Mehdi Khalaji, a Qom-trained Shiite theologian, was the Libitzky Family Fellow at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
The international community must take steps to empower civil society within the Islamic Republic and protect it from being systematically persecuted and oppressed.
The escalating tensions and the prospect of war between the United States and Iran have been met with substantial skepticism from Congress and U.S. allies, even by President Trump himself. While the United States is certainly justified in wanting to protect its personnel, allies and interests from alleged Iranian threats, it would be more productive and strategic in the long term — and far more popular at home and abroad — to find ways to empower civil society within Iran to generate real political change...
