Even as he was blasting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for corruption on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran increased the organization’s budget by 50%. Bloomberg News reports that Rouhani enacted this increase even as oil prices, a primary source of Iran’s revenues, are dropping: Rouhani proposed increasing the Islamic Revolutionary...

An editorial yesterday in The Washington Post called on the government of Iran to release its reporter, Jason Rezaian, a dual American-Iranian citizen who has been held for months by authorities. The case has taken on new urgency as Rezaian was charged last week with as-yet undisclosed crimes, despite statements...

Ziad Abu Ein, a minister without portfolio in the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), died today after confronting soldiers at a demonstration. Circumstances surrounding the incident remain murky. A video that appeared on social media shows a border policeman shoving Abu Ein when he approached him aggressively, but does not corroborate other...

Iranian officials on Tuesday denied reports that the Islamic Republic had been caught breaching sanctions to acquire materials for use at its Arak facility, a day after Foreign Policy released details of a confidential United Nations report that found Tehran to be illicitly obtaining the equipment. Foreign Policy cited sources...

Hamas, the terrorist organization which  rules the Gaza Strip, is again courting Tehran and preparing to announce its support of the Iranian leadership and of the Syrian regime. Diplomatic sources told the Al-Arab newspaper (Arabic link) that a Hamas delegation, which is currently visiting Tehran, wants to regain the trust...

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians support the recent spate of attacks on Israelis amid heightened tensions over the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem, according to a Palestinian opinion poll released on December 9. The poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (Arabic link) also found...

Israel and Mexico announced a cooperation agreement over the weekend for industrial research and development, The Times of Israel reported today. Under the deal, Israeli and Mexican companies will receive assistance in funding joint projects in several areas of research and development, including water management, desert agriculture, pharmaceutical and medical devices,...

The election of a new Prime Minister in March will not change Israel’s stance on major foreign policy issues, according to an analysis written for The New York Times by Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, yesterday. The top priority is —...

Palestinian social activism revolves around the concept of “resistance” (in Arabic, muqawama) against Israel, rather than “peace.” Over the years, “resistance” has come in a variety of forms—militant, political, economic, electronic, and even illustrated muqawama. In a recent development, Palestinian activists say they are launching a symbolic superhero figure called “Gaza Man,” the...

Imad al-Alami, a senior Hamas official with close ties to Iran, is currently operating out of Turkey according to a report published yesterday in Foreign Policy by Jonathan Schanzer and Grant Rumley, respectively the vice president for research and a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Schanzer...