iran

May 15, 2013

Coupled with our concerns about human rights are our concerns about the well-being of the Iranian people. Every day, we hear from the Iranian people directly through our public diplomacy programs and Farsi-language social media platforms. The Virtual Embassy Tehran, launched in December 2011, has over 2 million hits and our Farsi-language Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube channel have also been enormously successful.

Cheered on by a raucous crowd waving flags and chanting, a team of Iranian wrestlers defeated the United States, 6-1, in an exhibition match staged in New York’s Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday.

Canada is seeking to restore diplomatic relations with Iran — but not the old-fashioned way. Instead of ambassadors and attaches, the Foreign Affairs Department is aiming to connect with Iranians directly, via social media. They're working with the University of Toronto's Munk School to host two days of discussions that will be live-streamed online in the hopes of reaching and inspiring Iranians ahead of June's presidential elections.

The conference, dubbed as 'Diplomacy and Soft Power in the Great Prophet's (PBUH) Sirah (life and tradition)', is underway in the conference hall of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in Tehran. Over 600 local and international scholars and researchers are present in the international conference.

Case studies on public diplomacy with adversarial states. 

Leading candidates assert that they will be responsible stewards, unlike the firebrand Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because he is limited to two terms. One criticized Ahmadinejad for "controversial but useless" statements. Others even say the country should have a less hostile relationship with the United States.

Thus far the proponents of military intervention have done a poor job of explaining how this course of action would secure these twin goals. For instance, the most popular option seems to be establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria. However, the Assad regime still has formidable missile and ground forces and it’s unclear if grounding its aircraft would have a decisive military impact.

Sherine B. Walton, Editor-in-Chief
Naomi Leight, Managing Editor
Kia Hays, Associate Editor

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