week that “certain countries” are waging a “Soft War” against Iran that should be countered through the establishment of closer relationships with other nations (Tehran Times, June 8). The concept of a “Soft War” is quickly becoming an... MORE
Georgia Develops Functional Relations With Iran
On May 20-24, a delegation of Tehran journalists, led by the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast (with deputy minister’s rank), visited Georgia. The group included journalists from Iranian radio and television channels, news agencies, and print media, both state-owned and private. Mehmanparast and... MORE
The Iranian Trap for Medvedev’s Opportunistic Foreign Policy
The draft resolution on new sanctions against Iran introduced by the US at the UN Security Council last Tuesday has caught Moscow in a trap set primarily by its own unprincipled diplomatic maneuvering. On previous occasions, Moscow tried to reconcile the pragmatic bargaining with the... MORE
Shifting Sands in the Gulf: The Iran Calculus in China-Saudi Arabia Relations
The fourth joint meeting on economy and trade convened by China and Saudi Arabia in January 2010 in the Saudi capital of Riyadh came and went without much fanfare. Yet the meeting between China, the world’s second largest and fastest growing oil consumer, and Saudi... MORE
Iranian Naval Exercises Display Advancements in IRGC Armed Capabilities
On April 22, the Iranian armed forces began an annual series of military exercises over the course of three days in the strategic Strait of Hormuz region (The Great Prophet 5) (IRNA, April 23; Press TV, April 23; Mehr, April 23; Keyhan, April 23). Named... MORE
Moscow Opens the Prospect of an Iranian Arms Embargo
After the signing of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) in the Czech capital Prague with President, Barack Obama, last week, Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Washington for the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in a buoyant mood. Speaking in an often humorous tone at the... MORE
Political Theater or Counterterrorism? Assessing Iran’s Capture of Jundallah Leader Abdelmalek Rigi
Iranian security forces pulled off a major coup on February 23 by capturing the enigmatic militant leader Abdelmalek Rigi (Press TV [Tehran], February 23; IRNA [Tehran], February 23). The 31-year-old founder and leader of Jundallah (Soldiers of God), an ethnic Baloch nationalist group, is responsible... MORE
Turkey Maintains Objections to Tougher Measures Against Iran
Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attending the Arab League Summit in Sirte, Libya, expressed support for a proposal for a regional dialogue forum, which among other issues will seek to engage Iran.On March 27, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, proposed a... MORE