New Articles

Iran Executes Popular Wrestler

Updated: September 24, 2020
At sunrise on September 12, 2020, Iran secretly executed Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old champion wrestler, by hanging in Shiraz. Afkari had faced multiple charges, including “enmity against God,” insulting the supreme leader, and murder of a security officer during Iran’s 2017-2018 protests over…

Iran Tests Weapons During War Game

Between September 10 and 12, 2020, Iran tested cruise missiles and drones during an annual three-day war game. The Zolfaghar-99 exercise, named after Imam Ali’s sword, was held around three key waterways — the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, an area totaling 772,200…

News Digest: Week of September 14

September 14 Health: Iran recorded the highest daily rise in COVID-19 fatalities since mid-August. More than 150 patients died in a single day which put overall official death toll at 23,313.    September 15 Health: Iran recorded 407,353 cases and 23,632 deaths from COVID-19.  Diplomacy: Iran…

News Digest: Week of September 7

September 7 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 388,810 infections, including 22,410 deaths from COVID-19. It was the highest daily increase in new cases in 10 days. Health/Education: Education Minister Mohsen Haji Mirzaei clarified that students were not quired to attend in-person classes…

Iran’s Troubled Provinces: Kurdistan

Updated: February 3, 2021
Among Iran’s 31 provinces, Kurdistan in the northwest is one of the most restive. It is one of three border regions—along with Khuzestan in the southwest and Sistan and Baluchistan in the east—with volatile ethnic issues that have led to protests, strife and calls for autonomy or independence.…

U.S. Sanctions Companies Transacting Iranian Oil

On September 3, the United States sanctioned companies based in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for deals involving Iranian oil. The State Department sanctioned five companies for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport and marketing of Iranian petroleum. The Treasury also…

Operation Sentinel Protects Gulf Shipping

In November 2019, the United States and six other countries—Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—launched Operation Sentinel in the Persian Gulf. Albania and Lithuania joined later, in November 2019 and in March 2020, respectively. Why? What are the…

News Digest: Week of August 31

Updated: September 2, 2020
August 31 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 375,212 infections and 21,571 deaths from COVID-19. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Lari announced that 3,231,110 Iranians, or less than four percent of the population, had been tested for the virus. Health/Education: Education Minister Mohsen…

In Washington, Iraqi Officials Discuss Iran

On August 19, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi arrived in Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and continue a U.S.-Iraq strategic dialogue that kicked off in June. The talks between senior officials covered security and counterterrorism, economics and energy, political issues, and…

IAEA Presses Iran for Access to Nuclear Sites

Updated: August 26, 2020
On August 24, Rafael Grossi, the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief, arrived in Tehran to press for access to two suspected former nuclear sites. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with top officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif…

News Digest: Week of August 24

August 24 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 361,150 infections, including 20,776 deaths from COVID-19. Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari announced that 311,365 Iranians had recovered from the virus. Politics: Iran’s Guardian Council set the date for the next presidential election…

U.S. Designates Human Rights Violators

Updated: August 25, 2020
On August 21, the United States imposed visa restrictions on 14 Iranian officials involved in “gross violations of human rights on behalf of the Iranian regime.” On the annual Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that 13 were assassins who…

U.S. Orders Snapback Sanctions on Iran

Updated: September 2, 2020
On August 20, the United States notified the U.N. Security Council that it would reimpose multilateral sanctions on Iran for violating terms of the 2015 nuclear deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Security Council President Dian Triansyah Djani…

Part 2: The Gulf’s Calculus on UAE-Israel Deal

Why did the United Arab Emirates decide to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel? How much was Iran a factor? The UAE leadership has long viewed Israel as a model for how a small nation can nonetheless thrive in a region filled with security threats. The Emiratis have studied how Israel,…

U.S. Sanctions Companies Linked to Mahan Air

On August 19, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two companies based in the United Arab Emirates for providing parts and logistics services to Iranian airline Mahan Air. “The Iranian regime uses Mahan Air as a tool to spread its destabilizing agenda around the world, including to the corrupt regimes in…

Zarif Visits Beirut after Explosion

On August 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met top Lebanese officials 10 days after twin explosions at the Beirut port killed more than 175 people and wounded some 6,000. Zarif accused Western countries of demanding political change in Lebanon as a precondition for billions of…

U.S. Seizes Iranian Fuel on Tankers

Updated: September 2, 2020
On August 12, the United States took control of Iranian oil aboard four privately-owned tankers bound for energy-strapped Venezuela. The tankers, owned by a Greek shipping magnate, collectively carried 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum, according to the Department of Justice. It was the…

Part 1: Iran on UAE-Israel Deal

Iranian leaders have roundly condemned the U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize diplomatic relations, which was announced on August 13. President Hassan Rouhani called it a “clear betrayal of the Palestinian people, the cause of al Quds (Jerusalem) and…

News Digest: Week of August 17

Updated: August 21, 2020
August 17 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 345,450 cases and 19,804 deaths from COVID-19. Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said that 2,887,938 Iranians had been tested for the virus. Health/Economy: Iranian Minister of Tourism Ali Asghar Mounesan said that the country’s tourism…

Part 5: U.S. Bid on Arms Embargo Fails at U.N.

On August 14, a U.S. resolution that would require all U.N. member states to indefinitely forbid the sale of conventional arms to Iran failed at the Security Council in one of the worst diplomatic defeats ever for Washington. The vote in the 15-member body was only two in favor (the United States…

News Digest: Week of August 10

August 10 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 328,844 cases and 18,616 deaths from COVID-19. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari announced that Tehran, Mazandaran, East Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Ardabil, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Gilan, Alborz, Semnan, Golestan, Markazi, Kerman…

Profile: Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh

Updated: February 1, 2023
Born in 1963, Nasrin Sotoudeh has been a vocal critic of Iran’s judicial process, treatment of women, and death penalty. She has represented Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi as well as women’s rights activists, victims of domestic abuse, minors on death row, journalists and Kurdish rights activists…

Part 1: Phases of the Women’s Movement

After the 1979 revolution, the women’s movement in Iran faced challenges restoring rights they had recently gained under the monarchy, but over the next four decades they closed the gender gap in education, political representation and social rights. By 2020, women held more political rights in…

Iran's Troubled Provinces: Baluchistan

Updated: February 24, 2021
Many of Iran’s most pressing issues – in politics, the environment, the economy, health and security – converge in Sistan and Baluchistan. The largely mountainous southeast province is one of Iran’s most strategic frontiers. It shares a nearly 200-mile border with Afghanistan and a nearly 575-mile…

New Digest: Week of August 3

Updated: August 7, 2020
August 3 Health: Iran’s Ministry of Health reported 312,035 cases including 17,405 deaths from COVID-19. Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said that Tehran, Mazandaran, East Azerbaijan, Khorasan Razavi, Alborz, Golestan, Kerman, Isfahan, Ardabil, North Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Gilan, and…

Iran Attacks Fake U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Updated: August 3, 2020
During a wargame on July 28, Iran ran a mock attack on a fake U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired missiles at a dummy war ship near the Strait of Hormuz. The exercise – dubbed Great Prophet 14 – involved the IRGC’s air force and navy, but…

Iran's Troubled Provinces: Khuzestan

Updated: February 3, 2021
In 2020, Iran’s myriad challenges – political, economic, environmental and from the coronavirus pandemic – converged in oil-rich Khuzestan province. In May, protests in the province, home to Iran’s restive Arab minority, flared over unpaid wages and growing water scarcity. On May 23, security…

News Digest: Week of July 27

July 27 Health: Iran reported 293,606 cases and 15,912 deaths from COVID-19. Iranian state media announced that government spokesman Ali Rabiei had tested positive for COVID-19. Rabiei had reportedly been hospitalized but was in good condition, according to Mehr news agency. Economy: The Swiss…

U.S. Fighter Intercepts Iran Flight

On July 23, a Mahan Air commercial airliner was intercepted by a U.S. F-15 fighter jet over southeast Syria. The flight was en route to Beirut from Tehran when the U.S. fighter flew close for visual inspection. Video footage purportedly taken from inside the Mahan Air flight showed passengers…

Iran Proposes Coalition with Russia, China

On July 22, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow to discuss trade, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the situation in Syria and security in the Persian Gulf. During the visit, Zarif announced that Iran intended to renew a…