Amir Taheri

In his torrent of tweets, US President Donald Trump often claims that though he didn’t intend to do so, he has succeeded in bringing regime change to Iran. In the new regime he says he has created he finds unnamed reasonable people with whom he could reach a deal to end the war and make Iran…

The ceasefire declared in the US-Israel war against Iran is set to end in the next couple of days amid conflicting views on what might happen next. By the time of writing this piece many observers thought that both sides might agree to an extension of the brittle truce a further 45 days. In a…

Here we go again! Another ceasefire in a war between Iran and the United States 47 years ago when a ragtag gang of juvenile revolutionaries raided and occupied the American Embassy in Tehran and took its 66 diplomats hostage for 444 days. The next clash came when President Jimmy Carter…

Despite numerous claims and counter claims by Iran, Israel and the United States about the possible outcome of their current war one thing is clear: None of the trio have achieved the goals they set for themselves when they lit its fire. On the Iranian side the late Ali Khamenei had hoped that…

The latest ultimatum issued to Iran by President Donald Trump is due to end as this column appears. What happens next is anybody’s guess. The president might issue another ultimatum, I have lost count of how many he has issued in the past few weeks, or he might intensify his “special military…

With the war between the Israel-US duo and the Islamic Republic in Iran entering its third week two questions are asked in policy circles across the world. The first is: how long will it last? The answer is: how long is a string? Which means: because no one knows, no speculation is warranted. …

“He is injured but alive!” That is the message that Islamic Republic authorities passed on about the newly anointed “Supreme Guide” Mojtaba Khamenei who survived an Israeli air attack that claimed the lives of his parents and his wife at the start of the current war. Speculation about Mojtaba…

On the eve of the current war between the Islamic Republic on one side and the US-Israel tandem on the other we speculated about six scenarios that might take shape. It now seems that the scenario chosen by Tehran - or what is left of its leadership - is Samson Option aimed at a long war…

Then what? This is the question that theoreticians of war from Sun Tzu to Jomini and Liddell-Hart and passing by Clausewitz advise leaders to ask before they order the firing of the first shot in a war. Thus, one may suggest that US President Donald Trump should also ask that question before,…

Last Tuesday, as Iranians organized mourning ceremonies on the 40th day of the deaths of thousands of protesters across the nation, a samizdat was distributed in the city of Qom, the bastion of Iranian clergy. The single page tract included parts of a poem by Sanai, an 11th century Persian poet…