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News Digest: Week of July 17

Updated: July 24, 2023
July 17  International: Finance Minister Ehsan Khandouzi announced a series of joint trade and cooperation projects between Iran and China. “China is Iran’s largest trading partner and the most important for the export of Iranian goods and an important part of our imports are also from China,”…

News Digest: Week of July 10

Updated: July 17, 2023
July 10 Military: Ramazan Zirrahi, a Revolutionary Guards commander, criticized the U.S. Navy for interfering when Iran intercepted a ship allegedly smuggling fuel on July 6. “The Americans sought to prevent [the interception] through a series of unprofessional and risky actions,” he said. …

U.N. Report: Human Rights in Iran

On June 21, U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al Nashif expressed concern over Iran’s human rights record between August 2022 and April 2023. “The overall human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran has markedly deteriorated against the backdrop of continuously…

U.S. Report on Human Trafficking in Iran

Iran’s government “did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity, is not making significant efforts to do so,” according to the State Department’s annual report on human…

U.S. Intelligence on Iran’s Nuclear Program

On July 10, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reported that Iran was not producing a nuclear weapon. But it warned that Tehran had accelerated its overall nuclear program. “Iran continues to increase the size and enrichment level of its uranium stockpile beyond JCPOA [Joint…

News Digest: Week of July 3

Updated: July 10, 2023
July 3  Domestic: The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group reported that Iran had executed at least 354 people in the first six months of 2023. Some 36 percent more people were executed compared to the same period in 2022. Nearly 20 percent of all executions were members of the Baluch, a Sunni…

Iran’s Response to Attempted Coup in Russia

Iranian leaders uniformly backed Russia’s government in the aftermath of the failed rebellion by the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary force with close ties to the Kremlin. “Iran supports the national sovereignty of Russia,” President Ebrahim Raisi assured President Vladimir Putin in a phone call…

News Digest: Week of June 26, 2023

Updated: July 3, 2023
June 26 International: The European Council sanctioned seven individuals in Iran for human rights violations. They included judiciary officials, provincial governors, and leaders of security forces responsible for harsh sentences, arbitrary detentions, and violence against protesters.  A…

Iran & China: Military Ties

Since its 1979 revolution, Iran’s military ties with China have evolved through four phases. Tehran was dependent on Beijing as its primary source of weaponry during the eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s. It bought warplanes, tanks, and missiles. China welcomed the hard currency that, in turn,…

Iran & China: A Trade Lifeline

Updated: July 5, 2023
Since the early 21st century, the centerpiece of relations between Tehran and Beijing has been economic, largely based on trade in oil and consumer goods. China bought Iran’s oil to fuel industrialization, while it sold machinery, electronics, and appliances to Iran to expand its global marketplace…

Iran & China: An Iranian View

Nasser Hadian is a U.S.-educated professor of political science at the University of Tehran and a former visiting professor at Columbia University.   How do Iranian officials view China? What are Iran’s goals in shifting East?   Iran’s policy elite believe that China is a rising power, while…

Raisi Mobilizes Support for Iran in Latin America

In a defiant challenge to the United States, President Ebrahim Raisi flew to three Latin American countries—one only 90 miles from the U.S. border—to deepen Iran’s strategic and economic ties in the western hemisphere. The trip, in mid-June 2023, included stops in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, all…

News Digest: Week of June 19

June 19  Diplomacy: Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Iran for the first time in more than two decades. Mirziyoyev met with President Ebrahim Raisi, and the two signed 10 cooperation agreements on trade, transit, medicine, insurance, technology and agriculture. International: The leaders…

U.S. Warns Companies about Iran’s Drone Program

On June 9, 2023, the United States warned manufacturing, electronics, and shipping businesses worldwide about the military threats posed by Iran’s drone program. It called on companies to vet their clients and customers to avoid contributing—intentionally or otherwise—parts and technology to Tehran…

Supreme Leader on Nuclear Weapons & Diplomacy

On June 11, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed openness about a nuclear agreement with the West but stipulated that the “infrastructure of our nuclear industry should not be touched.” He also warned officials to be wary of promises by Western governments. “We were hurt in many places…

U.S. Sanctions Missile & Military Supply Network

On June 6, the United States sanctioned six companies and seven people in Iran, China, and Hong Kong that procured technology and parts for the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile and military programs. The network was linked to Iran’s Defense Ministry and four affiliated organizations. Three…

Zarif Firestorm Over Iran's Failure to Compromise

In highly unusual criticism, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (2013-2021) blasted the Iranian government for its inflexible and unrealistic policies that failed at diplomacy. “Throughout history, we have set our goals based on our desires and ignored our abilities,” Zarif said in an…

News Digest: Week of June 5

June 5 Military: Two U.S. and British warships, the USS McFaul and the HMS Lancaster, responded to a distress call from a large merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil transits. Three Revolutionary Guards fast-attack boats had approached the commercial…

Iran Unveils Hypersonic Missile

On June 6, 2023, the Revolutionary Guards unveiled Iran’s first hypersonic missile, which reportedly has a range of 1,400 kilometers (or 870 miles). The medium-range missile can travel at speeds of up to Mach 15—or 15 times the speed of sound. Iran dubbed it the Fattah, Persian for “conqueror.”…

U.S. Condemns Iran’s New Roles at U.N.

On June 1, the United States condemned Iran’s election as rapporteur for the U.N. First Committee—focused on disarmament and international security issues—and as one of 21 U.N. General Assembly vice presidents. A “representative of Iran’s government is unfit to serve in a leadership position…even…

Leaders Condemn U.S. on Khomeini Anniversary

Iran’s leaders blasted the United States in defiant speeches commemorating the anniversary of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death in 1989. In a televised speech on June 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Khomeini’s successor – warned that Western powers were trying to…

U.S. Sanctions for Internet Censorship

On June 2, the United States sanctioned Arvan Cloud, two of its executives, and an affiliated technology company for developing an alternative to the Internet that would allow the government to control or censor content available inside Iran. The technology also restricted Iranians from getting…

News Digest: Week of May 29

May 29  Military: Fourteen people allegedly linked to an Israeli “terrorist team” had been detained for plotting to assassinate people in Iran, the Judiciary announced. Domestic: Elaheh Mohammadi, who reported on Masha Amini’s funeral in September 2022, began her trial in Iran’s Revolutionary…

U.S. Sanctions IRGC Operatives for Foreign Plots

On June 1, the United States sanctioned five Iranian men and a Turkish airline for plotting terrorist attacks and assassinations targeting former U.S. officials, U.S.-Iranian citizens, dissidents, and journalists. Three of the men were affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods…

Iran and Afghanistan Clash over Water Rights

In May 2023, clashes erupted between Iran and Afghanistan after President Ebrahim Raisi charged that the Taliban government was restricting access to water from the Helmand River. The 621-mile-long river flows across Afghanistan and empties into lakes and wetlands in southeastern Iran used by…

Profile: New Security Council Chief

Updated: July 25, 2023
Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was appointed to be secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the highest body in charge of foreign policy and national security, on May 22. He replaced Ali Shamkhani, a former rear…

Shamkhani Removed from Security Council

After a decade surviving Iran’s fractious politics, Ali Shamkhani was removed as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the highest body in charge of foreign policy and national security, on May 22. The former rear admiral, a young hero during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war who…

News Digest: Week of May 22

May 22 International: Iran decried the G7 statement, released on May 20, that had criticized Iran’s nuclear advances, human rights violations and regional adventurism. The communique was “selective” and “vague,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said. Iran’s nuclear program “is solely…

G7 Leaders Condemn Iran

On May 20, the G7 countries criticized Iran for nuclear advances, human rights violations, weapons proliferation, and disrupting international shipping. “We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s unabated escalation of its nuclear program, which has no credible civilian justification and brings it…

Amnesty International: Executions Surge in Iran

In 2022, Iran executed at least 576 people – more than any other country except China – according to Amnesty International’s annual report on the death penalty. Executions were up 83 percent compared to 2021. The spike was linked to death sentences for drug-related offenses and murder. But Iran…