July, 2022

• 27 July

  Raisi’s Election Is Galvanizing Both Sides of the Iran Nuclear Deal Debate

  

  As the regime-anointed candidate in Iran’s presidential election charade last Friday, Ebrahim Raisi’s victory was thoroughly expected. Even so, it managed to be jarring. It’s not every day a country chooses a man accused of crimes against humanity for such a powerful post, with all signs pointing to Raisi acquiring …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Putin’s Iran Visit Shows He Still Has Friends—and Options

  

  Three days after U.S. President Joe Biden returned to Washington from a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia, Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Tehran with a complex set of goals of his own. Much like Biden, who aimed to strengthen Washington’s ties in the region, Putin sought to bolster Russia’s …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Tehran’s ‘Rocket Diplomacy’ Could Snowball Into a Regional Conflict

  

  A dozen ballistic missiles struck Iraq’s northern city of Erbil on Sunday, with some reports suggesting that several landed near the U.S. consulate building in the city. The missile attack left residents of the city terrified, with many posting videos online showing several large explosions and some saying that the …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Fears of a Nuclear-Armed Iran Might Be Overblown

  

  Reports that Iran is nearing the point where it could conceivably develop a nuclear weapon are once again causing widespread alarm. The latest information suggests that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, if significantly further enriched, is more than enough to provide the weapons-grade fissile material needed for a bomb. That …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Iran’s Engineered Election Leaves Reformists With No Good Options

  

  Iranians will go to the polls this Friday to choose the successor to centrist President Hassan Rouhani, who is winding down his second four-year term and cannot run for reelection. The polls will take place in an atmosphere of widespread public apathy, as voters choose from a list of presidential …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Iranian Protesters Are Angry About More Than Just Food Prices

  

  Since early May, Iran has been rocked by protests over a precipitous rise in food prices, triggered by the government’s decision to cut existing subsidies on food products. Since then, prices have gone up dramatically, with staples such as imported wheat increasing by up to 300 percent and cooking oil …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Libyan oil production to return to normal following resolution of dispute

  

  Tribes loyal to former rebel Khalifa Hifter shut down oil fields and ports in eastern Libya recently over a dispute with the transitional government. Libyan Minister of Oil Mohamed Oun said Wednesday that oil production will return to normal soon in the North African country. In an interview with the …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Erdogan returns emptyhanded from talks with Putin, Raisi

  

  Erdogan fails to enlist Russian and Iranian support for a fresh Turkish military operation in Syria, but he remains bent on maintaining the pressure. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned without any concrete results from talks with his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Tehran, to which he went with a …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Israel assesses Nasrallah’s next move amid escalation on northern border

  

  Jerusalem is concerned that internal pressures in Lebanon on Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah could be translated into more violence against Israel. Since the surprise eruption of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel has invested a major effort in trying to read Hezbollaz leader Hassan Nasrallah and understand the way he …

  Read More »
• 27 July

  Turkey and Sudan: An enduring relationship?

  

  Sudan has a longstanding strategic partnership with Turkey, forged on the basis of shared ideology and fostered by growing economic and political ties, that has proven resilient to regime change. Khartoum has not abandoned its relationship with Ankara despite the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 or the …

  Read More »