On February 19, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh for three days of meetings with Saudi officials, including King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

On February 20, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook announced sanctions on five key members of Iran’s Guardian Council, an unelected panel of twelve Islamic jurists and scholars. The council disqualified more than 9,000 out of the some 14,000 candidates who registered to run in parliamentary elections, scheduled for February 21.

Iranian newspapers have been divided in their coverage of the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for February 21. Reformist papers initially focused on the Guardian Council’s disqualification of 90 incumbent lawmakers and the vast majority of reformist candidates. Reformist papers also highlighted President Hassan Rouhani’s criticism of the stringent vetting, which worked in favor of hardliners. One daily, Aftab-e Yazd, commented on the mass disqualification with the headline, “Conservatives’ Hot Competition with Conservatives,” on February 12. 

On February 18, an Iranian revolutionary court finalized the sentences of eight environmental activists by upholding tough prison terms for “cooperating with the hostile state of the U.S.” and “collusion to act against national security.” One of the eight is Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian who also holds U.S. and British citizenship. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the longest term. Other activists received sentences ranging from four to 10 years, as follows:

Key Dates

Registration Period: December 1-7, 2019

Campaign Period: February 13-20, 2020

First Round of Elections: February 21, 2020

By Belquis Ahmadi, Barmak Pazhwak and Michael V. Phelan

Rising tensions between the United States and Iran—illustrated and exacerbated by the January 3 assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani—are rippling out beyond the Middle East. Now, American officials are voicing growing concern about Iranian activities in Afghanistan. In recent weeks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran is supporting militant groups in the country and seeking to undermine the peace process between the U.S. and the Taliban. A top U.S.

On February 11, hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered in cities and villages across the country to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. The popular uprising, led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, culminated in the ouster of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, ending millennia of dynastic rule. Each year, Iranians hold mass rallies across the country and the president addresses the nation. This year, rallies were held in more than 5,000 cities, towns and districts, according to state media.

On February 11, Iranian leaders struck a defiant tone on the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. President Hassan Rouhani spoke to a large crowd gathered in Tehran in front of a poster of Qassem Soleimani, the Qods Force commander killed in a U.S. drone strike. Rouhani said that the revolution’s success was “unbearable” for the United States. “For a major power like America it is very hard to endure the Islamic Revolution and victory of a great nation that drove the superpower out of this land,” he said.

Iranian officials dismissed the new U.S. Middle East peace plan presented by President Donald Trump on January 28. They thought the plan heavily favored Israel over the Palestinians. The plan, supported by Israel, called for a two-state solution. But Palestinian and Iranian leaders said the arrangements would not create a viable independent state. 

Iran was one of the original 62 signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the most important global treaty on the world’s deadliest weapon.