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Part 11: New Qods Force Leader - Esmail Ghaani
Updated: June 29, 2020
On January 3 (January 2 U.S. time), the United States killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Qods Force, in a drone strike in Iraq. One day after Soleimani’s death, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Esmail Ghaani, deputy commander of the Qods Force, would replace him.…
Part 6: Congressional Reaction
Updated: January 9, 2020
U.S. lawmakers had mixed responses to killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Qods Force. The split was largely along party lines. Republicans supported the assassination of the general, whom the United States held responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American servicemembers…
Part 7: International Reactions
European powers expressed solidarity with the United States over the targeting of anti-ISIS coalition forces in Iraq. They highlighted their concern about Iran’s interventions across the Middle East. But they also called for de-escalation after the United States killed Qassem Soleimani in a drone…
Iran’s Fifth Step Away from Nuclear Deal
On January 5, Iran announced its fifth step away from its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Tehran said it would not abide by restrictions on uranium enrichment capacity, percentage of enrichment, stockpile size of enriched material,…
Part 3: Pentagon on Soleimani Operation
Updated: January 7, 2020
On January 2, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it had killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Qods Force, in a drone strike at Baghdad’s International Airport. The Qods Force is the external operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated a foreign…
Part 2: Iran Pledges Retaliation
Iranians leaders from across the political spectrum condemned the United States for killing Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on January 2. Hardliners promised retaliation. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had a personal relationship with Qods Force commander, declared three days of…
Part 5: U.S. Outreach to Allies
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reached out to U.S. allies in the wider Middle East and Europe to discuss the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force. In calls with top officials, Pompeo reiterated shared concerns about Iran’s interventions across the region. The following…
Part 4: Pompeo on Soleimani, Iran Tensions
Updated: January 7, 2020
On January 3, Secretary of State Pompeo alleged that Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force, was planning an “imminent attack” on Americans. In several interviews with the press, he argued that the United States would have been negligent if it had not killed the general in a drone…
Part 1: U.S. Strike on Soleimani
Updated: July 22, 2020
On Friday, January 3 (January 2 U.S. time), the United States killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Qods Force, in a drone strike at Baghdad’s International Airport. He had reportedly masterminded major military operations, bombings and assassinations since he took over the external…
News Digest: Week of January 6
January 6
Society: Hundreds of thousands of Iranians turned out for Qassem Soleimani’s funeral in Tehran. The head of the elite Qods Force was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad’s international airport on January 3. Many mourners shouted “Death to America.” Supreme Leader Khamenei wept …
News Digest: Week of December 30
December 30
Nuclear: Russia warned that the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was in danger of “falling apart” if the United States and the European Union did not begin complying with its terms. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Iranian…
News Digest: Week of December 23
December 23
Protests/Human Rights: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a violent crackdown on demonstrations over fuel that began on November 15, according to a Reuters report. On November 17, Khamenei allegedly told his top security aides to “do whatever it takes to stop them.” Unnamed…
Iran-U.S. Exchange at U.N. Meeting
On December 19, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations expressed condolences over the death of an Iranian toddler who suffered from a rare skin disease. The rare interaction between Kelly Craft and her Iranian counterpart, Majid Takht Ravanchi, came after a tense U.N. Security Council meeting on…
U.S. Condemns Human Rights Abuses
On December 19, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Iran for wide-ranging human rights abuses, including the violent crackdown on protestors in November 2019. He also announced new U.S. sanctions and visa restrictions. His address was part of a State Department symposium on the state of human…
Rouhani: Should he resign?
By Andrew Hanna
In late 2019, President Hassan Rouhani faced calls to leave office from both hardliners and moderates. The demands followed the largest protests since the 1979 revolution; they were triggered by the Rouhani government’s surprise hike in the price of fuel—by 50 percent—and the…
Iran and Japan Struggle Over Ties and Trade
Updated: December 20, 2019
By Garrett Nada and Alex Yacoubian
As an oil-hungry island nation, Japan’s position on Iran has been fraught with inherent tensions. It has had to balance an existential thirst for oil—to fuel industries, cars and homes—against a moral abhorrence of nuclear weapons, especially as the only country…
News Digest: Week of December 16
Updated: December 18, 2019
December 16
Human Rights: Amnesty International updated its death toll from the November fuel price protests. At least 304 people were killed and thousands more were injured in the harsh government crackdown, according to the watchdog. The report said that security forces “massacred” scores of…
U.S. Targets Iran’s Steel Industry
On December 16, the U.S. State Department warned against transferring two materials to Iran that are essential for steel production. The advisory specified that producers and exporters of graphite electrodes and needle coke, as well as shippers and port operators, could face U.S. sanctions for…
Secret Nuclear Warehouse Explained
By Kelsey Davenport
In November 2019, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog urged Iran to explain uranium traces found at an undeclared site. Reuters reported that the site was a warehouse in Tehran’s Turquzabad district. What is known about the site?
In his 2018 address to the U.N. General…
Iran Cracks Down After Protests
Amnesty International updated its death toll from the fuel price protests that erupted on November 15. In just four days, security forces killed at least 304 people and injured thousands, according to the watchdog. “Harrowing testimony from eyewitnesses suggests that, almost immediately after the…
Iran's Crisis Budget
Updated: April 2, 2020
On December 8, President Hassan Rouhani presented a $43 billion budget to parliament for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts in March 2020. What challenges does Rouhani face?
This year’s budget is the first since the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign kicked into high gear in May 2019. The…
Pompeo on Attacks by Iran's Proxies in Iraq
On December 13, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned two recent attacks by Iran’s proxies in Iraq. Pompeo warned Tehran that the United States would respond decisively to attacks against U.S. interests or allies in the region. “Iran must respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and…
Hook on U.S. Strategy and the Iranian Economy
The U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign has deprived Iran of “historical levels of revenue,” according to U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook. At a Council on Foreign Relations event, he predicted that Iran’s leaders would be forced to pursue negotiations or accept economic defeat. “Our…
Unprecedented Crackdown After Protests
By Hadi Ghaemi
What is the state of human rights in Iran in 2019? Have any new patterns emerged? Has the regime targeted any new groups or notable people?
The Iranian government continued its assault on basic rights and freedoms including freedom of speech, assembly and expression in 2019. To…
U.S. Sanctions Iranian Shippers and Airline
On December 11, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions on three Iranian transportation companies that “helped Iran import items for its weapons of mass destruction programs.” The United States also blacklisted a shipping network that smuggles weapons from Iran to Yemen to support the…
Iran’s Influence Challenged in Iraq
By Garrett Nada and Andrew Hanna
For Iran, Iraq has been a foreign policy priority since the 1979 revolution for political, military, economic and cultural reasons. Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran in 1980 was its first military threat; the war lasted eight years and cost more than a hundred…
News Digest: Week of December 9
Updated: December 16, 2019
December 9
Diplomacy: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed that Tokyo was planning a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss nuclear tensions between Tehran and Washington. Abe did not provide a timeline, but media reports suggested that the proposed meeting would occur…
Iran Releases American Student in Prisoner Swap
Updated: December 9, 2019
On December 7, the United States and Iran conducted a rare prisoner swap. An American graduate student, Xiyue Wang, was released in Switzerland in exchange for Massoud Soleimani, an Iranian national held in an Atlanta prison for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions.
President Donald Trump,…
U.S. Sanctions Iran-backed Iraqi Militia Leaders
On December 6, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned three Iran-backed Iraqi militia leaders for their alleged role in the killing of innocent protestors. Protests erupted on October 1 over government corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services. The demonstrations also targeted growing Iranian…
Iran’s Resilience is “Dangerously Fraying”
Suzanne Maloney
I see the recent unrest and the brutal response as indicative of a system whose resilience is dangerously fraying. The diagnosis that I’ve been using for a while is a slow-motion metastasis that is echoing across the political establishment, the economy, and society.
The November…