Iran

Thirty years to the day after the taking of the U.S. hostages in Iran, in the wake of their controversial June 2009 presidential election, the regime's ensuing crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, and recent news of U.S. funding cuts for Iran democracy programs, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) offered his views on how the U.S. should approach Iran on the issues of human rights and democracy.

On Wednesday, Iran will hold a parade and demonstration to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure. The opposition is now mobilizing followers to turn the commemoration into a mass protest. Robin Wright, a Jennings Randolph fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and author of four books on Iran, covered the revolution and the hostage drama.

May 2009 | Daniel Brumberg and Eriks Berzins
On February 23, 2009, the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), together with the United Nations Association-USA and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, held a roundtable discussion among top Middle East experts and former United States Government officials. Held at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the meeting’s purpose was to discuss prospects for creating a diplomatic framework through which the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran can address issues of common concern in the Middle East and South Asia, and in so doing, advance an engagement dynamic that might eventually open the doors for rapprochement between the two countries.

Thirty years to the day after the taking of the U.S. hostages in Iran, in the wake of their controversial June 2009 presidential election, the regime's ensuing crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, and recent news of U.S. funding cuts for Iran democracy programs, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) offered his views on how the U.S. should approach Iran on the issues of human rights and democracy.

On October 26, 2009, USIP held a panel discussion with Amb. Linton Brooks, Joseph Cirincione, and Thomas Scheber on next steps for the START process and the START Follow-on Treaty.

On June 7^th, Lebanon held its long-anticipated parliamentary elections, a critical next step in Lebanon's post-civil war transition. While many observers underscore the potential repercussions of a Hezbollah-dominated March 8^th bloc win, the margin of victory will be slim regardless of which side wins.

On June 12, Iran held an historic, and as it has turned out, highly contentious presidential election.  While the government  declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the decisive winner, his challengers--led by Mir Hossein Mousavi--have accused the regime of massive voter fraud, thus setting up a unprecedented conflict between a regime and major segments of society. These developments come on the heels of efforts by the Obama administration to engage Iran.  USIP hosted a fascinating discussion of the implications of Iran's presidential election for  the country's domestic politics, and even more so, for the course (and fate) of  U.S.-Iranian engagement.

USIP's Daniel Brumberg joined a panel of guest speakers, including Congressman Keith Ellison, for a lively discussion of USIP's new volume "Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World."

Author and former ambassador John W. Limbert in September 2009 discusses his newly published book “Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History,” and how the U.S. should approach Iran at the negotiating table as well as what he learned from his experience as a hostage during the Iranian crisis in 1979.