Amir Taheri

By the time you read this column, Iranian economy will have just one week before it collapses, thus bringing down the regime established by Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. That is if you believe US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last week predicted the collapse in two weeks’ time. Don’t tell…

“October surprise” is a shibboleth that denotes a foreign intervention affecting the result of an American election that is always held in November. It was first coined by Gary Sick, a CIA analyst who served as adviser on Iranian affairs in the Jimmy Carter administration in late 1970s. …

“Yes, but with a big but!” This was the answer that speaking on condition of anonymity, French officials responded to our question whether they were impressed by visiting Iraqi Prime Minster Ali Falih al-Zaidi. The yes part was about finding the 41-year-old al-Zaidi, a young politician, with…

This morning, the great city of New York will once again hold a ritual ceremony that has become a fixed part of its annual agenda for a quarter of a century. The names of the 2,977 men, women and children who died in the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center’s twin towers on September 11 will be…

More than a year ago when some American politicians and pundits were beating the drums for war against Iran, Victor Davis Hanson reminded his audience that two of what he terms “the 10 decisive battles” that “the West” has fought in history were against Iran. The battles mentioned by the…

“A specter is haunting America; the specter of Communism!”. Until recently this re-writing of the opening of “The Communist Manifesto” by Marx and Engels might have sounded like a sour joke. Now, however, we have American politicians who describe themselves alternately as Democratic Socialists or…

As Antonio Guterres, the United Nation’ Secretary-General, will soon start clearing his desk and prepare for retirement, assessments of his tenure vary between “passable” and “mediocre”. There are those who appreciate his passionate defense of the Palestinians and critical stance on the Israel-US…

Is the war launched by Israel and the US against Iran already over bar the shouting? As far as the war that the Islamic Republic started in 1979, the answer is no. The regime created by Ayatollah Khomeini built its legitimacy around its claim of fighting against the “Great Satan” and its “little”…

More than a year after the latest phase of the US-Israel war against Iran started with a 12-day mass bombing a consensus is emerging among pundits that President Donald Trump who casts himself as the commander-in-chief in this conflict cannot win it. One sign that Trump himself may have reached…

Until even a few months ago talking of regime change in Iran would have exposed you to the charge either of utopian fantasies or anachronistic miscalculation. The Islamic Republic founded by Ruhollah Khomeini was supposed to last until the return of the Mahdi at the end of time, that is to say…