...but solidarity in the face of the sheer brutality in Gaza and revulsion for the Western govt indifference, together with convinced support for civil societies across the region, particularly Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian, should remain high on our agendas.

... or finally put its own people's welfare and aspirations first, and whether Syria can overcome the current myriad challenges, reduce foreign interference and charter a part to statehood bereft of coups and strongmen. 2024 was bad, 2025 is not necessarily better...

Will we have better things to write in 12 months? Depends on the extent to which Israeli aggression and expansionism continues, whether Lebanon can finally turn a new page and stand on its own feet,whether the Islamic Republic will decline further...

The hope is that political parties can step into the open and be active in 2025. Syria needs a transition towards a vibrant, pluralist polity, not one which is dominated by battleground victors. It also needs to revisit opposition to federalism, which might be a good antidote to further strife.

- Syria took a big step into the unknown after the rapid collapse of the decrepit, corrupt and venal Assad regime. What kind of step is too early to tell. Jolani's claim that it will take four years to have a const. referendum quite ominous and in practice means autocratic rule till then.

- More misery, destruction and pain for Gaza. International law, human rights openly mocked by Israel and its Western backers. Despite the brush of anti-semitism ready to tar anyone who says "genocide", Amnesty International and others now deploy it. Will the West keep being complacent in 2025?

The Embassy crisis undid Carter and severely damaged Iran. While Carter certainly redeemed himself with his peacebuilding efforts and allowing his conscience to guide his views on themes such as Palestine, the hostage takers who derailed his presidency have produced no gain and much pain for Iran.

The harsh, uncompromising anti-American attitude of much of the post-revolutionary emerging elite scuttled efforts to endear and build diplomatic bridges, leading to the major clamity of the US Embassy takeover, certainly undeserved given Carter’s balance in dealing with the post-Shah authorities.

He could and should have done more to convince the Shah to give full opportunity to the dissident but reformist community to assert itself and be given political space. Instead the Shah repressed it thoroughly after the famous Goethe nights in November 1977, and Jimmycracy gave way to the revolution

The hoarding of foreign currency creates scarcity, driving up exchange bureau prices for those who need to convert before travelling abroad and more importantly comes as a stark confirmation of the collective lack of any trust in productive investment of savings.

Beyond spacing issues, the current government is grappling with the same predicament as its predecessors : the constant crash in the value of the Riyal, due to Iran’s protracted crises, which has led to citizens stuffing as much as 30 billion USD’s worth of for currency under their mattresses.