Website of Kourosh Ziabari, Iranian journalist and writer

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: It has been a tumultuous and restive week in Iran. The country has been gripped by consternation, and social media were inundated with angry reactions to yet another execution ordered by the judiciary. This time, the convict was Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler in the southwestern city of Shiraz who was charged with murdering a security guard during the 2018 protests in Iran against economic hardships and inflation. Pleas by global public figures such as celebrated artists, athletes and academicians, as well as international organizations, human-rights advocacy groups, sporting bodies and governments, to secure clemency for Afkari recast his case as a high-profile affair, grabbing the headlines of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: As US President Donald Trump’s administration tightens incremental sanctions on Iran to impair the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, derail its regional escapades and bring it back to the bargaining table, citizens of Iranian origin living overseas including expatriates and international students are collaterally feeling the sting of the punitive measures against their country of birth. The US sanctions regime against Iran is now a multi-layered, sophisticated constellation of embargoes expanded over time through numerous Congressional acts and executive orders by the US president. It targets any sort of trade and banking transaction with the beleaguered nation and extraterritoriality applies to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: September 11, 2001, was one of the darkest days in US history and a watershed moment in the global consciousness around the West’s relations with the Muslim world. The terror attack on that day, which The New York Times once called “one of the most audacious attacks ever against the United States,” sabotaged the notion of the impregnability of America and violated the honor of a nation envied by friends and foes for its economic strength, political stability, military might and technological supremacy. The images of the 9/11 attacks, seared into the national collective memory of Americans, immortalized by detailed chronicles of investigative journalists and documentary photographers, might...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Relations between Iran and the United States have followed a bumpy course since the 1979 revolution that set the stage for a metamorphosis of Iran’s foreign policy premised on the mantra of “neither Eastern, nor Western.” As the Islamic Republic gained more statecraft experience, that adage surrendered its sanctity, and it is now fine to be pro-Eastern, even though unexplained hostility toward what is geopolitically identified as the West, as a whole, remains in currency. Unlike the second term of Barack Obama as the US president, when Tehran and Washington made major strides toward resolving some of their many differences, culminating in the monumental Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is in the final year of his administration and speculation is rife about figures from across the political spectrum lining up to replace him before next year’s polls. Whether Rouhani’s successor will be a moderate like himself who will tread the tortuous path of reform in a conservative society or a hardliner who will radically transform the nation’s trajectory in the realms of economy, foreign policy, defense, security and its social outlook in a marked departure from Rouhani’s modus operandi is a valid question, but needs to be debated closer to the campaign season. What is of substance at this moment is critical scrutiny of President Rouhani’s...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: To Shia Muslims scattered across the world, the first month of the Islamic calendar, Muharram, is a fateful time. Whether they are young or old, Shiite adherents set in motion the preparations of the mourning ceremonies of Muharram at least a couple of months in advance, drape entire cities in black and gear up for commemorating the martyrdom of the third Shia Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad, who was killed by the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid in the Battle of Karbala on October 10, 680. The mourning rituals of Muharram are perhaps the most pronounced manifestations of the communal consciousness of Shiites, who currently make up around 15% of the global population of Muslims. Iran,...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: A tidal wave of shocking revelations made by Iranian women about their experiences with sexual abuse and harassment has overwhelmed social media platforms in recent days, as calls for busting taboos on speaking out about rape and abuse in a conservative society have given impetus to a Persian-language #MeToo moment. The names of several prominent Iranian artists, university professors, TV personalities and even parliamentarians and government officials are implicated in the new disclosures, and allegations are floating around public figures who were long presumed to be decent individuals. One of the first allegations was made by Sara Omatali, a former journalist and now an educator based in the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Over three years have passed since Mohammed bin Salman became the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. The challenges he has faced throughout this time have been too colossal for a 35-year-old leader to accommodate. Yet the prince has sought to give the impression of a strong social reformer. Indeed, some of the changes he has introduced will significantly transform the public image of Saudi Arabia and global attitudes toward the kingdom, at least in the long term. Under Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, Saudi Arabia has repealed a longstanding ban on women driving, allowed female singers to perform publicly, relaxed male guardianship laws on women, implemented employment...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Living in a highly connected world means people take pride in assets that were less relevant and charming 50 years ago. Today, social mobility, freedom of movement, connectivity and open borders are privileges that are cherished by the citizens of the 21st century. It is no longer possible for nation-states to erect walls of protectionism along their borders and preclude the flow of people and information. Even for a country like North Korea, which to many typifies isolation and autarky within the framework of a revolutionary Juche doctrine, foreign relations are critical, ensuring the survival of the nation in a hyper-connected, radically changed world. The Henley Passport Index, a global ranking...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Modern Iran, known as Persia until 1935, is the inheritor of a revered civilization, which according to some accounts is at least 7,000 years old. There is consensus among scholars that Iran boasts one of the most esteemed historical lineages of any modern state. The first Persian Empire was founded by the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC, and at its greatest extent under King Darius I, its territory stretched from the Aegean Sea and Libya to the Indus Valley. Iranians are credited with making seminal contributions to the sciences, culture and arts, contributions that are deplorably eclipsed by the plethora of unfavorable media coverage of Iran’s tumultuous politics and its poor relations with the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Iran’s official coronavirus death toll, which topped 20,000 on Monday, is under domestic scrutiny after a reformist newspaper was shuttered for suggesting the real toll was 20 times higher. On August 10, Iran’s Press Supervisory Board issued an order temporarily revoking the publishing license of the Jahan-e Sanat newspaper, which has been in print since 2004. The reason cited for the decision was an interview run by the paper the previous day titled “No Trust in the Government’s Statistics”, in which an epidemiologist alleged the real coronavirus fatality numbers could be at least 20 times higher than the government’s official tally. The official toll as of Monday was 20,643 deaths...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: The resounding “No” the United Nations Security Council gave last Friday to a US-led initiative to extend indefinitely an arms embargo against Iran set to expire on October 18 may for some time be a favorite topic for discussion in think-tanks, media and academic institutions thirsty for new developments in the course of Iran-US relations. However, there are ramifications to this episode that need to be spotlighted irrespective of the sensational hype about the “victory” of Iran and the “humiliation” of the United States. The fact that other than the Dominican Republic, no Security Council member, not even Washington’s staunch allies Britain, France and Germany (which abstained), sided...