Search results

The United States Navy said it had seized 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles in the Gulf of Oman in January that were being sent from Iran to Yemen.

The Iranian authorities’ harsh crackdown on the protesters appears to be having an impact, with far fewer public demonstrations now being reported. Thousands have been arrested and at least four protestors have been hanged following what critics have called sham trials.

A series of talks between Iranian and GCC officials have been held during December and early January in Gulf capitals, as well as on the sidelines of events in Jordan and Brazil, in moves that suggest Tehran is recalibrating its relations with neighbouring monarchies during a period of intense domestic tensions.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force provides a command and control template that facilitates the IRGC’s work with allies across the region, led by Lebanese Hizbollah and apparent in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev appears to have hardened his posture towards Iran, telling a conference that bilateral relations were now worse than under the three previous Iranian leaders. The relationship between Baku and Tehran has become strained by several issues over recent years.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) voted to remove Iran from the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women on 14 December, in a move pushed by the United States in the wake of the harsh crackdown on protesters across the Islamic Republic.

Iran has revived plans to build a nuclear power plant in Khuzestan province. The development comes amid other efforts by Tehran to further develop its electricity sector. Iran had completed an initial synchronisation exercise that was a necessary precursor to linking the electricity grid to Russia, through Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Iran has reacted with irritation to statements issued by China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Co-operation Council states during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh for a series of meetings in early December.

The Majlis-e Shura-ye Eslami (parliament) approved the appointment of roads and urban development minister Mehrdad Bazrpash in a vote on 7 December. He was approved by 187 votes in favour to 64 against, with seven abstentions and five spoiled votes. Bazrpash had previously been senior president of the Supreme Audit Court. 

The White House briefed journalists in early December that Moscow may be preparing to supply fifth generation Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft to Iran in 2023, in exchange for deliveries of Shahed-136 drones. Iranian pilots are apparently already in Russia training to fly the aircraft.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani has had a busy diplomatic schedule since taking office on 27 October, with trips to Jordan on 21 November for talks with King Abdullah II, followed by a visit to Kuwait on 23 November to meet his counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. There has been speculation he may soon travel to Saudi Arabia too.

The United Kingdom has said it estimates the number of Iranian-supplied Shahed-136 drones used by Russia in its war in Ukraine to be "in the low hundreds".

Iran held a series of talks with its Gulf Co-operation Council neighbours in the second half of November, amid despondency about the prospects for reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal . The enhanced diplomacy could be a sign Tehran is seeking to firm up bilateral ties in the absence of any wider agreement.

GSN Risk Grade – D↓5 Iran has said it will not cooperate with a fact-finding mission set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council into protests that have spread across the country since mid-September, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Iran appears to have resumed its campaign of striking tankers in the Gulf of Oman, after the Bahrain-based US Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent) reported that the Pacific Zircon oil products tanker had been struck by an Iranian-made explosive drone off Fujairah, en route to Argentina.