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U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a new report critical of Iran’s human rights record. Executions were down in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. But Tehran “has not taken any measures to halt executions or instituted a moratorium on the death penalty,” the…

International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff visited Iran and found that the economy has “rebounded strongly” since the nuclear deal was implemented and sanctions were lifted in January 2016. But Iran still needs to take several steps to ensure continued economic growth and reintegration into the global…

On September 26, Iran released retired university professor Homa Hoodfar from Evin prison. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Iranian authorities confirmed the release of the dual-national who had been held since June. She is believed to be in poor physical condition, due to a rare…

On September 23, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the United States for not sending a clear message to European banks that they are free to do business with Iran. In a wide ranging conversation with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, he also discussed the war in Syria, tensions with…

On September 22, President Hassan Rouhani gave wide ranging comments on the nuclear deal’s implementation, U.S.-Iran relations, the Syrian war, Saudi Arabia, extremism, and more. He spoke to journalists after delivering an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The following are…

On September 22, President Hassan Rouhani called on "certain countries in the region" to stop "bombarding their neighbors and put an end to their support for Takfiri terrorist groups" in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. In particular, he urged Saudi Arabia to "cease and desist from…

On September 21, President Hassan Rouhani called for a political solution to the Syrian civil war in an interview with NBC News’ Chuck Todd. “The rule of the ballot box and the rule of the Syrian people and the will of the Syrian people should be the sole determinant of the future of the country…

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. Allison, Director of the Belfer …

Israeli leaders expressed varying degrees of hostility to the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world's six major powers. But they largely adapted to the reality of the deal and shifted their focus to nonnuclear areas of concern, according to a new brief by Dalia Dassa Kaye at the Rand…

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…

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 war of words is heating up between Iran and Saudi Arabia. They traded angry barbs before the annual hajj pilgrimage. On September 5, Iran’s supreme leader accused Riyadh of murdering its citizens one year ago. In September 2015, hundreds of Iranians were killed in a stampede during the ritual…

In the last year, Iranian and U.S. naval forces have had several close encounters in the Persian Gulf. In the most recent incident, an Iranian drone came within 1000 feet of a U.S. aircraft. It was the 14th unsafe and/or unprofessional interaction between U.S. and Iranian maritime forces in 2017,…

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…

Russia and Iran escalated their military cooperation on the war in Syria. On August 16, Russian warplanes, taking off from Hamedan airbase in western Iran, bombed targets in Syria belonging to ISIS and Jabhat Fateh al Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al Nusra). Since 2011, Moscow and Tehran have…

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 The constitution declares the country to be an…

In June and July, Iran expanded its economic outreach to the world, signing deals with foreign oil and automotive companies. In June, IranAir even reached a tentative $17.6 billion deal with Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, to purchase passenger planes. Iranian officials predicted…

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…

“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…

On August 2, President Hassan Rouhani gave a wide-ranging interview on state television that covered the economy, nuclear deal, environment and more. The following are excerpted remarks arranged by topic.   Economy, Oil & Business “1394 was a hard economic year because of plunge in oil…

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,…

Both the 2016 Republican and Democratic platforms condemned Iran’s policies in the region and its human rights record. But they differed on the nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s major powers that was subsequently endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. The Republican platform included strong…

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.For years, Iran has sporadically…

On July 20, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted three senior members of al Qaeda living in Iran for providing financial and logistics support to the terrorist group. “Today’s action sanctions senior al-Qaida operatives responsible for moving money and weapons across the Middle East,” said Adam J.…

Iran, the United States and Russia criticized a new U.N. report on implementation of the nuclear deal codified in Security Council Resolution 2231. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his first bi-annual report on the deal, commended Iran and the world’s major powers for implementing their…

Iranian leaders expressed strong support for Turkey’s elected government and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a failed coup by military officers. “These people should understand that the way of resolving the problems is democracy and respecting the nation’s vote,” said President Hassan…

On the one year anniversary of the nuclear deal, U.S. officials praised the agreement but acknowledged that the United States and Iran still strongly disagree on regional issues, ballistic missiles, and human rights. “We still have serious differences with Iran, but the United States, our partners…

Last month, Boeing signed a landmark agreement with Iran to sell or lease a hundred and nine passenger jets. The mega-deal, worth at least twenty billion dollars, would be the largest sale of American goods to the Islamic Republic since the seizure of the U.S. Embassy, shortly after the 1979…

In the week marking the one-year anniversary of the nuclear deal, Congress prepared to discuss three bills that would impose new sanctions on Iran – all of which President Obama has promised to veto if they are passed. The bills include: HR 5119 - No 2H2O from Iran Act: Prohibits the use of…

President Hassan Rouhani is still the favored candidate for the 2017 presidential election, but his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made significant gains in public opinion, according to a new University of Maryland survey. While large majorities said they had a favorable view of Rouhani’s…