Communications

Tehran will find it hard to remain silent for long if Israel strikes Iranian targets; at some stage it might shock us with the timing, weapons or method.

Hassan Rouhani’s reelection as president of Iran by an impressive margin was not a given. There were good reasons for suspecting he might be defeated. He had tough, powerful opponents, such as the radical wing of the regime, including the Revolutionary Guards, and the religious establishment. The Basij militias, subordinate to the Revolutionary Guards, could have exploited...

The August 16 announcement by the governments of Russia and Iran that Russia had deployed fighter jets at the Iranian airbase in Hamadan (southwest of Tehran) and that sorties were executed against military targets of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Fateh a-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) in Syria is a turning point in developments in the region. 

There is an overall consensus in Israel that the nuclear agreement concluded between Iran and the six governments is an appalling deal –not only for Israel, but for the entire Middle East. Firstly, it is assumed that Iran has no intention to give up its drive to develop nuclear weapons. Iran paid a heavy price –economically and politically– to have the...

The Islamic State group's terror campaign in the Middle East and in Paris plays directly into Iran's hands in three different ways. Firstly, world attention has shifted from Iran's terrorism to that of Islamic State. Since 1984, Iran has consistently been singled out by the U.S. State Department as the country most involved in terrorism in the world. 

The military option against Iran is a problematic, complex, dangerous, and controversial option. The decision to carry it out requires answers to difficult questions: What military capability is there of carrying it out with a high chance of success? Can qualitative and accurate intelligence be obtained that will make it possible to carry it out? How will Iran respond to...

Iran's growing regional influence thanks to the success of proxy forces such as Shiite militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. He argues that even with a nuclear agreement, Iran has strengthened its influence in the Arab world thanks to the lack of a strong Arab balancing force, and that this increased power makes Iranian behavior a continued strategic concern, with or...

It was hardly a coincidence that Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials, including a senior general, were killed in Sunday's strike in Quneitra, near the Israel-Syria border. The Revolutionary Guard has been overseeing Hezbollah evolution since its inception in 1982, which was also the work of Tehran.