I hope the 26 vessels aren’t like the ones in the photo. Or maybe I do

“Embodying this populist current, between 2005 and 2013 Ahmadinejad presided over a DOGE-like process of dismantling the regulatory apparatus.” Ahmadinejad’s presidency features quite centrally in my understanding of how Iran has changed in the past 30 years.

Ahmadinejad?!? Mossad are fools as well as criminals

See the MESA Board's letter concerning attacks on higher education across the Middle East, especially in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The full letter is available on our website.

A map is never neutral. Richard Harrison’s 1940 “oil drop projection” showed the world as Standard Oil executives saw it: Texas, Venezuela and Aruba at the centre, less profitable regions pushed to the margins. Cartography as corporate worldview. Beautiful and brutal. Source:

Interesting piece on the ways Iran is adapting its oil / gas mix in response to the US blockade

Well done to Sky news for covering the killing of hundreds of children in Minab in Iran by US bombs, never forget this war crime news.sky.com/video/on-the...

The militarism of tyrannical blowhards can't bend geography & politics to its will. @keshavarziana.bsky.social explains why the US & Israel's attack on Iran reinforces the need for multilateralism and courage from countries affected by this effort to collapse the Iranian state. bit.ly/4vd09Cr

I had a lovely conversation with Scott Stoneman about politics Iran, the war, and the geopolitical fantasies about the Gulf. He is a careful reader and thoughtful interlocutor youtu.be/_J2uJVb-lNw?...

I had a lovely conversation with Scott Stoneman about politics Iran, the war, and the geopolitical fantasies about the Gulf. He is a careful reader and thoughtful interlocutor youtu.be/_J2uJVb-lNw?...

A great rebuttal to NYU’s attack on FSJP and anti-Zionist Jewish students and faculty at NYU

As you can see, Arab Israelis enjoy full equalities, they even serve as public prosecutors

Last week I had a conversation with Green Planet Monitor and tried to emphasize that while true, we need to move beyond the point that Iran has defeated the U.S. strategically. Only then can we get a fuller political picture of what is unfolding in Iran

“Iranian democrats who were ‘against the war’ desire regime change no less fervently than those who petitioned Trump to attack. The difference is that they want Iranians, not foreigners, to do the job.” —Christopher de Bellaigue

It is interesting that this coverage is now normalized in establishment press. 5 months too late, if not 2 years too late

“Put it on Zionists to come up with a version of their project that does not require dispossessing some other people…I think that's the conversation we should be moving towards, not whether or not there's an acceptable form of criticizing Israel or Zionism.”

“Put it on Zionists to come up with a version of their project that does not require dispossessing some other people…I think that's the conversation we should be moving towards, not whether or not there's an acceptable form of criticizing Israel or Zionism.”

Thank you to all who participated, collaborated, and attended the Spring 2026 Events of the Iranian Studies Initiative! Did you miss these events? Watch the recording on our Youtube channel now! buff.ly/mq6PEis

Help MERIP win an extra $500 for receiving the most individual donors between 2 and 3pm today as part of the Delco Gives Fundraising Campaign! Let’s keep MERIP free! Thank you to our readers & supporters. buff.ly/uQL4V2a

On the limits of pipelines -- "There is no technical fix to the consequences of this war of choice and aggression. Only a lasting peace, and substantive Palestinian (and Lebanese, and Syrian) sovereignty, can achieve any kind of security worth the name."

I'm rooting for PSG, cause I've learned my lesson about depending on Bayern and Harry Kane in a UCL final

States make wars; wars make states

This is a good interview with Kristin Smith on challenges facing GCC leadership

Brentford gave us Frank, so they owe us at least a victory against West Ham #COYS

And another funny dynamic will be if (when?) Trump bans oil exports from the U.S.

It would be funny if Iran says that only oil tankers from OPEC countries can cross the Strait of Hormuz

Goes against the dire warnings predicted by Trump and his cabinet or the think tanks like the foundation for defense of democracy (FDD)

An important issue with great contributors

Kerr on the War in Lebanon and Iran. Great point guard, basketball coach, and person www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...

It is good to see that assassination attempts being condemned. In the Middle East, including last summer and since February 28, it doesn’t seem most commentators have problems with it

Those wanting to learn more about Amal Khalil, the Lebanese journalist Israel assassinated while covering its war crimes in south Lebanon, should check out this January 2026 interview @thepublicsource.bsky.social conducted w/ Amal about her militant journalism. thepublicsource.org/amal-khalil-...

I get lots of questions about “the diaspora” I try to redirect it away from the millions of Iranians living in North America and Europe and instead towards the political and media organizations outside of Iran. This article does a good job of centering organizations and alliances

This is a brilliant work of history and political economic analysis. A must read!

A very good piece by Marc Lynch @abuaardvark.bsky.social . So glad that he takes on the silly Iran as 4th world power stuff that some on left and right parrot

The pro-Monarchist Iran international puts out a story that Iranian negotiators are divided, the Economist picks up the story, & now Axios calls it “warring factions.” This is at best an exaggeration (and maybe fabrication) designed as an alibi for the U.S. who is bungling any hope of negotiations

Critics of the U.S. foreign policy used to chant “no war for oil”, now Washington screams “oil is a weapon” and wields it against any and all

"While the US military says it has turned around over 20 vessels and ‘completely halted’ Iranian trade, Lloyd’s List Intelligence shows a steady flow of shadow fleet traffic in and out of the Middle East Gulf."

If you are confused and tired of Trump’s erratic messaging and crude jawboning, then it is good to know that oil traders and hedge funds are also caught flat footed

Don't miss the next Gallatin Human Rights Initiative panel: Law, Authoritarianism and Dissent: The Death of the Global System of Law and Governance? 📆 Apr. 21, 2026 | 6 PM 🎤 Ralph Wilde 📍 Ettinghausen Library 🎟️ Open to public with registration 🖇️ buff.ly/wtCzzue

Here's another nugget. Read @justinsalhani.bsky.social's March 2024 report on Israel's use of White Phosphorus in south Lebanon www.aljazeera.com/features/lon... The map is similar to the IDF's declared "Forward Defense Zone" in April 2026, two years later

If insurance rates and shipping companies closed the strait of Hormuz, then they will ultimately have to open it. Not politicians on social media or stock prices

If insurance rates and shipping companies closed the strait of Hormuz, then they will ultimately have to open it. Not politicians on social media or stock prices

All of Trump’s statements about the agreement, Strait, nuclear enriching, Lebanon, etc… seem to be primarily aimed as manipulating markets — it is Friday

We’ve raised over $3,000 so far from 49 donors! Who is gonna be number 50?

To engage with the themes of the Archives in Dialogue webinars, we invite practitioners to develop archival activation. One such archival activation was created by Sundus Abdul Hadi, an Iraqi-Canadian multimedia artist and author.

Ahmed's arrest and prosecution are happening against a renewed drive of mass denaturalisation, temporarily paused because of the Iranian strikes on Kuwait. Over 50,000 Kuwaitis have been denaturalised, rendering them not only stateless but incapable of cross-border movement. 1/

Blockades are blunt instruments : MarineTraffic reports that a tanker with oil from the UAE and heading to China was turned away by the U.S. blockade and could not exit the Persian Gulf

“It would be a mistake to treat the Gulf as politically homogeneous. The war has clearly shown the weight of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but it has not eliminated the different calculations of other Gulf states.” —Adam Hanieh, interviewed by Nawal Arjini

Add to this review of war damage to Iran’s industrial base the over 10 million jobs undermined by the internet shutdown to get a sense of the enormous challenges facing Iranians in addition to the looming threat of war and loss of life and home