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The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody has sparked another wave of popular protests across Iran. The incidents have shaken the authorities to the extent that a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei paid a two-hour visit to Amini’s family home.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi provoked controversy ahead of his visit to the 77th United Nations General Assembly, which opened in New York on 20 September, by casting doubt on whether the Holocaust had happened.
Iranian Army (Artesh) Ground Force commander Brigadier Kioumars Heydari said on 12 September that Tehran had developed a drone with a 2,000km range optimised for attacking Israel’s coastal cities.
Iran’s ability to launch cross-border cyberattacks has come under fresh scrutiny after allegations of a second assault on Albania’s information technology infrastructure and further accusations and sanctions by the United States.
Even while Iranian diplomatic efforts are focused on talks with global powers to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal whose revival would significantly improve the economic outlook – the domestic situation remains fragile.
The UAE’s founding father Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan agreed in 1971 to allow Iran to take control of three disputed islands in the Gulf – Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb – according to recently declassified documents unearthed by the BBC and broadcast on 30 August in a documentary Secrets and Deals: How Britain left the Middle East.
Iran inaugurated a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export terminal in the port of Bandar Abbas, following a two-month project to convert a disused gas storage facility.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (Nedsa) and the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) were both involved in attempts to seize United States Navy (USN) unmanned surface vessels (USV) in late August and early September.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp Navy (Nedsa) is readying its latest floating offshore support base for operational deployment.
GSN Risk Grade: D↓5 GCC ambassadors: The direction of political travel will undoubtedly be set by efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, but there has been some easing of regional tensions as Kuwait and the UAE sent ambassadors to Tehran for the first time since relations soured with the GCC countries in 2016.
An Iranian satellite was successfully put into orbit, after being launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The Khayyam satellite will give Tehran its own military-grade imagery collection capability for the first time.
Tehran and Washington have both responded to a final draft for a new deal on Iran’s nuclear programme that was circulated by European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell in late July.
Dubai-based Blue Cactus joined several Chinese brokerages on the latest list of US sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports. The package of measures focused on the state-owned Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Company and adds to pressure on Tehran as negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal appear to reach their final make-or-break phase in Vienna – and gives an indication of Washington’s intentions should those talks fail.
As President Putin visited Tehran, US officials claimed Iranian military officials were actively promoting the capabilities of their domestic drones – some of them reverse-engineered from captured western models – which could find their way to Ukraine.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Argentina’s charge d’affaires to hear Tehran’s protests over a decision to bar five Iranian nationals from leaving Argentina.
