At the start of the Persian New Year, leaders in Iran are faced with a host of difficult political challenges, both foreign and domestic, says expert Karim Sadjadpour.

Karim Makdisi of the American University of Beirut says Lebanon’s leaders are a closed elite trying to hold onto power for themselves and are powerless to reform the country’s political situation.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran political analyst, says the sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran this week are unlikely to have much of a financial impact on Tehran.