Iran’s radical Marxist cult Mohajedeen e Khalq, better known by its acronym MEK, is somewhat reminiscent of the Israel Lobby’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in that it operates somewhat in the shadows and is nevertheless able to punch well beyond its weight by manipulating politicians and understanding how American government functions on its…
A crucial question has been consuming policymakers in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon: Does the Trump administration have a strategic plan for the Middle East or not? Few are more apt to answer than Saadallah Zarei, dean of the Institute of Strategic Studies Andishe Sazan-e Noor in Tehran. Zarei, a soft-spoken, extremely discreet man I met…
Partners in the Syrian war and arch-sceptics of Washington, Russia and Iran have come together in recent years as both countries pursue a more hands-on role in the Middle East. Yet doubts of Russia’s reliability are surfacing in Tehran, as a host of regional players begin to pick their way through tensions in southern Syria….
Iraq’s Muqtada al-Sadr is poised to engage in a complex “balancing” act between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Shiite cleric and former militia leader is regarded as an Iraqi nationalist who wants to prioritize his country’s interests above those of its neighbors and the US, to which end he’s trying to carve out a strategic…
Last night (May 27), an Israel Defense Force command unit, newly stationed at the formerly closed US military facility and air base at Farah City in Farah Province, Western Afghanistan, came under Taliban attack. Attacks on the Israeli group had been going on for days. Israel forces were hit with rocket and mortar attacks, losing…
Trump’s base would be shocked to discover that influential members of his administration are vocal supporters of a cultish Islamo-communist terrorist group. The open support that leading figures of the Trump Administration have given to the “People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran” (officially called the “Mojahedin-e Khalq”, hence the conventional MEK abbreviation) is a betrayal of…
