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Leaked Iran Cables Reveal Influence Game
On November 18, 2019, The Intercept and The New York Times published 700 pages of classified Iranian intelligence cables that illustrated the depth of Tehran’s penetration of Iraqi politics, intelligence and the military. The cables, written between 2013 and 2015, also detailed meticulous efforts…
News Digest: Week of November 18
Updated: November 25, 2019
November 18
Economics: The government announced that 12 people had been killed in clashes with security forces during protests against a sudden fuel price hike. But activists claimed that at least 40 people had died. Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei claimed that attendance in demonstrations had…
Protests: U.S. Reaction
Updated: December 5, 2019
The Trump administration offered support to Iranians protesting a hike in gas prices announced on November 15. “We condemn the lethal force and severe communications restrictions used against demonstrators. Tehran has fanatically pursued nuclear weapons and missile programs, and supported terrorism…
Protests: Overview and Timeline
Updated: December 18, 2019
In a surprise overnight announcement on November 15, Iran hiked gas prices—by up to 300 percent—and introduced a new rationing system. The government’s goal was to raise funds to help the poor, but it backfired. Protests erupted across the country. The sudden move followed rising inflation and…
U.S. Renews National Emergency Regarding Iran
On November 12, President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, renewed the national emergency with respect to Iran. The emergency status was first declared on November 14, 1979, shortly after the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The following is the full text of the White House press release…
U.N.: Iran Violating Nuclear Deal
Updated: November 13, 2019
In its quarterly report, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Iran had violated the 2015 nuclear deal by increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also reported that its inspectors had found traces of uranium “at a location in Iran not declared to…
News Digest: Week of November 11
Updated: November 19, 2019
November 11
Nuclear: In its quarterly report, the world’s nuclear watchdog said that Iran had violated the 2015 nuclear deal by increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also reported that its inspectors had found traces of uranium “at a location…
Iran’s Hegemony Tested in Iraq, Lebanon
Updated: December 6, 2019
By Andrew Hanna
In late 2019, Iran faced challenges to its influence in Iraq and Lebanon that, for the first time in a more than a decade, weakened its hold on two countries critical to its regional ambitions. Protesters in both countries criticized Tehran’s role in their domestic politics. Iran…
International Reactions to Iran’s Nuclear Moves
Updated: November 12, 2019
On November 5, President Hassan Rouhani announced a major increase in Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity. He said that Iran would start injecting gas into centrifuges at Fordo, heavily fortified facility. Built inside a mountain, Fordo was intended to be a research facility under the 2015 nuclear…
Report: Internet Censorship in Iran
In 2018 and 2019, internet freedom in Iran remained highly restricted, according to a new report by Freedom House. Authorities “handed down harsh prison sentences to online journalists and other users, and continued to block access to independent news sites and a number of social media and…
Iraqis Storm Iranian Consulate
As Iran marked 40 years since the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iraqi protestors stormed the Iranian consulate in Karbala. On November 3, demonstrators scaled concrete barriers protecting the building and lobbed stones and firebombs over the wall. They accused Iran of interfering in Iraq’…
News Digest: Week of November 4
Updated: November 12, 2019
November 4
Foreign Policy/Society: More than 1,000 rallies were held across Iran to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy. Outside of the former U.S. mission, thousands of Iranians chanted “Death to America,” as army chief Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi condemned…
U.S.: 40 Years After Its Embassy Takeover
The United States marked 40 years since the seizure of its embassy in Tehran by announcing new sanctions on Iran. “Forty years later, the revolutionary regime in Tehran has proven, time and again, that its first acts after gaining power were a clear indication of its evil character,” Secretary of…
Iran: 40 Years After U.S. Embassy Takeover
On November 4, thousands of Iranians chanted “Death to America” outside of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran. It was one of more than 1,000 rallies held across Iran to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the embassy’s seizure. In 1979, students stormed the compound to protest the Carter…
Khamenei: 40 Years After U.S. Embassy Takeover
On November 3, Iran’s supreme leader renewed the ban on talks with the United States. “No problem will be solved with meetings and with negotiations,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. “The same wolfish qualities…
U.S.: Iran Worst State Sponsor of Terror
Iran “remains the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism,” according to a new State Department report. In the latest edition of “Country Reports on Terrorism,” Washington alleged that Tehran “has spent nearly one billion dollars per year to support terrorist groups that serve as its proxies and…
U.S. Sanctions Iran’s Construction Sector
On October 31, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions on Iran’s construction sector and the sale of certain materials used in Tehran’s nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs. The sale of raw and semi-finished metals, graphite, coal, and software for integrating industrial purposes…
Detainees in Iran and the U.S.
Updated: August 10, 2023
Hostage seizures and arrests have been a recurrent feature of the troubled relationship between the United States and Iran since revolutionary students captured the U.S. Embassy—and 52 diplomats—on November 4, 2019. That 444-day drama ended on January 20, 1981, the day President Ronald Reagan was…
Inside the Former U.S. Embassy in Tehran
For almost four decades, the U.S. embassy in Iran was off-limits to visitors. Students seized the embassy on November 4, 1979 to protest the Carter administration’s decision to take in the ailing former shah for medical treatment. Student leaders later said their intention was to hold the embassy…
U.S. and Gulf Partners Sanction Financial Network
On October 30, the United States and six Gulf countries—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait—imposed sanctions on a financing network controlled by Iran’s military and linked to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia and political movement. The Terrorist Financing…
News Digest: Week of October 28
Updated: November 4, 2019
October 28
Justice: The Iranian lawyer of two French citizens detained in Tehran said prosecutors had provided no evidence of espionage or security-related charges. Roland Marchal was arrested in June while visiting his Iranian-French colleague Fariba Adelkhah, who was also detained. The attorney…
U.S. Announces Humanitarian Mechanism
On October 25, the U.S. Treasury announced a new financial channel “to ensure unprecedented transparency into humanitarian trade with Iran.” The Treasury Department said the mechanism would allow “permissible trade” to support the Iranian population while continuing to deprive Tehran of the…
The Invisible U.S.-Iran Cyber War
Updated: November 1, 2021
By 2020, tensions between the United States and Iran increasingly played out in invisible cyberspace. Both governments acknowledged that cyberattacks were central to their strategies. The scope was unknown, but cyberspace has turned into a virtual battlefield. Cyber offered an alternative to…
Thaw in Iran-Gulf Relations
Updated: February 7, 2020
On October 20, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it released $700 million in frozen funds to Iran—a sign of thawing relations between the two Gulf countries. On October 14, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said there have been “some contacts between Iran and the United Arab Emirates in…
News Digest: Week of October 21
Updated: October 25, 2019
October 21
Justice/Diplomacy: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran sent the United States a list of names for a proposed prison swap. Tehran did not publicize the list, but Zarif said he hoped to hear “good news” regarding the release of Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani. The United…
Hook: Syria Pullout Does Not Affect Iran Strategy
On October 16, Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on U.S. policy toward Iran. Hook told lawmakers that Washington’s policy was rooted in “an unprecedented pressure campaign” with two objectives: “to deprive the Iranian regime of the…
Iran’s Role in Iraqi Protests
Updated: December 6, 2019
On October 1, more than 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Baghdad to protest corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services. The protests also targeted growing Iranian influence in Iraq. Some protestors chanted anti-Iranian slogans, while others displayed posters of Iraq’s former…
Imran Khan’s Saudi-Iran Diplomacy
In mid-October, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan traveled to Iran and Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to reduce regional tensions. Khan met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on October 13. After the meeting, Tehran indicated a desire to engage with…
Poll: Iranians on the Economy
Some 68 percent of Iranians say their country’s economic situation is bad, and 55 percent say it is getting worse, according to a new poll by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll.com. Some 54 percent of Iranians say that domestic mismanagement and…
Rouhani's Brother Goes to Prison
On October 16, Hossein Fereydoun, the brother of President Hassan Rouhani and a senior negotiator in nuclear talks with the United States, began a five-year prison term in Tehran’s Evin prison. He was arrested in 2017 and initially sentenced to seven years in prison; an appeals court reduced the…