With the election of Ebrahim Raisi as the new Iranian president and the start of the Vienna talks between Tehran and Washington, a new balance of power is expected to be seen in the context of a possible new deal. In recent months, with the start of the Vienna talks between Iran …
Read More »A Relationship in Flux: Can Turkey and Saudi Arabia Stabilize Relations?
Any new agreement between Iran and the United States could bring Iran’s rivals in the region closer together. It is obvious that Turkey and Saudi Arabia must solve the existing problems within the framework of their national interests to play a more active role in the region in the post-COVID …
Read More »Iranian sanctions evasion and the Gulf’s complex oil trade
Sanctions have had a devastating impact on Iran’s oil production and exports, preventing much-needed investment in the country’s ageing fields and barring it from legally exporting crude oil to global customers. Using a range of evasion tactics, however, Iran has succeeded in circumventing sanctions and maintaining a steady — albeit …
Read More »Iran’s Nuclear Program Might Not Be Worth the Cost
Iran’s economy, which is heavily dependent on oil exports, has not been able to benefit from oil exports in recent years due to U.S. sanctions, the country’s foreign exchange earnings have declined. In spite of this, the Iranian government has tried to provide the necessary financial resources for the …
Read More »Ship Attacks in the Persian Gulf: Another Manifestation of an Iranian-Israeli Proxy War?
Will the ongoing ‘ships war’ between Iran and Israel escalate? The Iran-Israel conflict has its own identity that goes beyond the geopolitical considerations of the Middle East. The Iran-Israel dispute is more ideological; that is, this confrontation has nothing to do with the national interests of the two countries or …
Read More »Why Iran’s Sixth Development Plan Failed
It is clear that by the end of this year, the last year of the Sixth Development Plan, Iran will have failed to implement most of the goals of this program. Sanctions, domestic mismanagement and foreign policy problems have prevented Iran from attracting the necessary capital and technology by increasing …
Read More »A Rising Role: Qatar and its Competition in the Global Helium Market
Thanks to Qatar’s increased production of helium and massive reserves in the North Dome field, the country is now positioned to quickly increase its share in the helium export market. Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe. An inert gas, it is mainly used to cool medical diagnostic equipment …
Read More »The Iran-Saudi Arabia normalisation process
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years. Both countries pursue conflicting interests in particular issues in the region with a specific ideology in foreign policy. The two countries are rivals not only in the Islamic world and the region, but also in OPEC and the energy market …
Read More »The Future of the U.S. Maximum Pressure Campaign on Iran under Biden
Aiming to force the Iranian regime to negotiate its regional policies, the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and imposed tough sanctions on the country. This “maximum pressure campaign” has certainly put significant economic pressure on Iran — especially now as it is …
Read More »What will happen to US ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran after the election?
Since the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the “maximum pressure” strategy of reimposing crippling sanctions, Iran has abandoned its key commitments, including the resumption of uranium enrichment. These moves have been accompanied by increasing ballistic missile tests, mysterious attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, increased meddling in conflicts …
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