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December 3, 2015 Saudi Arabia Sanctions Hezbollah Officials Saudi Arabia’s state news wire announced sanctions last Thursday on... December 1, 2015 Israel Holds Firm to Red Lines in Syria Despite Russian Presence Israel reportedly carried out four airstrikes in Syria’s Qalamoun Mountains near the Lebanese border last week, killing eight Hezbollah fighters and five Syrian soldiers, and wounding dozens. The airstrikes, which came two months after Russia launched its aerial campaign in Syria, demonstrate that… November 24, 2015 Putin’s Belligerence Reaches a Tipping Point Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet today after it violated the country’s airspace. The Turkish military... November 23, 2015 Congress Moves to Target Hezbollah with New Sanctions Congress took action this week to target Hezbollah and its global network of illicit finance. The Senate passed H.R. 2297, the “... November 18, 2015 Israel’s Islamic Movement: Context and Possible Implications Israel outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement on Tues... November 18, 2015 Khamenei’s Reinterpretation of Nuclear Deal and the Implications Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to the council,... November 15, 2015 Terror on the Cheap: Paris Attacks Required Little Funding The U.S. government imposed sanctions on two French citizens in September for their ties to the Islamic State. One of them,... November 10, 2015 IRGC Intelligence: The Driving Force Behind Iran’s New Crackdown Iranian hardliners launched a brazen political offensive in recent weeks, arresting two... November 6, 2015 The Sinai Crash is Sisi’s Nightmare It’s still too early to definitively state the cause of the Russian airliner crash... October 29, 2015 EU Set to Delist Entities Linked to Iran’s Ballistic Missile Test Iranian lawmakers broadly endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (... October 29, 2015 The IRGC Transforms into an Expeditionary Force The deployment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxy Shi’ite militias to Syria have saved the Assad regime. At the same time, however, Syria is transforming the IRGC... October 28, 2015 UNRWA’s Troubling Hamas Ties United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness spoke Monday at an event for Interpal, a UK-based charity... October 26, 2015 Attack on Abbas Critic Could Presage Further Intra-Palestinian Violence Masked assailants attacked the prominent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti outside his Ramallah home on Saturday, stabbing him in the face and... October 23, 2015 Warming Ties Between Hamas and South Africa The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas sent a delegation to South Africa earlier this week. The delegation, led by head of Hamas’ politburo Khaled Meshal and his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouk, me... October 21, 2015 Iran Sanctions Relief A Nightmare for Financial Compliance The Obama administration issued waivers on Sunday, suspending “nuclear-related” sanctions on Iran, to take effect... October 16, 2015 Tehran Tests the West with UN Missile Violation On October 11, Iran successfully tested the launch of the long-range, high-precision “Emad” bal... October 6, 2015 Russian Forays Into Turkish Airspace Challenge Ankara’s Syria Policy… And NATO Russian warplanes entered Turkish airspace from Syria twice over the weekend,... October 5, 2015 Bahrain and Iran Expel Each Other’s Diplomats Bahrain announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Iran on Thursday and ordere... September 29, 2015 Treasury and State Department Target Islamic State Financiers The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced this morning the terrorism designations of 15 Islamic State (IS)... September 8, 2015 Kuwait’s Espionage Revelations Could Disrupt Rapprochement with Iran Kuwaiti authorities recently disrupted an alleged terror cell linked to Iran and Hezbollah, and have begun exploring punitive steps against Tehran over... September 4, 2015 Larijani’s Evasive Interview Shows Iran’s Policies Remain Unchanged Iran’s Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani was in New York on Wednesday to attend a U.N.-sponsored conference of parliamentary speakers... September 4, 2015 Nuclear Deal is a Boon to the IRGC The nuclear agreement signed by Iran and world powers in July will benefit Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in three primary ways. First, the deal lifts sectoral ban... September 2, 2015 Kurds Mark Milestone by Joining Turkish Cabinet The suspension of Turkey’s ceasefire with Kurdish fighters in July, followed by airstrikes against Kurdish militant targets in Turkey and Iraq, have brought the greatest rupture in Turkish-... August 31, 2015 Saudi King’s Visit Offers Chance to Reset Relations President Obama is set to host Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the White House on Friday for the king’s first visit since ascending to the throne in January. White... August 28, 2015 Interviewing Scientists is Key to Iran’s PMD A fatal flaw of last month’s Iran nuclear deal is its failure to account for possible military dimensions (... August 19, 2015 Closer Iran-Turkey Ties Face Hurdle over PKK Turkish and Iranian leaders have each ... August 17, 2015 The Unraveling of Sanctions on the Quds Force’s Qassem Soleimani Sanctions against Qassem Soleimani “will stay forever,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. Soleimani i... August 17, 2015 Russia’s Airline Aeroflot Carried Qassem Soleimani to Moscow and Back Fox News reported that on July 24, General Qassem Soleiman... August 17, 2015 Turkey’s Terrorism Policies and the Case of Hamas “A terrorist organization is a terrorist organization,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan... August 13, 2015 The IRGC’s Sanctions Relief Bonanza The European Union is slated to delist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), its c... August 13, 2015 PLO Rapprochement with Iran? The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sent a high-level delegation to Iran this week, and announced the formation of a joint com... August 13, 2015 The Iran Deal Rewards Airlines that Served as IRGC Terror Fronts Between 2011 and 2013, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated five of the seventeen airlines currently operating in Iran for their support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (... August 12, 2015 Turkey: Coalition or Snap Elections? Two months have passed since Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority in elections, but the p... August 12, 2015 The IRGC’s Ambivalent Response to the Nuclear Deal With all eyes fixed on the battle between President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress over the nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s struggle against Iranian critics of the deal... August 11, 2015 Despite their Quiet, Gulf States Remain Uneasy about Iran Deal The Obama administration insists that “99% of the world” supports the Joint Comprehensi... August 3, 2015 Iran’s Majles and the JCPOA In the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed last month, Iran’s concessions on its nuclear activities have sunset clauses that begin expiring in year 10. Beyond year 15, Tehran... July 27, 2015 Under Iran Agreement, U.S. Will Delist All Entities Controlled by Supreme Leader Of all the sanctions to be lifted in last week’s Iran nuclear agreement, few are more significant than those against a shadowy $100-billion network of foundations belonging to the Islamic R... July 27, 2015 EU Delisting of IRGC Construction Giant Will Boost Terror Financing The Iran nuclear deal signed July 14 stipulates that eight years after its implementation, the European Union will delist a construction conglomerate owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp... July 23, 2015 IRGC Cashes in on EU “Transition Day” After the nuclear agreement signed last week, the United States will maintain most of its sanctions on individuals and entities connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)... July 21, 2015 The IRGC Reacts to the Nuclear Deal After more than a week of silence, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has weighed in on the nuclear agreement Tehran signed last week with the P5+1 negotiators. IRGC Commander Major Ge... July 20, 2015 Post-Deal, Khamenei’s Remarks as Belligerent as Ever “Our policy toward the arrogant U.S. government won’t change at all,” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei assured Iranians in his... July 17, 2015 The Nuclear Deal’s Impact on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards One of the foremost beneficiaries of the Iran nuclear deal sign... July 16, 2015 Iran Reacts to Nuclear Deal with Belligerence, Threats The U.S. administration hopes the Iran nuclear deal signed this week “incenti... July 1, 2015 Egypt’s Bloody Wednesday The Sinai Peninsula experienced its bloodiest attack in a decade on Wednesday, as the Islamic State affil... June 29, 2015 Top Prosecutor’s Death Presages Long, Hot Summer in Egypt Egypt’s top public prosecutor was killed Monday in a car... June 26, 2015 Iran’s Economic Growth and the Nuclear Deal Iran’s central bank published its preliminary annual report last week for the previous Persian year (March 2014 to March 2015), according... June 24, 2015 Khamenei’s Speech Ups the Nuclear Ante Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei set new “red lines” to nuclear negotiations on Tuesday, undercutting many of the principles his representatives had already reached with inter... June 24, 2015 Reactions to Khamenei’s Nuclear Speech Mirror Iran’s Fault Lines Iranian reactions to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s address Tuesday on international nuclear negotiations closely follow the country’s factional fault lines, from relative pragmatists... June 18, 2015 The Fundamental Flaws of the Emerging Nuclear Deal Under the emerging Iran nuclear agreement, there is an inherent asymmetry between an expanding Iranian nuclear program and diminishing economic leverage. Tehran over time will develop an industri... June 17, 2015 Learning from Rafsanjani’s Memoirs Secretary of State John Kerry broke with years of U.S. and international policy on Tuesday, indicating that revealing past...

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