Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Opinion: Where More Mullahs Mean Less Religion

by Amir Taheri | Feb 19, 2016 | Opinion

In his speculation regarding the transmutation of capitalism, Marx envisaged a stage in which the system leads to total divorce between production and profit. In other words, you make a profit without producing anything. In a sense, that has already happened. Today,...

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(Ali Mandalawi/Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Mullahs’ Contrasting World Visions

by Amir Taheri | Mar 19, 2015 | Features

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—As Iran and the United States resume talks on a deal for Iran’s nuclear program, there are conflicting signals from Tehran regarding the Islamic Republic’s strategy. Last Monday a group of 80 or so mullahs gathered behind closed doors in Tehran...

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In this Sunday, March 10, 2013 photo, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, holds hands with chief of staff and preferred presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, during a press conference in Tehran, Iran. A poster with the portrait of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at right. (AP Photo/Fars News Agency, Mohammad Hassanzadeh)

Opinion: Tehran Nervous as Election Process Starts

by Amir Taheri | May 10, 2013 | Opinion

On Tuesday, Iran’s presidential election was kick started, with would-be candidates beginning to register at the start of a 40-day sprint to polling day. By all accounts, the Tehran leadership is nervous about the whole exercise. On the eve of registration, Supreme...

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In this November 12, 2010 file photo, Hezbollah fighters hold their party flags, as they parade during the opening of new cemetery for colleagues who died in fighting against Israel, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Opinion: Hezbollah’s True Colors Revealed

by Mshari Al-Zaydi | Apr 27, 2013 | Opinion

In Syria, what was hidden has been revealed. Lebanon’s Hezbollah has cemented the image that some of its supporters in the Islamic world have tried so hard to deny, namely that of Hezbollah as Khomeinist Iran’s iron fist. We are talking about the image of Hezbollah as...

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Iranian air force commanders saluting Khamenei during a meeting in Tehran on February 7, 2013. Source: AFP Photo/HO/Iranian Supreme Leaders Website

Opinion: The “Cursed Three” and the “Supreme Leader”

by Amir Taheri | Apr 19, 2013 | Opinion

During pre-television times, Iranians, especially in smaller towns, owed much of their entertainment to bands of clowns roaming the countryside. Any spot could be used as a stage: a village square, a bazaar shop-front or the courtyard of a “holy” shrine. Sometimes,...