Iran

"The Iranian-American community is hungry for all news and information coming out of Iran," Afshin Molavi told CNN on Tuesday in a telephone interview. Molavi was born in Iran but grew up in the West. He is affiliated with the New America Foundation, ...

After a day of nonviolent protests in Iran, seven Iranians died after anger boiled over and a gaggle of anti-Ahmadinejad activists threatened to set fire to the headquarters of the Basij, a notorious loyalist paramilitary that does the domestic dirty work of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The teenage Basijis are the acne-ridden thugs who savagely beat women who dare to violate the dress code imposed by Iran's supposedly Islamic regime, and they've long been a pillar of the country's quasi-fascist… more

Nicholas Schmidle discusses what President Obama should do in response to the recent Iranian riots and protests.  Link to audio

Nicholas Schmidle, fellow at the New America Foundation, comments on the dispute over the results of the recent Iranian presidential election. Link to audio

In a poll conducted three weeks before Iran's June 12 vote, our nonprofit organizations found a consensus among Iranians, including almost all of those who told us they would vote for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And that consensus is that Iranians want a truly democratic system.

Given Iranians' own priorities for their government, the events of the past few days may ultimately weaken President Ahmadinejad's standing -- even among those who did vote to re-elect him.

The next three to four weeks are "going to be crucial to the future of any potential US-Iran rapprochement," says Afshin Molavi, a fellow at the New America Foundation, in Washington. If the current tension leads to a kind of Tiananmen-style crackdown, ...

One poll prior to the election, conducted for the Center for Public Opinion and an arm of the New America Foundation, showed Ahmadinejad ahead by a 2-1 ratio. In a commentary for the Washington Post found on today's Inquirer oped page, ...

"You could get more of an impression of a horse race in Tehran," said Flynt Leverett of the New America Foundation, who said Ahmadinejad is a "really good campaigner" who blunted Mousavi's momentum in their final debate. "There are suspicious elements ...

However, one Western polling effort, by the Center for Public Opinion and New America Foundation, raises several interesting points and suggests that Ahmadinejad did in fact enjoy significant support, and was thus poised to win without fraud or other ...

The only independent public opinion survey, taken three weeks before the election by the New America Foundation and Terror Free Tomorrow, shows that the president could have won by the margin claimed. But Ken Ballen of Terror Free Tomorrow says there ...