Alex Vatanka

Alex Vatanka is the director of the Iran Program and a senior fellow at the Frontier Europe Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. His forthcoming book is The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran: The United States, Foreign Policy and Political Rivalry Since 1979.

Stories by Alex Vatanka

An unexploded BM-30 Smerch missile is seen on the outskirts of Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, on Oct. 12.

Tehran’s Worst Nightmare

Argument |

October 14, 2020, 10:31 AM

Pedestrians are reflected in a window displaying currency exchange rates in the Iranian capital Tehran on June 22.

The East Fails Iran

Argument |

June 24, 2020, 10:15 AM

Missiles are seen in front of a portrait of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at a war exhibition south of Tehran on Sept. 25, 2005.

Iran’s IRGC Has Long Kept Khamenei in Power

Argument |

October 29, 2019, 4:59 PM

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, shake hands during their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Feb. 19.

China’s Great Game in Iran

Argument |

September 5, 2019, 2:21 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures during a press conference in Tehran on Feb. 13. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran’s Zarif Can’t Catch a Break

Argument |

April 9, 2019, 3:35 PM

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