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Genocide and Hazara Persecution in Afghanistan

10.31.22

Editors Note Hazara persecution in Afghanistan requires nearby countries, in the Middle East and beyond, to enhance their support in streamlining refugees’ access to safety. Despite the increased proliferation of violence against the minority community, several statistics suggest that Afghanistan’s neighbors are restricting movement across borders. In November 2021 – IOM announced that over one million Afghans […]

Human Rights

Kuwait’s Position in the Gulf-Lebanon Diplomatic Row

12.6.21

Giorgio Cafiero analyzes the diplomatic row between four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members and Lebanon and how it represents new challenges and severe complications for Beirut.

Bill Kristol Can’t Teach Us Anything

02.2.21

Kristol’s unapologetic role as a driving force behind the Iraq War, as an advocate of violence throughout the Middle East, and as a promoter of hateful discrimination make him unfit to teach in our community and serve as an IOP Fellow.

Media

U.S. Sanctions Worsen COVID-19 Impact in Iran

04.22.20

As countries across the world struggle to contain and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Iran’s battle with the virus has been compounded by the lack of access to adequate medical supplies imposed by the U.S. government’s crippling sanctions on the country. Iran is amongst the countries most impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. As of […]

Health

Repeating History: An Iraqi-American’s Appeal to Avoid War with Iran

08.1.19

Though I was born at a time when Iran and Iraq were at war with each other, no conflict has been more formative to my identity than the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Years after Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered his now infamous address at the U.N. accusing Iraq of threatening the post-9/11 world […]

International Relations and Security

If Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is a terrorist organization, so are other state-run groups

05.28.19

BY NIKU JAFARNIA In early April, the Trump administration designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran’s military, as a terrorist organization. The decision was unprecedented. As Trump himself noted, the IRGC designation marked “the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as a[n] FTO” (Foreign […]

International Relations and Security
Armin Karami, Fars News

The politics of hope: a nation’s patience tested

03.27.19

Iran’s citizens, who have clung to hope and the possibility for change through decades of domestic repression and isolation from the global economy, struggle to remain hopeful. By further undermining Iran’s civil society through a damaging, sanctions-forward policy, the U.S. risks weakening the aspirations of Iranians for a peaceful future where equality and human rights are respected.

Human Rights

Podcast: EU works to maintain trade with Iran, Qatar’s Emir visits Lebanon, Tunisia gets a new party

02.1.19

This week, European Union diplomats and Iranian representatives adopt a new mechanism to maintain trade as Iran works to comply with the nuclear deal in the face of US sanctions. Qatar’s Emir travels to Lebanon for a financial conference, pledging funds for the country’s economy and appearing to step into the Lebanese political arena. And in Tunis, Youssef Chahed leads Tahya Tounes, a party breaking from the ruling Nidaa Tounes over economic policy and political infighting.

Development and Economic Growth

The Forgotten Arabs of Iran

01.3.19

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard parade in Ahwaz, the capital of the Khuzestan province of Iran, ended in chaos in September when four gunmen opened fire on an assembled crowd of troops, civilians and children. Assailants dressed in military garb killed at least 25 people and wounded about 60 more at the parade that was meant […]

Gender, Race and Identity
Hamed Malekpour - Tasnim News

Going nowhere alone: US sanctions on Iran and the afterlife of the JCPOA

12.16.18

Renewed US sanctions will have a detrimental impact on the Iranian economy, but Iran is winning the public relations battle on the world stage.

Human Rights

Could Saudi Meddling Unite the Lebanese?

11.24.17

By HALA AL-HARIRI “In this room, the honorable Bchara El Khoury, President of the Republic of Lebanon, was arrested from November 11 until November 22, 1943.” This is written on a plaque on the wall of The Rashaya Citadel, also known as the Citadel of Independence. Another plaque says the same for the honorable Prime Minister Riad […]

A unifying force? Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and an independent Kurdistan

10.12.17

Has the possibility of an independent Kurdistan forced the governments of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq to overlook their intersecting rivalries in the Middle East?

Democracy and Governance

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