By Barbara Slavin Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s fourth sojourn to New York during the annual General Assembly summit will be his shortest since taking office – only two days. Rouhani, who is due to arrive Tuesday and leave Thursday, is seeking a Goldilocks-like happy medium intended to show that he is still relevant but avoiding […]
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Iran President to Avoid Obama in Brief Visit to U.N.
Posted September 19th, 2016 at 9:43 am (UTC-5)
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Supporters of Nuclear Deal Should Promote Iran Human Rights
Posted May 12th, 2016 at 11:08 am (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Every day brings another horrific story of human rights abuses in the Middle East. From the killing fields of Syria to the carnage in Yemen to the crowded prisons of Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Israel, there are enough atrocities in the region to absorb the energies of dozens of […]
Tags: Ahmed Shaheed, Atlantic Council, Barbara Slavin, Hassan Rouhani, human rights, Iran, JCPOA, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Siamak Namazi Posted in Barbara Slavin
Ben Rhodes: The Sycophantic Political Operative Shaping Obama’s Foreign Policy
Posted May 9th, 2016 at 12:13 pm (UTC-5)
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Samuels wrote that Rhodes is … “the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from POTUS himself.” He also notes that Rhodes’s “lack of conventional real-world experience of the kind that normally precedes responsibility for the fate of nations … is still startling.”
Tags: barack obama, Ben Rhodes, Hassan Rouhani, Iran nucelar deal, Javad Zarif, John Kerry Posted in Recent Opinion and Commentary
How We Advocated for the Iran Deal
Posted May 9th, 2016 at 9:17 am (UTC-5)
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We pursued several diplomatic efforts with Iran during the President’s first term, and the fact that there were discreet channels of communication established with Iran in 2012 is something that we confirmed publicly. However, we did not have any serious prospect of reaching a nuclear deal until after the election of Hasan Rouhani in 2013.
Tags: Ben Rhodes, Hassan Rouhani, Iran nucelar deal, Javad Zarif, John Kerry Posted in Recent Opinion and Commentary
Principle and Pragmatism, Here and Abroad
Posted April 18th, 2016 at 12:54 pm (UTC-5)
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The division in the reformist camp in Iran is similar to some disagreements in other political systems, including our own, between people who share between themselves the most important objectives but differ over strategy and tactics in terms of how many of those objectives can be accomplished and how quickly they can be accomplished…
Russian-Iranian Relations: Troubled Ties
Posted March 15th, 2016 at 2:54 pm (UTC-5)
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Despite their numerous anti-Western interests, Russia and Iran are not allies. Neither is willing to give up much of anything for the sake of good relations with the other. Washington, then, cannot expect that Tehran will consider binding any agreement reached with Moscow regarding the settlement of the conflict in Syria.
Tags: Ali Akbar Velayati, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, russia, syria, Vladimir Putin Posted in Recent Opinion and Commentary
Turnout Key to Iran Election Strategy
Posted February 23rd, 2016 at 1:16 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin Election Day in Iran is this Friday and the country’s leaders are urging Iranians to vote in large numbers, even though the candidates exclude key members of the embattled reform movement and the governing bodies being chosen have limited power within Iran’s hybrid political system. Voters are to select a new 290-member […]
Tags: Assembly of Experts, ayatollah, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Majlis, Mohammad Reza Aref, nuclear deal Posted in Barbara Slavin
Iran After the Nuclear Deal: Change We Can’t Believe In
Posted January 20th, 2016 at 4:17 pm (UTC-5)
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Iran’s hardliners voted to disqualify nearly all of President Hassan Rouhani’s political allies from running in next month’s parliamentary elections. The disqualifications are a blow to President Barack Obama and European leaders …
Tags: barack obama, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Iran elections, Iran nuclear deal Posted in Recent Opinion and Commentary
Rouhani Wins on Nuclear Deal. Struggles on Human Rights
Posted September 23rd, 2015 at 2:53 pm (UTC-5)
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By Barbara Slavin With Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about to arrive in New York, hopes are fading for the release of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian during this year’s U.N. General Assembly. In the past, Iranian officials have freed political prisoners before the annual diplomatic gabfest. But this could well be the second General Assembly […]
Tags: Atena Daemi, Atena Farghadani, Hassan Rouhani, human rights, Iran, Iran nuclear deal, jason rezaian, Javad Zarif, Shahrokh Zamani Posted in Barbara Slavin
Europeans Do Heavy Lifting on Iran Nuclear Negotiations
Posted May 27th, 2015 at 11:16 am (UTC-5)
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Ambassadors to the US from France, Germany and the United Kingdom said none of their governments were about to accept a bad deal with Iran, but one which would relieve sanctions gradually in return for verifiable curbs on the Iranian nuclear program.
Tags: Barbara Slavin, Gerard Araud, Hassan Rouhani, Iran nuclear, P5+1, Peter Wittig, Sir Peter Westmacott Posted in Barbara Slavin