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May 14, 2020 COVID-19 in Russia President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that Russia would begin easing its partial lockdown, even as the country’s caseload continues to soar. The virus-related lockdown, together with record low... May 8, 2020 The JCPOA Has Not Improved Iran’s Human Rights Record The Obama administration routinely argued that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran could spur Tehran to moderate, thereby reducing its systematic human rights abuses. But this forecast has proven unfounded:... May 7, 2020 COVID-19 in Bahrain As low oil prices and the pandemic strain Bahrain’s state budget, Manama may seek economic assistance from its Gulf neighbors. Less certain, however, is whether those neighbors will come to the island... May 6, 2020 The JCPOA May Not See Its Five-Year Anniversary Two years after the United States withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the agreement’s future hangs in the balance as Washington threatens to restore all UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic, thereby... May 6, 2020 The Impact of Sanctions Two Years After U.S. Withdrawal From the Nuclear Deal Two years into President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran, U.S. sanctions – when enforced – have pushed Iran into a deep, multi-year recession, slashed... May 5, 2020 COVID-19 in Northeast Syria The reported number of coronavirus cases in northeast Syria remains in single digits, in part because healthcare workers have so little ability to test for the virus. Local authorities are preparing for... May 1, 2020 USCIRF Denounces Iran’s Religious Freedom Violations Religious freedom conditions in Iran “remained egregiously poor” in 2019, according to an annual report released by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Tuesday. The report... May 1, 2020 Nuclear Fuel Working Group Recommends Key Steps to Safeguard U.S. Uranium Supply The Department of Energy (DOE) on April 23 released a long-awaited report by the president’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group (NFWG), which recommends key steps to assure an independent, continued supply of... April 30, 2020 COVID-19 in Qatar As Qatar’s COVID-19 epidemic worsens, the country’s dismal human rights record has returned to the spotlight. Doha has locked down crowded labor camps that house expatriate workers, leaving them few... April 27, 2020 Gaza’s Militant Groups Battle COVID-19 With local authorities in Gaza woefully unprepared to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, Hamas has turned to its familiar strategy of leveraging violence and international pressure to extort Israel into providing... April 27, 2020 Historic Oil Price Crash Highlights Holes in U.S. Energy Security U.S. oil prices went into negative territory for the first time last Monday, underscoring the extent to which the oil market is oversupplied. The price rout indicates that more pain lies in store for U.S.... April 27, 2020 COVID-19 in Egypt As political and economic difficulties from COVID-19 challenge the stability of the Egyptian government, Cairo has responded by tightening control – an effort that opposition forces claim is designed... April 23, 2020 COVID-19 in Libya The coronavirus has barely affected Libya, according to official statistics, but the true number of cases is likely underreported. An ongoing civil war, a large refugee and migrant population, and a deficient... April 23, 2020 Lebanon, Hezbollah, and COVID-19 In response to the pandemic, the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah has waged an aggressive public relations campaign aimed at displaying its primacy within Lebanon. This campaign has also demonstrated... April 23, 2020 Algeria’s ‘Revolution of Smiles’ Democracy Movement Hit Hard by COVID-19 The coronavirus outbreak has provided Algeria’s regime a pretext to consolidate its political control by repressing independent media and activists affiliated with the Hirak democratic protest movement.... April 22, 2020 How to Fight COVID-19 in North Korea While Maintaining Sanctions Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) last week introduced the Enhancing North Korea Humanitarian Assistance Act in their respective chambers, in an effort to expedite medical aid to North... April 21, 2020 COVID-19 and the Economy in Regime-Held Syria The pandemic has worsened the currency crisis and inflation that have afflicted Syria since the economy in next-door Lebanon began to collapse last September. The cash-strapped regime of Bashar-al Assad... April 20, 2020 Iran Seeks to Block Investigation of January’s Ukrainian Airliner Crash Radio Farda reported on Tuesday that Tehran sent Ukraine a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) that, if signed, would protect the Iranian government from judicial action for the downing of a Ukrainian... April 20, 2020 Washington Uses Sanctions and Indictments Inconsistently When Combating Malicious Cyber Activity Over the past decade, the United States has relied heavily on sanctions and indictments to combat malicious cyber activity that originated in China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran. An analysis of the frequency... April 17, 2020 Israel Renegotiates COVID-19 Testing Lab Deal With China Amidst the severe economic downturn stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are desperate to increase the availability of testing kits, a prerequisite for lifting stay at home orders. China, whose... April 17, 2020 COVID-19 in Yemen Yemen registered its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus last week, threatening to add a COVID-19 epidemic to what the United Nations already calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. While... April 14, 2020 COVID-19 in Regime-Held Syria The regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to report implausibly low numbers of COVID-19 cases, while evidence mounts of deliberate deception. The presence of tens of thousands of Iranian-backed militia fighters... April 13, 2020 COVID-19 in Israel and the Palestinian Territories Israel’s COVID-19 outbreak has profoundly impacted the country’s domestic political and economic situation. Israel’s relationship with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is better than expected, but a... April 9, 2020 COVID-19 in Iran Iran’s coronavirus epidemic is the worst in the Middle East. Yet the Islamic Republic has downplayed the epidemic, substantially boosted funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and state... April 7, 2020 COVID-19 in the Gulf The coronavirus pandemic and Russian-Saudi oil price war have triggered an historic drop in oil prices, shaking the economic and fiscal foundations of the oil-dependent Arab Gulf states and stretching their... April 7, 2020 Despite Coronavirus, U.S. and Israel Conduct Combined F-35 Exercise Despite growing coronavirus concerns in both countries, the United States and Israel conducted a combined air-power training exercise on March 29, marking the first time U.S. and Israeli F-35s have trained... April 6, 2020 COVID-19 in Iraq The timing of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraq has been particularly unfortunate, arriving concurrently with several other major crises, including a collapse in world oil prices, the absence of a functioning... April 3, 2020 COVID-19 in Afghanistan As U.S. forces prepare to depart Afghanistan next year, the Taliban has seized on the COVID-19 crisis to present itself as an entity capable of governing more effectively than the elected and internationally... April 3, 2020 Taiwan Continues to Lead in Fight Against Coronavirus Taiwan announced on Tuesday that it will provide 10 million masks to countries hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis, including Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This responsible... April 3, 2020 Turkish Public Lender Pleads Not Guilty for Evading Iran Sanctions Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by the Turkish government, pleaded not guilty at a Manhattan court on March 31 to criminal charges that it helped Iran illicitly transfer tens of billions of dollars... April 2, 2020 Washington Targets Tehran’s Petrochemical Trade by Sanctioning Military Pension Fund The U.S. State Department recently designated a tranche of entities that are tied to, or directly engage in, the sale or supply of Iranian petrochemical products. Iran’s petrochemical sector accounts... April 2, 2020 Khamenei Uses Iran State TV to Turn a Profit Amid COVID-19 Outbreak Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is profiting during the coronavirus outbreak from contracts with state entities complicit in torture, according to a newly leaked video of a meeting of Iran’s... April 1, 2020 COVID-19 in Turkey Turkey’s coronavirus epidemic is one of the most serious in the world; it has the second-largest number of confirmed cases in the Middle East, behind only Iran. With the country’s public health crisis... April 1, 2020 Turkish Court Indicts Saudi Nationals in Khashoggi Murder The Istanbul chief prosecutor indicted 20 Saudi nationals last week for the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul sparked global outrage.... April 1, 2020 North Korea Turns to Cyber Disinformation Attacks Amid Global Coronavirus Outbreak Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) released a new report on March 26 revealing North Korean hackers’ persistent cyberattacks on news outlets to spread disinformation. This new development in North... March 31, 2020 It Is Time for Al Jazeera to Register Under FARA The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) registered as a foreign agent this month, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that the network engages in political activities to advance... March 30, 2020 Treasury Sanctions Quds Force Fronts in Iraq The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned 20 people and companies in Iraq and Iran with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), Tehran’s elite foreign... March 26, 2020 IMF Should Reject Islamic Republic’s Loan Request The Islamic Republic of Iran has requested a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Tehran confronts a perfect economic storm combining President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure... March 25, 2020 As U.S. Struggles with Coronavirus, Moscow Probes American Defenses As the Coronavirus crisis escalated earlier this month in the United States, Moscow repeatedly sent Tu-142 long-range reconnaissance aircraft to probe America’s homeland defenses. The incursions into... March 24, 2020 North Korea Conducts Third Projectile Launch in 2020 North Korea launched two short-range projectiles and conducted a live-fire artillery competition late last week as the rest of the world, and likely North Korea itself, confronts the coronavirus pandemic.... March 20, 2020 UAE Continues to Serve as Hub for Iranian Sanctions Evasion The Treasury Department imposed sanctions yesterday on five companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their role in facilitating petroleum and petrochemical sales by the clerical regime in Iran.... March 19, 2020 U.S. Court Exposes Turkey’s Role in Iran’s and Venezuela’s Sanctions Evasion Schemes – Again A Manhattan federal jury on Monday convicted Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, the Iranian owner of the now-defunct Pilatus Bank of Malta, of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran by conspiring to transfer payments... March 19, 2020 New Sanctions Against Iranian Scientists Underscore Importance of IAEA Investigation in Iran The Department of Commerce on Tuesday added five Iranian scientists to its Entity List, which consists of persons prohibited from acquiring sensitive U.S. items, such as those with dual uses in nuclear,... March 18, 2020 Competing Crises: A Failed ROK-U.S. Burden Sharing Agreement and the Coronavirus in North Korea American and South Korean negotiators are meeting this week in Los Angeles to continue negotiations on the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) for a fair and equitable cost-sharing arrangement for U.S. forces... March 18, 2020 As Coronavirus Hinders the IAEA, Who Will Monitor Iran’s Nuclear Program? While the Iranian regime continues to call for sanctions relief in response to the coronavirus crisis, the regime appears rather content with the pandemic’s debilitating impact on the International Atomic... March 17, 2020 Turkish Government Responsible for Torture, Arbitrary Killings, and Disappearances In its annual human rights report, released on March 11, the State Department documents egregious violations by the Turkish government, including arbitrary killings, suspicious deaths of persons in custody,... March 12, 2020 State Department Report Documents Iran’s Systematic Human Rights Violations The regime in Tehran commits abuse “as a matter of government policy,” with impunity for perpetrators “throughout all levels of the government and security forces,” according to an annual review... March 10, 2020 Trade Data Shows Sanctions Have Little Impact on Iranian Pharma Imports During the first full year after the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions, total EU exports to Iran fell by nearly half, while pharmaceutical exports fell by just over 5 percent. Despite assertions that U.S.... March 4, 2020 Iran Uses the JCPOA as Pretext to Block Access to UN Nuclear Inspectors The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report on Tuesday rebuking Iran for withholding access to two sites of concern and for failing to answer questions about those two sites and one other.... March 4, 2020 U.S. Sanctions and Indicts Chinese Enablers of North Korean Cyber Theft The U.S. government sanctioned and indicted two Chinese nationals on March 2 for helping North Korea launder the proceeds of its cybertheft operations. In its indictment, the Justice Department (DOJ) showed...

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