The players - resources on key people and personalities in Iran.
Issues and ideas -a selection of articles covering key topics.
Perspectives: from the GSN archive - articles from GSN's extensive database.
Iran’s Green revolutionaries just won’t go away
The regime’s hardliners thought its critics were a disparate bunch who would melt away under assault from the Basij militia. The fact that protests continue has surprised President Ahmadinejad’s allies as much as outside observers, forcing the regime and other key players – including the United States – to reassess their options
Issue 871, 12 February 2010. 
more
Iran’s conservatives position themselves for Khamenei’s succession
With persistent rumours about the Supreme Leader’s health, key figures are jostling for power as they await the succession that many expect sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, with growing influence, the Rahbar’s son Mojtaba Khamenei waits in the wings
Issue 861, 25 September 2009. 
more
Also see Issue 861, 25 September 2009. How Iran’s supreme leaders are chosen
Divides deepen as Ahmadinejad is increasingly isolated
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad managed to add further complexity to the Iranian crisis with the appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as first vice president. Known to favour cultivating diplomatic relations with Israel, the move created a political storm among leading hardliners.
Issue 858, 24 July 2009. more
Ahmadinejad confronts an Iran looking for change within the continuity
Given half a chance, Iranians will vote against the establishment – not just in disaffected urban areas, but in the countryside (where incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is widely believed to have the edge), and even within the ruling elite, whose members may swap from faction to faction while maintaining staunch support for Iran’s velayat-e faqih system of clerical rule. Ahmadinejad has made a global career by presenting himself as an underdog – a status that tends to attract Iranian voters (as the reformist Mohammad Khatami found when he beat conservative rivals in 1997). But he has other elite ‘underdogs’ to compete with. So in a system where the intervention of religious authorities to stop otherwise well-qualified candidates from standing and to encourage support for a favoured few does not necessarily produce the expected results, there remains everything to play for when Iranians go to the polls on 12 June.
Issue 854, 29 May 2009. more
Mousavi’s emergence reorders the reformist pack
As Khatami steps aside to allow the new contender a clear run, reform supporters hope they may have found a candidate who can defuse conservative opposition. But President Ahmadinejad still holds a lot of powerful cards.
Issue 850, 27 March 2009. more
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Fresh sanctions loom, but Iran’s regime remains firmly entrenched
One year on from the mass protests which threatened to overthrow the regime, a new round of UN sanctions will attempt to tighten the screw on Iran’s stuttering economy, but so far President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has brutally seen off all challenges
Issue 879, 18 June 2010. more
Popular opposition stifled, but parliament challenges Ahmadinejad’s policies
Risk management report
Issue 874, 9 April 2010. more
Iran’s Green revolutionaries just won’t go away
The regime’s hardliners thought its critics were a disparate bunch who would melt away under assault from the Basij militia. The fact that protests continue has surprised President Ahmadinejad’s allies as much as outside observers, forcing the regime and other key players – including the United States – to reassess their options
Issue 871, 12 February 2010. more
Also see Issue 865, 20 November 2009. Protests continue but political opposition fades; Issue 862, 9 October 2009. Conservatives more firmly ensconced as worries remain over Supreme Leader succession; Issue 860, 11 September 2009. New oil minister approved; Majlis approves Revolutionary Guard government; Issue 858, 24 July 2009. Divides deepen as Ahmadinejad is increasingly isolated; Issue 857, 10 July 2009. Fearful caution as GCC leaders watch the hardliners triumph in Tehran; Issue 855, 12 June 2009. GSN special report: Iran poised between thuggery and a new political dispensation; Background: Chronicle of a stolen election
Fresh sanctions squeeze Iranian market, but specialist banks continue to service key customers
UN and US sanctions are targeting the financial sector, but the few bankers still doing business with Iran seem determined to maintain trade finance flows
Issue 880, 2 July 2010. more
Bond issue for South Pars gas field
Iran appears to be making progress in funding its offshore South Pars gas field, after several major western players withdrew their expertise and financing from a number of project phases during 2010.
Issue 880, 2 July 2010. more
Fake surface-to-air missiles at Army Day parade point to growing paranoia in Tehran
Iran appears to be ramping up its campaign to convince western observers of its new level of air defence amid growing fears that a military strike – most likely from Israel – is not far off
Issue 876, 7 May 2010. more
Iran runs out of allies as nuclear tensions heighten
The shortfalls in Tehran’s proposal of a new deal on uranium enrichment, even while it intensifies its nuclear programme, has forced long-standing allies like Russia, as well as the Obama administration, to consider taking a much harder line against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his friends
Issue 871, 12 February 2010. more
Also see Issue 870, 29 January 2010. US running out of options on Iran; Risk management report: Issue 862, 9 October 2009. Sanctions avoided over nuclear compromise – for now; Issue 848, 27 February 2009. US mulls the lessons of 30 years of containing Iran as it readies sticks and carrot; Issue 841, 21 November 2008. What to do about Iran: key appointments will point the way; Issue 840, 7 November 2008. GSN view: ‘Military action’ against Iran; Issue 800, 2 March 2007: Energy crises highlight policy chaos, need for nuclear power
| Perspectives: from the GSN archive |
Iran is the focus as Iraq builds heavy divisions and lines up procurement deals
Although the aftershocks of Iraq’s post-Saddam brush with state failure continue to be felt across the country, Iraqis are moving on to new concerns – including a growing apprehension about the actions of its powerful neighbours
Issue 882, 30 July 2010. more
Government targets oil self-sufficiency
Iran is aiming to become self-sufficient in oil within four years, oil minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi announced during the inaugural ceremony of Morvarid Petrochemical Complex and Pardis Petrochemical Company projects on 28 July.
Issue 882, 30 July 2010. more
Sanctions hit airliners, US targets gasoline
Underlining the impact of US-led campaigns on economic life in the Islamic Republic, BP has halted fuel supplies to Iranian airliners landing at any location following fresh US sanctions against the energy sector.
Issue 881, 16 July 2010. more
Russian trade continues amid growing tensions
Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko has ruled out reducing energy trade with Iran despite the sanctions imposed by the United Nations, United States and European Union.
Issue 881, 16 July 2010. more
Fresh sanctions squeeze Iranian market, but specialist banks continue to service key customers
UN and US sanctions are targeting the financial sector, but the few bankers still doing business with Iran seem determined to maintain trade finance flows
Issue 880, 2 July 2010. more
Bond issue for South Pars gas field
Iran appears to be making progress in funding its offshore South Pars gas field, after several major western players withdrew their expertise and financing from a number of project phases during 2010.
Issue 880, 2 July 2010. more
Risk management report
Struggling economy hit by new sanctions, but opposition continues to fade
Issue 880, 2 July 2010. more
Fresh sanctions loom, but Iran’s regime remains firmly entrenched
One year on from the mass protests which threatened to overthrow the regime, a new round of UN sanctions will attempt to tighten the screw on Iran’s stuttering economy, but so far President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has brutally seen off all challenges
Issue 879, 18 June 2010. more
Foreign firms publicly reported to have commercial activity in the oil, gas, or petrochemical sectors
With the United States lining up another round of sanctions in the face of Iran’s refusal to budge over its nuclear programme, a letter and documentation sent by the Government Accountability Office to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairman Joe Lieberman and Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security ranking member Jon Kyl has been doing the rounds. It records, from open source reports, the dealings of a number of global corporations with the Islamic Republic.
Issue 877, 21 May 2010. more
Fake surface-to-air missiles at Army Day parade point to growing paranoia in Tehran
Iran appears to be ramping up its campaign to convince western observers of its new level of air defence amid growing fears that a military strike – most likely from Israel – is not far off
Issue 876, 7 May 2010. more
Missile tests feature in Hormuz exercise
A three-day military exercise by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) ground, air and naval units, which began on 22 April, was intended to test a range of Iranian-built missiles and other equipment,
Issue 875, 23 April 2010. more
Esfahanis’ surprise Korean bid
Entekhab Industrial Group in mid-April was named as the buyer for Daewoo Electronics in a deal thought to be worth some $540m. Entekhab and Swedish firm Electrolux AB on 24 March were named top bidders for Daewoo Electronics, which is being sold by Woori Bank representing the South Korean firm’s creditors.
Issue 875, 23 April 2010. more
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