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Iran | Iraq/Iran/Gulf
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Iran's proud history, vast energy reserves, and key geopolitical position — bordering Afghanistan and Iraq, abutting the Caspian Sea and stretching down into the Persian Gulf — combine to make it a formidable force in the Middle East. Emerging from the deep freeze of the 1980s, Iran's relations with the international community were much improved in the 1990s, with reform-minded President Khatami's 1997 election and 2002 re-election raising hopes of a fundamental change in domestic Iranian politics. These hopes remain, as yet, unfulfilled. In 2004, the role of the clerical Guardian Council in rejecting reformist candidacies for parliamentary elections led to a conservative victory in the face of reformist protests. In June 2005 hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, running on a platform of economic populism, was elected president, and shortly thereafter, in August 2005, nuclear negotiations between Iran and the EU3 collapsed. Ahmadi-Nejad’s belligerent anti-Israel remarks and confrontational tone have further undermined international suspicions that Iran’s nuclear intentions are not entirely peaceful. In January 2006, Iran resumed nuclear research and development — including enrichment. As the U.S., EU, Russia and China debate this issue at the UN Security Council, Iran must weigh the value of nuclear independence against global isolation.

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Recent reports & briefings