Iran

Iran has been a conundrum since its 1979 revolution. It stunned the world by introducing Islam as a form of modern governance, and rattled the region by exporting its zealous ideology. It supported militant allies and challenged international norms. For decades, dealing with the Islamic Republic was complicated by internal repression, menacing rhetoric, and defiance over its nuclear program. USIP conducts research and policy analysis on Iran, and Institute experts regularly brief Congressional staff and U.S. officials. To learn more, see  USIP’s fact sheet on The Current Situation in Iran. For a comprehensive website on Iran providing timely analysis by American and Iranian scholars, see The Iran Primer, hosted by USIP.

Iran Sanctions: What the U.S. Cedes in a Nuclear Deal

Tue, 07/08/2014 - 09:30
Tue, 07/08/2014 - 11:00

The last event in our three-part series addressed the complex questions and challenges of sanctions in the Iran nuclear talks.

Center for the Middle East and Africa

Since 2006, the United States has imposed more sanctions on Iran than any other country, so it may have to cede the most ground to get a nuclear deal in 2014. Over the years, Republican and Democratic administrations have issued at least 16 executive orders, and Congress has passed ten acts imposing punitive sanctions. What does Tehran want? What are the six major powers considering as incentives to cooperate? What isn’t on the table? The White House and Congress have imposed their own types of sanctions. What would either need to do to lift them?

Experts: 
Robin Wright
Type of Event or Course: 
Events
Countries: 
Iran
Issue Areas: 
Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Mediation and Facilitation

Inside Iran

Thu, 01/09/2014 - 09:30
Thu, 01/09/2014 - 11:00
Subtitle: 
With Robin Wright and David Ignatius

Two long-time Middle East experts have recently returned from Iran. Their discussions with cabinet members, ayatollahs, hardliners, Members of Parliament, economists, opposition figures and ordinary Iranians offer rare insights into Iran’s increasingly vibrant political scene since President Rouhani took office and the implications of the new nuclear agreement. Robin Wright and David Ignatius offer fresh perspectives on what’s next.

Read the event coverage, Wright, Ignatius Analyze Iran Developments

Please join us for a moderated discussion on these and other issues important to Iran, its internal politics, and its relations with the world. Join the conversation on Twitter with #InsideIran.

This event will feature the following speakers:

Center for the Middle East and Africa
Experts: 
Robin Wright
William B. Taylor
Type of Event or Course: 
Events
Issue Areas: 
Negotiation and Diplomacy
Religion
Countries: 
Iran

States of Fragility and Global Violence: An OECD Report

Tue, 01/24/2017 - 09:30
Tue, 01/24/2017 - 11:30
Subtitle: 
Improving Policies by Better Measuring How Weak States Risk Falling into Crisis

Over 15 years, nearly half of all people, 3.34 billion, have suffered from political violence or lived under its shadow, notes a new OECD report. Violence is on the rise and, surprisingly, conflict is not the leading cause of death.  Fragile contexts, especially those where governments are ineffective and social contracts with their populations broken—drive much of this violence, plus refugee flight, pandemic diseases and other catastrophes. So understanding and measuring fragility is vital to U.S. and international policies that aim to prevent crises.  Join the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for the Washington launch of an OECD report—States of Fragility 2016—that offers a new approach to monitoring the fragility of states at risk.

Experts: 
Joseph Hewitt

Twenty-two percent of the global population now live in countries where human development is hampered by fragility and violence. On Tuesday, January 24, USIP, OECD, and other specialists will discuss OECD’s States of Fragility report, which presents a new approach for measuring the extent of fragility.

Type of Event or Course: 
Events
Countries: 
Afghanistan
China
Colombia
Iran
Iraq
Israel and the Palestine Territories
Libya
Myanmar
Nigeria
Pakistan
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Ukraine
Issue Areas: 
Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Post Conflict Reconstruction
Security Sector Governance

U.S. National Security Chiefs Talk Leadership, Partners

The national security advisors to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump stood shoulder-to-shoulder on a stage at the U.S. Institute of Peace yesterday and shook hands to a standing ovation at a two-day conference on foreign and national security policy. In speeches, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and her designated successor, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, struck a tone of cooperation on the transition between administrations. The conference, called “Passing the Baton,” included Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Lindsey Graham and hundreds of incoming, outgoing and former officials as well as independent experts. 

USIP Staff

Discussions at the conference focused on laying foundations for a bipartisan foreign policy after an extraordinarily divisive election campaign. Rice and Flynn outlined what they said has been intensive work to ensure a smooth transition of national security functions with the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Trump. Rice said her office “has produced more than 100 memos” for Flynn’s incoming team.

Wed, 01/11/2017 - 15:25
Type of Article: 
News Feature
Countries: 
Iran
China
North Korea
Japan
Colombia
Cuba

Naysan Rafati

Naysan
Rafati
TAPIR Fellow

Please submit all media inquiries to interviews@usip.org or call 202.429.3869.

For all other inquiries, please call 202.457.1700.

Dr. Naysan Rafati joined the U.S. Institute of Peace as a TAPIR Fellow in November 2016. He will be working primarily on Iranian politics and foreign policy.

Prior to USIP, Naysan was a visiting fellow at the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) in Paris, where he was jointly affiliated with the Security Studies Centre and Middle East Programme. His research at Ifri focussed primarily on relations between Europe and Iran since the 2015 nuclear agreement.   

Selected Works: 
Issue Areas: 
Security Sector Governance
Countries: 
Iran
Role: 
Fellow
TAPIR Fellow
Expert

Q&A: Iran’s Elections Erode Hardliners’ Dominance

Results from Iran’s elections last week show that reformists, centrists and independents—including many new faces—won seats in both parliament and the clerical Assembly of Experts at the expense of hardliners. Garrett Nada, the assistant editor of The Iran Primer at the U.S. Institute of Peace, discusses the implications.

USIP Staff

What are the main messages of this Iranian election?

Voters took this opportunity to vent their frustration with hardliners, who have dominated parliament since 2004. This was the first election since Iran and six world powers reached a landmark agreement on the country’s nuclear program. So the results reflect approval of President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to improve Iran’s international standing and open up society.

Garrett Nada
Center for the Middle East and Africa
Thu, 03/03/2016 - 10:08
Type of Article: 
Q&A With the Experts
Countries: 
Iran

Q&A: Iran Nuclear Accord Milestone

In a historic milestone of the nuclear agreement reached in July between Iran and the world’s major powers, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog certified on January 16 that Iran had complied with restrictions on its nuclear program and the international community lifted a range of sanctions imposed on the regime over the past decades. Daniel Brumberg, a special advisor at the U.S. Institute of Peace, considers the ramifications for the region and the world.

Daniel Brumberg
Center for the Middle East and Africa

The lifting of the sanctions on what was dubbed “Implementation Day” for the agreement, frees some $100 billion in frozen assets for Iran, and the Obama administration says about $50 billion of that is likely to revert back to Tehran’s benefit because the rest is tied up in previous obligations.

Tue, 01/19/2016 - 17:24
Type of Article: 
Q&A With the Experts
Issue Areas: 
Mediation and Facilitation
Countries: 
Iran

Prisoner Swap and Nuclear Deal: A Historic Day for US-Iranian Relations

On Saturday, January 16, Implementation Day for the Iran Nuclear agreement Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was preceded by a prisoner swap between the United States and Iran, and four Iranian-American hostages were released, including the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian. In addition, young American researcher, Matt Trevithick, was also released. The release of Trevithick was especially meaningful for USIP’s distinguished scholar, Robin Wright, who is well known for her in-depth coverage of Iran and the region.

Robin Wright
Center for the Middle East and Africa

Trevithick had been Wright’s research assistant at the Wilson Center where Wright is also a fellow. Wright had obtained an exclusive statement from Trevithick’s parents that was posted on USIP's Iran Primer -- a key source of information about Iran that decision makers often cite as an invaluable resource tool for understanding what’s happening in Iran.

Mon, 01/18/2016 - 12:15
Type of Article: 
News Release
Issue Areas: 
Mediation and Facilitation
Countries: 
Iran

Halting Yemen’s War: U.S. Must Lead, Nobel Peace Laureate Says

Tawakkol Karman, the Yemeni human rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, called on the United States to assume a bigger role in trying to revive a political process that might end the war now tearing her country apart. She urged the U.S. government to lead in pressing for a cease-fire and the transformation of Yemen’s militias into political parties.

Fred Strasser

Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Karman said the United States should sponsor a renewal of Yemen’s national dialogue—a process that included all of the country’s political forces and that came close to producing a constitution and elections at the end of 2013 under an interim government. “What we want from the U.S. is a bigger role in every respect,” Karman said.

Center for the Middle East and Africa
Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:10
Type of Article: 
News Feature
Issue Areas: 
Conflict Analysis and Prevention
Gender
Religion
Countries: 
Yemen
Iran

Articles & Analysis

flynn and rice
U.S. National Security Chiefs Talk Leadership, Partners

The national security advisors to President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump stood shoulder-to-shoulder on a stage at the U.S. Institute of Peace yesterday and shook hands to a...

By:
USIP Staff
Iranians holding their flag celebrate the announcement that Iran had reached a nuclear deal with world powers in Tehran, Iran, July 14, 2015. Iran and a group of six nations led by the U.S. said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.
Q&A: Iran’s Elections Erode Hardliners’ Dominance

Results from Iran’s elections last week show that reformists, centrists and independents—including many new faces—won seats in both parliament and the clerical Assembly of Experts at the expense...

By:
USIP Staff
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and their respective advisers sit across from one another on January 16, 2016, at the Palais Coburg Hotel in Vienna, Austria, before a meeting about the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action outlining the shape of Iran's nuclear program.
Q&A: Iran Nuclear Accord Milestone

In a historic milestone of the nuclear agreement reached in July between Iran and the world’s major powers, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog certified on January 16 that Iran had complied with...

By:

All Related Articles

Videos & Webcasts

China Has Peaked as a Challenger to U.S. Power, Former Secretary of State Shultz Says

While China continues to grow as an economy and a military and political power, its overall influence relative to the United States has passed its peak, former Secretary of State George Shultz...

Politics of a Nuclear Deal: Former U.S. & Iranian Officials Debate

Iran and the world’s six major powers now face a June 30 deadline for converting a blueprint into a final nuclear deal. A unique panel of former U.S. and Iranian officials assessed the status of...

Iran Sanctions: What the U.S. Cedes in a Nuclear Deal

The last event in our three-part series addressed the complex questions and challenges of sanctions in the Iran nuclear talks.

All Related Multimedia

Learn More

Publications

Managing Conflict in a World Adrift
Managing Conflict in a World Adrift
By:
Pamela Aall
In the midst of a political shift where power is moving from central institutions to smaller, more distributed units in the international system, the approaches to and methodologies for peacemaking...
The Current Situation in Iran
By:
USIP Staff
Hassan Rouhani’s upset victory in the June 2013 presidential election created great expectations of change. The new centrist president pledged to resolve the nuclear dispute, improve Iran’s relations...

All Related Publications