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TWI Arabic: اللغة العربية Fikra Forum

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Policy Analysis on Iran

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Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear Power in the Middle East

On March 17, 2010, U.S. deputy secretary of energy Daniel Poneman addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute on nuclear proliferation and nuclear power in the Middle East. Deputy Secretary Poneman served previously in the Clinton administration as senior director for nonproliferation and export controls on the

What is the Purpose of the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations List?

The United States maintains a range of "terrorist lists," of which the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list is one of the better known. But in two recent court cases, the U.S. government has offered arguments that raise questions about the purpose of the list. FTO List vs. State Sponsors List

Patrick Clawson

In-Depth Reports

The Perfect Handshake with Iran:

Prudent Military Strategy and Pragmatic Engagement Policy

On January 12, 2010, The Washington Institute hosted a daylong conference on Iran cosponsored with U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Army Directed Studies Office. Featuring talks by a dozen leading international experts, the event provided a uniquely candid forum for the attendees, many of whom serve as key Iran

Patrick Clawson

Closing Loopholes:

Another Vital Aspect of Sanctions on Iran

In the coming weeks, the United States and its allies will attempt to push additional Iran sanctions through the UN Security Council. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has indicated that "the United States and like-minded countries" could also impose at least some additional sanctions on their own. Although stronger sanctions are

Michael Jacobson

Dinner in Damascus:

What Did Iran Ask of Hizballah?

On February 26, Syrian president Bashar al-Asad hosted Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah for a dinner in Damascus. Nasrallah is a routine guest in the capital, but the timing of this high-profile trip -- just a week after the United States dispatched Undersecretary of State William

David Schenker
Matthew Levitt

In-Depth Reports

The Missing Lever:

Information Activities against Iran

The time has come for policymakers to consider previously unexploited tools of leverage, including U.S. soft power.

Michael Eisenstadt

Articles & Testimony

Incremental Sanctions Make a Nuclear Iran More Likely

In its most recent report, the IAEA acknowledged what many observers have asserted for years -- that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon. Whether this is the result of new evidence, or merely the willingness of the agency's new director-general to heed the existing evidence, is beside the point. The

On the Front Line of U.S. Iran Policy

Willingly or not, Dubai has been thrust onto the front line of diplomacy aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and terrorism sponsorship. The January 20, 2010, assassination of Hamas gunrunner Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on its soil was a reminder of the emirate's longstanding trade and commercial links with Iran -- he

Simon Henderson

New Multilateral Consensus Emerges on Iran

A February 18 report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris-based organization that sets global standards for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, revealed new details about Iran's ongoing activities in both realms. The same day, a new report from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reached

Matthew Levitt
Patrick Clawson

Articles & Testimony

What Europe Can Do to Secure a Deal with Iran

Against the backdrop of the Iranian government's continuing crackdown on its critics, Western powers are preparing for a fourth round of multilateral sanctions and other measures in the hopes of persuading Tehran to alter course on its controversial uranium enrichment policy. But even with Russia now apparently on board, will

Articles & Testimony

Who's Behind the Houthis?

Yemen again appears to be developing into a proxy war, the latest battlefield in the conflict between Iran and the "moderate" Arab states.

David Schenker

Articles & Testimony

During a campaign speech at the University of Uroomiyeh in northwestern Iran a few months before the June presidential election there, Mir Hossein Moussavi, the main reformist presidential candidate and now opposition leader, was interrupted by angry groups of basiji, the regime's paramilitary enforcers, carrying pictures of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Articles & Testimony

The Hand Extended to Syria is Also Intended as a Blow to Iran

The appointment of Robert Ford as US Ambassador to Syria is part of the Obama administration's general policy of engagement with America's foes. Its timing to coincide with Under Secretary of State William Burns' visit to Damascus, however, has a wider purpose. The move is part of a massive diplomatic

Andrew J. Tabler

Setback for Iran's Opposition:

Khamenei's Hardline Reinforced

A few hours after the official demonstration marking the February 11 anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated, "Was the presence of tens of millions of motivated and aware people in the festival of the thirty-first anniversary of revolution enough to awaken [to their mistakes] the

Mehdi Khalaji

How to Assess Political Fissures in Iran

On February 5, 2010, David Cvach, Ali Alfoneh, and Mehdi Khalaji addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss developments in Iran that may indicate either lost ground for reform-minded activists or cracks in the very foundation of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Cvach is political counselor

Ali Alfoneh
Mehdi Khalaji

Khamenei and the Politics of Indecision

February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is the most important official holiday in Iran. The public faces of the opposition Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, have called for street demonstrations to mark the occasion. Meanwhile, government officials at every level have warned against such

Mehdi Khalaji

The Basij Resistance Force:

A Weak Link in the Iranian Regime?

In the months since Iran's contested June 2009 presidential election, the Basij Resistance Force has emerged as one of the regime's main pillars of support against the democracy movement. In the long term, however, it is uncertain whether the militia is capable of prevailing in a prolonged fight against a

Ali Alfoneh

War Games Explore Options on Iran

What if Iran's hardline leadership emerges from the current confrontations at home strengthened and emboldened? If so, the nuclear issue will be back with a vengeance. And three recent war games focused on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue suggest that the prospects for halting the regime's progress toward nuclear weapons

Jeffrey White

Articles & Testimony

America and the Iranian Political Reform Movement:

First, Do No Harm

On February 3, 2010, Institute senior fellow Mehdi Khalaji and Keston Family fellow J. Scott Carpenter, director of the Institute's Project Fikra, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on ways the United States can best support the movement for political

Mehdi Khalaji
J. Scott Carpenter

Articles & Testimony

The Iranian Republic of Fear

Iran's clerical regime governs by a simple formula: He who is the most frightening wins. "Victory by terrifying" is a trope that is present in many of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speeches. Indeed, it is a reliable guide to his political philosophy. This view was not invented by Khamenei

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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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