The Biden administration has announced a fresh round of Iran-related sanctions amid continuing diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
The new measures, revealed on Wednesday, target “an international network of individuals and entities” that the Department of the Treasury said facilitated the sale of US-sanctioned Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia.
The sanctions come days after American and Iranian diplomats held a round of indirect talks in Qatar to try to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the multilateral agreement that saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against its economy.
(Aljazeera)
AIC’s President Dr. Amirahmadi presents his perspective on creating peace in the Middle East.
After a long break, Iran Chat is back and we felt this year’s series should begin with a deep dive into the current state of US-Iran relations, focusing on the very real and growing possibility of war with Iran.
To help sort through all the recent news and issues concerning US-Iran relations, we spoke with journalist Jim Lobe. He served as chief of the Washington DC bureau of Inter Press Service from 1980 to 1985 and again from 1989 to 2016. Currently he is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies where he directs LobeLog, an award-winning web blog focused on foreign policy, featuring posts by expert contributors on a variety of global issues, with an emphasis on US policy towards the Middle East.
Recently, he co-wrote an article for Lobelog entitled War Against Iran Becoming Ever More Likely. We discuss his rationale for this assessment during our conversation.
Listen here or on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/americaniranians-podcast/id1152417924
By Samuel Howell, AIC Research Associate
In 2022, the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini in Tehran created a chain reaction of social unrest that culminated in months of widespread protests in Iran. These protests championed a number of causes, including improved economic conditions, the removal of certain government leaders, and, above all, equality and justice for women. Results of these demands have been mixed: while they have inspired many women to act in solidarity and refuse to obey the laws that control their personal lives, no official government policies have changed.
With this in mind, it is a good time now to reflect, not just on the most recent protests that made news in the West, but on a much broader history of the fight for women’s rights in Iran, neighboring Iraq, and the regions of Kurdish territory within their borders. While these places have been at odds with each other for much of recent history, the story of their efforts regarding women’s rights share similar foundations and headwinds within the broader struggle for social change. This article will focus on recent women's rights developments within Iran, Iraq, and Kurdistan, what their struggles mean for the progress of the region, and the international implications of these events.
By AIC Senior Research Fellow Andrew Lumsden
Though perhaps not out of place in a region that has seen countless kings and empires rise and fall, the political upheavals in the Middle East of the past several months have shocked even some of the most jaded of observers.
The devastation of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the near-total decapitation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the whirlwind collapse of the Assad government in Syria have left Iran’s “axis of resistance,” once heralded, even begrudgingly by Iran’s opponents, as a formidable geopolitical force, greatly diminished and facing an uncertain future.
This Media Guide will revisit Iran’s main allies and proxies in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq and explore how their circumstances have changed over the past two years and what these shifts may mean for Iran’s geopolitical future.
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Dear AIC Friends and Supporters,
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the staff of the American Iranian Council, we wish to take this opportunity to share with you the joy of celebrating the Iranian New Year, Nowruz. We at the AIC wish you the best in the year 1404 (2025), a year filled with peace, joy and prosperity, and we hope that the New Year will usher in better US-Iran relations.
Nowruz, literally the new day or New Year, is a celebration of Vernal Equinox which begins on or about March 21 -- marking the Sun's crossing of the Equator and the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. A time of renewal and reunion, as well as giving, Nowruz is widely celebrated by Iranians of all ideological and political persuasions and ethnic backgrounds, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis, Turkmen, Lurs, Arabs, and others.