The United States has launched a web-based “embassy” in both English and Farsi in what observers have called "a bid to promote dialogue with the Iranian people in the absence of formal diplomatic ties." The ...

Herman Cain has released his "Vision for Foreign Policy and National Security," detailing his assessment of "key country relations" throughout the globe. He comments on several Middle Eastern countries, including Libya, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Egypt, ...

According to Radio Zamaneh, prison authorities have agreed to keep political prisoners in a separate ward after a six-day hunger strike. Four of the prisoners, including Mohammad Moradi, Vali Doroodi, Ali Salehi and Omar Emami, are suspected to have participated in a Kurdish political party and ...

Today, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) released its 489-page report "investigating and reporting on the events that took place in Bahrain from February 2011, and the consequences of those events."  The BICI was formed on July ...

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, "Iranian authorities should stop misrepresenting their human rights record in order to deflect international criticism and justify widely reported illegal detentions." The statement came after Mohammad Javad Larijani, a top ...

Last Thursday's Republican presidential debate focused for the first time on foreign policy and national security related questions. The eight candidates sparred over numerous questions in which presidential candidate John Huntsman decried his fellow candidates' stances as "sound bite ...

Bahrain officials have uncovered a terrorist cell plotting attacks against several vital sites inside Bahrain. General Tareq al-Hasan said on Saturday four members were detained in Qatar, and were being sent to Bahrain as a fifth suspect was arrested in ...

Speaking at a National Democratic Institute dinner honoring activists for democracy and human rights, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed foreign policy in the wake of the Arab Spring. Clinton suggested that "the greatest single source of instability in today’s ...

Three reformist parties in Iran have been banned by the Iranian election office from participating in the upcoming legislative polls. The Islamic Participation Front, Islamic Revolution Mujahideen Organization, and Freedom Movement of Iran were barred from participating because they ...

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi traveled to Benghazi to meet with Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Keib and other members of the TNC. The parties planned to discuss expansion of bilateral relations, and Salehi suggested that ...

According to an article in Al Arabiya by Mustapha Ajbaili, the United States and Iran have held "back-channel" meetings to discuss "ways to prevent Syria from descending into bloody chaos should the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad collapse," citing the ...

In her first Persian-language media interviews with VOA Persian and BBC Persian , Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the United States is developing a "virtual" Iranian embassy to "reach out particularly to students and encourage that ...

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran claimed, "There are no political prisoners in Iran." Regarding those arrested after the 2009 elections, Ahmadinejad said that "some people who were arrested after the ...

Thousands of security forces spread out across the suburbs of Damascus, including Zamalka and Saqba, in search of regime opponents as five people were killed in the raids and dozens arrested.The Local Coordination Committes (LCC) said arrests were also carried out ...

On Wednesday 7/27, the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee held a markup session and voted to pass the 2012 State and Foreign Operations Appropirations Bill, as is, to the full committee. The bill would provide $39.6 billion ...

A senior Iranian legislator announced that parliament would soon demand the judiciary to lodge a complaint against Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran who published his first report ...

Twenty-one Iranian filmmakers and actors living outside of Iran signed a statement that asked the international community to boycott official Iranian film and television organizations and impose sanctions on Iranian media officials. The statement criticizes Iranian government and ...

According to Barbara Slavin, a forthcoming U.N. report set for publishing later this week condemns the Iranian regime for wide-ranging human right abuses, including the secret killings of hundreds of prisoners under mysterious circumstances. Ahmed Shaheed, the new ...

Josh Rogin writes in Foreign Policy  that the Obama administration is "asking countries around the world to stop letting Iranian leaders stop by for official visits," and to tighten sanctions and pressure on Iran. Undersecretary of State for Political ...