Garrett Nada's Blog
News Digest: Week of April 11
April 13, 2022
April 11
Economy: Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that some $7 billion of Iran's frozen assets would soon be released. He did not provide further details. State media reported that an unspecified senior official from another country in the region was due to visit Tehran to…
Iran Deal: The IRGC is the Final Hurdle
April 7, 2022
The last and biggest hurdle to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal was the dispute between Washington and Tehran over the status of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group. Leaders and an elite branch of the IRGC had faced several layers of economic sanctions—over support for…
Iran Launches Missiles on Iraq
March 15, 2022
Early on March 13, Iran launched a dozen ballistic missiles into neighboring Iraq. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that it targeted Israeli “strategic centers” in the northern city of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. Iraqi and U.S. officials said that the…
Iran Blames US, West for Ukraine War
March 3, 2022
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the war in Ukraine on the United States and Western powers. “The root of the crisis in Ukraine are the U.S. policies that create crisis, and Ukraine is one victim of these policies,” he said in a televised speech on March 1, 2022. The “mafia-like…
Iran Unveils New Ballistic Missile
February 21, 2022
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new ballistic missile on February 9. State media said that the missile, the Khaibar Shekan, had a range of 1,450 kilometers (900 miles), which could put its enemy Israel – as well as many U.S. bases in the region – well within its range. Iran’s western border…
News Digest: Week of February 14
February 17, 2022
February 14
U.S.-Israel: In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) to discuss the Iranian threat. Graham said that an agreement on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal would “fall short of the votes necessary to ratify” it in the Senate. “Consequently,…
Two Years of COVID: Economic Cost
February 16, 2022
After its first cases of COVID-19 were reported in February 2020, Iran’s economy faced new challenges exacerbated by longstanding problems, including years of punitive U.S. sanctions. More than one million people – in a labor force of 27 million – lost their jobs in 2020. Inflation soared,…
Two Years of COVID: Sweeping Impact
February 16, 2022
As of February 2022, two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, Iran had fully vaccinated 64 percent of its population. Iran paid a heavy toll before reaching that point. In early 2020, the virus spread across all 31 provinces within a month. Iran became one of the world’s early epicenters and the…
Iran’s Revolution at 43: In Photos
February 11, 2022
On February 11, Iran marked the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution with rallies in some 4,500 cities and towns, although most were outdoor parades of cars, motorcycles and bicycles, with few people participating on the streets. The annual commemoration normally draws tens of thousands to…
Iran’s War on Its Own Athletes
February 2, 2022
Since the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government has allegedly harassed, jailed, tortured and executed dozens of athletes – including world champions and Olympians. Some have been jailed or executed for criticizing or acting against the regime. During the first decade of the Islamic Republic,…