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Part 3: Iran on Its Space Program
The Iranian government has long considered the space program a source of national pride. Despite Western criticism, Tehran has claimed its program is completely peaceful and will not be used for military purposes. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly boasted that the space…
Part 2: U.S. on Iran’s Space Program
For more than a decade, the United States has warned that Iran’s space program could be adapted to advance its ballistic missile program, with implications for the entire Middle East and beyond. As of 2022, Iran already had missiles with a 2,000-kilometer (or 1,200-mile) range. The Trump…
US-Iran Tensions in Syria: Timeline
Updated: March 23, 2023
Syria has become a sporadic battlefield for Iran-backed militias, which support the Assad regime, and U.S.-led coalition forces since 2017. The following is a detailed timeline.
2017
May 18: U.S.-led coalition forces struck Iran-backed militants that were breaching the 55-kilometer (34-mile)…
US-Iran Tensions in Syria: 2022
In August, tensions flared between the United States and Iran in Syria. The United States launched airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in response to drone and rocket attacks on bases housing U.S. troops on August 15. “We've sent a very loud and clear message and a proportional message, that any…
News Digest: Week of August 15
August 15
Nuclear: Iran sent a response to the European Union’s latest draft text to restore the 2015 nuclear deal. “There are three issues that if resolved, we can reach an agreement in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had said earlier in the day. “We have told them…
Iran Poll on Nuclear Deal
Seven years after it was negotiated, Iranian public opinion was split on the 2015 nuclear deal. Some 48 percent disapproved of the agreement while 47 percent approved of it, according to a new poll by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll. The deal had a…
Iran and the Rushdie Attack
On August 12, award-winning novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen in an assassination attempt while lecturing at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old assailant and the son of immigrants from Lebanon, supported Iran and Hezbollah, its Lebanese…
Timeline: Israeli Attacks on Iran
Updated: January 30, 2023
Since 2010, Israel has allegedly conducted at least two dozen operations – including assassinations, drone strikes and cyberattacks – on Iran. Most of the targets were connected to Tehran’s controversial nuclear program, which Israel considers an existential threat. In 2022, however, two facilities…
U.S. Charges Iranian for Bolton Murder Plot
On August 10, the Justice Department announced charges against an Iranian national for plotting to murder John Bolton, who served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump from 2018 to 2019. Shahram Poursafi, 45, planned the operation, “likely in retaliation” for the U.S. assassination…
2022: Sweeping Crackdown on Dissent
In 2022, Iran detained and imprisoned dozens of activists, artists and academics. Many were charged with propaganda against the state and collusion against national security. The crackdown coincided with a surge of protests over food prices, pensions and salaries, taxes, and corruption in Tehran…
U.S. Announces Arms Sales to Gulf, Joint Military Exercise
On August 2, the Biden administration approved major arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, and its ally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia requested 300 Patriot missiles and related equipment, training and services worth a total of $3 billion. The UAE requested 96 Terminal…
Explainer: Raisi's First Year in Power
The U.S. Institute of Peace interviewed Dr. Kenneth Katzman, a former CIA analyst, who is now an Iran expert at the Congressional Research Service (CRS). His responses are made in his personal capacity, not for CRS or the Library of Congress.
Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner, has now been in power for…
News Digest: Week of August 1
Updated: August 3, 2022
August 1
Human Rights: Iran’s intelligence ministry announced the arrest of an unspecified number of members of the Baha’i faith with links to a Baha’i religious center in Israel. The individuals were arrested for allegedly spreading propaganda and proselytizing in schools. The Islamic Republic…
U.S. Sanctions Firms Helping Iran Smuggle Oil
On August 1, the United States sanctioned six companies for helping to sell millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petrochemical products to East Asian buyers. Petrochemicals, derived from oil and natural gas, are essential to manufacturing paints, plastics, solar panels, medicine, and…
Putin Visits Tehran for Strategic Talks
On July 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran to boost ties with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts. The trip came just three days after President Biden toured the region to rally support against Iran. Relations between Russia and Iran have steadily improved, according to Gallup…
U.S. Report on Human Trafficking in Iran
On July 19, 2022, the State Department released its annual report on human trafficking. It cited Iran as one of 11 countries where the government participates in trafficking. "Official government involvement in trafficking crimes and authorities’ abuse of trafficking victims continued unabated."…
Biden Executive Order on Hostages
On July 19, President Joe Biden issued an executive order expanding U.S. government tools to deter hostage-taking. The order “creates new ways to impose costs on terrorist organizations, criminal groups, and other malicious actors who take hostages for financial, political, or other gains,”…
News Digest: Week of July 18
July 18
Nuclear: Kamal Kharrazi, an advisor to the Supreme Leader and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, claimed that Iran has the technical capability to build a nuclear bomb. But it has “not made a decision to build an atomic bomb,” he told Al Jazeera. He said that Iran had conducted military…
Biden on Iran in Mideast Trip
In his first trip to the Middle East as president, Joe Biden renewed his pledge to never allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. “There will be no nuclear Iran. This is not only a threat to Israel, but to the world,” Biden said on July 14. During the four-day tour, Biden visited Iran’s main regional…
Iran & Russia: Growing Economic Competition
Henry Rome is the deputy head of research at Eurasia Group.
Iran and Russia have had a contentious relationship going back almost four centuries, including the Qajar dynasty’s loss of territory to the Russian Empire in the 19th century and the Soviet Union’s brief occupation of Iran in the 20th…
Sweden Imprisons Iranian for 1988 Massacre
In a groundbreaking human rights case, Sweden sentenced Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prosecutor, to life imprisonment for his role in the 1988 prison massacre of an estimated 5,000 dissidents. The verdict, announced on July 14, 2022 after a nine-month trial, was the first time anyone has been…
U.S. Sanctions Oil Smuggling Network
On July 6, the United States sanctioned a network that smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia. Petrochemicals, derived from oil and natural gas, are essential to manufacturing paints, plastics, solar panels, medicine, and mobile…
U.S. & Britain Seized Iranian Missiles
Britain and the United States confiscated Iranian weapons bound for Yemen during naval military operations on January 28 and February 25. The equipment included surface-to-air missiles and cruise-missile rocket engines that were on speedboats in the Gulf of Oman. “This is the first time a British…
Iran and U.S. Spar at U.N.
With the failure of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in Qatar, envoys from Washington and Tehran traded accusations at the United Nations. Iran “continued to make demands that go well beyond” the 2015 nuclear deal, Ambassador Richard Mills, said at a Security Council meeting on the implementation of…
News Digest: Week of June 27
June 27
Security: State-owned Khuzestan Steel Co. said that it halted production due to a cyber attack that also targeted two other plants. A hacker group known as “Predatory Sparrow” claimed responsibility and shared footage of what appeared to be a fire on a production line. “These companies are…
G7 Summit on Iran
On June 28, the G7 leaders issued the following position on Iran in the final communique. The G7 countries include: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.
G7 Leaders‘ Communiqué
“We reiterate our clear commitment that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon.…
Iranian-U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Evading Sanctions
On June 28, a dual Iranian-U.S. citizen pleaded guilty to conspiring to export goods and technology to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). U.S. export laws prohibit procuring equipment for the CBI, which was sanctioned for providing support to terrorist organizations. Kambiz Attar Kashani, age 44, and…
After Long Delay, U.S.-Iran Talks in Qatar Falter
Updated: June 29, 2022
International diplomacy to revive the historic 2015 nuclear deal failed after two days of last-gasp talks conducted indirectly between the United States and Iran by European Union envoy Enrique Mora in Qatar. “Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for,” Mora…
Iranian Economists Warn of Chaos
In a bold challenge to Iran’s autocratic government, dozens of economists published a scathing public letter warning that the country had reached an “explosive stage” of social unrest due to economic mismanagement and turmoil. “Our admonition to government officials is that the country's situation…
U.N. Alarmed Over Iran Crackdown
On June 15, U.N. human rights experts criticized Iran’s crackdown on peaceful protestors and arrest of teachers, union leaders, lawyers, and human rights activists during a wave of spring demonstrations. “In the absence of meaningful channels of participation in Iran, peaceful protests are now the…