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Policy Analysis on Iran

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Iran's Reaction to New Bush Policy Shows America-Bashing Is Out of Style

Iran's democratic movement has had a busy few weeks. Today, the usually weak-kneed President Muhammad Khatami spoke out about the importance of democracy and warned hardliners against their crackdown on reformers: "No problem will be solved through the superficial elimination of a group. . . . [S]uch tendencies would go

Patrick Clawson

Where is Iran—and U.S.-Iran Policy—Headed?

On August 2, 2002, Zalmay Khalilzad addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Dr. Khalilzad is special presidential envoy to Afghanistan, special assistant to the president, and National Security Council senior director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North Africa. The following are excerpts from his remarks. Read a full

Articles & Testimony

The Will of the Iranian People Should Not Be Ignored This Time Around

Iran is reaching the boiling point. On July 21, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, enforcers for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's religious dictatorship, issued a warning that some Iranians see as a possible prelude to a state-of-emergency declaration and a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown. The basis of the Revolutionary Guards' complaints

Articles & Testimony

Iran's Dialogue of Deceit

On June 17, European foreign ministers agreed to fast-track a new trade pact with Iran. European Union officials such as External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten lobbied hard for the deal, arguing, "There is more to be said for trying to engage and to draw these societies into the international community

Articles & Testimony

Iran Remains Committed to Israel's Destruction

On June 24, President George W. Bush outlined U.S. preconditions for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Chief among these are the cessation of Palestinian terror, as well as democratic reform in the Palestinian Authority. Bush also recognized that terror does not occur in a vacuum. He demanded that "Every

Articles & Testimony

The Hidden Threat in the Mideast

It's no surprise that the Israeli killing of wanted Hamas militant Salah Shehada and members of his family has drawn the world's attention. It is graphic and it reminds everyone of a seemingly endless struggle. But, having just returned from the Middle East, I am struck by a burgeoning danger

Dennis Ross

Iran's Burgeoning Discontent

On May 22, 2002, Iranians demonstrated in the heart of Tehran, chanting antigovernment slogans. Riot police clashed with protestors on Vali Asr Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare. The protest came five days after security services sealed off the streets leading to Arak University, where student protestors had barricaded themselves. On

Articles & Testimony

Don't Engage the Mullahs

On June 10, European Union foreign ministers may send a deathblow to Iran's reformers. On the table is a trade and cooperation pact with the Islamic Republic. Prominent EU bureaucrats such as External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten strongly support the measure, arguing, "there is absolutely no dispute on the importance

Articles & Testimony

Defanging Iran Could Solidify U.S.-Russia Ties

There is a rub-your-eyes quality to the summit that kicks off tonight between President Bush and Russian leader Vladimir V. Putin in Russia. Erstwhile enemies are embarking on a historic new partnership. If they seize the moment, they could parlay their new friendship into solving a problem that has eluded

David Makovsky

Iran's Place in the Axis:

Signs of Movement?

Near the end of the Clinton administration, some analysts expressed a degree of hope that Iran's reform movement would inject some measure of pragmatism into Iranian foreign policy. That hope seems to have faded. The Bush administration has established terrorism and proliferation -- two areas in which Iran has been

Ray Takeyh
Patrick Clawson

Scared Straight?

On January 29, President George W. Bush caused considerable consternation among foreign policy analysts by referring to an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address. The analysts worried that the president's castigation of Iran would embolden hardliners who routinely exploit external threats as a means of deflecting

Ray Takeyh

Articles & Testimony

Khatami and the Myth of Reform in Iran

On May 26, 1997, Iranians overwhelmingly elected Muhammad Khatami to be the fifth president of the Islamic Republic. Khatami won nearly 70 percent of the vote in elections marked by 80 percent turnout. The New York Times was euphoric, declaring in an editorial that same day that Khatami was "dedicated

Articles & Testimony

More Floggings and Inflation:

The Fruits of Reform in Iran

Now that Tony Blair has returned from Texas, he faces criticism over his support of "regime change" in Iraq. Just two decades ago, the West supported Saddam Hussein, seeing the Iraqi president as a force for moderation in the Middle East. Yet, while statesmen focus on what to do in

Articles & Testimony

Helping Iraqis without Iran:

An Enemy of Our Enemy Need Not Be Our Friend

There is a popular joke in Baghdad about a man who buys a black-and-white television set. He takes the set home, plugs it in, but it doesn't work. So he runs back to the market and confronts the merchant. "You've sold me a defective television," he complains, "I plug it

Articles & Testimony

Iran's Myth of Moderation

On March 13, a number of U.S. senators, policymakers, and professors gathered at a conference dedicated to criticizing George Bush's policy toward Iran. The annual American Iranian Council gala is subsidized by a dozen oil companies, and sponsored by those same universities -- Columbia and Georgetown -- whose faculty so

Articles & Testimony

Iran's Burgeoning WMD Programs

On December 14, 2001, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of Iran's powerful Expediency Council, mounted the podium at the University of Tehran to deliver the government's official weekly sermon. Rafsanjani took the usual anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric one step farther than ever before. Speaking to the assembled crowd of

Articles & Testimony

Iran and the Palestinian War against Israel:

Implications of the <em>Karine-A</em> Affair

The seizure by Israel of a ship carrying 50 tons of sophisticated weaponry bound for the Palestinian Authority from Iran in early January should send a wake-up call to American policymakers. The threat of terror and war in the Middle East has never been higher. The United States defeated the

New Arenas for Iranian-Sponsored Terrorism:

The Arab-Israeli Heartland

Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on February 6 that Iran continues to be "the foremost state sponsor of terrorism." Citing its attempt to transfer offensive arms to the Palestinian Authority (PA) aboard the Karine-A smuggling ship, Tenet said that there has been

Matthew Levitt

Articles & Testimony

The Iranian Ticking Bomb

After US President George W. Bush declared Iran part of an "Axis of Evil," many European diplomats, American academics, and journalists ridiculed him. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine called Bush's speech "simplistic." France's objections aside, the Iran of recent weeks is far from the democratizing country so many outsiders like

Articles & Testimony

Yearning for Freedom:

Iranians Agree with Bush

State Department officials cringed when President Bush included Iran in the "Axis of Evil," while professors and commentators voiced righteous indignation. But ordinary Iranians overwhelmingly agree with Bush. He voiced what they have known for two decades. I lived in Iran for seven months in 1996 and 1999. One schoolteacher

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Supported by the

Viterbi Program on Iran and U.S. Policy

Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran poses the most serious and urgent set of security challenges to the United States and its allies in the greater Middle East. Since the Khomeini revolution in 1979, Iran has sought to export its radical ideology through the use of terrorism, subversion, and support to ideological fellow-travelers throughout the Muslim world.

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Featured experts

Farzin Nadimi

Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow with The Washington Institute, is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

Patrick Clawson

Patrick Clawson

Patrick Clawson is the Morningstar Senior Fellow and Research Counselor at The Washington Institute.

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