Iran Archive

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are nothing new, but in recent days the level of acrimony has been increasing exponentially. Amid a shifting geopolitical landscape, the two countries have been sounding downright menacing toward one another, dispensing with the diplomatic practice of veiling their threats and creating new dangers in an already tumultuous region. Two questions arise: Why is the hostility worsening? And which of the two countries is growing stronger relative to the other? The latest round of public fulminations burst on the airwaves last week, when the powerful Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave a […]

While most of the Middle East is imploding from civil wars, terrorism, despotism and sectarianism, Iran will hold its 12th presidential election next week, on May 19. Despite the absence of palpable public enthusiasm, the election will have a profound impact on the fate of the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and seven global powers; on Iran’s relations with the United States; and on the ailing Iranian economy. Looming large on the horizon, too, is the sensitive issue of who could succeed the 78-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose health is rumored to be poor, since the president […]

As the Iraqi army comes closer to fully reconquering Mosul from the self-proclaimed Islamic State, questions are emerging about the future of relations between two of Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey and Iran. Will the quest for influence in Iraq’s Sunni heartland lead to greater turbulence between Ankara and Tehran? Are they, as some warn, on an unavoidable collision course in Iraq? Turkey is worried that gains made by Iraq’s Shiite-majority government, which is friendly with Iran, only serve to expand Tehran’s influence over Sunni areas in northern Iraq. More worrying for Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan is the potential for a […]