Only a few weeks after US-Iran diplomacy began in earnest, it seems to be heading towards a premature ending. Rather than tensions reduction, the world has witnessed the opposite. Iran is refusing to accept a fuel swap deal brokered by the IAEA, the IAEA has passed a resolution rebuking Iran,...

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes to the UN this week, his biggest fear will be that the visit will be marred by international condemnations over election fraud and the massive human rights abuses taking place in Iran under his watch. If he has his way, however, the international media may forget...

Amid continued political confusion in Iran following election fraud and widespread human rights abuses, the Iranian government responded to the P5 plus 1 nuclear negotiations package by offering (made available by ProPublica) its own rather imprecise and abstract proposal to resolve -- not the nuclear issue, per...

As the world's eyes and ears have turned elsewhere, the crimes of the Iranian government continues unabated. To this day, the true number of those killed, murdered and/or raped in the post-election crackdowns remains unknown.

While the government itself claims that no more than 30 people have died, the...

Two weeks ago, I wrote an analysis for ForeignPolicy.com, arguing that engagement should remain the policy with Iran, but that a tactical pause is necessary to make sure diplomacy succeeds. I argued that this wasn't necessary just because Washington would be wise not to engage with any faction in...

As Iran's election crisis continues, hundreds if not thousands of prisoners remain in Iran's notorious Evin prison. Few of them have faces known to the outside world. Some of them may have protested in the streets. Others were in Mir Hussein Moussavi's inner circle. Still others had nothing to do...

As Iranians go to cast their ballots in Friday's elections, it is much more than just Iran's future that is at stake. The White House is closely following the elections, as is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister may be watching Washington's reaction to the results more...

Well, this saga is just getting worse and worse. I reported earlier this week that H.R. 1327, the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009 had been put on Congress' suspension calendar (fast track voting) for Tuesday - a move that puzzled many since imposing new sanctions on Iran four...

UPDATE

The House of Representatives is no longer planning to vote on the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009 this week. After publishing an article on Huffington Post about this, my staff at the National Iranian American Council was contacted by the House Financial Services Committee who informed...

Tehran's sentencing of Roxana Saberi to eight years of prison for spying has shocked people inside and outside the country. At a time when President Barack Obama is seeking a dialogue with Tehran, what kind of a signal does Roxana's sentencing send, especially given that the trial failed to meet...

In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to have told President Barack Obama that either America stops Iran or Israel will. Not surprisingly, the interview sparked quite a controversy and only a day later, General David Petraeus told the Senate Armed...

In an unprecedented - if not historic - New Year's message to the Iranian people and the government of Iran, President Barack Obama used the ancient Iranian New Year - Norooz - holiday to usher in a new beginning for US-Iran relations.

The video message, aired around 0800am in...

At a time when the American people finally have a President who understands diplomacy doesn't mean putting on a cowboy hat and talking like a gunslinger, a most unlikely case in a Chicago courtroom has the potential to derail President Obama's efforts to engage Iran.

Obama had hardly...

There has been much talk and speculation about bringing in Iran into consultations on Afghanistan. President Obama has appropriately turned focus back to Afghanistan, and Special Envoy Holbrooke has used very open and constructive language in regards to an Iranian role in Afghanistan.

"It is absolutely clear that Iran...

Iran's former President, the soft-spoken Mohammad Khatami, ended months of speculations and revealed his bid to challenge the current Iranian President - the not-so-soft-spoken Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - in the upcoming Presidential elections in June.

"I declare that I will stand for the next elections," Khatami told reporters on Sunday,...

While millions around the globe were glued to their TVs listening to President Obama's message of hope, decision-makers in Tehran were looking for a single-phrase alone: Mutual respect. Obama didn't disappoint.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said...

In talking about the assault on Gaza, neo-conservative pundits and Israeli hardliners have relied on a familiar frame. The fighting in Gaza, they say, is a struggle between Israel and so-called "moderate" Arab states (namely, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) on the one hand, and Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas...

The Bush administration inherited many of Iraq's problems when it invaded that country, including an Iranian terrorist organization funded and armed by Saddam Hussein, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO).

Though the group is on the State Department's terrorist list, it still operates freely in the US -- including organizing fundraisers...

Conciliatory noises from Tehran over the nuclear issue have left Washington and Brussels baffled, and unconvinced of Iran's intentions. Having grown accustomed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's uncompromising language, Tehran's new tone has raised more suspicion than hope among cynics in Western capitals.

At a lunch with a dozen U.S. journalists...

Is war between Israel and Iran inevitable? Certainly one would be left with that impression if one solely listens to Israeli and Iranian hawks. All too often, the voice of the moderate center is lost in all the bluster. Reality is, however, war is not inevitable at all. As Shlomo...