U.S. Policy

On March 12, 2024, the Treasury Department sanctioned four Iran-based operatives and a financial facilitator for the al Ashtar Brigades, an Iran-backed group committed to overthrowing Bahrain’s government. “Today’s action, taken in coordination with the Kingdom of Bahrain, underscores our…
In his 2024 State of the Union address, President Biden pledged to protect U.S. personnel from the threat posed by Iran and its allies, including the Houthi rebels in Yemen. “That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in…
On Feb. 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Alireza Shafie Nasab, age 39, with involvement in a multi-year hacking campaign. He and his co-conspirators targeted the Treasury and State Departments as well as more than a dozen American companies, including defense contractors. They tried…
On Feb. 27, 2024, the United States and Britain sanctioned the deputy commander of the Qods Force, the external operations branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and a member of the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. The U.S. Treasury also designated the owner and operator of a ship that transported…
On Feb. 27, 2024, the United States sanctioned two companies that shipped more than $100 million in Iranian goods to businesses in China on behalf of Iran’s Ministry of Defense. The Panama-flagged Kohana was on its way to China when the Treasury Department made the announcement. The vessel was…
On Feb. 23, 2023, the United States sanctioned Iranian and Russian companies involved in transferring munitions as well as parts, components and materials for suicide drones. Moscow has increased its capacity to manufacture Iranian-designed suicide drones. For the first time, Washington designated…
On Feb. 2, 2024, the United States launched airstrikes on more than 85 targets in seven facilities – four in Syria and three in Iraq. The Pentagon reported that the sites included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and drone and munition storage…
On Feb. 2, 2024, the United States sanctioned six Iranian officials for cyber-attacks in the United States and other countries. The new sanctions followed the attack on Jan. 28, 2024, on a U.S. outpost in northeast Jordan along the border abutting Syria and Iraq. Three American soldiers were killed…
Tensions soared between the Houthi militia in Yemen and the United States after Houthis seized the crew of a commercial shipping vessel on Nov. 19, 2023. Houthis launched attacks–using drones, missiles, and small boats–on commercial shipping and naval warships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s…
On Jan. 28, 2024, three U.S. soldiers were killed and more than 40 injured in a drone strike on Tower 22, a military outpost in Jordan abutting the borders of Syria and Iraq. They were the first fatalities after more than 160 attacks on U.S. forces deployed in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since the…