by Alex Vatanka | Apr 19, 2014 | Debate
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the Shi’a Islamist authorities in Tehran have gone to great lengths to carry the banner of the Islamic world. The trouble has so often been that other Islamist movements have either been reluctant to, or...
by Alex Vatanka | Jan 7, 2014 | Majalla Blogs
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani won a convincing victory in the June 2013 elections. He ran on a moderate platform, promising to overhaul the political status quo in the country. In the process, he handily trounced the original seven largely conformist presidential...
by Alex Vatanka | Jun 14, 2013 | Majalla Blogs
On his eight trips to New York to attend the annual UN Assembly gatherings, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never missed a chance to present himself as a revolutionary. He thundered each time from the UN podium that Iran can help bring about a different kind of...
by Alex Vatanka | May 17, 2013 | Majalla Blogs
On June 14, Iran will hold its long-awaited presidential elections. The vast majority of the 686 individuals who have registered to contest the elections will not appear on the ballot. The Guardian Council—Iran’s unelected 12-man vetting agency that determines who can...
by Alex Vatanka | May 7, 2013 | The Majalla Magazine
In Pakistan’s feverish election season, politicians in the country are promising an array of solutions to an excruciating crisis: its acute energy shortage. There seems to be a broad national consensus that importing Iranian natural gas via a 1700-mile pipeline could...
