Archive
On January 30, President Donald Trump expressed support for Iranian protestors and urged Congress to fix perceived flaws in the nuclear deal during his first State of the Union address.
“When the people of Iran rose up against the crimes of their corrupt dictatorship, I did not stay silent.… Read More
On January 29, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi issued rare criticism of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an open letter. “You have been Iran’s top leader for three decades, but still speak like an opposition,” wrote Karroubi in the letter published by Saham News, the official website of… Read More
On January 22, President Hassan Rouhani gave his first interview since protests over economic grievances and corruption broke out in late December and early January. Rouhani reiterated his support for citizens expressing their opinions, although the interviewer never brought up the demonstrations… Read More
On January 25, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said the United States will take leverage economic relationships to make it more difficult for Iran to fund destabilizing activities in the Middle East. In remarks to the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in the United Arab Emirates, Ryan also expressed… Read More
On January 22, Vice President Mike Pence pledged that the United States would never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and that it will “no longer tolerate Iran’s support of terrorism, or its brutal attempts to suppress its own people.” In an address to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset,… Read More
On January 19, Secretary of Defense James Mattis released the U.S. National Defense Strategy, the first in a decade. It builds on President Trump's National Security Strategy, which was released in December 2017. The unclassified summary said the United States would strengthen international… Read More
Kevan Harris, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California-Los Angeles, and Daniel Tavana, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University, have collaborated on a groundbreaking initiative focused on the political behavior and socio-… Read More
On January 12, President Trump waived sanctions on Iran for a third time, as required every 120 days by law under the nuclear deal. But he only did so "in order to secure our European allies’ agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” he said. Trump also warned that he would… Read More
On January 12, President Donald Trump extended sanctions waivers for Iran as required under the nuclear deal. But he warned that he would withdraw from the deal if European partners did not agree to fix perceived flaws in the agreement. On the same day, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 14… Read More
On January 12, President Donald Trump extended sanctions waivers for Iran for the third time. “I am waiving the application of certain nuclear sanctions, but only in order to secure our European allies’ agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” he said. Trump also warned that… Read More
On January 12, the Trump Administration waived sanctions on Iran for another four months as part of the nuclear deal but took an increasingly hard stance on Tehran’s human rights violations and its controversial missile program. The decision follows widespread protests in Iran over economic… Read More
President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would prefer to withdraw from or renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal. He has called it “the worst deal ever negotiated.” In stark contrast, the other parties to the agreement — China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, and the… Read More
Iran’s economy was a key driver of the protests that erupted on December 28. Tens of thousands took to the streets to express their frustration with rising prices, unemployment, the gap between rich and poor, and corruption. The 2015 nuclear deal, which included sanctions relief, has not yielded… Read More
On January 9, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution in support of Iranians “engaged in legitimate and peaceful protests.” It also condemned the government’s human rights abuses and urged the Trump Administration to sanction those responsible for violations. Republicans and Democrats… Read More
On January 5, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CNN that the United States wants to amplify the voices of Iran’s protestors. “We know the regime listens to the world, and that’s why we’ve been working diligently with others in the world, including our European partners, to also amplify these… Read More
Iran has increasingly used cyber operations to monitor and retaliate against foreign and domestic enemies, according to two new reports. "Iran has demonstrated how militarily weaker countries can use offensive cyber operations to contend with more advanced adversaries,” concludes a study by the… Read More
On January 4, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned five Iran-based entities for ties to the country's ballistic missile program. The United States said the organizations were owned or controlled by an industrial firm responsible for developing and… Read More
On December 28, 2017, protests erupted in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, over high prices and corruption. Anti-government demonstrations quickly spread to dozens of cities. They were the largest show of opposition since 2009. Some of the rallies turned violent. More than 20 people reportedly… Read More
On January 3, Iran charged the United States with "grotesque" interference in its internal affairs in a letter to the United Nations. The accusations came after the United States openly supported anti-government demonstrations in major cities, including Tehran, Masshad, Qom, and Hamadan. "Such… Read More
On December 28, 2017, protests broke out in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city, over economic hardships, corruption, and rising food and fuel prices. The initial protests were reportedly sparked by increases of up to 40 percent in staples, including eggs and poultry. Out of a population of 80… Read More
On December 28, 2017, protests broke out in Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous city, over economic hardships, corruption, and rising food and fuel prices. The demonstrations continued into the new year, morphing into political rallies and spreading within the first week to dozens of cities across… Read More
Since the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran has signed deals worth tens of billions of dollars—on oil, aviation, solar energy, health care, and consumer goods—with companies on four continents, including North America and Europe. Foreign companies have coveted the Iranian market since sanctions were… Read More
2017 was tumultuous for many Middle East countries, but less for Iran than in previous years. Tehran encountered few existential political or security challenges, whereas Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Libya faced basic questions about their long-term viability. Iran capitalized on the region’s chaos to… Read More
Donald Trump’s election produced dramatic change in U.S. policy in 2017. As a candidate, he had blasted the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers as “the worst deal ever negotiated.” If elected, Trump said his number-one priority would be to dismantle the deal.
Since taking… Read More
The Carnegie Endowment has published a new study on Iran’s shifting demographics by Richard Cincotta, a global fellow with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, and Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace focusing on Iran and U.S… Read More
On December 18, President Trump unveiled his long-awaited National Security Strategy. “For generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from jihadist terrorist organizations… Read More
On December 14, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, presented what she referred to as "undeniable" evidence of Iran’s transfer of arms to Houthi rebels in Yemen. “It’s hard to find a conflict or a terrorist group in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints all over… Read More
On December 10, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Europe to work with Iran and not follow in “lock step” behind the United States. In an op-ed published in The New York Times, he argued that the United States has proven unreliable on foreign policy since President Donald Trump… Read More
On December 6, U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and committed to moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv. "My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," President… Read More
On December 5, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to exchange views on recent developments in the Middle East and the Balkans. In remarks to the press, Mogherini reiterated that “continued implementation of the Iran nuclear deal is a key strategic… Read More