Iran Policy

On April 18, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the proposal of holding referendums on government policies. He questioned the ability of the public to analyze issues and warned that such votes would be divisive. “For any single issue, the country would be engaged in debate and arguments…

On March 30, Washington and Tehran both declared victory after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on disputed Iranian assets frozen by the United States. The top U.N. court rejected Iran’s bid to unfreeze some $2 billion in central bank funds held in a Citibank account in New York. But…

On March 21, Iran’s leaders marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year and the first day of spring, by declaring victory over the protesters but acknowledging economic difficulties. Both Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi blamed months of “riots” on Western powers. American…

For decades, Iran has considered the United States and Israel to be among the greatest threats to the theocracy. After the 1979 revolution, the new Islamic Republic labeled the United States the “Great Satan” and Israel the “Little Satan.” Iran has engaged in a shadow war with both the United…

During his in-person debut at the U.N. General assembly, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi declared that U.S. power and influence were waning. The United States “keeps equivocating militarism with security and has pursued its interests in the world at the expense of other countries.” Washington “…

In his first year in office, President Ebrahim Raisi backed diplomatic negotiations to restore full U.S. and Iranian compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. Raisi’s goal was to lift and “neutralize” all U.S. sanctions through talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers—Britain, China, France…

In his first year in office, President Ebrahim Raisi pledged to stabilize the economy, address people’s basic needs, fight corruption and to better manage water and gas resources. Raisi took weekly trips to the provinces after he took office in August 2021 to learn about the problems facing average…

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…

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…

On June 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Western and “reactionary forces” were trying to infiltrate the country. Iran’s enemies were harnessing popular protests—through social media, psychological warfare and hired “mercenaries”—to undermine the Islamic Republic, he said in a…