Vatanka Reports
News and Analysis on the Greater Middle East 
 

..will be, more than ever, a de facto state. This is the closest that the Kurds anywhere will have ever come to what looks and feels like an independent state.

Iran’s nightmare on its border with Pakistan continues unabated.

There have been a number of rounds of border skirmishes between Iran and Pakistan since the first week of October.

Another round of nuclear talks ended late Thursday in Vienna.

Iranian-Saudi relations are once again slipping.

Regional circumstances and safeguarding its interests, not ideology, have shaped Tehran’s approach to Sunni militants.

With the spread of ethnic and sectarian violence in Iraq – brought to new levels of terror by the rise of the Islamic State (IS) – Iran’s image as an island of stability in

The authorities in Iran consider the Islamic State to pose two different kinds of threats to Iranian regional interests and domestic stability.

As U.S. President Barack Obama decides on the best strategy to deal with the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq, Syria and beyond, his final plan of action will undoubtedly include the participation of like-minded allied countries and regional partners.

After a year of hesitation, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani is signaling his readiness to reach out to Tehran’s chief regional rival—Saudi Arabia.

At a time when the direction of America’s foreign policy is generating abundant global bewilderment, policy-makers in Congress and the administration must be mindful

Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza -- Protective Edge -- has animated the Shia Islamist leadership in Tehran