More in ‘Iran’

President Barack Obama’s point-man for his latest approach to the Muslim world is John Brennan, the White House’s counterterrorism czar, recently described by the Washington Post as one of the president’s most trusted advisers. Two weeks ago Brennan explained to a Washington audience that “we need to try to build up the more moderate elements” ...

And now for something somewhat slightly different: A top general in Iran’s increasingly prominent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was reportedly assassinated on May 16 in Damascus. It is not clear by whom. His death had been known, but Syrian authorities described him as a businessman killed in the course of a robbery. According to Debka ...

Here’s the basic summary of what has been happening, with a hat-tip to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius: At the beginning of the week, Turkey and Brazil cut a deal with Iran involving a swap of unenriched uranium in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium. The deal, in fact, is quite similar to one offered ...

According to a new article in Time, the next conflict between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah will be even more destructive than the last one, in 2006.
One reason why is that Israel had pledged to treat the state of Lebanon as the enemy next time around, even if it is technically Hezbollah that is doing ...

The dust has settled in Britain: The government is a Conservative-led coalition with the Liberal Democrats; the prime minister is Tory leader David Cameron; most of the other influential ministries are also Conservative; Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is deputy prime minister; the Labour Party is the loyal opposition.
According to Tablet Magazine’s Larry Miller, Israel’s ...

The latest front in the cold war between the United States and Iran is in a place about as far away from Iran as can be: Los Angeles. The Islamic Republic has accused the United States of providing sanctuary in L.A. to a group, called Tondar (which is Farsi for “Thunder,”) that plots and executes ...

Yesterday, with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “dominating” the first day of a United Nations conference on nuclear arms reduction just a few blocks up the street, three experts on the Iranian president’s ambitions—including Elliott Abrams, the influential Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush foreign policy adviser recently profiled by Tablet Magazine—took the stage at Yeshiva University’s Stern ...

• Sara Hurwitz, the first female Orthodox rabbi—or “rabba”—has become the center of a growing schism over women’s roles in the movement. [WSJ]
• Move over Mamma Mia! A school for religious musicians will open in Israel and is already considering a “rock opera based on the life story of Rabbi Nachman from Breslev.” [Ynet]
• The ...

• Iran announced plans to hold military exercises for three days in the Strait of Hormuz starting tomorrow. A representative claimed that their aim is security and that “This war game is not a threat for any friendly countries.” [Reuters]
• How will Hungary’s government emerge from its current election, in which “campaigning has been overshadowed ...

• European tourists stranded in Israel by the volcanic ash cloud had “an opportunity to witness the most Israeli day of the year—Memorial Day.” [Ynet]
• For former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, however, being stuck in Jerusalem is a disruption to his schedule of campaigning for his successor Gordon Brown. [AFP]
• Israeli Defense Minister Ehud ...