On September 19, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz discussed the status of the Iranian nuclear deal and progress on implementation at the Council on Foreign Relations. The following are excerpts from the transcript of the conversation moderated by Graham T.
Israeli leaders expressed varying degrees of hostility to the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world's six major powers.
On September 8, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran has been living up to its commitments as part of the nuclear deal, specifically as codified in U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231. For example, Iran has not surpassed limits on its stock of enriched uranium or heavy water. As with earlier quarterly reports, however, this one did not include details about every restriction in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
On September 12, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the last 280 members of a controversial Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), had been transferred from Iraq to Albania. Founded in 1965 as an urban guerilla group, it opposed the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The leftist group killed six Americans in Iran in the 1970s. The MEK participated in the 1979 Revolution but later broke with revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini over ideology and direction.
On August 22, the U.S. State Department issued new guidance warning Americans to “carefully consider nonessential travel” to Iran. The warning reiterated the risk of arrest and detention of U.S. citizens, particularly dual national Iranian-Americans. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. The following is the full text of the State Department warning.
Iran’s government reportedly continued to imprison, harass, intimidate and discriminate against people based on religious beliefs in 2015, according to an annual report by the U.S. State Department. The following are excerpts.
Executive Summary
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on President Obama to unfreeze some $2 billion in Iranian foreign currency reserves that were seized from bank accounts in New York earlier in 2016. On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a judgement that held Iran financially responsible for terrorist attacks dating back to the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut.
“Cyber is emerging as Tehran’s weapon of choice for dealing with domestic opponents and foreign adversaries,” according to Michael Eisenstadt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In a new paper, he outlined Iran’s growing interest in cyber, its abilities, and strategic logic. The following are excerpts.
Sanctions relief remains a contentious issue more than six months after the implementation of the nuclear deal. Both the United States and Iran, however, can take additional steps to ensure that Iran gets the intended benefits of sanctions relief, according to a new report by Richard Nephew, program director for Economic Statecraft, Sanctions, and Energy Markets at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. From 2013 to 2015, he served principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department and was the lead sanctions expert for the U.S.
Several Iranians who also hold foreign citizenship or residency are now imprisoned in Iran. Some have been accused of undermining national security or spreading propaganda against the state. Foreign nationals with no Iranian background have also been detained.
