Guardian Council

June 17, 2021 | Tzvi Kahn |

Ali Larijani, Iran’s Rejected Hardliner

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. On May 15, Ali Larijani, the former speaker of Iran’s parliament, registered to run for president. Ten days later, the Guardian Council – an unelected, 12-member...

June 17, 2021 | Tzvi Kahn |

Iran’s Leading Presidential Candidate Has Committed Crimes Against Humanity

Even the prison guards were horrified. In the summer of 1988, at the behest of Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the regime executed thousands of political dissidents incarcerated...

June 14, 2021 | Saeed Ghasseminejad, Behnam Ben Taleblu

Khamenei is Iran’s most important voter, and he wants more extremism, not less

Elections have consequences, even in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nobody knows this better than Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the country’s most powerful person and most important “voter.” Through...

June 9, 2021 | Reuel Marc Gerecht |

Why the Coming Iranian Elections Will Challenge the Biden Administration

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei seems inclined to promote a candidate who will quash dissent over someone who could work with the West.

June 3, 2021 | Cameron Khansarinia, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Why America Should Hope the Regime in Iran Collapses

Advancing the collapse of the Islamic Republic will not bog the United States down into another Middle Eastern war or cost further blood and treasure. It can be done by maintaining sanctions on the Islamic Republic and its officials and by beginning a policy of maximum support of the Iranian people.

February 18, 2021 | Saeed Ghasseminejad, Toby Dershowitz

Iran, Terrorism Finance, and Money Laundering: A Status Update Before FATF Meets Next Week

When the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convenes its plenary next week, while not formally on the agenda, buzz on the sidelines will concern Tehran’s constant push to be removed from the FATF blacklist....

January 24, 2021 | Jacob Nagel, Andrea Stricker

To meet the Iran nuclear challenge, the IAEA must remain apolitical

World powers should not restore the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, but should hold the Islamic Republic accountable for violating its international nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

December 5, 2020 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

Parsing Iranian Responses to the Killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi

2020 has proven to be a tough year for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It began with the killing of its most important general and terrorist mastermind, Qassem Soleimani, and now appears to be ending...

October 19, 2020 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

The IRGC runs for high office in Tehran

It’s not every day that a former hostage-taker and a man essential to the founding of a designated terrorist organization throws his hat into the ring for president, not even in the Islamic Republic of...

June 25, 2020 | Andrea Stricker |

Iran Threatens to Repudiate Key Nuclear Verification Agreement

The Iranian parliament, or Majles, ratified a motion on Tuesday directing the government to stop implementing a key nuclear verification agreement called the Additional Protocol (AP). While Iran has already...

April 8, 2020 | Mark Dubowitz, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Tehran Can Afford to Fight COVID-19 Even Without Sanctions Relief

The Iranian government is leading an international campaign to pressure the United States to lift sanctions. American and European negotiators of the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, along with dozens of pressure...

February 27, 2020 | Alireza Nader |

Coronavirus and voting boycott: A new low for Iranian regime

The past few days have been terrible for the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Feb. 21 parliamentary elections were boycotted by a majority of the population, with credible reports that just 19% of the population...

February 25, 2020 | Tzvi Kahn |

U.S. Sanctions Five Members of Iran’s Guardian Council

The Trump administration on Thursday sanctioned five officials who sit on Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, which screens parliamentary and presidential candidates to ensure their fidelity to Iran’s...

February 21, 2020 | Toby Dershowitz |

FATF Reimposes Countermeasures on Iran for Failing to Meet Anti-Money Laundering Standards

Today, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) followed through on its October 2019 commitment to re-impose due-diligence countermeasures on Iran if Tehran failed – as it has since 2016 – to complete...

February 21, 2020 | Saeed Ghasseminejad |

Why Does The Islamic Republic Of Iran Hold Elections?

This week, the Islamic Republic in Iran will hold an unfree and unfair election for the 290 seats in its national parliament, the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Over the last four decades, on average, the...

February 20, 2020 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

Iran’s hardliners look to consolidate control in parliamentary election

The narrowing of Iran's political spectrum will be demonstrated on Friday in parliamentary elections dominated by hardline candidates. Driving the news: An estimated one-third of sitting parliamentarians...

February 8, 2020 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

Remember, Iran’s Terror Network Is Global

“They are warriors who have no borders… They are warriors who show their presence wherever needed.” That’s how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the Qods Force, the special...

December 25, 2018 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Top Iranian cleric Shahroudi dies who oversaw 2,000 executions

Shahroudi, 70, was a close ally of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and had been seen by analysts as a possible successor to him.

October 8, 2018 | Toby Dershowitz, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Iranian Parliament Approves Terror Finance Bill with Loopholes for Hamas and Hezbollah

The Iranian parliament passed a bill this week that authorizes the country to join the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), one of several prerequisites for Iran’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) blacklist of states that engage in systemic money laundering and terror finance. FATF will be reviewing Iran's case next week.

May 24, 2017 | Clifford D. May |

Iran’s latest unfree and unfair election

News must be new but it needn’t be surprising. The decidedly unsurprising news out of Iran last week: There was an election (of sorts) and the winner was Hassan Rouhani, the...