ایران

از سال ۱۹۸۹ که آیت‌الله علی خامنه‌ای رهبری انقلاب را عهده‌دار شد، نهاد روحانیت به تمامی دگرگون شده و هم در شبکه‌های داخلی و بین‌المللی و هم از نظر مالی و شمار کارکنان رشد بی‌سابقه‌ای را تجربه‌ کرده است. هم‌زمان با این رشد، خامنه‌ای کنترل تندروها بر مدیریت نهاد روحانیت شیعه را شدت بخشیده است. اصل راهنمای جمهوری اسلامی پس از مرگ خامنه‌ای هم عوض نخواهد شد: یک رژیم روحانی نیازمند دیوانسالاران روحانی است تا حاکمیت و صدور ایدئولوژی‌اش را تضمین کنند.

Yemeni rebels successfully attacked a UAE military vessel with what appeared to be an Iranian cruise missile, raising the need for a stronger U.S. role in the strategic waterway.

With some Arabs leading the call, various dissidents like the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) core of the NCRI are accelerating their calls for regime change in Iran.

Arabs and Israelis are in the same boat, facing Iranian-backed threats all around them and yearning for Western leadership on how best to roll back the regime's destabilizing policies.

With a few exceptions, the candidates focused more on debating the past than offering ideas and prescriptions for today's Middle East challenges.

There's no stopping Iranian ambitions if Moscow has Tehran's back, warns Ambassador James Jeffrey, unless the United States is prepared to "get real" about its Middle East engagement in the next presidential administration. The former American ambassador to Iraq and to Turkey, Jeffrey explains the importance of setting, and upholding

Moscow and Iran are already several steps ahead of Washington in shaping the war's potential endgame, so the next administration will need to be mindful of Putin's likeliest strategies and strongest levers if it wants a different outcome.

The massive, unregulated apparatus that the Supreme Leader has established to oversee Shiite activities during the Hajj is an essential tool in Tehran's efforts to export the Islamic Revolution and disseminate anti-Western sentiment.

In this in-depth interview, the veteran advisor and peace envoy discusses the regional consequences of the Iran nuclear deal and the possibility of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.