For decades under a religious dictatorship, Iranians have demonstrated a profound resilience and a steadfast desire for democratic change. The United States has a pivotal role to play in supporting these aspirations.
The sophisticated attack this week in which Israel is suspected of detonating pagers carried by Hezbollah members could bring a serious escalation in the attrition war between the two sides that started following the Hamas terror strike on Oct. 7, 2023. One of the options Israel is weighing is conducting a large-scale war in Lebanon. But this would be a huge gamble and a grave mistake, for several reasons.
The career of Iran’s new president has been marked by a staunch commitment to the regime’s oppressive policies, particularly those targeting women and girls. It is an attitude that is poised to intensify under his leadership.
Sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier at high speed to the Middle East has created an aircraft carrier gap in the Pacific. The carrier fleet is stretching to perform its global role.
The widespread boycott of both the first and second rounds of voting serves as a powerful testament to the Iranian people’s deep-seated desire for the overthrow of the entire regime.
Despite the Iranian regime’s relentless crackdown through killings and executions, the movement for change has not only persisted but has also grown in intensity and scale.
Recent elections in Iran starkly underscore the systemic and deep-seated issues plaguing the Islamic Republic’s political system, highlighting the undeniable truth that elections in Iran are fundamentally neither free nor fair.
Beyond the executions, a particularly disturbing development has emerged within the Iranian prison system: the escalation of pharmacological torture against political prisoners.
The murderous terrorist attack of Oct. 7 by Hamas, coupled with daily rocket strikes into Israel from Gaza and from Hezbollah in Lebanon and constant threats by Iran to destroy it, shines a light on how Israel’s nuclear strategy requires an update and might be optimized for deterrence.
As the relentless protests in Iran enter their sixth month, the government’s tactics are shifting in a recurring pattern of violence and intensive crackdown against the physicians and nurses treating the wounded protesters.
