Geneva Round III: High Hopes, Deep Divide
On the eve of new talks, key players from Iran and the world’s six major powers remained firmly committed to rival positi
U.S. Sanctions Iranians Linked to Cyberattacks
On April 24, 2024, the United States sanctioned two companies and four men for launching operations against more than a dozen U.S. companies and government entities on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The “coordinated, multi-pronged campaign intended to destabilize our critical infrastructure and cause harm to our citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. The two firms, Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik and Daded Afzar Arman, were front companies for the Revolutionary Guards Cyber Electronic Command.
Limited Strike by Israel, Muted Response from Iran
Israel struck Iran overnight on April 19, 2024, responding to Tehran’s April 13-14 largely ineffective attack of more than 330 drones and missiles. Israel’s retaliation appeared to be limited in scope and calibrated to avoid further escalation.
Iran's Ballistic Missile Program
- Iran has the largest and most d
Timeline of U.S. Sanctions
Report: Executions Surge in Iran
Iran executed at least 834 people in 2023, a 43 percent increase compared to 2022, according to the annual report by Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). Some 56 percent of the executions were drug-related. Marginalized ethnic minorities, such as the Baluch of southeastern Iran, were overrepresented among those executed for drug charges. About a third of executions were for murder charges.
Report: Iran’s Torture, Sexual Assaults & Killings
In its annual report, Human Rights Watch charged that Iran executed more than 700 people in 2023, a significant increase from 2022. It also engaged in mass arrests of human rights and labor activists, lawyers, journalists, students, and artists as well as family members of protestors. Security forces used torture to obtain confessions, employed “vague national security charges,” and conducted “grossly unfair” trials that often violated due process, the report claimed.
Notable Women Detained in Iran
Since 2018, Iran has detained many women activists, students, lawyers and even revolutionary insiders, such as Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who criticized the regime or participated in protests. It has picked up journalists, including Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who provided early reporting about the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for wearing improper hijab.
U.S. on Iran Threats Since Gaza War
On November 15, FBI director Christopher Wray warned that the United States faced growing dangers at home from the war between Hamas and Israel thousands of miles away. Wray specifically cited Iran, “the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” for operations directly and indirectly through proxies that target U.S. personnel both at home and abroad. It has hired criminals to plot assassinations against high-ranking current and former U.S. officials as well as dissidents living on American soil.