Columnist

Joseph Braude

Middle East specialist Joseph Braude is the author of Broadcasting Change: Arabic Media as a Catalyst for Liberalism (Rowman & Littlefield). He is Advisor to the Al-Mesbar Center for Research and Studies and tweets@josephbraude.

Latest Articles

  • By Joseph Braude

    Democrats and the Middle East

    Although the first Democratic primary debate is still two months away and the Iowa caucus nearly a year off, the main outlines of the Democratic party’s field are slowly coming into view. These periods in American politics — after the dust settles from the last election, but before primaries ar...

  • By Joseph Braude

    A Two-Year Probe into Russia-Trump Collusion Finds None

    In May 2017, the U.S. Attorney General’s office authorized a sweeping counterintelligence investigation into Russian government interference in the 2016 presidential election. At its heart was the charge, widely touted by opponents of President Trump, that the latter’s presidential campaign, an...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Iran Under Pressure From Multiple Vectors

    NEW ROUND OF US SANCTIONS TARGETS IRANIAN COMPANIES...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Washington Tightens Sanctions While Tehran Looks to Proxies for Aid

    As senior American officials warn of new sanctions, President Rouhani has dubbed the measures “a crime against humanity” and vowed to seek legal redress — while his peers in Tehran warn they may summon Shi’ite proxy militias to suppress unrest at home. US ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS WARN OF NEWS...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Hardliners Consolidate in Tehran, Face International Pushback in Bid to Evade Sanctions

    */ While Ayatollah Khamenei consolidates control of the Iranian judiciary for the hardline camp and President Rouhani visits Iraq, Israel and the UN expose Iranian maritime efforts to evade oil sanctions and cooperation with North Korean arms manufacturers. HARDLINER TIED TO MASS EXECUTIONS ...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Iranian Ties with Europe Suffer Amid Leadership Crisis and Diplomatic Row

    */ The past week saw a deepening of Iran’s international isolation, together with more fallout from tensions within the upper echelons of the Islamic Republic. Factional infighting prompted the leak of a 2018 speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in which he appeared to lower expectation...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Tehran Leadership: Erratic Behavior at Home, Aggression Abroad

    */ The Iranian government has been showing signs of discord in its senior ranks, with the attempted resignation of the popular foreign minister Javad Zarif over his exclusion from a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. At the same time, the Iranian military has taken an increasingly a...

  • By Joseph Braude

    Tehran Celebrates Four Decades of Revolution 

    As the fortieth anniversary of the Iranian revolution approached, American media and policymakers reflected on the continuing enmity between the U.S. and Tehran’s rulers. National Public Radio, for example, aired a retrospective on the 1953 CIA-backed coup against Iran’s elected prime minister,...

  • By Joseph Braude

    The U.S. and Europe Increasingly Aligned to Contain Iran

    Tensions between Iran and its Western opponents sharpened over the past week, between Iranian saber-rattling on the one hand and growing coordination among Western powers against Tehran on the other. The EU sounded the alarm over Iranian cyber espionage. The U.S. designated new Iranian proxy...

  • By Joseph Braude

    As Iran Sails West, the U.S. and Europe Close Ranks

      Iran sent new signals of military boldness this past week, while critics of the regime in the U.S. and Europe worked through their legal systems to pressure the Tehran leadership financially, with .prospects for trans-Atlantic unity against the regime inching forward The U.S. Navy Times ...

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Interviews
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Opinion

Iran’s Possible Covert Tactics
By Dennis Ross
Democrats, Republicans at Odds Over Gulf Tensions
By Joseph Braude
Iran Arouses Fear in the Arab Gulf
By Joseph Braude
Hezbollah-Iran Dynamics: A Proxy, Not a Partner
By Hanin Ghaddar
The Deal to End All Deals
By Dennis Ross
US Policy Towards Lebanon
By Elie Fawaz