Recent Posts

Read comment and analysis on international affairs from Madain experts and guest writers.
September 28, 2023
Ronaldo’s visit to Iran was a temporary reprieve from the realities on the ground

Hezha Barzani From regularly playing in the world’s biggest matches in cities like Madrid for Real Madrid and Manchester for Manchester United, Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo found himself playing in an unfamiliar venue: Tehran. A statue of Cristiano Ronaldo wearing Al-Nassr shirt has been placed in the lobby of Espinas International Hotel that hosted

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September 21, 2023
The House passed the MAHSA Act. Now what?

Celeste Kmiotek, Lisandra Novo, and Gissou Nia Targeted human rights sanctions are, in short, a tool governments use to freeze the assets of and deny visas to those complicit in human rights violations. While they are generally intended to prompt offenders to change their behavior, they have additional effects. For example, preventing perpetrators from obtaining the tools needed to continue abuses

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September 20, 2023
Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi: ‘If we don’t unite—we won’t be able to topple the Islamic Republic’

Holly Dagres Nobel laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi is a renowned Iranian judge, lawyer, and champion of human rights. In 1975, she became the first female judge in Iran, but after the 1979 Islamic revolution, she was dismissed from the position for being a woman. Continuing her legal career as a lawyer, Ebadi worked to strengthen the

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September 11, 2023
If the West wants to support Iranian women, it must cut diplomatic ties with Tehran

Shadi Sadr The notorious morality police vans have returned to the streets of Iran—despite supposedly being suspended by Iranian authorities and being sanctioned by almost all Western countries—weeks before the anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s murder. On September 16, 2022, news broke of the death of a twenty-two-year-old Kurdish woman who had been forcibly taken

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August 31, 2023
Iran and targeted human rights sanctions update: Providing military equipment to Iran security forces and Russia

Celeste Kmiotek and Lisandra Novo Targeted human rights sanctions are, in short, a tool governments use to freeze the assets of and deny visas to those complicit in human rights violations. While they are generally intended to prompt offenders to change their behavior, they have additional effects. For example, preventing perpetrators from obtaining the tools needed to continue abuses and showing support for […]

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