74
votes
Accepted
What do those Iranians who say "Death to America!" mean by it?
"Death to <whatever>" is to some extent one of those ritualised phrases whose actual meaning is separate from the literal meaning of the phrase. It is a statement of disapproval that ...
- 7,470
71
votes
Accepted
Why is Former President Trump criticized for leaving the Iran Deal and his 'Maximum Pressure' campaign?
Regardless of the pros and cons of Trump leaving the agreement for, valid or not, issues with JCPOA, this is eroding international trust in the US's capacity to agree to something and then to stick to ...
62
votes
What threat, if any, does Iran really pose to the US?
They don't need to be able to strike the US mainland directly. All they need to do is go to war with allies of the US in the region, and they have ample allies to hide behind
Iran says it is not ...
- 45.6k
56
votes
Accepted
How does one buy a burnable American flag in Tehran?
It's kinda funny that after seeing your post, I searched a lot and I finally found the source of those US flags in Iran. Guess what? They are completely produced in Iran just for the purpose of ...
- 2,092
51
votes
The reason behind the contradictory behavior of US political parties toward Islamic Republic of Iran
The issue is the mis-characterization of Obama as "very friendly".
The fact that a country signs a treaty with other does not mean that they are "friends" per se. Obama (together with 4 other parties)...
- 31.2k
51
votes
What threat, if any, does Iran really pose to the US?
Iran doesn't pose any threat to the US or its allies. The US, Israel and some of the Gulf countries see Iran as a threat because Iran is supporting certain militant groups that can pose a threat in ...
- 4,719
51
votes
Accepted
Is Iran considered a democracy by the Western world?
It's difficult to answer this in a comprehensive fashion, but generally I think the answer is (a qualified) 'no'.
E.g. Freedom House:
The Islamic Republic of Iran holds elections regularly, but they ...
- 144k
49
votes
Why do the US media keep claiming that Iran is violating their nuclear deal even though the deal was withdrawn by the US?
The deal was not only between the USA and Iran, as other countries and the EU were signatories:
China
France
Germany
European Union
Russia
United Kingdom
The situation with those signatories is ...
- 31.2k
48
votes
Why is Former President Trump criticized for leaving the Iran Deal and his 'Maximum Pressure' campaign?
(This is mostly a repost of my answer to the now deleted question.)
Iranian President Rouhani is a moderate (by Iranian standards) who took a risk signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
46
votes
Accepted
Why has Pakistan never faced the wrath of the USA similar to other countries in the region, especially Iran?
The US relationship with Pakistan is complicated, but for decades it was viewed as an ally. In the 1970's and 80's, India was somewhat friendly towards the Soviet Union (while remaining nonaligned). ...
- 770
44
votes
Accepted
Why is Japan trying to have a better relationship with Iran?
The U.S. is likely to become less involved in the Middle East and Asia. Japan will need to secure oil supplies.
Peter Zeihan has given many speeches over the last decade about how demographics and ...
- 6,812
40
votes
Why was Qasem Soleimani in Iraq?
Soleimani was killed together with the leaders of some Iranian-backed Shia militias, who themselves have been accused of attacking US targets in Iraq, in particular Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis:
He was ...
- 144k
31
votes
Why do the US media keep claiming that Iran is violating their nuclear deal even though the deal was withdrawn by the US?
American media is, unsurprisingly, biased with a pro-American viewpoint. Thus, we see that Trump "withdraws" from the agreement where Iran "violates" the agreement. In fact, it is more correct to say ...
- 2,689
30
votes
Why haven't the sanctions relief improved Iranians living conditions?
Sanctions relief and sanctions being in action, didn't have any direct connection with our lives in Iran.
See the government is shadowed by another government (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - ...
- 425
29
votes
Accepted
Does Iran sponsor terrorists?
"Terrorist" as already suggested is thrown around a lot nowadays. One party may consider a group to be terrorist while some other party might view them as revolutionaries or Freedom fighters....
- 1,469
29
votes
Accepted
Why is Iraq's decision to expel US troops non-binding?
I'm not sure there is a clear answer to this. US forces currently in Iraq aren't there as part of a formal agreement of any sort. They are there 'informally' at the invitation of the Iraqi government. ...
- 7,470
29
votes
What is/has been the obstruction to resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal exactly as it was agreed under the Obama administration?
According to media reports, there are a few major sticking points.
First, the US has done things that it considers unrelated to the deal and is unwilling to reverse. In particular, it designated the ...
- 13.8k
28
votes
Can Iran sue US for the coup or its results?
Short Answer
No.
Obviously, anyone can bring a lawsuit at any time on any theory, but such as lawsuit would be dismissed early on in any of the forums in which it could be brought. It does not ...
- 73k
27
votes
Why is Iran buying passenger jets from USA and EU?
This is a matter of economics, not politics: nobody else makes large passenger jets. Antonov's largest seats 99 passengers, Embraer's seats 132, and UAC's seats 145. That's the same size as a small ...
- 4,863
27
votes
Accepted
Have US anti-ballistic-missile capabilities been used and were they effective in countering the recent Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq?
It doesn’t seem so. Citing an unnamed US official, the LA Times reports that no attempt was made to intercept the missiles and those that did not fail during flight did hit the base. The lack of ...
- 25.9k
26
votes
Who was General Qasem Soleimani, and why was he targeted by the US?
According to the BBC:
The 62-year old [general] spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East as head of Iran's elite Quds Force. [...] Under his leadership, Iran had bolstered Hezbollah ...
- 144k
26
votes
Have US anti-ballistic-missile capabilities been used and were they effective in countering the recent Iranian missile strike on US bases in Iraq?
There were none located in those places.
Those paragraphs from Foxnews explain: (emphasis mine)
U.S. defense officials told Fox News the U.S. military did not attempt to shoot down the ballistic ...
- 5,359
26
votes
Why has Pakistan never faced the wrath of the USA similar to other countries in the region, especially Iran?
To quote UK Essays. (November 2018). Geopolitical Position Of Pakistan History Essay, " Pakistan has a significant geopolitical position as it is situated in a region that is of high grandness ...
- 1,633
26
votes
What do those Iranians who say "Death to America!" mean by it?
What they mean by "death to" is basically "screw you" or "screw that."
When the Matt Damon character in Good Will Hunting explains why he chose what seemed to be the most ...
- 20.8k
25
votes
Why are most US news programs silent about Iran-Saudi deal announced at Beijing on March 10th?
I think this gets a bit more oversold in China, relative to the US, that's why you're so surprised. Coverage does exist, at least in [digital] "print", sometimes actually quite laudatory of ...
- 144k
24
votes
Accepted
Why was Qasem Soleimani in Iraq?
According to this BBC article Soleimani was in Iraq to meet the Iraqi Prime Minister:
The Iraqi prime minister revealed he had been due to meet Soleimani on Friday, the day he was killed along with ...
- 946
23
votes
Why is the Iran regime so obsessed with Salman Rushdie?
wrod's answer is interesting, but I was looking for a more political explanation. Apparently Khomeini didn't issue the fatwah until 6 months after the book was published, when there were riots in ...
- 144k
21
votes
Accepted
Why does the U.S. still consider Iran an enemy and not a potential partner?
Iran's foreign policy frequently conflicts with US goals and values. There are several grievances that cause the US to view Iran adversarially, including:
Iran finances and arms groups such as Hamas ...
- 4,493
21
votes
Accepted
Why haven't the sanctions relief improved Iranians living conditions?
tl;dr: Iranian living conditions have improved, but not as much as expected. This is because banks are still afraid of US punishments, and investment is hence not in line with previous expectations.
...
- 558
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible