Did a boat full of smuggled arms for the Houthis ‘disappear’ off Yemen coast?
Houthi militias lost contact with a large transport boat that was on a smuggling mission via a regular sea route from the Horn of Africa countries.
Bandar Abbas
How Iranian weapons are smuggled to the Houthis
According to the report, ships enter Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen without inspection.
Op-eds
Iranian Air Force Conducts Training Exercise
The Iranian air force began an annual air force drill on July 23, a week after the United States announced it was deploying additional assets around the Strait of Hormuz in response to Iran’s growing...
Flash Briefs
The Impact of the Ahwaz protests in Iran
Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority on July 7 launched extensive anti-regime protests centered in the country’s western Khuzestan Province. Extreme water shortages affecting the Ahwaz were the catalyst for...
Policy Briefs
Iran’s new push to erase its millennia of Jewish history
The story of the biblical queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai is among the most dramatic and moving in the Old Testament: After the pair learn of a plot to destroy the Jews hatched by the evil vizier...
Op-eds
Nuclear Bargains And State Department Backlogs
Should a final deal emerge from the Iran nuclear talks, now nearing a June 30 deadline, Congress will expect reports from the President every six months on whether Iran is in compliance. These re...
Op-eds
Iran Shipping Sanctions Run Aground?
Officially, the Obama administration remains committed to enforcing sanctions on Iran’s main merchant shipping fleet, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, also known as IRISL. But i...
Op-eds
Unanswered Questions Surrounding Tehran-Pyongyang Cooperation
With the deadline for nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group drawing near, unanswered questions about the nature of the relationship between Tehran and Pyongyang are taking on new s...
Policy Briefs
How Iran and North Korea Became Cyber-Terror Buddies
In late November 2014, cyber-warfare burst into the American public consciousness when Sony Pictures Entertainment was the victim of a massive cyber-attack. Hackers leaked Sony’s corporate...
Op-eds
The Man And The Myth
Urbi et Orbi, the city and the world, Tehran and the globe. In his turban and clerical robe, softly speaking of peace, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, resembles a spiritual guide mor...
Op-eds
The Amazing Coincidences of Iran’s Javad Zarif
On Wednesday, in the Red Sea, Israeli commandos intercepted a freighter carrying a secret cargo of munitions loaded in Iran and hidden under bags of cement. The weaponry included dozens of Syrian...
Op-eds
Iran Is *Really* Good at Evading Sanctions
Ever since Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program was first exposed in 2002, efforts to convince Tehran to abandon the program have focused on two strategies. One is diplomacy and dialo...
Op-eds
Iran and African Uranium
By Zachary Elkaim The Zimbabwean government recently issued a denial of a Times of London...
Policy Briefs
Smugglers Galore
How Iran arms its allies.
Op-eds
Iranian Influence in the South Caucasus and the Surrounding Region
Introduction On behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, I would like to thank Chairman Burton and Ranking Member Meeks for the opportunity to submit written...
Congressional Testimonies
Sanctions On Iran: How Washington Can End The Game Of ‘Catch Me If You Can’
Since the European Union announced a new round of sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program last October, it has enacted new measures and an imp...
Op-eds
About Those Blacklisted Iranian Ships Calling at Libyan Ports…
The U.S. is looking for ways to beef up security in Libya, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Two warships an...
Op-eds
Russia’s Chariot Calls at Iran
It’s time for the next installment in the adventures of the Chariot, a Russian-operated freighter that made headlines in January for delivering tons of Russian munitions to Syria. The Chari...
Op-eds
The Big Business Behind Iran’s Proliferation
In preparing to expand sanctions on Iran this week, the governments of the European Union face a critical choice. They can carry on with their current strategy of relying chiefly on pinpoint desi...
Op-eds
Bandar Abbas to Produce Euro Quality Gasoline
Deputy oil minister has announced the implementation of a plan to improve the quality of gasoline, adding one of the biggest gasoline production projects will come on stream soon. Outlining...