Jeffrey Haynes
I think that the actions of the West over the last 15 years have not been helpful and I think the key reason for the spread of these extremist groups in the Middle East more generally is the failure of governments to rule well; the failure of local governments to rule well and to rule wisely. And very often, these governments have corrupt totalitarian systems without any legitimate interaction between populations and the government. So, the West has a role to play in blame, but I see it as largely coming from domestic factors which have encouraged state failure. 

John Alderdice
On the prospects of Iran-UK relations, Mr. Alderdice says he has been encouraging collaboration and the improvement of bilateral ties between the two countries and hopes Iran and Britain can work together as two committed business partners, even though they can “disagree respectfully” on matters of contention. He noted that even though Tehran and London have been successful in diffusing tensions, there are people in Britain who don’t understand the diversity and “depth of culture and intellectual power” in Iran and still push for enmity with the Islamic Republic groundlessly.

Tim Anderson
Prof. Anderson is skeptical of the U.S.-Saudi collaboration in Syria and considers it a “toxic legacy” of the Cold War days: “The relationship between the Al Saud family and Washington is a toxic legacy of the Cold War, passed on by the British, who had learned “divide and rule” from the Romans. The Saudis are a family, not a nation, and it is surprising that their family business is recognized as a state in today’s world.”

Ja'far Haghpanah
The military and Islamic coalition purported by Saudi Arabia is mostly of a publicity nature and has not been created in practice. This issue is mostly due to problems which face the Saudi government in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in Yemen. It seems unlikely that such a coalition could be easily extended to cover Daesh in Iraq or Syria. This is true because in the first place, Saudi Arabia is not well fitted to lead such a coalition and its maneuvering room is more limited than other members of the block, especially Turkey. Secondly, these two countries are pursuing totally different goals. We know that Turkey has the upper hand as compared to Saudi Arabia.

Madawi Al-Rasheed
In an interview with Iran Review, a distinguished Saudi scholar said the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran played into the hands of Riyadh to give up its role as the aggressor and paint itself as a victim of Iranian aggression. Prof. Madawi Al-Rasheed believes tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are detrimental to the interests of the Arab world and give rise to sectarian and religious conflicts.

Pir-Mohammad Mollazehi
Pakistan is a country where, despite the existence of a Sunni majority, Shias are also a big population and due to this reason and also in view of the special position that Islamabad enjoys both in Tehran and Riyadh, Mr. Rouhani’s trip to this country proved that Iran has no interest in fanning the flames of sectarian and religious conflicts and intends to settle the existing disputes through political solutions.

Eli Clifton
An investigative journalist and reporter says the nuclear deal is not a bilateral agreement involving Iran and the United States, and five other nations, including some of the closest U.S. allies in NATO contributed to securing it, so a possible violation of the terms of the deal by the next American President would “pose a major breach of trust to some of the U.S.’s most important economic and military partners.”

‏William Harrop
The development of mutual respect and trust after generations of distance and animosity will be a gradual process in any case, but is possible and quite worth working for.

Sara Vakhshouri
There has been in fact a lot of exploration around the world; so, the companies had already explored a lot of resources globally. Now, they are looking into development. Therefore, development is the biggest kind of activity I think the oil companies are eyeing, and Iran has a huge opportunity for development in its oil industry.

Bahram Ghasemi
The future outlook of Iran's relations with Canada has been discussed in an interview with Bahram Ghasemi, Iran's former ambassador to Canada as well as the Islamic Republic’s former ambassador to Italy, Spain and Ireland.