Website of Kourosh Ziabari, award-winning journalist and reporter

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: For four decades, relations between Iran and the United States have been marked by misunderstandings, tensions and enmity. The two countries seem to find it impossible to settle their differences and engage with each other on a basis of mutual respect. Reckless decisions by the leaders of the two nations and fiery, hostile rhetoric from each side have added to the differences and widened the gap between Washington and Tehran. Perhaps the most promising development following the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the signing of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, technically known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was a solid, concrete resolution for one of the major sticking points in the...

Youth Time: Youth Time International Movement is officially opening the application call for Participants and Project Presenters for its fifth annual Youth Global Forum. Don’t miss the opportunity to spend an exciting week in one of Europe’s tech hubs, the city of Amsterdam, and gain invaluable new skills, knowledge and experiences that will serve as a solid foundation for your future entrepreneurial & professional endeavors. Project Presenters will also compete for the Youth Time Idea Grant (10.000 EUR), fully funded scholarships to study in leading business schools in Europe and South-East Asia, and paid internship. The event will take place in Amsterdam, from December 2nd - 6th with over 100 participants,...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Iran and India have traditionally maintained cordial relations, counting on each other as major security partners. Bonds between the two Non-Aligned Movement heavyweights have strengthened ever since the 1990s when they supported the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan against the Taliban regime. In 2003, they announced the establishment of a “strategic partnership” and have subsequently cooperated on energy, trade, counterterrorism, defense and intelligence operations. It was after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — aka the Iran nuclear deal — that Tehran multiplied its oil exports to the Indian subcontinent and became New Delhi’s second biggest oil supplier. According to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Four decades after Iran and the United States severed diplomatic relations, tensions are running higher than at any point in the 21st century. US President Donald Trump, who has constructed a foreign policy around his “America First” mantra, having abandoned multilateralism and making democracy and human rights a global priority, has been exerting an unprecedented amount of pressure on Iran since coming to power. Key people in formulating President Trump’s foreign policy, namely Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his national security adviser, John Bolton, have shown belligerence toward Iran previously by throwing weight behind the exiled Iranian group, Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), championing regime...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Islamophobia can be seen in a variety of ways. As a form of intolerance and discrimination, it risks affecting relations between Muslims and non-Muslims and undermining social cohesion. In 2018, the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims made history by devising the first working definition of Islamophobia in the UK. The group noted in its report that “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” Tell MAMA, an organization that tracks anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, recorded a total of 685 racially-aggravated incidents between January and June 2018. The report found that 58% of victims were women. Hate...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Interfaith dialogue is a necessity in our age. In a world suffering from armed conflicts, diplomatic standoffs and trade wars, cooperative and constructive interaction between people of different religious traditions is fundamental to solidifying peace and stability, and stemming racism, xenophobia, radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism. Interreligious dialogue is about encounters — it drives respect, mutual understanding and appreciation for common values. Interfaith dialogue helps debunk the myths and eradicate the stereotypes about religion that politicians abuse to further their (often populist) agendas. The 1893 Parliament of World Religions at the World’s Columbian Exposition...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Those who follow international news come across mentions of Iran almost constantly. Over the past two decades, the regime in Tehran has been in the headlines for its controversial nuclear program, its muddled relations with the West — and the United States in particular — and its contentious regional policies. The 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed between Iran and six world powers, was a historic turning point in Tehran’s relations with the international community. The national economy was revived by the lifting of the draconian economic sanctions and the following spike in foreign investment. The tourism industry was invigorated by the influx of European...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Although Iran and the United States never managed to solve their many differences fully following the 1979 revolution in Iran, their relations seem to have hit an all-time low under President Donald Trump. The US president’s withdrawal from the internationally-recognized Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, and his subsequent imposition of harsh economic sanctions on Iran, rendered ineffective all the achievements that were made under President Barack Obama in pursuing a diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic. Iranian and US military officials are exchanging threats these days and observers are concerned that the provocative rhetoric by the two sides may lead to...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Relations between Iran and the United States have become increasingly tense in the recent weeks, as some observers have warned the two countries are on the cusp of a military confrontation. Statements by Iranian and American officials point to a worrying rise of tensions and escalation of hostilities. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has likened the situation of the country to the gloomy days of war with Iraq (1980-1988) when Saddam Hussein’s army invaded different Iranian cities and Iran had to defend itself with empty hands under the weight of the global arms embargo, which made it unable to purchase advanced weaponry to use in the conflict. The Trump administration has used different options at its...

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: US President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday night to threaten Tehran: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.” The statement came two weeks after the US deployed an aircraft carrier to the region, and just over a month after the Trump administration blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity. Despite a cooling of Persian Gulf tensions in recent days, the US president’s antagonism towards Iran has not dwindled and his administration seems to be determined to chip away at the Islamic Republic at any cost. In May 2018, President Trump ruffled feathers in Tehran by withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement endorsed by the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The Nobel Prize, the most prestigious in life sciences, is awarded annually to individuals who have made the most notable contributions to the fields of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. Since Alfred Nobel founded the eponymous prize with the money he made from his numerous inventions, which famously included dynamite, in 1859, one of the world’s most respected awards was born and has been annually celebrating outstanding achievements, innovations and discoveries in culture, academia and sciences and major contributions to global peace ever since. The prize in economics was introduced in 1968 by Sveriges Riksbank to commemorate the inventor on the bank’s 300-year...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Foreign policy decisions made by US President Donald Trump have been widely criticized both by his opponents and his own party. Commentators are struggling to make sense of many of his actions, including upending international agreements of which the United States has been an integral part for decades. President Trump’s overhaul of America’s foreign policy seems to stem from a perception by the current administration for a need to transform how the United States conducts itself abroad. As Jeanne Morefield writes in the Boston Review, Trump’s foreign policy reflects “like a funhouse mirror, a twisted image of U.S. imperialism.” His speeches are a far cry from the eloquence of Barack Obama...