Word: iranian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have been harmed. Today more than ever we need unity," said former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani during Friday prayers at Tehran University on July 17. It was a crucial sermon and, in the manner of many things Persian, purposefully and delicately opaque. Some thought Rafsanjani's speech was a direct threat to the Ahmadi-Khamenei regime. He demanded the release of political prisoners, an end to violence against protesters, the restoration of Iran's (intermittently) free press. Others thought Rafsanjani, speaking with the approval of the Supreme Leader, was trying to build a bridge between the opposition...
Before the June election, Administration officials spoke of pursuing "comprehensive" talks. They believed the Iranians would discuss their nuclear program only in the context of talks that established Iran as a major player, and necessary interlocutor, on regional issues like Afghanistan and Iraq. There were possible areas for cooperation, especially in Afghanistan. The Iranians showed little appetite for such talks, but it was assumed that an opening would come after the election (although even the Iranian reformers I spoke with were demanding U.S. concessions in advance of negotiations...
...summit. "And we're deeply troubled by the proliferation risks Iran's nuclear program poses to the world." Obama offered a "path" to peace for Iran via the ongoing Geneva negotiations, which seemed a more restrictive corridor than comprehensive talks. He set a September deadline for an Iranian response, after which there would be a renewed push for economic sanctions - which was pretty much where George W. Bush left things. (See the top 10 players in Iran's power struggle...
...worst: say Iran is working on a bomb; say it acquires one in the next few years. Only Benjamin Netanyahu and assorted American neoconservatives believe - or pretend to believe - that Iran might actually use it, given Israel's overpowering ability to strike back. Most observers think that the Iranians would hold their weapon as a deterrent - even Rafsanjani, in his "Islamic bomb" speech, posited that the weapon would create a regional "stalemate." To be sure, an Iranian bomb would not be a good thing. It might launch a Middle Eastern arms race among Iran's Sunni rivals in Saudi Arabia...
...wiser alternative may be to stand down, for a while. "Turn away and whistle," an Iranian academic suggested recently. Don't abandon the nuclear-sanctions process, but don't force it, either. Don't pursue negotiations. Let the disgraced Iranian government pursue us, as it might, in order to rebuild credibility at home and in the world - and then make sure the regime's interest isn't just for show. After all, Iran isn't the most frightening nuclear challenge we're facing. That would be the next country over, Pakistan. In the latest National Interest, Bruce Riedel...