New Articles

U.S. Sanctions Bahraini Militia Tied to Iran

On December 15, the State Department designated Saraya al Mukhtar, a Bahrain-based militia with ties to Iran, as a terrorist organization. Saraya al Mukhtar “plotted attacks against U.S. personnel in Bahrain and has offered cash rewards for the assassination of Bahraini officials,” Secretary of…

News Digest: Week of December 14

December 14 Diplomacy/Nuclear Program: President Hassan Rouhani said that the United States must return to the 2015 nuclear deal without preconditions. “Joe Biden has stated that he would like to return to the nuclear deal, but this time they are looking for a stronger agreement that would include…

Iran Human Rights in 2020

Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has detained or imprisoned tens of thousands of human rights activists, including peaceful protestors, dissidents, union members, civil society organizers, feminists, students, journalists, lawyers and the unemployed. It notoriously cracked down when millions took to…

Former U.S. Officials on Rejoining JCPOA

On December 14, a bipartisan group of over 50 American national security leaders issued a statement urging the incoming Biden Administration to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) swiftly and without preconditions. “The immediate U.S. commitment to rejoin the JCPOA will require…

U.S. Sanctions Iran Over Missing U.S. Hostage

On December 14, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on two Iranians allegedly involved in the disappearance of former FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson was abducted on Iran’s Kish Island in March 2007. Thirteen years later, in March 2020, Levinson’s wife and children said that they…

News Digest: Week of December 7

December 7 Natural disaster: Major floods in killed at least seven people in southern Iran. The flooding affected six provinces: Isfahan, Bushehr, Tehran, Fars, Hormozgan and Yazd. @SKhatibzadeh addressing Monday press conference: The first foreign visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal…

Part 5: Statistics on Women in Iran

Since the 1979 revolution, the status of women in Iran has improved significantly in the fields of education and literacy, the labor force and lifespan. The number of women in parliament has quadrupled. But the gains are uneven. Women, for example, are still a distinct minority in top government…

Part 4: Khomeini & Khamenei on Women

Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader from 1979-1989 Iran’s two supreme leaders have both been prolific on the subject of women’s rights and obligations in an Islamic state. But their interpretations often differed, sometimes significantly. During his one decade in power, between 1979 and 1989,…

Iran on What’s Next with Biden

Updated: April 7, 2021
Iran proposed a mechanism to break a deadlock over how compliance for compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal could work. On February 1, 2021, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that Josep Borrell, the E.U. foreign policy chief and the coordinator of the deal’s Joint Commission, could “…

U.S. Sanctions Iran Envoy and University

On December 8, the United States imposed sanctions on two men and one university: Ambassador Hasan Irlu, Iran’s diplomatic envoy to the Houthis in Yemen Yousef Ali Muraj, a Pakistani operative with alleged ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Al Mustafa International University, a Qom-based…

Part 3: Iranian Laws on Women

Updated: August 13, 2023
Logo of Iran's JudiciaryWomen have long faced legal, political, economic and social challenges in Iran. Iran's 1906 constitution, written by its first parliament, promised “equal rights before the law” for all Iranians, but it said nothing specific about women. Between 1967 and 1975, women gained…

New Iran Law Accelerating Enrichment

On December 1, Iran’s parliament, which is dominated by conservatives and hardliners, passed a bill requiring the government to take two steps: First, resume enriching uranium to 20 percent immediately. And second, to produce 120 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent annually. Since July 2019…

Zarif on Nuclear Deal, Prisoner Exchanges

On December 3, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran would return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal if the United States formally rejoined the historic accord that President Trump abandoned in May 2018. But Iran will never renegotiate the deal, he said. “The United States…

Part 2: Profiles of Women Politicians, Activists

Updated: March 8, 2021
Women have played a major role in Iranian politics before, during and after the 1979 revolution. They were given the vote and right to run for office in 1963 during the monarchy; in 1978, they held 22 seats in parliament. During the four decades after the revolution, dozens of women from across the…

U.S. Sanctions Iran Firm for Chemical Weapons Research

On December 3, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned an Iranian firm, Shahid Meisami Group, and its director for chemical weapons research. The group was responsible for projects worth millions of dollars that included testing and producing chemical agents. The shop was a subsidiary of the Iranian…

Part 6: Timeline and Fallout from a Scientist’s Assassination

Updated: December 8, 2020
The assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on November 27 generated significant fallout in the wider Middle East and in the West. It heightened fears of retaliation and kinetic tensions in the region. The United States pulled back its diplomatic presence in Iraq. And the Iranian…

News Digest: Week of November 30

November 30 Nuclear: Iran held a funeral for nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated 40 miles from Tehran on November 27. Fakhrizadeh's body was taken to several Shiite shrines, including that of Ayatollah Khomeini, before being buried at a cemetery near the Imamazadeh Salah…

Part 5: Assassinations of Iran Nuclear Scientists

On November 27, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prominent nuclear scientist, was assassinated in a roadside attack about 40 miles east of Tehran. He was the fifth nuclear scientist killed since 2010. Iran usually blamed Israel, sometimes invoking the United States and often their local agents. Historically,…

Part 4: Iran Media on Scientist's Assassination

The Iranian media expressed outraged at the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a leading nuclear scientist. Newspapers from across the political spectrum – reformist, centrist, conservative and hardline – published front-page photos of his bullet-riddled car and funeral casket.     Conservative…

Part 3: World on Nuclear Scientist’s Assassination

Updated: December 7, 2020
Many major powers around the world and in the Middle East denounced the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a leading Iranian nuclear scientist on November 27. Five of the six world powers that brokered the 2015 nuclear deal – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – rebuked the murder and…

Profiles: Iran’s Jailed Human Rights Activists

Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has detained or imprisoned tens of thousands of human rights activists, including peaceful protestors, dissidents, union members, civil society organizers, feminists, students, journalists, lawyers and the unemployed. It notoriously cracked down when millions took to…

Part 2: Iran on Nuclear Scientist’s Assassination

Updated: December 15, 2020
Iran vowed retaliation for the killing of a prominent nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was shot to death near Tehran on November 27. Senior national security officials blamed Israel and Iranian opposition groups for orchestrating the alleged assassination. They labelled the killing as…

Part 1: Leading Iran Nuclear Scientist Killed

Updated: December 1, 2020
On November 27, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prominent nuclear scientist, was assassinated in a roadside attack about 40 miles east of Tehran. Western and Israeli intelligence had long suspected that Fakhrizadeh was the father of Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program. He was often compared to J. Robert…

US Sanctions Firms for Supporting Iran Missile Program

On November 25, the United States sanctioned two firms in China and two in Russia for supporting Iran’s missile program. The following is a statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, the United States sanctioned four entities…

Biden Foreign Policy Team on Iran

Updated: January 21, 2021
President-elect Joe Biden’s top foreign policy appointments – Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman as Deputy Secretary of State, and Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor – all supported reentering the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015 and…

News Digest: Week of November 15

November 15 Human Rights: Iran, the United States and human rights groups marked the one-year anniversary of massive anti-government protests sparked by an overnight gas price hike. The regime did not officially comment, but five days before the anniversary, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…

U.S. Sanctions Intelligence Minister and Most Powerful Foundation

On November 18, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi and a patronage network controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Alavi was designated for complicity in human rights abuses, including the violent crackdown on protestors in November 2019. Security…

Iran's Growing Stockpiles of Enriched Uranium

Updated: December 7, 2020
As of November 2020, Iran had amassed 12 times the amount of enriched uranium – the fuel for a nuclear bomb – that was permitted by the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the world’s six major powers. The deal stipulated that Tehran was limited to producing a maximum of 203 kg (or 447 pounds) of low-…

Part V: 1979 Hostage Crisis – Covert Ops

On November 17, the Office of the State Department Historian released its records on the hostage affair. Students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 to protest the Carter administration’s decision to take in the ailing former shah for medical treatment. Student leaders later said…

Part IV: 1979 Hostage Crisis – Rescue Mission

On November 17, the Office of the State Department Historian released its records on the hostage affair. Students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 to protest the Carter administration’s decision to take in the ailing former shah for medical treatment. Student leaders later said…