Topic
Category: International Relations
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Mehrdad Vahabi: The Current Middle East Crisis Is More Devastating Than All the Oil Shocks in History
Vahabi argues the Hormuz crisis exceeds past oil shocks and may bring inflation, stagnation, and social breakdown in Iran. Mehrdad Vahabi, professor of economics…
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Israel’s Attack on South Pars: Three Voices on Gas Infrastructure, Workers’ Lives, and War
Three experts reflect on the strike on Asaluyeh, warning of deepening hardship for workers, economic disruption, and a widening regional crisis. Following Israel’s attack…
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The Assassination of Larijani: Ashes Without a Phoenix Rising
Ali Rasouli argues that Larijani was an executor, not a strategist, and that his assassination matters less than the regime’s inability to imagine a…
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Under Bombs and Checkpoints: A Voice from Tehran on War, Survival, and a Struggle Made Harder
A woman in Tehran describes fear, displacement, checkpoints, collapsing livelihoods, and a war that has tightened repression instead of opening any path for resistance.…
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Decapitation Strike, Mass Retaliation, Regional Spillover: Khamenei and Top Commanders Killed as War Spreads
Strikes reportedly hit Tehran’s leadership compound and military sites nationwide; Iran answered with rapid missile waves as explosions, interceptions, and base alerts spread across…
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Iran After the January Uprising: Grief, War Anxiety, and the Battle for a Post–Islamic Republic Future
After January’s massacre, mourning and war panic mingle with intensifying silencing and diaspora disputes, as Iranians argue over how to resist—and what comes after…
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What Are People in Iran Saying About the Prospect of War?
Iran is suspended between war and prolonged uncertainty, drifting from fear into numb exhaustion as everyday talk swings between hope, rage, and the fading…
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Tehran’s Last-Minute Package: Oil and “Madman” Posturing on the Edge of War
Washington’s message to the Islamic Republic is blunt: act like a “rational” Middle East player, choose between the U.S. and China—and if you choose…
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The IRGC: State Terrorism at the Heart of the Islamic Republic
The EU’s designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization recasts the Islamic Republic as a system sustained by organized violence—and opens new legal…
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Under Threat, At the Table: Has Trump Dropped the Strike Option?
Amid heightened U.S. military buildup, Tehran signals possible talks. The author argues Trump hasn’t retreated—pressure and diplomacy move together, while Iran negotiates from unprecedented…
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The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence: How Iran’s Nuclear Dream Became a Crisis Countdown
As Iran confronts existential pressure, this essay calls the bomb a fantasy: without a great-power patron or legitimacy, nuclear ambition accelerates crisis instead of…
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Digital Siege: How Iran’s Internet Blackout Works—and Why This Time Looks Different
As protests surged nationwide, Iran’s blackout cut people off from the world, disrupted daily life, and strengthened repression by blocking coordination, evidence, and outside…