Garrett Nada's Blog

Year One: Raisi on the U.S. & the West

In his first year in office, President Ebrahim Raisi blamed many of the Middle East’s problems on Western powers. Foreign intervention, notably by the United States, had produced only conflict and political discord, he argued. The “idea of hegemony, but also the project of imposing Westernized…

US-Iran Tensions in Syria: 2022

In August, tensions flared between the United States and Iran in Syria. The United States launched airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in response to drone and rocket attacks on bases housing U.S. troops on August 15. “We've sent a very loud and clear message and a proportional message, that any…

Putin Visits Tehran for Strategic Talks

On July 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran to boost ties with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts. The trip came just three days after President Biden toured the region to rally support against Iran. Relations between Russia and Iran have steadily improved, according to Gallup…

Biden on Iran in Mideast Trip

In his first trip to the Middle East as president, Joe Biden renewed his pledge to never allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. “There will be no nuclear Iran. This is not only a threat to Israel, but to the world,” Biden said on July 14. During the four-day tour, Biden visited Iran’s main regional…

Amnesty International: Executions Spike in Iran

In 2021, Iran executed at least 314 people – more than any other country except China – according to Amnesty International’s annual report on the death penalty. The increase was linked to death sentences for drug-related offenses. Executions “routinely followed grossly unfair trials, with ‘…

Iran Deal: U.S. Sanctions on the IRGC

Since 2007, the United States has sanctioned the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—as well as its proxies and foreign companies that support it—under at least eight executive orders and six laws. “Of the 107 sanctions the Biden administration has imposed on Iran, 86 of those – some three-…

News Digest: Week of April 11

April 11 Economy: Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that some $7 billion of Iran's frozen assets would soon be released. He did not provide further details. State media reported that an unspecified senior official from another country in the region was due to visit Tehran to…

Iran Deal: The IRGC is the Final Hurdle

The last and biggest hurdle to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal was the dispute between Washington and Tehran over the status of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group. Leaders and an elite branch of the IRGC had faced several layers of economic sanctions—over support for…

Iran Launches Missiles on Iraq

Early on March 13, Iran launched a dozen ballistic missiles into neighboring Iraq. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that it targeted Israeli “strategic centers” in the northern city of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. Iraqi and U.S. officials said that the…

Iran Blames US, West for Ukraine War

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the war in Ukraine on the United States and Western powers. “The root of the crisis in Ukraine are the U.S. policies that create crisis, and Ukraine is one victim of these policies,” he said in a televised speech on March 1, 2022. The “mafia-like…