Analysts are piling on to the already expressed skepticism of U.S. lawmakers regarding optimistic claims being aired by Iranian officials. Newly inaugurated Iranian president Hassan Rouhani yesterday suggested that Iran is looking to resolve its dispute with the West within three to six months. Bloomberg columnist Jeffrey Goldberg had already on Tuesday aired...

Two months after anti-regime activists blasted the regime for “spreading lies and disinformation about the existence of political prisoners as they are simultaneously imprisoning hundreds for exercising their legal rights,” former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is calling on Tehran to release all the country’s political prisonersKhatami published his comments on his official website following...

The State Department yesterday issued a global travel alert covering Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and warning of potential terror attacks. The department cautioned US citizens around the world to “maintain a high level of vigilance”. It warned al-Qaeda and other groups could be planning attacks against US interests. The...

Twin roadside blasts in Sana’a today wounded over 20 people, part of a wave of violence that has been escalating despite efforts by Yemen’s government to stem the attacks. While other regional hotspots continue to see greater numbers of jihadists pass through their territory – German intelligence, for instance, describes...

With many analysts and politicians crediting the international sanctions regime for bringing Iran to the negotiating table – and with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani focusing on sanctions in a speech that many panned as angry and combative – analyst attention is turning to the degree to which trade and financial...

A few months after Ankara violently put down a wave of anti-government protests, Turkey now risks entering a downward spiral where political authoritarianism fuels economic instability, and economic instability fuels more political protests that are put down through authoritarian measures. Observers had already worried over the summer that the government...

The Egyptian government’s decapitation campaign against the country’s Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – which has included measures on the national level and even against the Brotherhood’s messaging apparatus – has drawn the ire of the group’s organizational cousins in Jordan. Brothers in Jordan are not only displeased with Cairo’s actions, but...

The army-backed Egyptian government has been on something of a tear lately in its efforts to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood’s infrastructure and influence in Egypt. Just the last few days have seen the group’s activities banned and asset freezes against its top leaders extended. Today saw the shuttering of the...

A handshake between President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had the potential to be, according to TIME a handshake that would “shake the world.” Journalists and analysts suggested over the weekend and into Monday that a meeting between the two leaders had the potential to be a diplomatic...

Hezbollah was heavily involved in instigating and extending violence in Iraq, stretching back almost a decade. The Iran-backed terror group has been critical in assisting Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime extend that country’s war, which has seen over 100,000 people killed and hundreds of people gassed to death. The group has...