Nima Adelkhah
Nima Adelkhah is an independent analyst based in New York. His current research agenda includes the Middle East, military strategy and technology, and nuclear proliferation among other defense and security issues.
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Articles by Nima Adelkhah
Iranian Perspectives on Yemen’s Houthis
A central element in the ongoing crisis in Yemen is the perception among Sunni-led states that Iran is playing a central role in supporting the Houthi Shi’a rebel movement militarily...
Iran’s Changing Regional Strategy and Its Implications for the Region
In a typical gesture of defiance, which has signified allegiance to Iran’s revolutionary credentials since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, General Abdullah Araqi, the lieutenant commander of...
Iranian Intervention in Iraq against the Islamic State: Strategy, Tactics and Impact
A deliberately gory June 2014 report on the Shi’a Ahl al-Bayt website, no doubt intended to arouse emotions, shows a photo of the bloodied face of Alireza Moshajari. It describes...
A Look at the Life of Iran’s Legendary IRGC Commander – Qasem Soleimani
In the eyes of his supports and foes alike, Qasem Soleimani is a man larger than life. In the West, Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds forces of Iran’s...
Iran and the Anti-Islamic State Coalition
On September 15, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced on national TV that he had ruled out Iran’s participation in the U.S.-led military...
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Iraq’s Security Breakdown
As the assault of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in northern Iraq increasingly enhances the prospect of Iraq’s disintegration, Iran has responded aggressively by adopting a policy...
Iranian Naval Adventurism in the Atlantic Ocean
Iran’s Navy Commander, Admiral Habibollah Sayari, announced on January 21 that Iran’s 29th fleet had left the port of Bandar Abbas for a three-month mission to the Atlantic Ocean (Press...
The Army of Justice and the Threat of Sunni Militancy in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province of Iran
Fourteen border guards in the southeastern Iranian region of Saravan were assassinated and five seriously wounded on October 25 by a shadowy militant Sunni group known as Jaysh al-Adl (JA...
Has al-Qaeda in Iran Gone Operational? The Evidence from Canada
Two men were charged in Canada on April 23 with conspiring to commit murder and terrorism in relation to an alleged plot to derail a Canadian passenger train providing service...
If Syria is Attacked, Will Iran Retaliate?
A stark warning to the West that Tehran would retaliate if Syria was attacked came on January 26 from Ali Akbar Velayati, a close advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah...
The Strategic Repercussions and Limitations of Iranian-Egyptian Rapprochement
The November 21 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been credited primarily to President Muhammad Mursi of Egypt, who, with the encouragement of the White House, brokered a peace deal...
Low Level Boundary Dispute Intensifies as Iran and the UAE Contest Control of Strategic Gulf Islands
The April 22 visit of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Island of Abu Musa near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered new tensions between Iran and...
The Impossible Dream: Tehran Rethinks its Commitment to an Iranian-Built Aircraft Carrier
In late September, the Iranian navy announced it would build an aircraft carrier with the capacity to engage in defensive military operations in the Persian Gulf (Press TV September 28;...
The Three Strategies behind Iran’s Projection of Naval Power
News of the deployment of Iranian warships across the Atlantic Ocean as far as the Gulf of Mexico has raised new concerns regarding the Islamic Republic’s growing projection of naval...
The Case of the Iranian Warships and the Suez Canal
Late last week two Iranian warships made the return trip through the Suez Canal after raising a storm of controversy by their transit through the Canal and their visit to...
The Halt of S-300 Missile System in the Context of Iranian-Russian Military Relations
The Kremlin suspended the planned delivery of the S-300 PMU-2 long-range surface-to-air missile system and other military technologies to Iran on September 22 in compliance with the fourth round of...
Iranian Naval Capabilities and the Security of the Hormuz Strait
When the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on June 9 authorizing a fourth round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran for its controversial nuclear program, the risk...
Iran Integrates the Concept of the “Soft War” Into its Strategic Planning
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this week that “certain countries” are waging a “Soft War” against Iran that should be countered through the establishment of closer relationships with other...
Iranian Naval Exercises Display Advancements in IRGC Armed Capabilities
On April 22, the Iranian armed forces began an annual series of military exercises over the course of three days in the strategic Strait of Hormuz region (The Great Prophet...