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 Iranian woman walks past banners of ultraconservative cleric and presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, Iran, on June 17.

Khamenei Wants a Nuclear Deal Before Rouhani Leaves

Argument |

June 17, 2021, 4:09 PM

Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and Emirati Presidential Advisor Anwar Gargash hold a press conference after meeting in the western Cypriot city of Paphos, on April 16.

Iran’s Biggest Problem Is Water

Argument |

May 24, 2021, 4:32 PM

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

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