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A very Iranian coup
In the West, governments are owned and run by the banking and financial system. In Iran, it's the Oil Ministry that controls the purse strings. Having finally won control of oil revenues from the faction of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad are in no mood to give it up. - Chris Cook (Jun 16,'09)

Ahmadinejad tries to douse the flames
Prudent moves are called for if Iran's re-elected leader intends to avert a full-blown national crisis. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call for a probe of voter fraud allegations is a good first step, but President Mahmud Ahmadinejad must still find innovative ways to appease the millions that voted against him. Mir Hossein Mousavi as Ahmadinejad's foreign minister? Now, that's a creative idea. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Jun 16,'09)

The meaning of the Tehran spring

Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has made his power play against challengers Mir Hossein Mousavi and Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fully supported him. As the aftermath unwinds, Mousavi and Rafsanjani need an urgent counterpunch, and their only possible play - given that no pacifying solution can be found within the institutional framework of the Islamic Republic - is to go after Khamenei. - Pepe Escobar (Jun

Hedgehogs and flamingos
The handling of election results exposes the weakness of Iran's strategic position. That makes an Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities all the more likely, not because Tehran has shown greater militancy, but because it has committed the one sin that is never pardoned in the Middle East -

Obama's hearts and minds trifecta
In the race for Muslim hearts and minds, United States President Barack Obama has chosen his first two destinations well in Turkey and Egypt, and scored points for eloquently balancing sensitivity with some frank truths. The next likely stop is his childhood home, Indonesia, where he can point to a successful example of moderate Islam being combined with liberal democracy. - Donald K Emmerson (Jun 8,'09)

Washington moves the 'red line' on Iran
Washington appears to be setting the stage for talks with Tehran, despite the newest International Atomic Energy Agency report that hardly gives Iran a clean bill of health. United States President Barack Obama tread softly over the nuclear issue in his Middle East tour last week, while his point man on Iran was on a mission aimed at "drawing everyone in". Confidence-building has begun. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Jun 8,'09)

Iran poll debate sparks clashes
Supporters and opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, have clashed in a Tehran square after a live televised election debate. Cars were set on fire and scuffles broke out late on Saturday at Sarv square in northwestern…

In Iran, disparate, powerful forces ally against Ahmadinejad
CAMPAIGN RALLY: Supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi use a banner of him, left, and former President Mohammad Khatami to toss a man into the air. Critics say a win by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could further isolate Iran internationally. Once rivals…

Iran's Election- Rallies Reveal a Stark Contrast
"There is a bipolarity in Iranian politics right now," says Mohammad Atrianfar, a political analyst in Tehran. "The change they were seeking in the U.S. is happening here, too. People are trying to unseat Ahmadinejad." There are also plenty…

Iran nuclear leaks 'linked to Israel'
A report by the United States Senate last month provides new evidence that Israel was the source of documents that have been used to accuse Iran of hiding its nuclear weapons research. The leaked documents reinforce Israel's claim that Tehran is on the brink of building nuclear weapons. Still, as the report warns, "It is impossible to rule out an elaborate intelligence ruse." - Gareth Porter (Jun 4,'09)

Obama can dream an AfPak dream
Prior to Thursday's speech from United States President Barack Obama to the Muslim world, Middle Easterners were looking for fresh substance from the youthful leader. The time has come for the US to consider promoting a gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and further on to India and possibly to China. This bold move could mean the difference between success and failure for the US's AfPak strategy. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jun 4,'09)

The shadow war in Balochistan
With or without using Jundallah for its own Iran-destabilizing agenda, Washington's "other" war is about to hit Balochistan in Pakistan full speed ahead. By mid-summer, the US's Afghan surge in troops will be in position. A new American mega-base in Helmand province's "desert of death" will be operational. Assassination teams, drone attacks and Hellfire missiles will boil this tense tri-border area. Shadowplay rules. - Pepe Escobar (Jun 3,'09)

Iran wages lonely war on terror
Tehran is probing deeper into last week's deadly mosque bombing in Zahedan, but has yet to point any fingers at the West. Iran can't raise an international scandal with US President Barack Obama set to address the Muslim world on Thursday, and its June 12 national election so delicately poised. Looking further, Tehran realizes rhetorical outbursts against Washington will only play into Israeli hands. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jun

War With Iran- Has It Already Begun-
In public, when it comes to the Iranian question, President Obama is all sweet reason and kissy-face. His recent video message to the Iranian people was just what the doctor ordered. However, this public performance is severely undercut by an ongoing covert program aimed at regime-change in Tehran – or, at least, at undermining the Iranian regime to such an extent that it must respond in some way. This covert action program, reported by Seymour Hersh last year, was started by the Bush administration and funded to the tune of $400 million. The U.S. is, in effect, conducting a secret war against Tehran, a covert campaign aimed at recruiting Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities – who make up the majority of the population in certain regions, such as in the southeast borderlands near Pakistan – into a movement to topple the government in Tehran, or, at least, to create so much instability that U.S. intervention to "keep order" in the region is justified. Given recent events in Iran – a suicide bombing in the southeast province of Sistan-Baluchistan and at least two other incidents – the effort is apparently ongoing.

Shortcut on the Roadmap to War
Makovsky and Morse’s new TNR article, however, is notable because it topples one of the pillars on which Iran hawks in the U.S. have based their arguments: the notion that targeted sanctions on the Iranian energy sector would cause serious damage to Iran’s economy and coerce Tehran into abandoning its nuclear program. This was the logic behind the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), a piece of pending legislation that was introduced in the Senate by the usual suspects (Joe Lieberman, Jon Kyl, and Evan Bayh), and would punish foreign companies that supply Iran with refined petroleum products. AIPAC and the rest of the “Israel lobby” have made the IRPSA the centerpiece of their Iran policy, and the sanctions bill also has the support of the Netanyahu government in Israel. The legislation was the top lobbying priority of last month’s AIPAC conference, and although AIPAC and other hawkish groups are expressing perfunctory support for Obama’s diplomatic outreach, they are also pushing Obama to abandon diplomacy and implement these stepped-up sanctions as soon as possible.

The myth of a 'Muslim world'
If President Barack Obama continues to approach Arabs and Muslims as a single collective ready to be manipulated with bogus promises, fancy rhetoric and impressive body language, then he will surely be disappointed. Highly politicized, skeptical and fed-up societies refuse to be reduced to a mere percentage in some opinion poll that can be swayed when Washington determines the time and place. - Ramzy Baroud (Jun 1,'09)

Dream Big! Become an Israeli Spy!
Israeli spies in the United States, (unlike American doctors, athletes, and marine biologists), are privy to information about what the federal government of the United States is actually doing. American citizens, on whose purported behalf the federal government exists, are not granted access to a great deal of information labeled "classified" by their betters, but if one becomes an Israeli spy, then all that changes. Want to know whether the federal government is considering starting a new war with Iran? You are not allowed to know such things as a mere citizen of the United States, but if you simply join a nefarious Israeli spy ring you will be privy to everything! Want to find out the federal government’s most secretive data on building a nuclear weapon? Don’t waste your life filing Freedom of Information Act requests, just start spying for Israel!

Obama steps into diplomatic minefield
United States President Barack Obama has to tread carefully on his visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or his favorable image in the Middle East could be tainted for good. If he overstates his case over the Iran nuclear issue or support for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the trip could backfire and cause unwanted backlashes in Israel and Iran. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (May 29,'09)

Iran starts Persian gas pipeline construction
Iran says it has begun construction of the 1,740 kilometer Persian Pipeline to ship Iranian natural gas from the Persian Gulf to the European market.
"The Pars [Persian] Pipeline will go from Turkey to Greece, through Italy and on to other European countries," said Ahmad Noorani, the head of economic affairs at the Iranian embassy in Turkey on Friday.
In 2008, Tehran and Ankara reached a deal on the development of the South Pars gas field and the transfer of Iranian gas to consumers in Europe.

Several killed in Iran mosque blast
A blast in a mosque in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan has killed 15 people and wounded 50 others, the official IRNA agency says.The toll from the explosion, which struck Amir al-Mohini mosque on Thursday, was based on preliminary reports, IRNA said. The agency quoted an unnamed official as saying that part of the mosque was destroyed and that rescue teams were transferring the bodies of the dead and injured.Officials were investigating the cause of the explosion, it said.Al Jazeera's Alireza Ronaghi said the death toll was bound to rise as it was a very strong explosion.The bomb was said to be lodged inside a briefcase on the men's side of the mosque, he reported.