Vatanka Reports
News and Analysis on the Greater Middle East

America and Iran’s Tough Tango with the Gulf States
December 2, 2022
Since the Biden Administration came to office, Washington has been full of reports that the United States and its Gulf allies are drifting apart.

Tehran lashes out at Israelis’ support for Iranian protest movement
November 2, 2022
These demonstrations represent perhaps the most sustained domestic challenge to the clerical leadership since 1979, despite efforts by authorities to quell the unrest through mass arrests, beatings and killings, and internet and social media cuts.

Albania finds itself caught in the middle as Iran and the West square off
October 26, 2022
Albania, a small Muslim-majority country in Southeastern Europe, has unexpectedly emerged as a stalwart foe of the Islamic Republic.

What the Hijab Protests Mean for Iran’s Clerical Class
September 23, 2022
What the Hijab Protests Mean for Iran’s Clerical Class

Whose Iran Is It Anyway?
August 5, 2022
Ali Khamenei won’t give up power for anyone—not even his president.

Erdoğan in Tehran, but Turkey and Iran have plenty of mistrust to overcome
August 3, 2022
During his most recent visit to Tehran, on July 19, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, vowed closer economic cooperation.

The view from Tehran on Biden’s trip to the Middle East
8 July, 2022
The Iranian authorities anticipate that President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East is aimed at one top priority: to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to its partners in the region.

A moment of reckoning as the US and Iran prepare to resume talks in Doha
June 28, 2022
After a three-month-long suspension of the nuclear talks in Vienna, the U.S. and Iran appear set to resume diplomatic negotiations on June 28 in Doha, Qatar.

Iran, Turkey, and the future of the South Caucasus
May 4, 2022
Since late September 2021, when Iran-Azerbaijan relations hit a low point, Tehran and Baku have engaged in a process of de-escalation.

Foreign Policy and the Ayatollahs
April 8, 2022
In an interview, Alex Vatanka discusses his book on how the Khamenei-Rafsanjani relationship shaped post-revolution Iran

Iran Needs a Cushion, and Europe Needs Gas
March 24, 2022
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a watershed moment on so many levels for so many countries.

Iran’s regional agenda and the call for détente with the Gulf states
March 17, 2022
As both a candidate and as president, Ebrahim Raisi has repeated a basic mantra: that he will seek to quickly improve relations with Iran’s neighbors, and particularly the Arab Gulf states. In terms of his motivations for this push, two points are undeniably important.