Amir Taheri

Always anxious to portray the Islamic Republic in a world leadership position, the official media in Tehran have been trumpeting a 3-day visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian to Doshanbeh and Moscow as a “significant strengthening of the global south.” You might wonder what “global south” is all…

As they prepare to leave office, some members of the Biden administration are penning op-eds and making speeches to advise the incoming Trump team on a range of issues. The gist of their message is simple: Do what we tried to do but failed! One such issue is the perennial headache that Tehran has…

As the new year begins, think tanks and policy circles start buzzing with ideas about “the future” of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, in short, the Middle East. Some futurologists prefer to talk of a “new Middle East” made possible by the “liberation” of Syria, the near annihilation of Hamas and…

As 2024 draws to a close, one thing is certain across the globe: the pendulum of history is swinging away from the direction it had taken since the 1990s. For almost three decades, it had swung towards what one might call soft left in its latest epiphanies as globalism, political correctness and…

In most government offices in Tehran the first thing a visitor encounters is a cardboard effigy of the late General Qassem Soleimani presented as “the greatest military commander in Islamic history.” Also labeled as “the martyr Haj Qassem,” his bust adorns public squares and sport stadiums in more…

Though not a satirical journal, the American magazine Foreign Policy has been publishing an essay by Muhammad-Javad Zarif every few years starting when he was Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. The latest contribution came on December 2 with Zarif presented as “Vice President of Islamic…

Almost dormant for four years, last week the volcano of the Syrian uprising erupted with a vengeance. In four days, its lava covered the country’s second largest city Aleppo before moving towards central cities of Hama and Homs on its way to the capital Damascus. The force that carried out the…

Will cataclysms caused by wars in Gaza and Lebanon lead to a review of Iran’s military presence in the Levant? Judging by the buzz in Tehran political circles, echoed in the official media, the answer may be yes. Four factors may have pushed a review higher on the agenda. First, feeling more…

Can Donald Trump bring peace to Ukraine in a day as he asserted during the presidential campaign even before he enters the White House? The short answer is: no. To be sure, his election has helped change the tone of the protagonists. Ukrainian President Wolodymir Zelensky says he is ready to…

What will Trump’s foreign policy look like in his second term? This is the question currently making the buzz in the commentariat around the world. Western European pundits claim that Trump will abandon the Ukrainian lamb to the Russian wolf or, at least, force the European shepherd to foot the…