In 2009 Iran demonstrated that it had developed working ballistic missiles, prompting the U.S. State Department to express “grave concern.” A new U.S. Department of Defense report released this week provides an upgraded evaluation regarding how soon Iran’s ballistic missiles may be capable of striking American soil. The answer will...

Iran issued a effusive denial today to allegations issued by a dissident group accusing the Islamic Republic of building another secret nuclear facility, this time in the mountains near Tehran. The news, unvieled by the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), was according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi “in no way true and...

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was created as a successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). The latter had become a vehicle where rogue regimes huddled together for mutual protection – they voted to thwart criticism of themselves and allies – and from which they...

Israelis who have been watching events in Egypt unfold in recent weeks have had a bit of historically unprecedented assistance: average Egyptians describing the latest eyewitness accounts in fluent Hebrew. Egypt has 12 universities. Each – even Al-Azhar University, the iconic stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood – contains a Middle...

Iran has terminated what seemed to be a lull in the regime’s pace of executing prisoners and dissidents. Observers and human rights groups had noted pauses revolving around the celebrations of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, and around the recent presidential campaign season. Since the June 14 election, however, executions...

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday outlined its position on former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s government: State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Morsi’s government “wasn’t a democratic rule … What I mean is what we’ve been referencing about the 22 million people who have been out there voicing their views and making...

A “Dear Colleague” letter currently collecting signatures in Congress – and due to be delivered to Qatari Ambassador to the U.S. Mohammed Bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi – expresses concern over Doha’s assistance to Hamas: The draft letter, addressed directly to Rumaihi, acknowledges that “longstanding, strategic bilateral relations between the United States and Qatar,...

An expose published earlier this week by Jane’s Defense Weekly and unpacked in an article published yesterday by the Telegraph discloses that Saudi Arabia is maintaining a ballistic missile base “deep in the Saudi desert” with surface-to-surface missiles oriented toward, and capable of striking, Tel Aviv and Tehran. Analysts who examined the...

A combination of political ideology and entrenched anti-Semitism within Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party threatens to derail efforts to reconcile with Israel – at significant cost to Ankara’s interests – according to an array of recently published analyses and reporting. Relations between the two countries were frozen by...

The United States is struggling to overcome distrust in Egypt, where both supporters and opponents of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi blame Washington for bolstering the other side. Perhaps seeking to avoid exactly such a theme from taking hold, and in line with the recommendations of some foreign policy analysts,...