Can the U.S. and Iran Avoid a Disastrous Collision?

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Prabir Purkayastha With the United States walking out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—more commonly known as the Iran accord—we all enter into a heightened zone…

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Western “Anti-Imperialists” Silence Middle Eastern and North African Voices

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Daliah Lina “You stand with the terrorist troops. You are a jihadist.” This just covers a part of the public smearing I had to face the last couple…

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Protests in Iran: interview with Ardeshir Mehrdad

Friday, January 31, 2020

Interviewer: Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen wild swings in protests in Iran: from the anti-regime protests before Soleimaini’s assassination, through the huge funeral mobilisations, to renewed…

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Trapped in Iran

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

I WAS PAYING my bill at the hotel when they came. There were seven of them, stiff and formal in plain-clothes. “Mr Pelham?” asked the shortest one and…

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Blundering into War: What Trump doesn’t know about Iran

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Patrick Cockburn At the time of his assassination, General Qasem Soleimani’s strat­egy in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East with large Shia populations had become counterproductive. He is…

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Trump Administration declares US an Occupying Power in Iraq

Monday, January 13, 2020

Juan Cole The Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdulmahdi late last week requested a meeting with the US government to plan out the departure of US troops, which has…

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For a workers movement to stop US war on Iran

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Oakland Socialist The best – the only – way to build a successful movement against a US war on Iran is to build a workers movement that includes…

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Iraq’s Worst Fears Have Come True: a Proxy War on Its Doorstep

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Patrick Cockburn Iraqis have a well-honed instinct about approaching danger which stems from their grim experience during 40 years of crisis and war. Three months ago, I asked…

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Trump Unites Iran and Iraq . . . against the United States

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Juan Cole As is always the way with Western colonialists, Trump administration figures such as secretary of state Mike Pompeo gave it out on Friday that the people…

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Iran’s Military Strategy

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Hadi Ajili and Mahsa Rouhi On 20 June 2019, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot down a United States RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D surveillance drone over the…

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The Descent into Violence: Critique and Crisis in Contemporary Iran

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Milad Odabaei On 15 November 2019, after a surprise announcement on Iranian state television that there would be a three-fold increase in fuel prices, a series of protests…

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Narcissus Flower: a poem by Majid Nafisi

Monday, December 2, 2019

My beloved Has a Narcissus flower in mouth,Her souvenir From the prisons of Iran. I know that nightly From behind bars One can see the trace of flowers…

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Revolution: a poem by Ziba Karbasi

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The people’s hand was wounded The people’s foot The people’s back was wounded So their sky would rain stars. When their sky rained stars The people’s body was…

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Iranian regime faces new crisis at home

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Yassamine Mather Over the last five days, tens of thousands of Iranians have protested against the hike in the price of oil, following an official statement issued by…

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Iran Nationwide Popular Protests Call for Overthrow of Demagogic Regime

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Frieda Afari Police stations, banks, some public buildings,  a few religious seminaries and  many posters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been set on fire.  Demonstrators have…

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Why is Iran so paranoid about environmentalism?

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Kaveh Madani A group of Iranian conservationists, working for the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) and known for their exemplary efforts in preserving the endangered Asiatic (Iranian) cheetahs,…

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How Tehran-backed forces are taking over in Iraq

Friday, November 15, 2019

Patrick Cockburn Iraqi security and pro-Iranian paramilitary forces are shooting into crowds of protesters in a bid to drive them from the centre of Baghdad and end six…

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A Year After Khashoggi’s Murder, Saudi Arabia is Lurching Toward Chaos

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Robert Fisk The Saudis are taking a pasting. Video pictures from the Houthis of Saudi soldiers and their allies killed or surrendering inside the Saudi border town of…

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Three Saudi Brigades Annihilated in Devastating Houthi Offensive in Saudi Arabia

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Federico Pieraccini Many may have hitherto been led to believe that the Houthis were a ragtag armed force lacking in sophistication. Many, seeing the drone and missile attacks…

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Everything you need to know about the attacks on Saudi oil installation

Monday, September 16, 2019

Michael Safi and Greame Wearden. What happened on Saturday morning? Saudi pipelines, oil installations and tankers have occasionally been attacked over the past two years, but analysts say…

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Yemen: The Deeper Meaning in a Lost War

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Alastair Crooke. It’s pretty clear. Saudi Arabia has lost, and, notes Bruce Riedel, “the Houthis and Iran are the strategic winners”. Saudi proxies in Aden – the seat…

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The Fighting Dramatically Escalates As Both Sides Prepare For “The Final War” Between Israel And Iran

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Michael Snyder Are we about to see World War 3 erupt in the Middle East?  Over the past several days, Israel has attempted to prevent attacks by Iranian…

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A Shelter (سقف): a song by Iraj Jannati Ataei

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Saghf (Persian: سقف)(Literary: Roof) is one of the most beautiful Iranian songs. It was first performed by Farhad Mehrad in the 1970s. The lyrics are composed by  Iraj…

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Why Hezbollah is now focused on Lebanon’s domestic politics

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Paul Khalifeh. The New Hezbollah has emerged.  In the past, the Lebanese Shia party proclaimed its allegiance to Iran through resistance to the state of Israel, and by…

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Long Range Attack On Saudi Oil Field Ends War On Yemen

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Today Saudi Arabia finally lost the war on Yemen. It has no defenses against new weapons the Houthis in Yemen acquired. These weapons threaten the Saudis economic lifelines….

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Persian Gulf: Tanker wars and propaganda

Monday, July 29, 2019

Yassamine Mather. The conflict between Iran and the United States is in its early stages, yet we are already witnessing war propaganda, and the presentation of outright lies…

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It’s Trump Who Needs to be Deterred From War Not Iran

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Robert Fisk. It’s about time we wised up to what is going on in this utterly farcical “crisis” in the Gulf, this charade of lies and pomposity which…

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Lights out: Tehran’s clampdown on Western habits

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Kourosh Ziabari. Iran is a country in which many aspects of public life: governance, education, foreign relations and even people’s lifestyles are peculiarly determined by ideology. The authorities…

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Turkey’s Erdoğan: A vizier or a jester?

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Esen Uslu. The Turkish airforce base at Mürted near Ankara had an interesting history. The name means ‘renegade’, and it has been associated with the Battle of Ankara…

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Is Iran’s influence in Iraq waning?

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Hamidreza Azizi Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued a decree July 1 obliging the overwhelmingly pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) to fully integrate into the Iraqi armed…

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