![EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Iranian youths sit at a coffee shop in central Tehran March 1, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: SOCIETY FOOD BUSINESS) - RTR2YP8X](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/02/RTR2YP8X.jpg/RTR2YP8X.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=ED6QIg5p)
Jean Aziz is a columnist at the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, a contributor for Al-Monitor's Lebanon Pulse and the host of a weekly political talk show on OTV, a Lebanese television station. He teaches communications at the American University of Technology and the Université Saint-Esprit De Kaslik in Lebanon. On Twitter: @JeanAziz1
![EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
Iranian youths sit at a coffee shop in central Tehran March 1, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: SOCIETY FOOD BUSINESS) - RTR2YP8X](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/02/RTR2YP8X.jpg/RTR2YP8X.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=ED6QIg5p)
![RTX1V5LJ.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/01/RTX1V5LJ.jpg/RTX1V5LJ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=O63ebjt1)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![505556172.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/01/505556172.jpg/505556172.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=hlQ4FI03)
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Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![RTX5SN3.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/01/RTX5SN3.jpg/RTX5SN3.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=1CHh2hbD)
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Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![People walk outside Lebanon's Central Bank in Beirut November 6, 2014. Lebanon's central bank prides itself on being one of the few institutions to survive the country's 15-year civil war intact. Now, as a new war rages in neighbouring Syria, that role is more important than ever. Picture taken November 6, 2014. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY) - RTR4EQW4](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/01/RTR4EQW4.jpg/RTR4EQW4.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=LbY8zO_c)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![Shi'ite Muslims living in Greece hold pictures of Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and shout slogans during a demonstration against his execution in Saudi Arabia, outside the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Athens, Greece, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis - RTX219TK](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2016/01/RTX219TK.jpg/RTX219TK.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=NbzpN5Z_)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![Hannibal Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, attends the signing agreement ceremony between Libya's Shipping Corporation and STX Europe to build a cruise ship, in Tripoli June 30, 2010. Oslo-based STX Europe, the world's largest vessel building group, will provide Libya with the first Arab cruise liner. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS MARITIME TRANSPORT) - RTR2FYOE](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/12/RTR2FYOE.jpg/RTR2FYOE.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=9X5JhtV_)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![RTX1RUOA.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/12/RTX1RUOA.jpg/RTX1RUOA.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=G3uLqnAT)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![Smoke rises after what activists said were cluster bombs dropped by the Russian air force in the town of Maaret al-Naaman in Idlib province, Syria October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi - RTS7DHL](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/11/RTS7DHL.jpg/RTS7DHL.jpg?h=4e91c14c&itok=1paCqaZT)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![RTS6TAM.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/11/RTS6TAM.jpg/RTS6TAM.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=BzQ6yfyB)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![RTR3NQ2Q.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/11/RTR3NQ2Q.jpg/RTR3NQ2Q.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=q2jcrEaH)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)
![Relatives of the Safwan family, that drowned on a boat carrying them from Turkey to Greece, mourn on their coffins during their funeral in Beirut's southern suburb of Ouzai, Lebanon October 22, 2015. Seven members of a Lebanese family who died trying to reach Greece by boat were buried on Thursday in Beirut and survivors described watching their loved ones perish before their eyes. Members of the Safwan family said the dead, who included a pregnant woman and two children, had left poor living conditions in](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/10/RTS5NMS.jpg/RTS5NMS.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=HNpymxVb)
![Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg/Jean_Aziz_color.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=hY6qpg9Y)
Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)