Mohammad Javad Zarif

August 14, 2020 | Bradley Bowman, Maj. Shane “Axl” Praiswater

Iran Threat Sparks UAE-Israel Deal; US & Israeli F-35s Practice Killing SAMs

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have announced an historic diplomatic agreement catalyzed by the growing security threat posed by Iran. The United States, concerned about Tehran’s regional and nuclear...

August 7, 2020 | Alireza Nader |

China’s Plan To Buy Iran Won’t Go So Smoothly

Yet Washington should be worried about an enhanced Chinese presence in Iran.

August 4, 2020 | Mark Dubowitz, Alireza Nader

Khamenei Doesn’t Trust The Democrats

The Democratic Party’s recently released policy platform was greeted warmly by certain newspapers in Iran. Media outlets associated with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the party’s rejection...

July 15, 2020 | Alireza Nader |

Why won’t Trudeau demand more from Iran?

The Islamic Republic in Iran is about to execute three young Iranian men for their participation in the November 2019 popular uprising against the regime. But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no...

July 9, 2020 | Mark Dubowitz, Behnam Ben Taleblu, Richard Goldberg

Maximize Pressure on Iran: Fortify the Sanctions Wall

The Islamic Republic of Iran is in crisis. U.S. sanctions have crippled the country’s economy. Protests over the regime’s failed policies continue. The Islamic Republic has reportedly even reduced force...

July 7, 2020 | Mark Dubowitz, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Public Enemy: Islamic Republic’s Coronavirus Disinformation

Mark Dubowitz and Saeed Ghasseminajad of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies have done an investigation of the Iranian regime’s disinformation campaign to minimize the real impact of the coronavirus...

June 30, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Behnam Ben Taleblu

Declining Turkish-Iranian energy trade offers Washington an opportunity

Economic issues were high on the agenda for Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif, who traveled to Istanbul for two days earlier this June. Zarif’s visit to Turkey marks his second foreign...

June 30, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

German–Iranian dissidents urge MP to resign from antisemitic BDS NGO

Nouripour should quit due to "his Iranian identity: there is only one dictatorship in this world that has an antisemitic state doctrine, namely the Islamic Republic.”

June 26, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir |

Turkey and Iran Orchestrate Joint Military Operations Against Kurdish Insurgents

Turkey and Iran last week carried out joint military operations against Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq’s self-ruled Kurdistan region. This security cooperation shows that despite the lethal clashes...

June 5, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Saeed Ghasseminejad

COVID-19 in Iran and Turkey: Mismanagement, Crackdowns, Economic Crises, and Corona-Diplomacy

Iran and Turkey have been the two countries in the Middle East hardest hit by COVID-19. Their respective epidemics – which both governments have largely mismanaged – have amplified their democratic...

May 10, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Lebanese Shi’ite leader may urge decriminalization of homosexuality

Acting US director of national intelligence Richard Grenell says he spoke "with an influential Lebanese Shi'ite leader" who is "close" to coming out publicly in favor of decriminalizing homosexuality

May 7, 2020 | Mark Dubowitz, Behnam Ben Taleblu

Two Years On, the Trump Administration’s Iran Policy Continues to Make Sense

In the two years since the United States left the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Trump administration has adopted a policy of “maximum pressure”...

April 20, 2020 | Alireza Nader |

Regime in Iran Exploits Canada’s Policy of Engagement Without Pressure

Canada has little to show for its government’s conciliatory approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran following the death of 57 Canadian-Iranians on January 8, when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps...

April 20, 2020 | Talia Katz |

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 17, 2020 | Saeed Ghasseminejad, Alireza Nader

Who Runs Iran’s Propaganda Machine Abroad

In its efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the religious dictatorship in Tehran has been consistently negligent. Yet the regime has been remarkably eager to claim that it deserves immediate relief...

April 15, 2020 | Clifford D. May |

Voices of America

Obama holdovers run U.S. global media, and they’re not giving it up

April 13, 2020 | Reuel Marc Gerecht |

The Islamic Revolution vs. Donald Trump

Iran and Ayatollah Khamenei are more influential today than at any time since 1979.

April 7, 2020 | Alireza Nader |

Pandemic Spurs Iranian Regime to Escalate

Iran may be an epicenter of the global COVID-19 pandemic, but that has not kept the Islamic Republic from pursuing its rivalry with the United States more aggressively than before. The regime’s strategy...

March 14, 2020 | Saeed Ghasseminejad, Alireza Nader

Iranians suffer from regime’s malpractice on coronavirus

The Islamist regime in Tehran has set off a coronavirus bomb on its own territory. The official death toll leaped to 611 on Friday, yet other assessments indicate that close to 2,000 Iranians may already...

March 10, 2020 | David Adesnik, Saeed Ghasseminejad

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....