Former diplomat Ali Khorram discusses the recurrent motif of Iran’s ‘turn towards East’ policy and closer relations with China and Russia.

Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
One day after yet another military aggression against Syria by its missile strikes against the Syrian military targets in Homs and Aleppo, the Israeli government went on the media offensive against Iran by patting itself on its own shoulder for achieving a major intelligence coup yielding a huge cache of Iran's secret nuclear files.

The CIA Director "Mike Pompeo", who is nominee for Secretary of State, has recently mentioned meaningful words in his hearing at the Senate on Iran and the nuclear deal. In his words, he acknowledged that Iran was not after nuclear weapons even before the nuclear deal, nor will be in the future.

Seyyed Reza Salehi Amiri
Nowruz, this national and ancient Iranian festival, has weathered wear and tear of time over long years and has showed off its beauty in a more colorful way year after year. 

William Hartung
After a few days of threatening tweets and tough guy rhetoric, Donald Trump went ahead and instructed the U.S. military to bomb Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack on civilians there that has been widely attributed to the Assad regime.

Mohammad Ghaderi and Javad Heiran-Nia

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) “the worst deal ever” for the US. In his first State of the Union address in January, Trump called on Congress to “fix the terrible flaws” of the Iran nuclear deal.

Shahrouz Shariati
While the curve of tensions on the Korean Peninsula has been sinusoidal in past months, reports by American media about a controversial plan by the White House leaders to mount a “limited strike” on North Korea, known as the “bloody nose” strike, have drawn great attention from analysts of military and strategic issues to this region. 

Ali Esmaeili Ardakani
When we talk about historical mentality in foreign policy and international relations, the purpose is to highlight the significance of history in the decision-making and decision-taking processes used by a country’s leaders and politicians in the face of other international actors and developments.

Bahram Amirahmadian
Iran's southeastern Chabahar port can be seen from two viewpoints. From the viewpoint of developing less-developed regions of Iran, it shows that in their drive to develop the southeastern part of the country, the Iranian government and nation are resolved to create a developed zone on a territory, which is commonly known as the “Makran coast.”

Behzad Khoshandam
International organizations played a remarkable role in the enforcement and implementation of Iran's foreign policy in 2017. “Collective security,” “international cooperation, “not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries,” and “the right to self-determination” were major ideas, which constituted the most important grounds for interactions between Iran and international organizations in 2017.