What is Iran’s endgame in Syria?

Iranians took to the polls and overwhelmingly voted to re-elect incumbent and so-called moderate Hassan Rouhani in last week’s presidential election.

But can we expect his next four years on the international stage to be any different from the previous years?

According to Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a close friend and ally of Rouhani, while the focus of the first term was on the nuclear issue, the second term will focus on regional diplomacy.

“I think in the second term he would really like to focus on the regional issues to bring peace, cooperation, engagement, diplomacy with the neighbours,” says Mousavian, who also headed the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“The problem is whether Saudi Arabia would be ready … [they] now prefer to ally with Israel rather than Iran, to fight Iran.”

In this UpFront special, Mehdi Hasan challenges Iranian policymaker and former diplomat Hossein Mousavian to explain Iran’s policies in the region and what some see as the double standards with regards to Yemen and Bahrain.

For more on Iran‘s internal power dynamics and the extent of political reform, go to fb.com/ajupfront

Editor’s note: We covered human rights and the extent of democracy in Iran previously here: http://aje.io/pezl

Reality Check – Is everything really better in Canada?

Canada, the land of a gender-balanced, diverse government that offers free healthcare to all and is a beacon to progressive values.

But the truth is, Canada is not the “post-racial”, “liberal utopia” you may think it is.

In this week’s Reality Check, we acknowledge that Canada is a model in many areas, but also look at the increasing bigotry faced by Muslims in the country and look at the harsh realities faced by the neglected indigenous population.

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