Iran Policy
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif charged the United States with “war crimes” and “economic terrorism” as U.S. sanctions “literally kill innocents” because of Iran’s ability to acquire medical supplies during the COVID-19 crisis. On February 28, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had offered…
As of March 2021, more than year after the first COVID cases were reported, Iranian leaders struggled with public messaging. The government had responded slowly to the outbreak of the coronavirus and then scrambled to catch up as it spread quickly across the country. Top government officials…
On February 21, Iranians headed to the polls to elect a new parliament. The regime cites turnout as a reflection of public support, so it encouraged citizens to fulfill their “national duty.” Fars News Agency reported that the turnout was about 40 percent nationwide and only 30 percent in Tehran as…
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…
By Andrew Hanna
Iranians go to the polls on February 21, 2020 to vote for all 290 seats in the unicameral Majles. Parliamentary elections, held every four years, often presage which political faction wins the presidency a year later. The stakes in the 2020 election are huge. In the 2016 election,…
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…
On November 18, 2019, The Intercept and The New York Times published 700 pages of classified Iranian intelligence cables that illustrated the depth of Tehran’s penetration of Iraqi politics, intelligence and the military. The cables, written between 2013 and 2015, also detailed meticulous efforts…
On November 3, Iran’s supreme leader renewed the ban on talks with the United States. “No problem will be solved with meetings and with negotiations,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. “The same wolfish qualities…
After Turkey’s invasion of Syria on October 9, Iran called on its longstanding ally and neighbor to rethink its plan to create a buffer zone inside Syria. “We are calling on our friendly and brotherly neighbor Turkey to act with more patience and restraint, and to revise its decision and chosen…
By Andrew Hanna
In April 2016, Iran, India and Afghanistan signed an agreement to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar as a shipping hub with rail links that connected India to Afghanistan through Iran—and circumvented Pakistan. Chabahar is on the Gulf of Oman and is Iran’s only port with access…