Iason Athanasiadis

U.S., Taliban close to ‘reduction in violence’ agreement

The Taliban have issued an ultimatum to Washington after weeks of talks with a U.S. peace envoy, demanding a reply on their offer of a seven-day reduction of violence in Afghanistan, or they would walk away from the negotiating table, two Taliban officials said Wednesday.

February 12, 2020

BOOK REVIEW: Unworkable in Afghanistan

"Sometimes life in Afghanistan seemed to be lived without Afghans," is how former British ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles describes the daily reality unspooling behind his Kabul embassy's tall suicide barriers and barbed wire.

July 19, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: Revolution’s bleak aftermath

When the history of the 2011 Arab revolts is written, it may be forgotten that the first pro-democracy uprising in the region was not Arab, but Persian. In June 2009, two years before a wave of democratic revolts swept through Tunisia, Egypt and a half-dozen other Arab dictatorships, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest an allegedly rigged election.

June 24, 2011

Taliban meetings all talk, no action

The negotiations in Kabul between the Afghan government and the Taliban did little, and claims that they achieved a major breakthrough were inflated, participants and local analysts said.

October 10, 2010

Taliban lays grim traps in Afghanistan

The Taliban has prepared for its annual spring offensive by sowing bombs and booby traps around the valley's country lanes. Invisible explosives stud walls, ditches and even trees.

April 5, 2010

Afghan front feels little Obama effect

For the soldiers of Alpha Company of the 82nd Airborne Division, Kabul's conference halls and money-guzzling ministries seem like distant places.

March 30, 2010

Greek farce: ‘Mother’ play satirizes corruption

A ripped-from-the-headlines play titled "Mother Greece" is drawing large crowds for its piercing send-up of what Greeks mournfully call "Elliniki pragmatikotita" or "Greek reality."

January 4, 2010

Iranian opposition grows beneath surface

Iran's opposition movement has yet to produce a charismatic leader but has a diverse and growing group of organizers, including numerous students and veterans of an abortive 1999 uprising, Iran specialists say.

January 1, 2010

Iran arrests 1,000 as protests strengthen

The Iranian regime, desperate to restore order after massive protests, arrested more than 1,000 people Monday in an increasingly doubtful bid to suppress an opposition movement that appears to be growing stronger by the day.

December 29, 2009

BOOK REVIEW: Protester’s fate in Tehran

The confession she was urged to sign made Zarah Ghahramani out to be "a sort of Mata Hari, part spy, part whore." But all this teenage student at Tehran University was guilty of when she stumbled through a harrowing imprisonment in Tehran's Evin Prison was participating in the greatest civil unrest in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

December 29, 2009

Iran forces kill 8 on Shi’ite holy day

Iran's six-month political crisis escalated Sunday as security forces killed at least eight people, including the nephew of an opposition leader, and arrested hundreds, creating new martyrs and momentum for Iran's opposition.

December 28, 2009

Iranian reformist’s nephew killed during protest

Iranian police opened fire on demonstrators Sunday, killing presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew and several others and creating new martyrs and momentum for Iran's opposition.

December 27, 2009

Erdogan hits West over Iran nuke pressure

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a high-level visit to Iran on Monday with criticism of Western pressure on Iran over its nuclear program and promises to double trade with the Islamic republic by 2011.

October 27, 2009

Iranians seek refuge in Turkey

Only a few months ago, Mehdi was tying a green ribbon around the wrist of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami in the euphoria sweeping Iran before June 12 presidential elections.

September 29, 2009

Khomeini ally now leads Iran dissidents

Three decades ago, Moshen Sazegara quit his studies at the University of Illinois to join Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return from exile to lead Iran's Islamic revolution.

August 17, 2009

Power struggle hits Iran intelligence agency

Beyond the power struggle playing out on the streets of Tehran is a complex battle for control of Iran's intelligence ministry -- a pivotal institution in the regime's repression of dissent.

August 6, 2009

Iranians on verge of seizing new era

Iran's Islamic revolution three decades ago reached a crucial turning point when a policeman failed to dislodge a man from simply standing at a crossroads in Tehran.

August 3, 2009

Crude Iran prisons house protesters

Editor's note: Iason Athanasiadis was jailed from June 17 to July 5 in Tehran's Evin prison after covering Iran's presidential elections.

July 31, 2009

Napolitano: Public should help fight terrorism

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. government has not done everything it can to educate and engage the public in preventing terrorism.

July 29, 2009

Times reporter recounts life in Iran prison

Female flight attendants in head scarves had begun attending to passengers inside the Iran Air aircraft bound for Dubai. But as long as the plane remained on the tarmac, I couldn't feel free.

July 13, 2009