Archive
On May 20, the Biden administration sanctioned two Houthi military commanders leading the rebel offensive on Yemen’s Marib province. The Treasury sanctioned Muhammad Abd al Karim al Ghamari, the Head of the General Staff of the Houthi military. The State Department designated Yusuf al Madani, as a… Read More
What weapons has Iran provided to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza?
Iran first established ties with Hamas and PIJ in the 1980s. Iran has since provided funding, weapons and training to the militant groups. Iran has transferred several types of artillery rockets — including Fajr… Read More
May 17
Diplomacy: The top Iranian lawmaker on Parliament's national security committee called on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to deescalate tensions over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. “The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very clear, unequivocal, and decisive… Read More
In April and May 2021, Iran’s senior leaders unanimously condemned Israel amid clashes in East Jerusalem and Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Tehran expressed staunch support for Palestinians and militant groups in Gaza.
Iran has long supported Hamas and PIJ for geostrategic and… Read More
In 2020, Iran had a poor record on religious freedom, particularly for minorities, the State Department reported in its annual global survey of religious freedom. Non-Muslims faced “societal discrimination and harassment,” while Sunnis living in Kurdistan, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchistan… Read More
Iran’s presidential election is scheduled for June 18. Registration for candidates began on May 11, and seven candidates were selected to run on May 25. The poll will be pivotal to Iran's future since President Hassan Rouhani cannot run again; the Islamic Republic has a limit of two… Read More
Between 2015 and 2025, the United States and its allies intercepted at least 19 shipments of weapons allegedly originating from Iran and headed to Yemen. The vessels were usually unflagged dhows, wooden boats or fishing vessels. Their cargoes varied in size, and the weapons varied in lethality… Read More
May 10
Diplomacy: E.U. foreign affair chief Josep Borrell said that he was "optimistic" about indirect negotiations in Vienna aimed at getting the United States and Iran back in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. "There is a window of opportunity that will stay open for a couple of… Read More
Iranian and U.S. naval forces have had sporadic and occasional hostile encounters since the 1980s. Most encounters – largely by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG), not Iran’s regular navy – involved Iranian harassment of U.S. ships, not live fire. Many incidents have occurred in or… Read More
May 3
Cyber: Iran was likely behind cyber attacks on a logistics company and H&M's Israel branch, JNS reported.
Diplomacy: The British government denied reports that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual national detained in Iran, was set to be released. “It’s incumbent… Read More
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
On April 25, Iran International TV, a Persian-language station based in London, aired three hours of a leaked interview with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that triggered a political firestorm. Zarif candidly said that the Islamic Revolutionary… Read More
On April 9, 2021, Iran and Saudi Arabia held direct talks five years after severing diplomatic relations. The talks in Baghdad were mediated by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi. The Iranian delegation was led by Saeed Iravani, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. The… Read More
On April 6, the world’s six major powers launched new diplomacy in Vienna to get the United States and Iran back into full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. The logistics were unusual because Iran refused to meet directly with the U.S. delegation. So the Joint Commission—the body tasked with… Read More
April 19
Military: Gen. Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi, the deputy commander of the Qods Force, died of heart disease, the Revolutionary Guards announced.
Nuclear: The IAEA and the Iranian government began expert-level talks in Vienna over uranium particles discovered… Read More
Iran’s economy grew by 1.5 percent in fiscal year 2020-2021, despite historically low oil prices, crippling U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported in April 2021. Iran’s economic growth outperformed most of its neighbors. The economies of Iraq, Saudi… Read More
On April 9, the annual U.S. intelligence assessment reported that Iran has not taken the steps necessary to produce a nuclear weapon. But it also warned that the Islamic Republic might expand its nuclear program if the United States does not lift sanctions. “Iranian officials probably will… Read More
Since 2019, Israel and Iran have reportedly engaged in tit-for-tat attacks on each other’s cargo ships. The onset of the shadow war at sea is unclear, but the first well-publicized incident was the suspicious breakdown of an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea in May 2019.
Israel has sabotaged… Read More
In February 2021, most Americans and Iranians said that they supported the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the six major world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). But Iranians were skeptical that the United States would ever fully comply with the accord even if the… Read More
April 12
Sanctions: The European Union sanctioned eight Iranian security officials involved in a deadly crackdown on protesters in November 2019. The travel bans and asset freezes were the first E.U. human rights sanctions on Iran since 2013.
Diplomacy:
Speaking in a meeting… Read More
On April 14, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spurned the initial ideas to get the United States and Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal. “The suggestions they make are often arrogant and degrading, thus they aren’t even worth looking at,” he said a day before diplomatic… Read More
On April 12, the European Union sanctioned eight Iranian security officials involved in a deadly crackdown on protesters in November 2019. The travel bans and asset freezes were the first E.U. human rights sanctions on Iran since 2013. In late 2019, Iran experienced mass protests after the… Read More
On April 12, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif vowed that Iran would ramp up its nuclear program in response to the sabotage of the Natanz nuclear facility. A day earlier, an explosion destroyed the power supply and damaged underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium at Natanz. “This most… Read More
Since 2010, Israel has been widely linked to a least a dozen attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Jerusalem and Tehran are nearly 1,000 miles apart. Yet Israel has reportedly penetrated deep into Iranian territory and its most secure facilities in two waves. The first wave, mainly cyberattacks and… Read More
In February 2021, Iranians largely disapproved of President Hassan Rouhani but were divided over who should succeed him. Iran will hold presidential elections on June 18, 2021. Rouhani was ineligible to run again after serving two consecutive terms in office. But “nearly two-thirds of Iranians say… Read More
April 5
Espionage: Iran claimed that it arrested an Israeli spy in its East Azerbaijan province, Reuters reported.
Health: More than 700,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, purchased through the World Health Organization, arrived in Iran. The vaccines were… Read More
The most complicated issue in U.S.-Iran diplomacy is the overlapping network of U.S. sanctions that punish the Islamic Republic on multiple counts, from activities related to the nuclear program and support of terrorism to missile proliferation and human rights abuses. Some of Iran’s major… Read More
On April 6, the European Union convened indirect talks between Iran and the United States in Vienna. The goal was to create two separate roadmaps to bring Iran and the United States back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Tehran… Read More
In April 2021, the European Union convened indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Vienna. The goal was to create two separate roadmaps to bring Iran and the United States back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. The other five countries that negotiated the Joint Comprehensive… Read More
In April 2021, Iran attended indirect talks on its nuclear program hosted by the European Union in Vienna. The talks included the other five participants to the 2015 nuclear deal—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—and the United States. Iran did not meet directly with the United States but… Read More
In April 2021, the United States attended indirect talks on returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal hosted by the European Union in Vienna. The talks include the other five world powers – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – and Iran. “Our focus is on looking for a diplomatic path… Read More