Consequences of the Iran Deal - By Mohammed Ayoob. The impact of the Iran nuclear deal is unlikely to be limited to the nuclear proliferation arena.
While the question whether the deal has prevented Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons capability or has merely postponed the inevitable by a few months or years will continue to be debated, one should not ignore the wider strategic consequences of the agreement for several reasons. First, it has the potential of introducing a sea change in the relationship of the United States that could unfetter Iranian diplomatic capabilities that can be used in pursuit of its broader regional goals. This is the reason why Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have reacted so harshly and negatively to the agreement.
If things proceed down the path of an Iranian-U.S. rapprochement in the context of a war weary American public opinion, Riyadh can no longer automatically depend upon U.S. diplomatic and military support against Iran in its competition for power and influence in the Persian Gulf. S blog. Iran deal: is Ankara a loser? Iran deal: is Ankara a loser?
Go to the Middle East and North Africa programme's page Much attention has been focused on how Saudi Arabia and Israel will react to the interim agreement reached in November between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, Russia, China, UK, France, German), both of whom see their relations with Iran in zero-sum terms. This agreement also has significant implications for Turkey, a regional power in its own right, one that maintains relatively close relations with Iran.
The US, Iran and the Shifting Sands of Middle East Peace. Peace Panic. Hassan Rouhani, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last week, warned against extremism and miscalculation, stressed the importance of prudence and ‘moderation’, reaffirmed that Iran’s nuclear programme had purely peaceful purposes, dismissed the notion that his country posed a threat to the Middle East, argued that politics was not a zero-sum game and that negotiations could settle differences, and denounced all uses of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical ones.
He concluded with citations from the Psalms, the Torah and the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi. Barack Obama’s speech was just as conciliatory. Iran Opens Its Fist by Gary Sick. He came to New York.
He saw almost everyone. Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s new president, may not have conquered, but at least he seems to have persuaded John Kerry and Barack Obama that his proposals for negotiating an end to the US-Iran conflict deserve to be taken seriously. When President Obama picked up his phone in the Oval Office on Friday to bid farewell to President Rouhani with the Persian phrase Khodahafez (“God be with you”), there was the sense that a tectonic shift between Washington and Tehran was taking place.
The Rouhani blitz was regarded by many cynics as nothing but a charm offensive. Of course, in one sense that is what it was. I watched him in the two meetings that I attended and in most of his televised appearances. He was national security adviser to presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami, and he has been the personal representative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for nearly a quarter of a century. What's Driving Iran's Shift?
The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran - events2013 - Events - Middle East Centre. The Iranian Nuclear Programme. A “Persian” Iran?: Challenging the Aryan Myth and Persian Ethnocentrism « Ajam Media Collective. Over the next few months, Ajam Media Collective will host a series that focuses on and describes various elements of the cultural, ethnic and linguistic mosaic that we refer to collectively as Iran.
This is Part 1 in that series. I am often confronted by the question “Are you Iranian or Persian, and what’s the difference?” And it has become something of a bonding ritual among Iranians I know to discuss the various ways in which we answer that question. For many years, I answered that there existed little difference between the two besides a political connotation, “Persian” being the adjective of choice for those who avoided any connection to the Islamic Republic. Noted Iranian comedian Maz Jobrani, similarly, points to the historically alluring and exotic sound of “Persian,” as well as its connection to [Persian] cats and rugs, in order to explain why many people prefer to use this word instead of “Iranian.”
On some level, I had always known Iran was not a “Persian” country. Like this:
Under construction... Iran Oil Almanac v. 0.9 - Oil4All. Iran - Resources. To sort... 2013 Iranian Presidential Elections. Iran - Reading. Iran - curators... A View Inside Iran - Alan Taylor - In Focus. Iran has appeared in numerous headlines around the world in recent months, usually attached to stories about military exercises and other saber-rattlings, economic sanctions, a suspected nuclear program, and varied political struggles.
Iran is a country of more than 75 million people with a diverse history stretching back many thousands of years. While over 90 percent of Iranians belong to the Shia branch of Islam -- the official state religion -- Iran is also home to nearly 300,000 Christians, and the largest community of Jews in the Middle East outside Israel. At a time when military and political images seem to dominate the news about Iran, I thought it would be interesting to take a recent look inside the country, to see its people through the lenses of agency photographers. Keep in mind that foreign media are still subject to Iranian restrictions on reporting. [42 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: An evening view shows Tehran on Monday, October 31, 2011.
US / Iran relations. International sanctions - analysis...