Sherwin Salar

Us-Iran relations have recently been plagued with numerous reports of dangerously hawkish rhetoric which are serving as catalysts in the advancement of the current spiral conflict. This month, Iran celebrated the successful launch of a rocket into space; however, the rocket, named Kavoshgar, is merely preparation for the launch of a permanent satellite in the near future. Now that this rocket has successfully transmitted data back to earth after reaching orbit, many reports now say that Iran should be placed among the top 11 nations that enjoy such advanced space technology. Still, Iran's triumph was not greeted with tribute and honor by the United States and some of its allies. Iran was actually heavily rebuked; Washington reacted by saying Tehran's rocket test was "unfortunate," and that it was another step in Iran's weapons development program although these are allegations that Tehran has strongly denied. Such instances of harsh rhetoric have resulted in a spiral of negative language back and forth between the two capitals. Most recently, in what can be considered a counter-rhetorical stab, Head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Ali Jafari claimed that "In the near future, we will witness the destruction of Israel, the aggressor, this cancerous microbe Israel, at the able hands of the soldiers of the community of Hezbollah." Although these comments were not made directly in response to any particular comment made by a United States official, the tort is still legitimized by similarly offensive remarks made by both Israeli and American officials on other issues. This sort of language from both sides is only serving to give efficacy to the suggested policies of extremists in Iran and warmongers in the United States. It has been proven time and time again that domestic extremism breeds more extremism abroad, and it appears like the United States and Iran are fueling each others' fires.

Michael Jalileyan

On February 22nd, the International Atomic Energy Agency released its latest report.
The report noted increased efforts on the part of Iran toward clarifying the extent of its nuclear enrichment program. "Iran has provided the Agency with access to declared nuclear material and has provided the required nuclear material accountancy reports in connection with declared nuclear material and activities." Although the agency states that it has not able to fully resolve all issues related to the nature of its nuclear program, neither was it able to show clear and convincing evidence that Iran has been engaged in the development of nuclear weapons technology.