Iran

Iran Update, September 3, 2025

The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. CTP-ISW publishes the Iran Update daily. Click here to …

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Iran Update, September 1, 2025

Key Takeaways: Iran: Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Larijani appointed Ali Bagheri Kani as the SNSC deputy for international affairs on August 29. Larijani may have appointed Bagheri Kani due to his close ties to Paydari Front leader Saeed Jalili as part of an effort to reduce recent …

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Iran Resists Disarmament of Its Regional Allies

Iran’s leaders are trying to prevent the disarmament of their non-state allies in an effort to rebuild the national security strategy shattered by a year of Israeli and U.S. military operations.Seeking to avoid being drawn into regional wars provoked by Iran’s allies, governments in the region are striving to exercise …

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Iran Update, August 29, 2025

Iranian parliamentarians introduced a three-part bill on August 28 to withdraw Iran from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), likely to pressure the E3 (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) to not reimpose UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on Iran.[1] The bill would require Iran to leave …

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The Path to a Good-Enough Iran Deal: How Washington and Tehran Can Bridge the Gap on Enrichment

It is not clear whether the recent Israeli and U.S. military strikes have decreased or increased the likelihood of a nuclear-armed Iran. The attacks have certainly inflicted major damage to the country’s nuclear program. But they have not extinguished the Islamic Republic’s interest in nuclear weapons. They have amplified uncertainty …

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Iran Update, August 26, 2025

The Lebanese government will reportedly attempt to persuade rather than coerce Hezbollah to disarm. Hezbollah is unlikely to disarm on its own accord and has historically evaded previous disarmament efforts. US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said that the Lebanese government will focus on persuasion to encourage Hezbollah disarmament after his …

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Iran’s Roads Not Taken: Tehran, Washington, and the Failures That Led to War

The 12-day war in June, which saw the United States join Israel in bombing Iran, was the culmination of four decades of mistrust, antipathy, and confrontation. Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic has not wavered in its anti-Americanism, and the United States has unfailingly responded by exerting greater …

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Clinging to nostalgia won’t save Iran’s regime from the next war

On the streets of Tehran, the oppressive heat continues, with a drought and water crisis putting the city of 10 million under pressure. The 12-day war between Israel and Iran may have ended in June, but nerves are frayed. Some Iranians have fled abroad, while others have returned from their …

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Iran faces a perfect storm of domestic failures

Blackouts and dry water taps are nothing new for Iranians, but this year the country’s infrastructure problems have become a true crisis, one that is gripping 90 million people at once. Water scarcity, extreme heat and power outages further weaken an already strained economy, in a population so disillusioned with …

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Iran Update, August 25, 2025

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected recent calls by Iranian reformist officials to reform Iran’s domestic and foreign policies.[1] Khamenei delivered a speech on August 24 in which he claimed that “Iran’s enemies” failed to defeat Iran during the Israel-Iran War and are now trying to do so by “creating …

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