Archive
Fact Sheet: Treasury interpretive guidance and statement of licensing policy on internet freedom in Iran WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued guidance and licensing information to further support the free flow of… Read More
Mehdi Khalaji Who were the winners and losers in this election? The most important result of this election was the rise of a new generation of hardliners. It did not have a serious presence in parliament before the election. The new hardline faction is led by Ayatollah… Read More
On March 15, the global financial service, SWIFT, decided to cut ties with Iranian banks. The following is SWIFT’s statement. See below for a statement by the Treasury Under Secretary David S. Cohen. Brussels, 15 March 2012 – Following an EU Council decision, SWIFT is today… Read More
At a joint White House press conference on March 14, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron commented on the new diplomatic effort with Iran by the world’s six major powers. President Obama: We also discussed the continuing threat posed by Iran’s failure to meet its… Read More
A new poll finds that only one in four Americans favors Israel conducting a military strike against Iran's nuclear program. Seven in ten (69%) favor the US and other major powers continuing to pursue negotiations with Iran, a position that is supported by majorities of Republicans (58%), Democrats… Read More
President Obama commented extensively on Iran at a White House news conference on March 6, 2012. "Because sanctions are starting to have significant effect inside of Iran -- and that's not just my assessment, that's, I think, a uniform assessment -- because the sanctions are going to be even… Read More
A new report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran issued a new report on March 6, 2012. It concluded:
The Special Rapporteur has catalogued allegations that produce a striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed under international law. He restates his… Read More
On March 7, the Treasury Department designated Iranian Qods Force General overseeing Afghan Heroin trafficking through Iran. The following is the Treasury Department’s statement. WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Iranian Islamic Revolutionary… Read More
According to a 2012 Gallup poll, only eight percent of Iranians approve of U.S. leadership. Quick Summary: Iranians' already low approval of U.S. leadership did not get worse after the U.S. toughened sanctions in late 2011. Eight percent of Iranians approved of U.S. leadership… Read More
On Jan. 21, Iran announced the final list of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election. The following are key facts on the list of candidates. 5,395 candidates originally registered to run for parliament.3,444 were approved by the guardian council, which… Read More
Alireza Nader The fate of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program—which now threatens yet another Middle East conflagration—rests in the hands of a single man: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranians are now gripped by a sense that their nation stands at a… Read More
At a meeting with Iranian nuclear scientists on Feb. 22, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the following remarks about Iran’s nuclear program, international pressure and sanctions. “The Iranian nation has never been after nuclear weapons and it will never go after… Read More
Anthony Cordesman
The Center for Strategic and International Studies on Feb. 22 published “Iran and the Gulf Military Balance - II” by Anthony Cordesman and Alexander Wilner. The following is an excerpt from the report.
Iran continues to deny it is seeking nuclear weapons but it is much more… Read More
Iran announced on Feb. 19 that it would halt all oil sales to France and Britain, a response to new EU sanctions on Iranian oil imports due to go into effect this summer. But the top 10 European economies actually acquire only a modest share of their oil from Iran. The following are EU statistics… Read More
On Feb. 19, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey made the following comments on Iran in an interview on CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria. On Iran’s nuclear intentions We also know, or believe we know, that the Iranian regime has not decided that they will embark on the [...] effort… Read More
On Feb. 16, the State Department issued the following statement on Iran:Today the United States Government took three separate sanctions actions against Iran’s primary intelligence agency, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). MOIS was designated for its involvement in the… Read More
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Feb. 8-12, 2012, among 1,501 adults, finds substantial partisan differences over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program. The public supports tough measures – including the possible use of military… Read More
Interview with Yasmin AlemThis is the first election since the controversial 2009 election and reports of a clampdown on media are increasing. What is the situation for social media and internet usage in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections? With less than three weeks to parliamentary… Read More
According to a 2012 Gallup poll, Iranians are split, 40% to 35%, on nuclear military power. Half support cutting ties with countries that impose sanctions. WASHINGTON, D. C. -- Iranians are more likely to approve of Iran developing its nuclear power capabilities for non-military use (57%) than for… Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the U.S. orders more economic sanctions against Iran, a new Gallup poll finds nearly two-thirds of Iranians think recent sanctions that the United Nations, the U.S., and Western Europe have already imposed will hurt the livelihoods of the country's residents "a great deal… Read More
The following is an excerpt of President Obama’s statement on new U.S. sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank. I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal… Read More
In an energy brief for the Council on Foreign Relations, Robert McNally outlines four possible scenarios in “Managing Oil Market Disruption in a Confrontation with Iran.” SCENARIOS 1. Partial sanctions on Iran’s crude oil exports; Iran harasses gulf production and shipping This scenario… Read More
Karim Sadjadpour How has Iranian society changed over the 33 years since the revolution? Demographically, Iran is a much different society than it was 33 years ago. Its population has grown from around 35 million in 1979 to approximately 75 million today. Before the… Read More
On Jan. 26, the State Department issued the following statement on Iran. We are deeply concerned by the alarming increase in the Iranian regime’s efforts to extinguish all forms of free expression and limit its citizens’ access to information in the lead-up to March… Read More
Below is an excerpt from President Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 24"We will safeguard America's own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. Look at Iran. Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with… Read More
President Obama’s Statement on EU’s New Iran Sanctions, on Jan. 23 I applaud today’s actions by our partners in the European Union to impose additional sanctions on Iran in response to the regime’s continuing failure to fulfill its international obligations regarding its nuclear program. These… Read More
Interview with Yasmin Alem How do the numbers of registered candidates compare to previous elections? The number of candidates who registered for the 2012 parliamentary elections is at its lowest since the 1996 elections. Only 5,395 individuals registered to run for parliament, a 33… Read More
Patrick Clawson What does the unprecedented new European Union oil embargo on Iran mean in practical terms?The direct impact of the new EU oil embargo is relatively limited. Economists like to say that oil is "fungible," that is, oil not sold to the EU could be sold to other countries, and so the… Read More
The European Union on Jan. 23 imposed new sanctions on Iran. The following is the EU press statement, with the full conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council below.Iran: New EU sanctions target sources of finance for nuclear programme Given the EU's serious and deepening… Read More
Under the Amended Iran Sanctions Act, the United States on Jan. 11 sanctioned three companies for doing business with Iran's energy sector, expanding the range of punitive American action on the international stage. The following is the State Department announcement. Secretary of State Hillary… Read More