Iran Primer's Blog
U.S. Human Trafficking Report
The State Department has released its 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report. Countries are divided into three categories—Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3—based on each government’s efforts to fulfill the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The following is the section…
New Report on Rape in Iranian Prisons
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) published the following report on June 10, 2011. The report documents the cases of five former prisoners – two women and three men. They span the almost 30 years of the Islamic Republic’s existence. Four witnesses were raped; one was…
New U.S. Sanctions on Iran Air and Others
The following is a joint statement by Department of State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Department of the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on new Iran sanctions. A fact sheet detailing the new sanctions is below. Today, the United States imposed sanctions on Tidewater…
U.S. Imposes New Shipping Sanctions
On June 20, 2011, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned ten shipping companies and three individuals affiliated with Iran's national shipping line. The official statement is below: Continuing efforts to target the financial underpinnings of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL…
Clinton on Iran’s Election Anniversary
On June 14, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on repression in Iran and Syria to mark the second anniversary of the disputed 2009 presidential election: Two years ago this week, Iranian citizens went to the polls in the hopes of expressing their democratic rights…
IMF Assesses Iran’s Economy
Following a visit to Tehran in May and June 2011, the International Monetary Fund issued an assessment of Iran’s economy: The mission reviewed recent economic developments and revised its macroeconomic estimates and projections in light of new data and discussions with the…
Six World Powers Statement on Iran
On June 9, the world’s six major powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States—issued the following statement on Iran’s nuclear program to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. It was read by Ambassador Glyn Davies, the U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic…
New Treasury Sanctions for Human Rights Abuses
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on new sanctions: In June 2009, the world watched as Iran’s security forces violently suppressed thousands of Iranians who were calling for transparency and accountability in their government. Nearly two years after Iran’s brave citizens took to the…
U.S. calls death of activist “unfathomable”
The State Department issued a statement June 2 on the death of Iranian Activist Haleh Sahabi at her father’s funeral: We condemn the killing of Iranian activist Haleh Sahabi in the strongest possible terms. Eyewitness and reliable accounts of Haleh Sahabi's death yesterday at her…
U.S. Sanctions Seven Companies
Seven companies have been sanctioned under the amended Iran Sanctions Act. The following is a State Department statement issued on May 24, 2011: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to impose sanctions on seven companies under the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) of 1996, as…