Alex Vatanka

Alex Vatanka is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. His most recent book is The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran: The United States, Foreign Policy, and Political Rivalry Since 1979.

Baluchestan: Iran's Tragic Frontier

[caption id="attachment_55246456" align="alignnone" width="620"] An Iranian border guard looks through a pair of binoculars to monitor a border area…

Timeworn “Resistance”

[caption id="attachment_55245834" align="alignnone" width="620"] Major General Hassan Firoozabadi (C) salutes alongside other military commanders as…

The Great Game Continues

[caption id="attachment_55237835" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Two Afghan National Police keep watch on the outskirts of Herat, near the border…

Ahmadinejad’s Twin Challenges

[caption id="attachment_55239799" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles as he meets his Pakistani counterpart…

Problems in the Pipeline

[caption id="attachment_55241018" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Iranians work on a section of the Iran–Pakistan pipeline after the project was…

Ahmadinejad's About Face

[caption id="attachment_55242282" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (L) flash…

Tehran Seeks to Keep its Options Open

[caption id="attachment_55243379" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Egyptian protesters raise their shoes as they shout political and religious…

Khamenei’s Face-Saving Exercise

[caption id="attachment_55244469" align="alignnone" width="594"] A security officer walks past a portrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…

Heated Words, Cool Calculation

[caption id="attachment_55245208" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Iranian Revolutionary Guards march during a parade commemorating the thirty-first…