All Policy Analysis by Mehdi Khalaji

The power struggle between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad continues. Signs of deep fissures in the conservative camp are emerging just as the Islamic Republic prepares for parliamentary elections next year, the first countrywide polls since the disputed June 2009 presidential election. These divisions, rather than

If the recent political movements in the Arab world lead to more free and liberal societies, this will promise the decline of Iranian influence in the region. For the current Iranian regime, democracy is no longer threatening only at home, but also abroad.

On March 22, 2011, Jean-Pierre Filiu and Mehdi Khalaji addressed a special Policy Forum luncheon at The Washington Institute to discuss whether the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist offshoots -- not only in Egypt but across the Arab region and beyond -- can respond to a more open political environment

On March 20, during his annual speech marking the Iranian New Year, President Obama crystallized recent shifts in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic. Tellingly, this year's message was addressed to "the people of Iran" rather than to the government, in sharp contrast to Obama's 2009 declaration "I would like

On February 24, 2011, the two leaders of the Iranian opposition Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, were arrested and taken initially to Heshmatiyeh prison in Tehran. Meanwhile, within the ruling circle of the Islamic Republic, hardliners are trying to further consolidate their position. At least as important

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never been happy about the status of the Iranian presidency -- neither during his own tenure, from 1981-1989, nor during the terms of his three successors. Tension between the president and the Supreme Leader is built into the Islamic Republic's core. The Supreme

During an August 9 visit to Syria, Ali Akbar Velayati, influential advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stated that Iran is ready to negotiate with the United States regarding its nuclear program. Yesterday, however, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced that Iran has no plans for bilateral negotiation with Washington