What We’re Reading Now
Jun 16, 2011

IRAN

Ahmadinejad's Fall, America's Loss
Suzanne Maloney and Ray Takeyh, New York Times- June 15, 2011
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is being sidelined by religious fundamentalists, and it’s bad news for American officials seeking to halt Iran’s nuclear program. The same Iranian leader who dabbled in Holocaust denial and messianic fantasies was, paradoxically, also the theocracy’s most ardent advocate of direct nuclear negotiations with Washington. As Mr. Ahmadinejad falls out of favor with Iran’s hard-line religious leaders, the prospect of a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington is diminishing.

Iran To Step Up Uranium Enrichment
Voice of America- June 15, 2011
Despite multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to stop enriching uranium, the Iranian government has announced plans to triple its capacity to enrich uranium to 20 percent.

Iran Postulates First Nuclear Test
Jamsheed K. Choksy, Forbes- June 14, 2011
Media outlets and blogs in Israel, England, and the U.S. have responded with considerable incredulity to claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of sanguine reactions if Iran tests an atom bomb. The IRGC's scenario underscores an unfortunate reality, however.