Search results

Amini death anniversary: Iran marked the first anniversary of the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on 16 September. Her death  had sparked widespread protests across the Islamic republic, which were eventually suppressed by the authorities. In the run-up, the authorities had launched a concerted effort to dissuade anyone from marking the anniversary, although some protests still went ahead.

Global and regional powers have drawn up a series of plans to develop new trade corridors through Gulf countries over recent years, with the latest emerging at the G20 summit in India which will pass through the UAE, Saudi Arabia and on to Jordan and Israel. The ambitious plan could take decades to realise and will face competition from rival schemes backed by Iran, Iraq, Russia and Turkey. 

Baghdad claims to have disarmed and moved Iranian Kurdish exiles from the border area with Iran, but the reality is that compliance has been more limited, meaning further Iranian military strikes on the area are a distinct possibility.

An Iranian ballistic missile test failed mid-September, with debris from the Khorramshar-4 projectile falling over the north-east city of Gorgan, close to the Caspian Sea.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said that Iran had developed an airfield in southern Lebanon, just 20km from the border with Israel. Iranian media claimed that electrical connectors used in Iranian missiles had been sabotaged by Israeli agents.

Iran's Foreign Ministry have reportedly developed a network of academics and foreign policy advisers in the west who worked for high-profile thinktanks and as aides to senior United States officials.

Fresh fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in September has left Azerbaijan empowered and it could now try to realise long-held ambitions to create a land route through Armenia to its Nakhichevan exclave. For Iran, this could mean a de facto end to its own border with Armenia and a sometimes-hostile neighbour stretching across its northwest frontier.

Some $6bn of Iranian funds that have been frozen in South Korea are expected to be sent to Qatari banks in the coming days, prompting the release of five US citizens held in Iran and the same number of Iranians in American prisons.

A senior Iranian security official has threatened to resume bombing of targets in northern Iraq if Baghdad fails to meet a 19 September deadline to halt cross-border attacks by exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

China's first consul general in Bandar Abbas, Xu Wei, has taken up his post following the opening of the Iranian port city outpost in December. It is China's first diplomatic presence outside Tehran.  The consulate will cover provinces across southern Iran. 

European officials acknowledged that Swedish national Johan Floderus had been held in detention in Iran for more than 500 days. Floderus is a Swedish national but had been working as a programme officer for the EU delegation to Afghanistan, based in Brussels.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Iran Abdullah Bin Saud Al-Anzi arrived in Tehran on 5 September to assume his official duties. On the same day, his Iranian counterpart Alireza Enayati arrived in Riyadh to start his work there.

US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley was suspended earlier this year due to concerns about his personal conduct, handling of classified information and use of information technology, according to a leaked letter. 

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (Iriaf) has reportedly received two Russian-made Yakovlev Yak-130 advanced training jets. As yet, however, there is no sign of a promised delivery of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets making their way to Iran.

It is not yet the dawn of a new world order, but the formal invitation for Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join the Brics group is a further sign of China’s growing influence and of wider shifting global alignments. A turbocharged Brics could boost the trend towards 'dedollarising' international trade, as Gulf states and other 'middle powers' seek to find a balance between the world's established and emerging powers.