As demonstrators take to the streets of Iran, Mark Summers talks to Iranian Dr Reza Molavi, of Durham University, about his interpretation of recent events in his homeland.

THE Islamic Republic of Iran was born 30 years ago after people took to the streets to call for the overthrow of the Western-backed Shah, who grandly styled himself “King of Kings”.

The Shah had been installed in 1953 in a CIA/MI6-engineered coup, after the country’s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, made the fatal mistake of nationalising the country’s oil industry, thus unleashing the wrath of Washington and London on his administration. Read the rest of this entry →

The situation in the direct neighbourhood of the European Union has come to a head in recent years. The Israeli-Arab and the intra-Palestinian conflict with the coup of Hamas in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the uncertain future of the statehood of Lebanon, the imminent disintegration of Iraq and the conflict on Iran’s nuclear programme: these different levels of conflict are not only interwoven, they also have regional, if not international impact. With the start of negotiations for an accession of Turkey to the European Union the hot spot Middle East has come closer to the EU.

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