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The unexpected good showing of the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Mayor of Tehran, in the first round of the Iranian Presidental elections held on June 17, 2005, and his emergence in the No.2 position with 19.5 per cent of the valid votes polled as against 21 per cent for the favourite Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani throws open the possibility that in the second
In voting for a moderate President, Iranians have demonstrated their desire to overcome continued political isolation, marked by significant economic deterioration and disappearing democratic accountability. Can Mr. Rouhani overcome challenges and deliver?
Heightened rhetoric about a Western plot, quack remedies and blind faith added to the problem in a nation where senior clerics and politicians have died in the pandemic
The general public discourse around such events in Iran usually pendulums between the ill-informed and the critically ill-informed.
Iranian civilisation is heresy-prone. Heresy is indicative of a questioning mind. Throughout history, individuals and movements have emerged in Iran to invoke the moral imperative and disrupt the status quo. The most recent events sustain this characteristic of the Iranian personality. Paradoxes abound in the vote in the June presidential election: it was anti-establishment, not anti-regime, anti-clerical but affirmative of the principles of the
Saudi Arabia recently extended an invitation to Iranian Foreign Minister, indicating towards a possible thaw in relations. Is this shift in Riyadh's stand because of a change in US-Iran relations and the positive reception of Iran's overtures by the other GCC States?
Much has already been written about both the drawdown of US troops from the region, and the recent Iranian nuclear deal and the possible impact it could have on Iran-US relations.
Afghan refugees in Iran are experiencing increasing hostility as State policies become explicitly discriminatory. The recent persecution of these displaced persons has brought this fact to light.
If Iran becomes a nuclear state down the road, it will be in the first place due to Iran's intransigence; but it will also be the result of over a decade of poor negotiating by the international community.
There is the possibility, albeit remote, of the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region. Riyadh has always been unambiguous in its stance of acquiring a nuclear weapon if Iran does and the Kingdom's longstanding support for Pakistan's nuclear program alludes to this possibility.
Probably the most common response to the criticism that has been leveled at the P5+1-Iran negotiations over the past year is: "but what's the alternative?"
The deal with Iran should boost efforts to do an Iran with North Korea's nuclear programme as well. This would be more difficult given the authoritarian nature of the regime in North Korea but is still an idea worth pursuing. The major powers should carry forward the momentum and energy to solve other issues in the Middle East.
Iran represents a complex policy challenge that needs to be carefully weighed. Any assessment will need to look not only at the benefits but also the costs of not changing course on Iran. But fence-sitting and procrastination might be an unsustainable and expensive choice.
A common enemy does often become a powerful uniting force, but the fact that the US has so many friends and not a single ally to fight the Islamic State speaks volumes about its foreign and defence policies in Wes Asia.
Trump Tantrum: US sanctions on Iran threaten to hit India’s strategic interests in West Asia
When Dr. Hassan Rouhani takes charge as the new President of the Iranian republic on 4th August 2013, there are two most important challenges before him -- the mismanaged economy and the intractable nuclear negotiations that seem to have hit a road block.
Iran's cancellation of $500 million funding to Pakistan for the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline indicates Iran's clout in regional energy affairs. It is unclear why Iran took this sudden step. Is President Rouhani merely fine-tuning some of the policies of his predecessor? But there is certainly more to this than meets the eye.
If Richard Nixon sought a breakthrough in China after failure in Vietnam, George Bush had a breakthrough with India after failure in Iraq, Barack Obama could work on a legacy that is a breakthrough with Iran after failure in Afghanistan.
During the 2017 winter session of parliament, PM Modi stated that India’s foreign policy stood on its own independent merit, and if it wanted to purchase oil from Iran, it would do so.
New Delhi's bid to counter the One Belt One Road by creating transportation linkages through the Iranian ports, is at stake.
New Delhi must work with the Rouhani government to ensure that bilateral irritants in fostering economic ties between the two nations are resolved soon.
As New Delhi welcomes Rouhani, the two sides will be hoping to assuage each other’s concerns even as they will try to build partnership, which has often struggled to match the rhetoric surrounding it.
India's thinking about the Middle East, whether from the UPA or NDA, has tended to be ideological and rooted in their domestic political considerations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to break from this tradition and develop a strategy towards the Middle East that is firmly anchored in realpolitik.
The political tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran can be better understood through the lens of ‘regimes.’
After over a decade of declared intentions, India has finally decided to put money on the strategically important Chabahar project. It's a sad story of how bold intentions of leaders were stalled by the different perspectives in different ministries of the Government itself.
Dr P R Kumaraswamy, Associate Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, initiated a discussion on ¿India, Iran and the US: The Problematic Triangle¿ at the ORF Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation on 22 December 2007.
India's deepening engagement with the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Israel could also moderate New Delhi's diplomatic ties with Tehran. India-Iran relations were at their peak during then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Tehran in 2001 and then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's visit to India in 2003.
India's ties with Iran have clearly been strained by the latter's tumultuous relationship with the United States, with the Iran factor equally imposing constraints on India-US relations. India has had to walk a diplomatic tightrope in balancing its relationships with these countries.
India and Iran are not in the place they deserve to be in the global order, and they can play a more important and significant role by enhancing their cooperation, according to Mr. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, presidential advisor for press affairs to Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran.
The visit by Iran’s president to New Delhi has come at a tricky time in the bilateral relationship.
India has completely stopped the import of oil from Iran to comply with a US order reimposing sanctions on the country.
The Iran sanction waiver issue is just the latest manifestation of New Delhi’s rising challenge in managing ties with Tehran.
The Trump administration’s sanctions hardball puts New Delhi in a tight spot.
Iran's standoff with neighbouring and Western nations does pose a problem for India which has to balance its relations with Iran against its interest in deepening relations with the US. Collaborating with US initiatives in Afghanistan that exclude Iran might persuade the latter to remove the preferential treatment given to India at Chabahar.
Iran is not an easy customer, and this has been proven time and again with India’s projects in the country.
'New' India-'New' Iran must understand one another India and Iran must understand each other in the full range of their political, economic, social and cultural perspectives and put to use this understanding in the context of the changing contours of the international environment, according to Mr. Brajesh Mishra, National Security Advisor and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India.
