Iranian security forces and authorities mistreated refugees, largely from Afghanistan, though physical abuse, detention, forced labor, separating families, restricting movement within Iran and restricting access to jobs, education and other services, the State Department reported. Iran has absorbed…
Reports
Iran’s poor record on women’s rights further deteriorated in 2023, the State Department reported. They faced “increased discrimination through expanded application of punishments against people who violated the mandatory dress code,” Ambassador Robert Gilchrist, the Senior Official in the Bureau of…
Iran’s laws, based on a conservative interpretation of Shiite Islam, did not provide any protections to or recognize LGBTQI+ individuals, couples, or their families in 2023, the State Department reported. Same-sex sexual activity, consensual and nonconsensual, was criminalized. And “security forces…
Iran discriminated against ethnic and religious minorities in 2023, the State Department reported. For example, the death penalty was “disproportionately applied against members of the Baluchi and Kurdish ethnic minorities,” Ambassador Robert Gilchrist, the Senior Official in the Bureau of…
Iran increasingly used executions and detentions to suppress dissent in 2023, according to the State Department. Many people were reportedly executed for homicide or drug crimes, but others were killed for criticizing the government. The death penalty was “often applied after sham trials against…
Iran stifled freedom of expression in 2023 by censoring media, harassing and detaining rights activists, journalists and artists, and restricting access to the internet, the State Department reported. The Islamic Republic “showed blatant disregard to a free and open press and media environment,”…
Iran’s judicial system, including both civil and Islamic courts, failed to adhere to international standards of fairness in 2023, the State Department reported. Authorities often did not uphold rights guaranteed under the constitution, including access to a lawyer. One major loophole was the…
On March 11, 2024, the annual U.S. intelligence assessment reported that Iran’s advanced nuclear program had not yet produced a weapon. But it warned that Tehran had accelerated production and operation of centrifuges to enrich uranium, the fuel used for both a bomb and a nuclear energy plant. Iran…
More than three-quarters of Americans named Iran’s potential development of nuclear weapons as a critical threat to U.S. interests, according to Gallup poll. Iran’s nuclear program came in second—with 77 percent—in a list of 13 flashpoints. The only more critical danger to Americans was…
Iran has doubled down on hijab enforcement and policing women since protests erupted in fall 2022, Amnesty International reported on July 26, 2023. Demonstrations had lulled by early 2023. But between April and July, “authorities…waged an intensified nationwide crackdown on women and girls who…