Supreme Leader of Iran

October 28, 2024 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

Iran reacts to Israel’s direct retaliation

Once again, in 2024, history was made in the Middle East. On October 25, Israel took credit for a long-expected military retaliation against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The attack reportedly...

October 12, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Tehran’s hidden message: Why an Iranian official visited war-struck Beirut

Iran has a long-term plan and it includes trying to weaken Israel through long slow wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

August 8, 2024 | Mark Dubowitz, David Daoud

The Story of the Next Lebanon War Starts Now

Beirut, the once-fabled “Paris of the Middle East”, has been down on its luck in recent years. The lack of attention to Lebanon’s decline is now translating into complacency about the combustible...

August 2, 2024 | David Daoud |

Hints within Nasrallah’s speech about Hezbollah’s retaliation for Beirut strike

The Levant has been on unusually high alert since a Falaq-1 missile fired by Hezbollah struck a soccer field in the community of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, killing 12 Israeli children. Israel’s...

July 31, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iran hosts Houthi leader as Hamas figure killed in Tehran

Iran hosts Houthi leader Mohammad Abdul Salam and other regional proxies. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.

July 15, 2024 | |

Iranian President-Elect Pezeshkian Lauds Hamas, Houthi Rebels in Yemen

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh expressed his gratitude for Iran’s backing of the Palestinian terrorist group in a telephone call with the Islamic Republic’s president-elect, Masoud...

July 8, 2024 | |

New Iranian President Praises Hezbollah ‘Resistance’ Against ‘Illegitimate Zionist Regime’

Despite predictions in several Western news outlets that Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, will “soften” the Islamic Republic’s “absolutist foreign policy,” among...

July 3, 2024 | Behnam Ben Taleblu, Janatan Sayeh

Iran’s ‘election’ seeks to consolidate regime control

Iran’s Guardian Council, a 12-person body appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that approves candidates for office, permitted six out of 80 potential candidates to run in the special presidential...

July 1, 2024 | |

Iranian Election Registers Lowest Voter Turnout Since 1979

The Iranian presidential election on June 28, which now moves to a runoff vote between two candidates, recorded the lowest voter turnout in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s history....

June 3, 2024 | |

Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad Vying to Succeed Raisi

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered as a presidential candidate on June 2. Elections to select a successor to the late Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter...

April 19, 2024 | |

Iran Threatened to Reevaluate Nonproliferation Obligations if Israel Attacked Atomic Facilities

A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened on April 18 to reevaluate Iran’s commitment not to develop atomic weapons if Israel attacked...

April 1, 2024 | Saeed Ghasseminejad, Behnam Ben Taleblu

Reading the Tea Leaves on Iran’s Other “Election”

The newly “re-elected” Assembly of Experts will play a large part in determining Iran’s post-Khamenei leadership.

February 7, 2024 | Mark Dubowitz, David Adesnik

The truth of Biden’s ‘revenge’ on Iran

Airstrikes on the desert sands won't scare the Ayatollah - only an assault on his terror army will teach Tehran not to kill Americans. So, what’s THIS President so afraid of, ask top military analysts.

October 10, 2023 | Clifford D. May |

A 21st century pogrom

The final failure of Israel’s land-for-peace experiment

September 14, 2023 | Behnam Ben Taleblu

Remarks by Behnam Ben Taleblu at FDD Event Promoting Maximum Support for the People of Iran One Year After Mahsa Amini’s Murder

We all have a song. A song whose lyrics resonate not just with us. But beyond us. That’s what “Baraye” or “For” in Persian, by Shervin Hajipour, became just over one year ago to Iranian protestors....

February 21, 2023 | |

EU, UK Impose New Sanctions on Iran as Protests Surge

The European Union and the United Kingdom on Monday imposed new sanctions to address Tehran’s brutal suppression of protests. The sanctions, which come in the wake of a fresh surge of demonstrations in Iran, target Iranian judges, lawmakers, and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), among others. The sanctions also follow an announcement on Saturday by Iran International, a Farsi-language news channel, that it would relocate from London to Washington due to threats against its staff by Iranian agents. Nevertheless, the EU and the UK have stopped short of designating the IRGC itself as a terrorist organization, defying demands by the European Parliament and Iranian dissidents.

October 4, 2022 | |

Death Toll in Iran Protests Rises to 154 as Khamenei Blames U.S. for Uprising

Iran’s security forces have killed at least 154 protesters since nation-wide demonstrations began in mid-September. On Monday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed full support for the security forces and blamed the United States and Israel for the unrest: “I say frankly that these incidents were designed by America, the fake Zionist regime, those who are on their payroll and some traitorous Iranians abroad who helped them.” President Joe Biden also issued a statement on Monday, warning, “the United States will be imposing further costs on the perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters.” However, his administration remains publicly committed to the potential lifting of sanctions on those perpetrators via a new nuclear agreement — a policy contradiction the White House must address.

September 29, 2022 | Reuel Marc Gerecht |

The Women Burning Their Hijabs Want the Iranian Regime to Fall. Does Joe Biden?

The White House is still ardently seeking a nuclear deal that will enrich the men murdering women in the streets.

August 13, 2022 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Rushdie attack reveals — again — true nature of Iranian regime

Excerpt On Feb. 14, 1989, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, condemning author Salman Rushdie to death for blasphemy. Rushdie had recently...

February 20, 2022 | Behnam Ben Taleblu, Saeed Ghasseminejad

Making Sense of Iran’s Three-Pronged Nuclear Fork In The Road

US officials have deployed an impressive array of metaphors over the past 10 months – from dwindling patience, to a diminishing runway, to a closing window – to describe the Biden administration’s...