Commentary

"His elevation sends the clearest possible message to Iranian society, to the region, and to the outside world that the Islamic Republic is no longer even pretending to renew itself," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Saeid Golkar writes.

Washington’s Iran policy should be grounded in human rights, liberalism, democracy, regional stability, national security, and economic opportunity—and treated as both a strategic and a moral issue.

"The Islamic Republic was built to withstand sustained unrest," Senior Nonresident Fellow Saeid Golkar writes in Foreign Policy.

With the death toll rising in Iran amid a crackdown on protests, US President Donald Trump is weighing a strike against the nation. Iran’s capacity to respond to such an action is far more limited than its leaders suggest.

"When combined with economic desperation, political exhaustion appears to be pushing parts of society toward alternative visions of order and stability," Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Saeid Golkar writes with Jason M. Brodsky.

"The regime has invested in creating an extensive suppressive apparatus across Iran, at every level of society," Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi write.

A series of perceived betrayals has shaken the clerical establishment’s “hard base,” Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi write.

"We will only have peace when America uses force to defend its interests," Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi write.

“The agreement is about far more than just normalizing ties with Riyadh,” argue Nonresident Senior Fellow Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi.

Despite getting people off the streets, Iran's hard crackdown on protesters "has created a massive resentment among Iranians."