SPECIAL SERIES: Analysts Urge Obama Not to Delay Action on Talks

In light of the Iranian presidential election coming in mid-2009 and the U.S. distaste for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President-elect Barack Obama is being advised to avoid any communication with Tehran until after Iranians vote next June.

SPECIAL SERIES: Iranian Leaders Debate Obama's Policy Freedom

Iranian national security officials and political leaders have been carrying out an internal debate over how much freedom President-elect Barack Obama will have to change U.S. policy toward Iran, and those who have argued that he will not be able to do so have gained the upper hand since Obama's announcement of his national security team, interviews with Iranian officials and their advisers reveal.

BOOKS: An Outside Insider Probes the Iranian Psyche

While in New York this fall for the U.N. General Assembly, conservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admitted to National Public Radio that he watches Western television: "Of course, I'm like the rest of the people. People like movies and shows."

POLITICS-US: Neocons Campaign to Preempt Iran Talks

Anticipating the ascendance of President-elect Barack Obama to the Oval Office, groups of hawks, among them neoconservatives, have begun to offer public advice on just exactly what the new administration should do to deal with Iran.

U.S.: Obama Urged to Quickly Engage Iran, Syria

The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should move quickly to engage Iran without preconditions and to promote an Israeli-Syrian peace accord, according to two veteran Middle East experts whose views are likely to have influence over Obama's just-announced foreign policy team.

TRADE: Report Sees Bonanza for U.S., Iran if Sanctions Scrapped

Think of it as a stimulus package without deficit spending: Were the United States to normalise trade relations with Iran and were the Islamic Republic to liberalise its economy, Washington could cut its fuel costs and add tens of billions of dollars to its economy, say U.S. exporters.

U.S.: Obama Advised to Forgo More Threats to Iran

A strategy of threats and "provocations" against Iran by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to be counter-productive, according to a new report released here Friday by a group of 20 former top U.S. diplomats and regional experts.

POLITICS: U.S. Task Force Found Few Iranian Arms in Iraq

Last April, top George W. Bush administration officials, desperate to exploit any possible crack in the close relationship between the Nouri al-Maliki government and Iran, launched a new round of charges that Iran had stepped up covert arms assistance to Shi'a militias.

POLITICS-US: Pundits Debate the Inevitability of a Nuclear Iran

It wasn't U.S. relations with an Arab country on the tips of many tongues at this year's National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations meeting in the last week of October. Rather, much of the focus was on the Arab Middle East's ethnic Persian neighbour to the east: Iran.

POLITICS-US: Top Obama Advisor Has Long Ties to Neocons

With the 2008 presidential campaign at its end, pundits have begun to discuss in earnest what expected winner Barack Obama's administration might look like. An important piece of evidence is Obama's campaign team, which largely escaped the harsh scrutiny that his opponent's lobbyist-laden team received.

POLITICS-US: Two, Three, Many Grand Bargains?

As the United States waded ever deeper into the Indochinese quagmire in the early 1960s, the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara called for "two, three, many Vietnams" to bog down the superpower in unwinnable Third World conflicts that would drain its treasury and overstretch its military.

U.S.: Iran Resolution Shelved in Rare Defeat for “Israel Lobby”

In a significant and highly unusual defeat for the so-called "Israel Lobby", the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives has decided to shelve a long-pending, albeit non-binding, resolution that called for President George W. Bush to launch what critics called a blockade against Iran.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Open to U.S. Talks, Denounces Threats

At a press conference following his speech to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would welcome discussions with the U.S. presidential candidates, but added that "the condition is that our meeting should be open so that all media know what happens."

IRAN: Activists Spotlight Rights Abuses on Eve of U.N. Meet

A day before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses world leaders at the United Nations, human rights activists criticised his government's record and urged the international community to hold the president accountable during his visit to New York.

POLITICS: Iranians Hope for Temperate President at the U.N.

When Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends the 63rd session of the General Assembly next week in New York, many Iranian academics and political activists hope he will avoid the kinds of controversial statements that have hurt Iran's international image since he was elected to the office in 2005.

US/MIDEAST: Obama Advisor Stresses Carrots Over Sticks

Dr. Susan Rice, senior foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, says the U.S. would make every effort to avoid resorting to a military attack on Iran under an Obama administration.

POLITICS: Iran Could Reap Benefits of U.S.-Russian Tensions

Iran could emerge as a big winner, at least in the short term, from the rapidly escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's intervention in Georgia, according to analysts here.

Q&A: A Holiday in Iran

When Michelle May, an avid traveler, returned to New York's John F. Kennedy airport after a seven-week trip to Iran this summer, she says she was closely questioned and her luggage searched after officials read on her customs card that she had been to the Islamic Republic.

IRAQ: U.S. Officials Admit Worry over a ‘Difficult’ al-Maliki

U.S. officials privately admit being concerned that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has become "overconfident" about his government’s ability to manage without U.S. combat troops, according to an Iraq analyst who just returned from a trip to Iraq arranged by U.S. commander General David Petraeus.

US/IRAN: Nothing Behind U.S. Allegations?

While the United States has repeatedly accused Iran of providing lethal weapons to Shiite militias, last week, U.S. officials once again failed to provide solid evidence for this charge, raising questions about the actual level of Iran’s meddling in Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Success of Attack on Iran's Nuclear Programme Doubtful

A military attack on Iran's major nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel would likely result only in a delay - and not a particularly significant one at that - in Tehran's ability to produce the fuel necessary to build a nuclear weapon, according to a report released here Friday by an influential think tank on nuclear proliferation issues.