The Kellogg Institute for International Studies in association with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies released a report, “Transitions to Democracy and the Arab Spring: Does Latin America Hold Lessons for the Middle East,” that examines how insights from Latin America’s democratization experience may be relevant for the Middle East today. The symposium was divided into two panels: the first explored the domestic challenges to democratization in Latin America ...

On Thursday, The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted a panel discussing the ongoing crises in Syria and Iran, the potential for escalation, and America’s role in the situation. Panelists included Saban Senior Fellows Robert Moran and Suzanne Maloney, and next generation fellow from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Syria Expert Andrew Tabler. Brookings Senior Fellow and Director of the Saban Center Kenneth Pollack ...

On Wednesday, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced S.2058 barring companies "who engage in business or trading activity with Iran from buying oil from America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve." The "Iran Certification and Reporting Bill," co-sponsored by 16 other senators, was introduced in an attempt to "close loopholes, increase transparency, and improve effectiveness" of current sanctions. In order to take effect, the bill needs to be passed by the full Senate, incorporated with the existing legislation ...

Yesterday, James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, presented his annual "worldwide threat assessment" to Congress. Clapper publicly implicated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.,  "some Iranian officials -- probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei -- have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the ...

On Thursday, the Center for National Policy hosted a panel on the recent dispute between the U.S. and Iranian government, and whether Tehran's desire to develop a nuclear program will end diplomatically or militarily. The speakers were Dr. Afshon Ostovar, a Middle East analyst for the Center for Naval Analyses Strategic Studies, Mattew Kroenig, a Stanton Nuclear Security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Alireza Nader, a senior ...

The U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland released a statement yesterday voicing the U.S.'s growing concern of arrests, harassment, and death sentences of social activists in Iran.  Reports have arisen concerning the arrests of over half a dozen journalists in the last few weeks, including Parastou Dokouhaki and Marzieh Rasouli, two widely read female bloggers. Additional arrests include former National Press Director for the Ministry of Culture Sahamoddin Bourghani, freelance health ...

E.U. leaders formally banned imports of oil from Iran, and other economic sanctions, in response to its continued nuclear programme. The decision to continue with sanctions was ratified by all 27 member states. The embargo aims to take an estimated daily 2.6 million barrels of Iranian oil off the international market, with all existing contacts to be phased out by July 1. E.U. Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, said in response to the recent embargo "I ...

Conservative Iranian lawmaker Ali Motahari claimed the U.S. had sent a secret letter to the Iranian government that was half threatening and half diplomatic. Motahari said the letter stated that, "closing the Strait of Hormuz is (Washington's) red line," but then contained a call for direct talks between the U.S. and Iran. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also supported the content of the letter, and said the government was considering a ...

It has been confirmed that the Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Web site designer Saeed Malekpour. A Canadian resident, Malekpour was detained in 2008 while visiting his family in Iran after being accused of "anti-government agitation" and "insulting Islam".  Other recent victims of those accused of similar crimes include Simien Nematollahi, a contributor to a pro-Sufi website accused of "anti-government propaganda."  Iranian officials have arrested and prosecuted violators ...

On Wednesday, December 14, 2011, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East co-hosted an event entitled “Iran’s Hand in the Levant.” The discussion was moderated by Michele Dunne, Director of the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council, and Barbara Slavin, Senior Fellow at the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council. The panel featured Randa Slim, a scholar at the Middle East ...