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Iran “Leading” State Sponsor of Terrorism
August 1, 2012 | 1:18pm
On July 31, the State Department reported that Iran is the world’s “leading” state sponsor of terrorism. According to the Country Reports on Terrorism 2011, Tehran used the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force to support additional terrorist activities and “implement foreign policy goals.”
“We are increasingly concerned about Iran’s support for terrorism and Hezbollah’s activities as they’ve both stepped up their level of terrorist plotting over the past year,” said Ambassador Daniel Benjamin of the Counterterrorism Bureau. Iran expanded its illicit activities in South Asia and the Western Hemisphere. It also sponsored groups to fight U.S. forces and allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The following is an excerpt from the Country Reports on Terrorism 2011.
IRAN
Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984, Iran remained an active state sponsor of terrorism in 2011 and increased its terrorist-related activity, likely in an effort to exploit the uncertain political conditions resulting from the Arab Spring, as well as in response to perceived increasing external pressure on Tehran. Iran also continued to provide financial, material, and logistical support for terrorist and militant groups throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Iran was known to use the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and terrorist insurgent groups to implement its foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and support terrorist and militant groups. The IRGC-QF is the regime’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad.
In 2011, the United States discovered that elements of the Iranian regime had conceived
and funded a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C. Mansour Arbabsiar, an Iranian-born U.S. dual-national working on behalf of the IRGC-QF, was arrested in September 2011 for his role in the plot; also indicted in the case was an IRGC-QF officer who remains at large. Arbabsiar held several meetings with an associate whom Iranian officials believed was a narcotics cartel member. This associate, in fact, was a confidential source for U.S. law enforcement. The thwarted plot underscored anew Iran’s interest in using international terrorism – including in the United States – to further its foreign policy goals.
Despite its pledge to support the stabilization of Iraq, Iran continued to provide lethal support, including weapons, training, funding, and guidance, to Iraqi Shia militant groups targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as civilians. Iran was responsible for the increase of lethal attacks on U.S. forces and provided militants with the capability to assemble explosives designed to defeat armored vehicles. The IRGC-QF, in concert with Lebanese Hizballah, provided training outside bof Iraq as well as advisors inside Iraq for Shia militants in the construction and use of sophisticated improvised explosive device technology and other advanced weaponry.
Qods Force provided training to the Taliban in Afghanistan on small unit tactics, small arms, explosives, and indirect fire weapons, such as mortars, artillery, and rockets. Since 2006, Iran has arranged arms shipments to select Taliban members, including small arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets, and plastic explosives. Iran has shipped a large number of weapons to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in particular, aiming to increase its influence in this key province.
During the wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in Syria, Iran provided weapons and training to assist the Asad regime in its brutal crackdown that has resulted in the death of more than 5,000 civilians. Iran also continued to provide weapons, training, and funding to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Since the end of the 2006 Israeli-Hizballah conflict, Iran has assisted in rearming Hizballah, in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Iran has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Hizballah in Lebanon and has trained thousands of Hizballah fighters at camps in Iran.
In 2011, Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior AQ members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody. It also allowed AQ 173 members to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iranian territory, enabling AQ to carry funds and move facilitators and operatives to South Asia and elsewhere.
Since 2009, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called for its members and the
international community to institute countermeasures to protect their respective financial sectors as well as the global financial system from the risks – in particular the terrorist financing threat – posed by Iran. In October 2011, the FATF strengthened its language and again called for countermeasures against Iran. Iran has had some limited engagement regarding anti-money laundering/counterterrorist finance and has responded to overtures by multilateral entities such as the UN’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, but it has failed to criminalize terrorist financing and require that financial institutions and other obliged entities file suspicious transaction reports. It has not engaged with FATF and is not a member of a FATF-style regional body.
Part II: U.S. Assesses New Sanctions
August 1, 2012 | 12:54pm
On July 31, the Obama administration provided a briefing on the new U.S. sanctions on Iran. In this conference call, three government officials discussed President Obama’s new sanctions and the impact of existing sanctions on Iran’s government and economy. The following are excerpts from the conference call.
Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications
We have taken the view that Iran has an opportunity, through diplomacy, to come in line with their international obligations with respect to their nuclear program. However, we’ve also made it clear that if Iran fails to meet its obligations, we will steadily ratchet up the pressure…
We’ve been working to fully isolate and cut off Iran from the international financial system so that they feel a deeper isolation. And what we’ve also done, however, is continually update our tools, and the steps that we’re taking today certainly increase those efforts…
One or two years ago, I don't think people would have anticipated that we would be able to get at the banking sector, the petroleum sector, the petrochemical sector in the way that we have.
That's a testament, by the way, not just of the sanctions regime, but to the diplomacy accompanying it. This would not be nearly as effective if there wasn’t an international coalition and a multilateral effort.
Unilateral U.S. actions alone can have an impact, but the ability to go around the world and to see Iranian -- importers of Iranian oil significantly reducing their purchases is what allows us to really see sanctions bite…
We have seen Iranian leaders acknowledge the significant impacts of the sanctions, which, frankly, are a direct consequence of their own decisions. Their decisions to continue to be outside of their obligations is the reason why they find themselves in such dire straits.
We see, interestingly, divisions in the Iranian leadership…Several years ago, it was the international community that was divided that had to deal with Iran, whereas the Iranian leadership was very united.
Bob Einhorn, Special Advisor for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the Department of State
The combined impact of the administration’s aggressive implementation of the National Defense Authorization Act sanctions, and the European Union’s oil embargo and ban on insuring oil shipments, has already been dramatic.
According to the International Energy Agency, Iran’s crude oil exports in 2011 were approximately 2.5 million barrels per day, and have dropped to below 1.5 million barrels per day in June of this year, which is a decline of about 40 to 50 percent. And that amounts to roughly $9 billion in lost revenues for Iran in every quarter.
And it’s important to recognize that the NDAA sanctions and EU oil embargo did not take full legal effect until a month ago. The sanctions are not yet impacting with full force. We would expect the effects to become even more severe in coming weeks and months. And the actions we’re taking today will strengthen those efforts.
We’re currently seeing attempts by Iran to circumvent current oil sanctions. The new executive order is aimed at closing loopholes and preventing circumvention…
Rather than just targeting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran or other designated Iranian banks, this executive order sanctions purchases from any private or public Iranian individual or entity, including the National Iranian Oil Company, or NIOC, and the Naftiran Intertrade Company, or NICO, which is a trading arm of NIOC.
Rather than just sanction banks, this executive order would sanction the refiners and any other purchasers of Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.
David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of Treasury
As financial institutions around the world have cut ties with designated Iranian banks to avoid the risk of involvement in Iran’s illicit activities, Bank of Kunlun and Elaf Islamic Bank have done just the opposite.
Today’s action exposes these banks’ continued business with designated Iranian banks, and effectively cuts them off from the U.S. financial system…
The message to banks worldwide should be clear: If you provide financial services to designated Iranian banks, if you process significant financial transactions for those banks, you will face U.S. sanctions no matter where you are located…
We have communicated with more than 120 foreign financial institutions and more than 60 governments to explain the risks of doing businesses with designated Iranian banks…
In addition to the actions against Kunlun and Elaf… the President signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on Iran's energy sector and preventing Iran from using workarounds to circumvent existing sanctions.
One of the collateral benefits of the financial sanctions that we’ve imposed is that it is increasingly difficult for Iran today to make payments in the international financial system.
That makes it difficult for Iran to procure material for its nuclear program because they have difficulty paying for what it is they're trying to purchase.
To view the full transcript of this briefing, click here.
To view the timeline of U.S. sanctions on Iran, click here.
Part I: U.S. Sanctions Oil Industry
July 31, 2012 | 5:11pm
On July 31, President Obama issued the following statement on new sanctions on Iranian oil and foreign financial institutions that facilitate transactions for Iranian banks.
Today, the United States is announcing two significant steps that strengthen our efforts to pressure and isolate the Iranian government for its continued failure to meet its international obligations.
First, I have approved a new Executive Order that imposes new sanctions against the Iranian energy and petrochemical sectors. This action is designed to deter Iran from establishing payment mechanisms for the purchase of Iranian oil to circumvent existing sanctions, and utilizes the existing structure of our sanctions law, including exceptions for significant reductions in the purchase of Iranian oil. Additionally, existing sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry are expanded by making sanctionable the purchase or acquisition of Iranian petrochemical products. Sanctions are also authorized for those who may seek to avoid the impact of these sanctions, including against individuals and entities that provide material support to the National Iranian Oil Company, Naftiran Intertrade Company, or the Central Bank of Iran, or for the purchase or acquisition of U.S. bank notes or precious metals by the Government of Iran.
Second, we have also taken a significant step to hold responsible institutions that knowingly enable financial transactions for designated Iranian banks. The Department of the Treasury today imposed sanctions on Bank of Kunlun in China and Elaf Islamic Bank in Iraq under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA). Bank of Kunlun and Elaf Islamic Bank have facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities. By cutting off these financial institutions from the United States, today’s action makes it clear that we will expose any financial institution, no matter where they are located, that allows the increasingly desperate Iranian regime to retain access to the international financial system.
Since taking office, we have presented the Iranian government with a clear choice: come in line with your international obligations and rejoin the community of nations, or face growing consequences. With these actions, we are once again reaffirming our commitment to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions. The United States remains committed to a diplomatic solution, but the onus is on Iran to abide by its international obligations. If the Iranian government continues its defiance, there should be no doubt that the United States and our partners will continue to impose increasing consequences.
###
The White House also released a fact sheet detailing President Obama’s sanctions strategy since taking office. The following are excerpts from the fact sheet.
Building a Comprehensive Sanctions Strategy
Since taking office, President Obama has presented a very clear choice to the Iranian regime: comply with its international nuclear obligations and benefit from the greater economic, political, and security integration that come with being part of the international community, or face growing consequences for non-compliance. Iran has chosen to proceed down the path of international isolation, and has therefore suffered from what President Ahmadinejad called in July 2012, “the most severe and strictest sanctions ever imposed on a country.”
Targeting the Iranian Regime’s Nuclear Program Through Its Oil Revenues
The Administration has used sanctions to convince major oil companies to withdraw from Iran’s oil fields, leading the Iranian Oil Ministry to acknowledge publicly in 2011 that it is $100 billion short in the investment it needs to develop this sector.
Even as we intensify our pressure on the Iranian government, we hold open the door to diplomacy. Iran can choose to abide by its international obligations, honor its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and prove that its intentions are peaceful. The United States remains committed to a diplomatic solution, but the onus is on Iran. If the Iranian government continues it defiance, there should be no doubt that the United States and our partners will continue to hold Iran accountable.
Additionally, the White House released the following documents:
To view the U.S. Department of Treasury’s official press release on imposed sanctions on Kunlun Bank in China and Elaf Bank in Iraq, click here.
To view the Executive Order on the White House website, click here.
To view President Obama’s message to Congress on the Executive Order, click here.
Iran’s Evolving Policy on Syria
July 30, 2012 | 5:38pm
Garrett Nada
Iran has consistently supported President Bashar Assad since the uprising erupted in March 2011. Yet Iran’s tone on the Syrian crisis has noticeably evolved. Tehran initially subscribed to the official Syrian narrative; it described the protests as insignificant and orchestrated by foreign powers, including the United States. The first shift was visible in August 2011, as escalating dissent spread nationwide. High-ranking Iranian officials began referring to the “legitimate” demands of the Syrian people and the need for political reform.
In a second shift, Iranian officials started calling for a negotiated solution in early 2012. Tehran then formally backed the six-point U.N. plan on March 28, 2012.
But the top political, religious and military leaders have taken widely diverse positions. Some have stressed the need for the regime, Tehran’s longtime ally, to engage in dialogue with the opposition. Others have encouraged solidarity with Assad against “the dirt” of Syria’s enemies.
Still others have called for a combination of the two positions. On July 27, U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee warned against supporting opposition groups in Syria with arms or funds but also pledged support for the six-point U.N. plan. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi hosted his Syrian counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, on July 29 in Tehran. Salehi acknowledged the Syrian people’s desire for change, but he also accused Israel and other countries of hatching a “plot” against Damascus.
The following quotes track the evolution in Iranian comments, dating from the crisis onset in spring 2011 through the joint press conference by the Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers.
Ramin Mehmanparast, Foreign Ministry spokesman, April 12, 2011
“What is happening in Syria is a mischievous act of Westerners, particularly Americans and Zionists…No one should be fooled by this trick that the Americans are playing.”
Mehmanparast, May 10, 2011
“We in no way accept violent confrontation and crackdowns against those who express their demands peacefully…[But] through their media, [Western countries] are trying to exaggerate the limited [opposition] movements and portray them as if they reflect the demands of the majority of the people.”
Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib, member of the Assembly of Experts, June 23, 2011
Condemned sending “the national wealth of Iran to Syria and wasting it on the repression of the Syrian people, instead of providing this aid to the Iranian people.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, June 30, 2011
“The essence of the Islamic Awakening in the region is anti-Zionist and anti-U.S. But in the case of Syria, U.S. and Israeli hands are evidently at work.”
Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, August 27, 2011
“The government should answer to the demands of its people, be it Syria, Yemen or other countries…The people of these nations have legitimate demands, and the governments should answer these demands as soon as possible.”
Ahmed Avaei, member of parliament, early September 2011
“The reality of the matter is that our absolute support for Syria was a wrong policy… The people protesting against the government in that country are religious people, and the protest movement there is a grassroots movement.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, September 8, 2011
“Regional nations can assist the Syrian people and government in the implementation of essential reforms and the resolution of their problems.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, January 31, 2012
“The Americans and certain Western countries want to take revenge on Syria for their recent defeats in the region, including Egypt and Tunisia…The main purpose of the U.S. plot in Syria is to deal a blow to the resistance front in the region because Syria is supporting the resistance of Palestine and the Islamic resistance of Lebanon.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran's stance toward Syria is to support any kind of reform that would benefit the country's people and oppose the interference of the United States and its allies in Syria's internal affairs.”
Khamenei, March 29, 2012
“Iran will defend Syria because it supports its policy of resistance against the Zionist regime [Israel], and is strongly opposed to any interference by foreign forces in Syria's internal affairs.”
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Chairman for Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, April 1, 2012
“Iran hopes that President Bashar al Assad …will maintain Syria’s stability and restore peace to the country through executing reforms and preventing foreign interference.”
Ismail Ghaani, deputy head of the IRGC Quds Force, May 28, 2012 (subsequently removed from the Islamic Student News Agency website ISNA)
“Before our presence in Syria, too many people were killed by the opposition but with the physical and non-physical presence of the Islamic republic, big massacres in Syria were prevented.”
Ramin Mehmanparast, Foreign Ministry spokesman, May 28, 2012
“We are certain that foreign interference, terrorists and suspicious measures which have targeted the resilient Syrian people are doomed to fail.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, May 31, 2012
“It seems unbelievable to me that a government would engage in killing its own people .... [but] I'm not excluding anyone from this responsibility. Any individual who committed these murders is guilty …The people responsible for this massacre must be punished, must be sanctioned.”
Ramin Mehmanparast, Foreign Ministry spokesman, July 4, 2012
“Any meeting that excludes the Syrian government and influential regional countries will be futile and any settlement imposed from outside on Syria will not succeed.”
Mohammad Ali Sobhani, former Ambassador to Lebanon, early July, 2012
“The entire world is against Syria and we are standing here defending Syria, a country accused of crimes against humanity. We are not playing this game very well.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, July 5, 2012
“The main enemies... are trying to revive their domination of the region and to save the occupying regime from destruction.”
“The Americans are seeking only their interests, and it is the right of the people of the region, including the great Syrian people, to freely decide their own fate and others should not impose their demands on them.”
Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, July 9, 2012
“No ruler is an eternal ruler, so in the case of Mr. Bashar al Assad, by 2014 there are presidential elections in which we will have to let the events take their normal course…We also support this idea whereby the government and the opposition sit down together to find a way out.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, International Affairs advisor to the Supreme Leader, July 13, 2012
“Under existing conditions, they [the United States and its allies] intend to challenge the region by creating crisis in Syria, which is at the frontline [of resistance] against the Zionists. Meanwhile, they want to prevent unity of the Islamic Ummah because the Middle East is the heart of the Muslim Ummah.”
Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Foreign Affairs July 15, 2012
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to sit down with the Syrian opposition and invite them to Iran…We are ready to facilitate and provide the conditions for talks between the opposition and the government.”
Ghadanfar Rokn Abadi, Ambassador to Lebanon, July 20, 2012
“Iran will not deviate one iota from its support to the Syrian regime…The latest bombings resemble a powerful paper in Syria's hands…such attacks would open the way for the regime to act firmly with the terrorists, and would give it full powers to tighten its iron grip.”
Ali Larijani, Speaker of parliament, July 22, 2012
“The behavior of the western countries towards Syria needs a board to write on it 'we have reached the era of modern barbarism era'…You [Western states] assassinate, we will harvest its political advantages in the UN Security Council.”
Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, July 23, 2012
“Enemies imagined that they can create a vacuum in the management of the country by explosions in Damascus but the enemies of the Syrian nation have been defeated…and the army is gradually finding supremacy over the armed opposition.”
“We believe that the opposition groups should reach a compromise with the Syrian government to get out of this situation even though Syria is heading toward calm.”
Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri of the Revolutionary Guards, July 24, 2012
“Soon the soil of Syria will be cleaned of the dirt of the enemy…Yet none of the friends of the Syrian government and the great front of resistance has entered the scene. If this happens, they will strike back hard at the enemy, particularly the hated Arabs.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, July 25, 2012
“What is going on in Syria is a real war between the front of the hegemonic and the front of the resistance…The resistance front will surely triumph.”
Ali Saeedlou, Vice President for International Affairs, July 25, 2012
“Tehran is ready to give its experience and capabilities to its friend and brother nation of Syria.”
Mohammad Reza Rahimi, First Vice President, July 25, 2012
"Given that powers have united to damage the Syrian nation, Iran's stance toward Syria is not changeable -- it will always stand by its Syrian brothers.”
Mohammad-Reza Raouf Sheibani, Ambassador to Syria, July 25, 2012
“The military trend will further complicate and prolong the crisis in Syria and will bear negative and grave consequences for the region, in particular, for the instigators of the crisis.”
Mohammad-Reza Tabesh, member of parliament, late July, 2012
“We must support the government of Syria, which is at the frontline of the struggle against Israel…But we should support it as long as the government of Syria does not treat the people of Syria badly and the rights of the people are not violated.”
Mousa-al-Reza Servati, member of parliament, late July, 2012
“We oppose the West because of the belief that any reform must take place based on the choice of the people and implemented by the people of Syria. People can achieve whatever their wishes through elections.”
Majid Namjou, Minister of Energy, July 26, 2012
“Iran will not abandon support for Damascus under the circumstances that Western countries have united to hatch plots against the Arab country and undermine the security of Muslims in cooperation with terrorists.”
Mohammad Khazaee, U.N. Ambassador, July 27, 2012
“From the beginning, we have supported Mr. Kofi Annan’s plan, and we believe that’s the best way to resolve the issues in Syria…Reform should take place in Syria, some good steps have been so far taken. So therefore the solution is not to support financially or militarily different groups inside Syria and escalate the level in violence in Syria.”
Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, July 29, 2012
“It is not appropriate that we compound these problems under the false assumption that if a [political] vacuum is created in Syria and the Syrian government changes, it will easily be replaced by another government. This is wishful thinking and an illusion.”
“We do not deny this fact that the Syrian people, like other nations, have the right to enjoy all civil rights in a free country, but it should be noted that a plot has been hatched against Syria, which is clearly manifested in the stance and views of the Zionist regime against Syria.”
Garrett Nada is a Program Assistant at USIP in the Center for Conflict Management.
Part II: U.S. Slams Iran on Baha’is
July 30, 2012 | 5:04pm
The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report focused particular attention on Iran’s Baha’is, the country’s largest religious minority at between 300,000 and 350,000.
In releasing the report for 2011, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Suzan Johnson Cook stated, “The government continues to detain over 100 Baha’i, including the seven Baha’i leaders whose sentences for espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the system have been re-extended to the original 20-year penalty.”
The following are excerpts from the report about persecution of the Baha’is.
The government prohibits Baha’is from teaching and practicing their faith and subjects them to many forms of discrimination that followers of other religions do not face…
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the government has killed more than 200 Baha’is, although there were no reports of Baha’i executions during the year…At least 60 Baha’is were arbitrarily arrested during the year, some of whom were released. At least 95 Baha’is were imprisoned and 416 Baha’i cases were still active with authorities at year’s end, according to human rights groups…
In March, after a challenge from the prosecutor general, the government extended to 20 years the sentences of the seven leaders of the Baha’i community: Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Saeid Rezaie, Vahid Tizfahm, and Mahvash Sabet…
In May authorities detained at least 30 members of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, raided their homes, and took cultural items. Ultimately authorities arrested 16 persons for failing to meet the entrance requirements to the university and for being members of an “illegal cult with anti-human rights activities.” Authorities released nine of the detainees within 10 days of their arrest.
In October courts found the other seven…guilty of “membership in the deviant Baha’i sect, with the goal of taking action against the security of the country, in order to further the aims of the deviant sect and those of organizations outside the country,” according to unofficial transcripts of the trial. Courts sentenced them to four to five years in prison…
In addition to killings, executions, and arrests, Baha’is suffered frequent government harassment and persecution, and their property rights generally were disregarded. The government raided Baha’i homes and businesses and confiscated large amounts of private and commercial property, as well as religious materials belonging to Baha’is…
The government continued to hold many Baha’i properties that were seized following the 1979 revolution, including cemeteries, holy places, historical sites, and administrative centers. Unspecified actors destroyed many of the properties, including cemeteries. Baha’is generally were prevented from burying and honoring their dead in accordance with their religious tradition.
There were reports of authorities forcing Baha’i businesses to close, placing restrictions on their businesses, and asking managers of private companies to dismiss their Baha’i employees. Baha’i groups reported that the government often denied their applications for new or renewed business and trade licenses…
Public and private universities continued to deny admittance to and expelled Baha’i students. Although the government maintained publicly that Baha’is were free to attend university, reports indicated that the implicit policy of preventing Baha’is from obtaining higher education remained in effect during the year.
The Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, created in 1987 after Baha’is were barred from attending regular universities, reportedly was declared illegal in May for being a group that presented national security concerns…
The government prevented many Baha’is from leaving the country.
The Baha’i community reported that the government’s seizure of Baha’i personal property and its denial of access to education and employment was eroding the economic base of the community and threatening its survival. Members of the Baha’i community reported that Baha’i children in public schools faced attempts by their teachers and administrators to convert them to Islam.
Read the full report here as PDF.
The Islamists Are Coming
The Islamists Are Coming, edited by Robin Wright, surveys the rise of Islamist groups in the wake of the Arab Spring. Often lumped together, the more than 50 Islamist parties with millions of followers now constitute a whole new spectrum—separate from either militants or secular parties. They will shape the new order in the world’s most volatile region more than any other political bloc. Yet they have diverse goals and different constituencies. Sometimes they are even rivals.
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