Camelia Entekhabi-Fard

Iran's March 2 parliamentary election, usually considered a low-key event compared to the presidential election, is now considered one of the most important elections in the revolution's history. "The nation is under threat," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said to his supporters in Tehran on Wednesday. "We need to slap...

The death of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, who died a month ago, interestingly looks like a continuation of what has swept many countries who are witnessing the disposal of their dictatorial leaders. Nevertheless, Kim Jong-Il died of natural causes -- far different from the situations in the Middle East...

Last Tuesday's storming of the British embassy in Tehran brought back memories of Iran's 1979 U.S. embassy attacks and subsequent hostage crisis. The crisis that ensued in 1979 and all the consequences of that act of violence had a huge impact on Iran's diplomatic standing in the international community. The...

United Nations -- Up until a year ago, most people in Iran and human rights activists outside of Iran accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for all the injustices happening in the country. A man who represent the system from the day one taking the office 7-years ago has been changed so...

Life is going on as normal in Tehran and other cities in Iran, with most residents occupied with concerns about inflation and the escalating cost of living. But aside from economic anxieties and worries over shortages of electricity and basic goods, the summer has been a time of confrontation for...

A few days have passed since two of Iran's major opposition leaders were either kidnapped or taken hostage by the regime. Mir Hussain Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and their wives were taken from their homes without an arrest warrant, and without their children being informed about where their...

UAE -- The regime declined the proposal and hasn't issue the authorization for the gathering on February 14 in the fears that would lead to another big anti-government movement against the Islamic Republic, as what happened in 2009.

The billions of dollars that has been paid annually as aid to...

As tension rises on the streets of Cairo and other cities in Egypt, speculation and anxiety has also been increasing in Iran. The people of the two nations, which had been so close for ages, were ripped apart when a revolution took place in Iran and an Islamic regime replaced...

New York -- 32 years after Iran's revolution, people in the Islamic Republic are asking themselves which government was better. Did the late king, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, perform better or have the Ayatollahs?

On January 16, 1979, the Shah left Iran. Two weeks later, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to...

The year 2011 has started in a way that predicts a huge shift in Iran's foreign policy. But the Islamic Republic won't find itself confronting the international community or end up drowning in the country's sea of internal chaos, as much of the world expects. Rather, Iran is likely to...

Last September, when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed four of his closest aides as his special envoys in key areas like Afghanistan, Caspian Sea, Middle East and Latin America, Manouchehr Motakki -- at that time the country's foreign minister -- openly expressed his disapproval of the decision and complained directly...

Relations between the Iranian and Lebanese governments are good -- some would say excellent. But it's hard to say what the people of these two nations actually think about each other. Are they on the same good terms as their two countries' politicians? For now, it seems that both peoples...

United Nations -- At most International conferences, especially those held by the United Nations, women's issues are usually highlighted first. Child custody, violence against women, gender equality and the right to personal property are the most popular subjects debated during these gatherings.

These issues are passionately discussed for a...

United Nations -- President Ahmadinejad is a better speaker and can even be charming when he speaks at small gatherings. But the Iranian president's speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday was quite different from those he'd made at private dinners and gatherings throughout much of this week. On...

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, arrived in New York surprisingly a few days early on the eve of Saturday September 19 apparently to attend the Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, which is set to convene this Monday....

Within Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's small circle, there are two men in which the Iranian president has total trust. They are his old friends and are as religious as he is, and share the same vision. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie and Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi are the two closest allies of the Iranian president....

High profile Republican officials visiting Afghanistan this week told news media in Kabul Tuesday that President Obama's plan to withdraw US troops starting July 2011 is a mistake that will only serve to reinforce the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But while senior US and western officials may oppose the...

KABUL -- At around midnight on July 1, I was startled awake as the sound heavy gunfire ripped through the silence of Kabul's normally quiet Vazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. My housemates and I rushed out to see what had happened, only to be told by our pajama-clad neighbors that someone...

With less than three months left until Afghanistan's new Parliamentary elections, President Hamid Karzai has nominated another seven ministers for a vote of confidence from Afghanistan's parliament, leaving another six ministries to run without ministers. Of the seven candidates presented to the Afghan parliament on June 25, five passed and...

Almost a year has passed since Iran's controversial presidential elections last June. The angry street fights that started last summer between Iranian security forces and civilians over whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won or lost the election have since turned into rage against the previously untouchable Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme...