John Prentice Caves III

Since the 1979 revolution, Washington and Tehran have gyrated between hostile actions and diplomatic overtures. Relations have never recovered from the seizure of the U.S. Embassy and 52 diplomats. The U.S. attempted military action to end the drama but eventually turned to diplomacy. Since then, the Islamic Republic has been linked, directly or indirectly, to the deaths of hundreds of Americans, while the United States has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iranians.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf escalated after four ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including two Saudi Arabian oil tankers, were sabotaged on May 12.  One ship was due to take a delivery of Saudi oil bound for the United States. “Fortunately, the attack didn't lead to any casualties or oil spill; however, it caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels,” said Khalid al-Falih, the kingdom’s energy minister.

By Henry Rome

On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced the United States was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement and “instituting the highest level of economic sanction” against the Islamic Republic. Over the past year, Iranian leaders have tried to undermine that U.S. economic campaign. Two strategies have received the most public attention.

China and Turkey publicly pushed back against the U.S. decision to allow sanctions exemptions on the purchase of Iranian oil lapse on May 2. “China firmly opposes the unilateral sanctions and so-called ‘long-arm jurisdictions’ imposed by the U.S.,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, adding that China had lodged a formal protest with the United States. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu took to Twitter.

On April 22, the Trump Administration announced that it will stop providing sanctions exemptions to countries that import Iranian oil as of May 2. What impact will this move have on Iran? 

The United States will let sanctions exemptions on the purchase of Iranian oil lapse on May 2. Any company that buys Iranian oil after this deadline could face formidable sanctions penalties from the U.S. Treasury Department.

By Amin Saikal

Amin Saikal is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University. He is the author of Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic.

International reactions to the State Department’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization varied widely by country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump for the move in a pair of tweets in English and Hebrew. “Thank you, my dear friend, U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iranian newspapers spanning the country’s political spectrum reacted to the U.S. State Department’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization with a mix of outrage, bombast, and expressions of solidarity with the IRGC. Front page headlines and illustrations from some of Iran’s main newspapers, drawn from Iran Front Page’s online compilations, are below.

Sazandegi

Michael Eisenstadt is the David Kahn and Douglas Kahn Fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program. He served for 26 in the U.S. Army Reserve, doing stints at U.S. Central Command headquarters and in the region, before retiring in 2010. Prior to joining the Institute in 1989, Eisenstadt worked as a military analyst with the U.S. government. 

Dr. Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and Director for the Reinhard program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  He previously served as the Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis.