Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Maysam Behravesh
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The Iran War: Consequences for US regional allies
Although neither the United States nor Iran want war, tensions and along with them the likelihood of conflict-triggering miscalculations and accidents, have been running high since the Trump administration designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation and revoked sanctions waivers for buyers of Iranian oil. On...
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Brexit, the EU and the Iran nuclear deal
Brexit has evidently opened a Pandora’s Box in British politics and created a high level of uncertainty in many policy areas. While its implications for Britain’s economy and trade relations with the European Union have been the subject of heated debates, its impact on other international issues of significance...
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Iran’s ambitious post-war reconstruction in Syria
An Iranian construction official recently announced that Iran has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Syrian government to build “200,000 housing units” in Damascus. The agreement was made in the fourteenth Iran-Syria economic conference in late January, attended by Iran’s First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri and the Syria...
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Militant attacks may prompt greater cooperation between Iran and India against Pakistan
Tensions between Pakistan and its neighbours Iran and India are running high in the wake of deadly suicide attacks in the Iranian border province of Sistan-Baluchestan and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The terrorist car bomb on 13 February in eastern Iran, the responsibility for which was claimed by the Pakistan-based militant group...
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Iran’s policy in Syria post-US troop withdrawal
US President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement last week of the withdrawal of American troops from Syria caught many people off guard, including his own administration officials. It actually prompted the resignation of Defence Secretary James Mattis. The surprise, however, was perhaps greater in Tehran’s corridors of power. Less than two...
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Is Saudi Arabia turning East after Khashoggi fallout?
Having won back control of the House of Representatives after eight years, Democrats seem determined to take a closer look into President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. “The White House needs to take us seriously, and if they don’t, we are going to make sure they take us...
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The unlikely – and ironic – effects of Daesh’s fall in Iraq
Daesh has been routed in Iraq. On 5 October, the militant group lost the northern town of Hawija – its last urban stronghold after Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul and Tal Afar earlier this year. The brutal battles for these cities have been well documented. Less noticed, however, has been...
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Why it’s risky for the US to label Iran’s IRGC a terror group
US Navy ship fires warning shots near Iranian vesselOnce again, the US Navy has opened fire on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf. US sailors fired warning shots Tuesday after the Iranian patrol boat – apparently operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – came within 150 yards...