46 Items

In this photo released by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the reactor building of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is seen, just outside the port city of Bushehr 750 miles (1245 km) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Nov. 30, 2009

AP Photo

Journal Article - Washington Quarterly

Iran's Foreign Policy Strategy after Saddam

| January 2010

"The prevailing view in the United States is that Ahmadinejad's foreign policy and Iran's increasing presence in the region has been offensive, expansionist, opportunistic, and often ideological. Though Iran has occasionally taken advantage of new opportunities, these characterizations have been exaggerated in the United States. Instead, Iran's action should be perceived in a more pragmatic light. Though Ahmadinejad may himself be an ideological and divisive figure, Iran's foreign policy strategy predates him and ought to be viewed as a wider Iranian effort to secure its geostrategic interests and national security concerns. Despite Ahmadinejad's tendencies to indulge his eccentricities, the logic of Iran's foreign policy decisionmaking process always ensures this return to pragmatism."

Border Security Force soldiers patrol the border with Pakistan in Gujarat, Nov. 25, 2009. Indian PM Manmohan Singh raised fears about Pakistani Taliban forces moving into the heart of Pakistan, which threatens both Pakistan's government and India.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Daily Star

Pakistan and India Should Consider Collaborating This Time

| December 4, 2009

"At every stage of the lengthy conflict that has brought the US into the region, Pakistan has sought to limit Indian influence in Afghanistan. Indeed, India's growing influence and investment in Afghanistan is disturbing to Pakistan's national security apparatus. Ultimately, the dynamics of Afghan politics will determine Afghanistan's fate. But a collaborative Indian-Pakistani effort to stabilize the country could work wonders."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, (C), welcomes the Iraqi delegation, as Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, (R), and Iraqi parliament speaker, Ayad al Samarraie, (2nd L), introduce them, in Tehran, Sep. 29, 2009.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Ortadogu Etutleri

Iran, the Middle East, and International Security

| July 2009

"In the years since the September 11 attacks and the onset of crisis in Iraq, Iran's consolidation of its political-security role in the Middle East, and its impact upon regional and international security systems has been the focus of attention in international and Middle East security studies. The prevailing view in the West and the Arab world is that new political-security and geopolitical developments have changed the balance in regional power and political structure in favor of Iran. Accordingly, this situation has had negative effects on the United States' strategic interests, its regional allies in the Arab world, and on Israel's position. During recent decades, preserving a 'balance of power' policy between the regional actors has been the basis of American foreign policies in the region, especially in the Persian Gulf. The recent developments have unbalanced power equations in favor of Iran."

A contingent of Pakistan's Air Force during a ceremony to mark Pakistan Defense Day at the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Sep. 6, 2009, in Karachi. Pakistan celebrates Defense Day to mark the 1965 war with India over Kashmir.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Obama's AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan

| September 21, 2009

"It is quite striking that framers of the metrics have avoided the merest mention of Pakistan-India relations as a factor in understanding which way the wind is blowing in Pakistan's security environment. While the Obama administration has every right to wish that Pakistan delink its rivalry with India in the Kashmir region from its policy towards Afghanistan (and consequently in Federally Administered Tribal Areas), one cannot ignore the prevailing ground realities."

A displaced Pakistani family carry their belongings as they arrive in Jalozai refugee camp after fleeing fighting in the Swat valley, June 7, 2009.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - The Kosovo Times

The Fight for Pakistan's Soul

| June 17, 2009

"...[A] lot depends on the state's capacity to hold the Swat area and re-establish civilian institutions there. And, even if the state succeeds, re-asserting control over Swat will only be the first step. The Taliban is spread throughout the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. "Punjabi Taliban" militants from the fighting in Kashmir against India continue to shuttle between the Punjab heartland and the Northwest Territories, posing another serious challenge to government authority."

Accompanied by Iranian officials, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, waves to the media after inaugurating Iran's Fuel Manufacturing Plant, a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, just outside Isfahan, Apr. 9, 2009.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Center for Strategic Research

Iran's Nuclear Program: An Opportunity for Dialogue

| May 2009

"During the last decades, the hardest and most controversial processes of détente between rival countries like the U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China in the 1960s and 1970s occurred after a hard and intense time following the acceptance of 'comparable roles' in talks. Iran's nuclear program can provide a momentous opportunity for Iran-U.S. détente."

An Iraqi woman stands behind a national flag during a rally in central Baghdad, Mar. 23, 2009. Some hundred Iraqi Shiite women from Sadr City staged a rally to demand the release of their loved ones from U.S. military custody.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Aftab News

A Modest Nationalism in Iraq Will Favor Iran

| March 24, 2009

"The success of the party of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki in Iraq's provincial elections has been largely perceived as a challenge to Iran. During his campaign, Maliki focused on Iraqi independence, establishing a powerful central government, and taking nationalistic positions with respect to Iraq's domestic and foreign policies. Implementation of these policies, should they lead to the emergence of a modest nationalism, would favor Iran's national security and interests, especially in the advent of U.S. troop withdrawals...."

A man stands near a destroyed vehicle after Iraqi border patrol commander Col. Abdul Majeed Mohammed was killed by a bomb placed under his truck near Basra, Iraq, Jan. 20, 2009.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - PostGlobal

For Iraq Stability, Look to Iran and Syria

| March 4, 2009

"If ethnic strife should return to Iraq in the post-withdrawal era, the United States must encourage cooperation between regional actors, especially Syria and Iran. By returning to Iraq, America will only further complicate the crisis in an already complex region. Instead, addressing the security concerns of regional actors and focusing on common interests that exist between them and America, and subsequently getting these regional actors' cooperation, would be a less costly way to avoid the return of civil war."

Magazine Article - Rorotoko

The Move Toward Preventive Military Action is an International Phenomenon

| February 24, 2009

"...[P]reventive military action is a lot bigger than George Bush, 9/11, the UN, or anything else. The problem is not as new as you might think; the erosion of national sovereignty and the growing temptations of preventive war have been in the works since at least the late 1980s, and in countries all around the world."

Iranian workers inspect a bridge that was hit during the 2006 Israeli aerial bombardment of Lebanon's southern coastal highway, Jan. 18, 2007. Iran was one of many states to help Lebanon recover from war damage.

AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Center for Strategic Research

Only a Strong Iran Will Talk

| February 21, 2009

"...Iran's strategic value, along with the legitimacy of its role among the friendly political factions and states in the region, is based on playing an independent role and avoiding direct engagement with the U.S. on the regional issues. Instead, Iran should resolve its strategic differences with the U.S. through strength in the region. This policy will give Iran more importance, and subsequently better serve the interests of its friends in the region. Iran's effective role in post-invasion Iraq and post-2006 Lebanon are two examples in this regard."