Archive
The world’s six major powers and Iran began drafting a final nuclear deal during a four-day round of talks that ended on June 20. “We have worked extremely hard all week to develop elements we can bring together when we meet for the next round,” said Michael Man, a spokesperson for E.U… Read More
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has confirmed that Iran is still complying with the interim nuclear deal, which took effect on January 20. Tehran has not enriched uranium to above the five percent level. It has also diluted half of its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium, which… Read More
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Shiite religious leaders oppose nuclear weapons based on thousand-year-old principles of Islamic law, according to a paper by Ayatollah Abolqasem Alidoost. Quasi-official Iranian website NuclearEnergy.ir. published a summary including a… Read More
Interview with Nasser Hadian The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a militant Sunni group, has taken control of much of eastern Syria and, most recently, northern Iraq. What are the implications for Iran? Stabilizing Iraq is extremely important to Iran for a number of reasons… Read More
On June 18, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told the U.S.-Israel Joint Economic Development Group that Iran’s economy “remains in a state of distress.” Lew also emphasized that the “temporary, targeted, and reversible sanctions relief provided by the Joint Plan of Action has been extremely… Read More
Iran’s global image remains overwhelmingly negative one year after President Hassan Rouhani’s election, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Views of Iran in several Middle Eastern countries have particularly worsened in recent years. And about three-in-four Americans still hold… Read More
Interview with Nasser Hadian The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a militant Sunni group, has taken control of much of eastern Syria and, most recently, northern Iraq. What are the implications for Iran? Stabilizing Iraq is extremely important to Iran for a number of reasons… Read More
Iran’s internal politics and economic situation are fraught with tension, according to data compiled by international bodies and presented by Anthony Cordesman. For example, youth unemployment is already high at some 23 percent. But nearly a quarter of Iran’s population is 14-years-old… Read More
On June 17, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Britain intends to reopen its embassy in Tehran. The embassy has been closed since demonstrators stormed it on Nov. 29, 2011 to protest new British sanctions on Iranian banks. The United Kingdom also closed the Iranian embassy… Read More
On June 14, a group of U.S. bishops and Iranian religious leader issued a joint declaration opposing actions that endanger the health, dignity and welfare of others — including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The declaration was the result of a dialogue between the U.S.… Read More
Both Washington and Tehran have indicated openness to working cooperatively to quell the Iraq crisis. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a Sunni militant group fighting the Assad regime in Syria, has recently taken significant territory in western Iraq and now threatens both U.S. and… Read More
On June 16, the U.S. State Department provided a briefing on the upcoming nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world’s six major powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. A senior Obama administration official said that both sides should be focused on the… Read More
A report recently published by quasi-official Iranian website NuclearEnergy.ir claims Tehran would need at least 18 months to produce enough enriched uranium for one bomb. But that timeline differs drastically from the U.S. estimate of two months because of questionable methodology, according… Read More
Henri Barkey Why did President Rouhani visit Turkey? On June 9-10, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made his first visit to Turkey since his election a year ago. It was the first by an Iranian leader to Turkey in 18 years. By contrast, many senior Turks, including Prime Minister Recep… Read More
A final deal with Iran will have to sort out a dizzying array of timetables and disparate interpretation of terms. Among them: How many years will an agreement last? Iran prefers a few; the U.S. is thinking decades. Breakout time - how long it'd take to produce enough nuclear fuel for a… Read More
Robin Wright(Excerpt from The New Yorker) Rouhani’s victory, an upset, spawned great expectations of change. A pragmatic centrist, he campaigned on the promise of “hope and prudence.” After the election, in a series of speeches and tweets, he pledged new freedoms and challenged past… Read More
On June 9, Hassan Rouhani became the first Iranian president to officially visit Turkey in 18 years. The primary goal of the trip was to boost economic ties with Ankara. Rouhani was accompanied by a high profile 90-member trade delegation led by Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries… Read More
The following factsheet outlines the U.S.-Iran tensions over timelines and terms of a final nuclear agreement. 1) How long will a deal last? The United States, along with the other five major powers, is looking for a deal measured in years, even decades, that will limit or… Read More
In a new report, a quasi-official Iranian website has published its own timeline of how long it would take to produce enough enriched uranium for one bomb -- the so-called breakout time. It claims Tehran would need at least 18 months to produce enough enriched uranium for one bomb. But… Read More
Shaul Bakhash One year after President Hassan Rouhani’s election, what are his administration’s main accomplishments? After the eight disastrous years of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, Rouhani’s signal achievement is simply to put government back into the hands of adults… Read More
Diplomacy is accelerating in the run-up to the July 20 deadline for a nuclear deal. Delegations from most of the world’s six major powers are holding separate meetings with Iranian negotiators. Top U.S. officials led by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns held talks with the… Read More
President Hassan Rouhani and his oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, have launched an ambitious reform program for the oil and gas industry. They are trying to roll back the dominance of the Revolutionary Guards, halt privatization, prioritize near-completion projects and attract… Read More
Iranian youth have posted several videos of themselves dancing and lip synching to Pharell William’s hit “Happy.” One version featuring three women — without hijab — and three men went viral and led to the dancers’ arrest on May 20. They were pressured to express remorse on state… Read More
On June 5, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission issued a declaration at the close of the G-7 summit in Brussels. The following is the full text of point… Read More
On June 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei marked the 25th anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death with an address to hundreds at the late revolutionary leader’s mausoleum. Khamenei told Iranians that decades of “troublemaking” by the United States had failed to hold… Read More
June 3 marks the 25th anniversary of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death —and the emergence of new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The following are comments by The Iran Primer’s original authors on Khamenei’s quarter century in power. Alireza Nader… Read More
For 25 years, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the guiding force behind the Islamic Republic. He has constitutional authority or significant influence over both the government and military. On domestic issues, Khamenei encourages Iranians to become strong and independent so they… Read More
On June 3, Gallup rereleased its most recent rankings of positive emotions, with Iran at 93 on a list of 138 countries. Iranians reported the “highest negative emotions in the world, second only to Iraq,” according to the study. Gallup highlighted its findings two weeks after six young… Read More
Iran’s higher education institutions no longer enjoy any meaningful degree of academic freedom, according to a wide-ranging report by Amnesty International. The security and intelligence apparatus has gradually taken control of universities, colleges and institutes since Mahmoud… Read More
Garrett Nada The biggest news in May was reports of increased oil exports to Asia and discoveries of new fields. China’s imports of Iranian crude oil more than doubled in April compared to a year ago. And South Korea’s imports from Iran more than doubled between March and April. The… Read More