Archive

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

In 2022, Iran imprisoned the second most writers worldwide, according to PEN America, an advocacy group for freedom of expression. “The state of free expression globally remained perilous” in 2022, PEN said in its annual Freedom to Write Index. Key factoids include: Iran detained at least 57 out… Read More

Military cooperation between Iran and Russia has gyrated from virtually nothing after the 1979 revolution to a strategic partnership, bolstered by important arms transfers, by 2023. Overall, Moscow accounted for about a third of Tehran’s arms imports during the four decades after the revolution,… Read More

Trade between Iran and Russia fluctuated wildly in the three decades after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It plummeted by 65 percent between 2010 and 2015 during U.N. sanctions on Iran, then nearly quadrupled by 2022 after international sanctions were lifted, a new trade route opened, and a… Read More

Since 2002, Iran, Russia and India have worked intermittently on a new transportation system by rail, road and sea—running 4,500 miles through at least six Eurasian countries and benefitting seven others—that could be a game-changer for global trade. The goal of the joint project is to cut travel… Read More

May 15  Military: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had reportedly built an underground drone base in the Zagros mountains in southwestern Shiraz, Farz province, according to Alma, an Israel think tank. The base reportedly consisted of five drone launch sites and could deploy the… Read More

On May 15, the State Department released its annual report on religious freedom. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the Iranian government for the crackdown on protesters. “People across Iran, led by young women, continue peaceful protests demanding their human rights, including freedom of… Read More

May 1 International: The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed “The Solidifying Iran Sanction Act,” a bipartisan bill which extended the Iran Sanctions Act set to expire in 2026. “The Iran Sanctions Act is one of the most important tools in U.S. law to compel Iran to abandon its… Read More

The United States has tried two disparate tactics to contain Iran in the five years since the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal brokered by the world’s six major powers in 2015. Both efforts failed. As part of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” approach, he withdrew from… Read More

On May 2, 2023, Microsoft announced that Iran had been “rapidly accelerating” cyberattacks since mid-2022. The tech giant attributed 24 cyber operations since June 2022 to Iran’s so-called Cotton Sandstorm, which the U.S. Treasury had also linked to cyberattacks on the 2020 presidential election.… Read More

Between 2018 and 2023, Iran breached several of the most stringent restrictions imposed by the nuclear deal with the world’s six major powers. It enriched uranium to almost 84 percent—far higher than the 3.67 percent allowed by the deal or what would be needed for a civilian nuclear reactor to… Read More

Five years after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the unique international diplomacy, which originally brought together the world’s six major powers to prevent Tehran from getting the bomb, had seriously eroded. New flashpoints diverted attention to other hotspots. By May 2023, the… Read More

Iran achieved an escalating series of advances in its nuclear program—bringing it within days of so-called “breakout” capability—in the five years after the U.S. withdrew from the historic deal originally negotiated by the world’s six major powers. By May 2023, Iran had exceeded several of the key… Read More

On April 27, 2023, the United States announced new sanctions on Iran for taking Americans and Iranian-Americans hostage. The Treasury Department specifically designated four senior officials in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO), including: Mohammad… Read More

Since 1979, more than a dozen Iranian clerics have been killed in bombings, shootings and stabbings by a variety of attackers, including opposition groups. The biggest single attack was shortly after the revolution when a bomb went off at the Islamic Republican Party headquarters. More than 70… Read More

April 24 International: Iran shipped more than 300,000 Iranian artillery shells and a million rounds of ammunition to Russia in the previous six months, officials told The Wall Street Journal. Tehran had emerged as Moscow’s top military backer amid the war against Ukraine.  International: Iran-… Read More

Iran’s military support for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has soured diplomatic relations between Tehran and Kyiv. In September, Ukraine downgraded formal ties with Iran for providing armed drones to Russia. By the end of 2022, Russia had used hundreds of drones on Ukrainian military positions… Read More

On April 24, the United States, Britain, and the European Union sanctioned more than a dozen Iranian government and security officials, particularly those linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as a mobile service provider. The listed men and company had suppressed and… Read More

On April 18, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the proposal of holding referendums on government policies. He questioned the ability of the public to analyze issues and warned that such votes would be divisive. “For any single issue, the country would be engaged in debate and arguments… Read More

Nasser Hadian is a U.S.-educated professor of political science at the University of Tehran and a former visiting professor at Columbia University.   Why has Iran grown closer to Russia and China under President Ebrahim Raisi? How does the shift reflect Iran’s foreign policy more broadly? Iran… Read More

Iranian security officials deliberately and systematically used sexual and gender-based violence against protesters—including children—after nationwide demonstrations erupted in September 2022, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported in April 2023. The government… Read More

On April 18, the United States sanctioned 52 people and companies based in nine countries for assisting Nazem Said Ahmad, a financier for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia and political party backed by Iran. The list included six members of Ahmad’s family, 14 associates, and 32 companies. They… Read More

On April 19, the United States sanctioned an Iranian man and six companies based in Iran, China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia that procured electronic components for Iran’s drone and military programs. The network was linked to Pardazan System Namad Arman (PASNA), an Iran-based company designated in… Read More