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Factbox: Timeline Of The Iranian Nuclear Dispute

(epa) Below is a timeline of the unfolding international dispute surrounding Iran's nuclear program. While Tehran maintains that its program is entirely peaceful, the United States accuses Iran of secretly attempting to develop nuclear weapons, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Tehran has failed to persuade it that its program is purely nonmilitary.


23 May 2007 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says in a new report, issued to coincide with the expiration of a Security Council deadline for Tehran, that Iran continues to defy UN Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment and has in fact expanded such work. The IAEA adds that the UN nuclear agency's ability to monitor nuclear activities in Iran has declined due to lack of access to sites. IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei urges constructive efforts on both sides and estimates that Iran could build a nuclear weapon within "three to eight years" -- if it chose that path.


17 May 2007 -- U.S. President George W. Bush says alongside outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the United States and Britain will seek new UN sanctions against Iran if it continues to resist calls for it to halt sensitive areas of its nuclear program. Bush is speaking the same day that a senior Iranian official says Tehran has expanded work on its nuclear facility at Natanz.


2 May 2007 -- A foreign affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tells a conservative daily that Iran is capable of the "mass production" of centrifuges used for enriching uranium.


28 April 2007 -- EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana calls on the United States to open a direct "channel of communication" with Iran on all topics, adding that it remains unclear "how far the U.S. is willing to engage" with Iran.


25-26 April 2007 -- EU foreign policy official Solana and Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani restart talks aimed at finding a nuclear compromise.


April 19, 2007 -- An IAEA official says in a leaked letter that Iran has assembled roughly 1,300 centrifuges into eight cascades and begun making nuclear fuel in its underground uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz. The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA says that "our enrichment is continuing under the safeguards of the IAEA, the inspectors and cameras are controlling all activities, and the report of how many centrifuge machines and the latest status of the activities in Natanz will be reported by the director-general."


11 April 2007 -- A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) predicts that Iran will have the capacity to build its own nuclear bomb in four to six years, leaving time for diplomatic efforts to counter any potential danger.


10 April 2007 -- Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says Iran will not accept any suspension of its uranium-enrichment activities and urges world powers to accept the "new reality" of the Islamic republic's nuclear program.


9 April 2007 -- Iran says the country's uranium-enrichment program is ready to operate on an "industrial level."


24 March 2007 -- The Security Council unanimously approves a resolution broadening UN sanctions against Iran for its continuing failure to halt uranium enrichment. Iranian officials call the new measures "unnecessary and unjustified." Officials confirm that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad canceled a New York visit in which he vowed to address the Security Council ahead of the sanctions vote; Tehran blames U.S. delays over visas for Ahmadinejad's entourage.


20 March 2007 -- Russia and Iran reject a report in "The New York Times" of March 19 suggesting that Moscow told Tehran it would withhold fuel for the Bushehr nuclear plant unless Iran complied with UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.


15 March 2007 -- Diplomats say the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany have agreed on a draft resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran for defying demands to suspend uranium enrichment.


12 March 2007 -- The Russian company building Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr, Atomstroiexport, announces that the facility's launch will be postponed due to a two-month payment delay preventing the delivery of uranium fuel.


11 February 2007 -- The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, says the Russian supplier for its planned Bushehr nuclear plant has signaled a delay over delinquent payments. He suggests the real problem lies on the Russian side and that he hopes the plant is not being "politicized."


8 March 2007 -- The United Nations' nuclear guardian, the IAEA, votes unanimously to cut almost half its aid programs to Iran as part of the UN sanctions targeting Tehran's nuclear program. The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, counters that the move will not affect his country's enrichment work.


5 March 2007 -- IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei says Tehran has not convinced the UN nuclear watchdog of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program and an investigation into that program remains at a "stalemate" until Iran provides full cooperation.


26 February 2007 -- The United States says it is seeking "incremental" steps to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.


25 February 2007 -- President Ahmadinejad says Iran's nuclear program is unstoppable and, in a show of its growing technical prowess the same day, Iran reportedly fires a rocket into space for the first time.


23 February 2007 -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney says Washington will "do everything" it can to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons and has not taken "any options off the table," spurring further speculation that U.S. officials would consider military intervention.


22 February 2007 -- The IAEA issues a report confirming that Iran has failed to halt uranium-enrichment activities, as demanded by the UN Security Council. The report also notes that Iran has expanded the program, installing two cascades with many dozens of centrifuges at Natanz and nearing completion on two more cascades.


21 February 2007 - The UN Security Council's 60-day deadline ends for Iran to halt uranium enrichment. Iranian parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel warns that a delay by Russia in completing the Bushehr nuclear plant would harm bilateral ties. His comments came after Russian nuclear officials' claim that lagging payments from Tehran could delay start-up of the facility.


17 February 2007 -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says "nuclear energy is the future and destiny" of Iran, and notes that its oil and gas reserves "would not last forever."


11 February 2007 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says Iran wants talks to resolve its nuclear dispute and will cooperate with the IAEA, but Tehran will not suspend uranium enrichment. Iranian officials also say they will allow IAEA cameras at its underground nuclear facility at Natanz. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy calls Ahmadinejad's offer of talks while continuing enrichment "totally unacceptable."


8 February 2007 -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that while he does not expect anything as "irrational" as an attack on Iran, his country would strike back at U.S. interests around the world if it were attacked. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council dismisses Khamenei's comment as "unprovoked" and says President George W. Bush "has made it clear we have no intention of going to war with Iran." Bush's chief spokesman says flatly, "We are not invading Iran."


1 February 2007 -- The French president's office essentially retracts a recent suggestion by Jacques Chirac that a nuclear-armed Iran would not be "very dangerous," calling such an eventuality unacceptable and describing Iran's nuclear program as "opaque and therefore dangerous for the region."


31 January 2007 -- Iran's embassy in Moscow denies a British newspaper report that North Korea is giving it technical help to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one carried out by Pyongyang in October.


28 January 2007 -- After talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, visiting Russian security chief Igor Ivanov says "Russia is determined" to finish Bushehr nuclear power plant, in southern Iran, on time.


26 January 2007 -- IAEA chief Muhammad el-Baradei warns that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could have "catastrophic consequences" and would only encourage Iran to develop an atomic bomb. "Are you going to bomb the knowledge?" he asks.


22 January 2007 -- Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki confirms reports that 38 UN nuclear inspectors have been prohibited from entering the country in a list that was reportedly delivered to the IAEA; the next day, Tehran stresses that cooperation with the IAEA continues, despite the ban. The European Union urges all countries to enforce the recently passed UN sanctions against Iran.


12 January 2007 -- Outgoing U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte tells the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that Iran is capable of weathering shocks to its economy, noting record oil revenues and manageable debt.


10 January 2007 -- The United States urges China to reconsider a $16 billion energy deal with Iran on the development of oil and gas fields whose outlines were affirmed in a memorandum of understanding in December 2006.


27 December 2006 -- Iran's parliament passes a bill that obliges the government to "revise its cooperation level" with the UN's nuclear watchdog and, at the same time, continue to pursue the country's civilian nuclear program.


25 December 2006 -- President Ahmadinejad responds to UN Security Council Resolution 1737 by saying the sanctions will have "no impact" on Iran's nuclear program.


23 December 2006 -- The 15-member UN Security Council unanimously adopts a binding resolution that calls on Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities and to comply with its IAEA obligations. Resolution 1737 directs all states to prevent the supply or sale to Iran of any materials that could assist its nuclear or ballistic-missile programs. It also imposes an asset freeze on key companies and individuals named by the UN as contributors to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Iran rejects the move as an "invalid" and "extralegal act" outside the bounds of the UN's charter.


6 December 2006 -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says that imposing overly tough sanctions on Iran could draw out the nuclear dispute.


5 December 2006 -- Ahead of a major-powers meeting on the Iranian nuclear issue, Iranian President Ahmadinejad warns the international community that "if you continue making efforts to halt the progress of Iran's nuclear program [or] if you take any step against Iran's rights -- either in propaganda or international bodies -- the Iranian nation will consider this a hostile act."


24 November 2006 -- IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei says Iran has pledged to give international inspectors new access to records and equipment from two nuclear sites, as well as environmental samples, from Lavizan and Natanz.

23 November 2006 -- UN diplomats are quoted as saying the IAEA's board of governors shelved Iran's bid for technical aid for a heavy-water reactor project at Arak over fears it could yield weapons-grade plutonium.

20 November 2006 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad reportedly says Tehran wants 60,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium to meet its nuclear-fuel needs within a year. He also is quoted as saying that Israel is currently incapable of launching an effective military attack against Iran's nuclear sites.

17 November 2006 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the IAEA should lead efforts to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, rather than UN Security Council. He suggests that "it was agreed from the beginning that we would seek through the Security Council the swift resumption of negotiations with Iran, and not the punishment of Iran."

15 November 2006 -- U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton says no progress was made in talks on the Iranian nuclear issue involving himself and envoys from Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany.

14 November 2006 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad predicts that Iran will celebrate its "full nuclearization" by the end of the year that concludes in March, and suggests his country's right to pursue nuclear technology will soon be acknowledged internationally. Reports also emerge suggesting the IAEA will soon report that Iran continues to enrich uranium, spurn cooperation over its nuclear program, and that UN inspectors are pursuing their discovery of unexplained traces of plutonium and highly enriched uranium at a waste facility in Iran with officials in Tehran.

13 November 2006 -- U.S. President George W. Bush says after talks with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "there has to be a consequence" if Iran proceeds with its uranium-enrichment program in defiance of international pressure.

12 November 2006 -- An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says Tehran is pressing ahead with plans to expand its program to enrich uranium and remains determined to install 3,000 centrifuges by March 2007.

11 November 2006 -- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia wants to restart nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

10-11 November 2006 -- Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani emerges from talks in Moscow divulging no details but saying Iran is ready for dialogue to resolve any disputes over its nuclear program; he reportedly meets with President Vladimir Putin on the second day of his visit.

8 November 2006 -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany are reportedly still deadlocked after a meeting at the UN to discuss a European draft resolution to curtail Iran's nuclear program and amendments offered by Moscow and Washington. Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin says there is still a "considerable gap" separating the parties.

5 November 2006 -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini says Tehran is ready to consider negotiating with the United States on regional issues, including Iraq, if Washington requests it.

4 November 2006 -- Russia stresses that any punitive measures the UN Security Council agrees to impose on Iran "should have a precise limitation on the period for their being in effect."

3 November 2006 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says after a meeting in Brussels that a European draft UN resolution on Iran sanctions "goes far beyond [our] agreements."

1 November 2006 -- Foreign Minister Lavrov says a draft UN resolution authored by France, Germany, and Britain to impose sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear ambitions would isolate Iran and Moscow "cannot support measures that are aimed at isolating Iran from the outside world."

31 October 2006 -- Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov says his country has no information "that would suggest that Iran is carrying out a nonpeaceful [nuclear] program," adding that "the possibilities for continuing political discussion...have not been exhausted."

30 October 2006 -- Iran's president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, says Tehran would make an "appropriate and firm" response to UN sanctions, adding that "the Iranian nation is standing strong and it will not retreat even one bit from its nuclear rights."

28 October 2006 -- Mohammad Ghannad, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, says that Tehran has stepped up its uranium-enrichment work.

26 October 2006 -- Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov criticizes a draft UN resolution providing for a form of sanctions against Iran.

24 October 2006 -- Anonymous diplomatic sources at the UN say major world powers remain split over the details of a draft Security Council resolution to respond to Iran's continuing nuclear work.

21 October 2006 -- Foreign Minister Lavrov says Moscow opposes any attempt to use the Security Council to punish Iran over its nuclear program.

18 October 2006 -- EU foreign ministers express backing for gradual sanctions against Iran's nuclear program.

16 October 2006 -- In his country's first reaction to sanctions targeting North Korea for its apparent nuclear-weapons test on October 9, President Ahmadinejad dismisses the UN Security Council as a tool for "hegemony" and "intimidation."

4 October 2006 -- EU foreign policy chief Solana says four months of intensive talks have brought no agreement on suspension of Iran's sensitive nuclear activities, and he adds that the dialogue cannot continue indefinitely.

3 October 2006 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggests the international community will have no choice but to impose sanctions on Iran if it refuses to suspend its uranium-enrichment efforts.

26 September 2006 -- Russia and Iran agree on a September 2007 launch of Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr, with electricity production to begin two months later.

25 September 2006 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says nuclear talks with European negotiators are "on track" and a diplomatic solution is possible.

22 September 2006 -- Iranian Vice President Parviz Davudi warns that Iran's armed forces will strike back "like lightning" against any attack on the country and destroy "the enemy."

21 September 2006 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says nuclear talks with the EU are "on the right path." He adds that he is "at a loss" as to what more Tehran can do to provide guarantees that it is no trying to develop nuclear weapons.

20 September 2006 -- U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns says six major world powers have agreed to back further EU talks with Iran, but he hints that Washington will push for sanctions if Tehran continues sensitive nuclear work. Burns says an unspecified deadline has been set for the current EU-Iranian talks to achieve results.

19 September 2006 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today urged other permanent members of the UN Security Council not to allow their "credibility to decline" by failing to act against Iran.

17 September 2006 -- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier proposes the creation of shared, U.N.-monitored uranium-enrichment facilities as an alternative to individual countries acquiring their own enrichment technology.

14 September 2006 -- To "set the record straight," the IAEA protests in a letter to U.S. officials that a recent U.S. report describing Iran's nuclear program as a strategic threat contains "erroneous, misleading, and unsubstantiated information." The IAEA dismisses as untrue a claim that Iran is enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels; Iran is enriching to 3.6 percent, not the 90 percent needed for nuclear weapons.

13 September 2006 -- A spokeswoman for EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana says a second round of EU-Iranian nuclear talks slated for the following day have been postponed. The same day, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested that Tehran's position on the nuclear issue might have softened.

11 September 2006 -- Muhammad el-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says he is "encouraged that there is ongoing dialogue" over Iran's nuclear activities.

9-10 September 2006 -- Two days of "productive" EU-Iranian talks end inconclusively, with a vow to meet again the following week.

September 8, 2006 -- U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns says the UN Security Council should begin drafting a resolution in the next week on sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. He notes that there is still no consensus on what type of sanctions might be imposed.

5 September 2006 -- The Iranian parliament's Commission for National Security and Foreign Policy approves the outlines of a bill to suspend entry to Iran of UN inspectors in the event of punitive measures by the UN Security Council.

3 September 2006 -- Visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says President Ahmadinejad reaffirms that Tehran wants to find a negotiated solution to its nuclear standoff with the world but also rejects any suspension of its uranium-enrichment program prior to talks.

1 September 2006 -- Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami arrives in the United States ahead of a UN conference and several public appearances that make him the most senior Iranian official to visit the United States outside the strict framework of a UN event in more than two decades.

31 August 2006 -- The IAEA reports to the Security Council that Iran has continued to enrich uranium despite UN calls for it to stop its nuclear activities by August 31, adding that its own investigations have been frustrated by a lack of cooperation from Iran.

29 August 2006 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says he thinks the UN Security Council will not punish Iran, but says his country "will not bow to threats and ultimatums." He says Tehran's response to the recent international deadline presents a "very exceptional opportunity" to resolve the nuclear dispute. Ahmadinejad also proposes a live, televised debate with U.S. President George W. Bush.

27 August 2006 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad launches a new phase in Iran's nuclear development with the formal opening of a heavy-water-production plant at Arak. Critics fear the plant will eventually be able to produce weapons-grade plutonium, and the IAEA will later shelve an Iranian request for international technical assistance with the plant. Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani says Iran is determined to produce its own nuclear fuel.

22 August 2006 -- Iran responds to a self-imposed deadline by saying an international proposal to curb its disputed nuclear program has "fundamental and serious ambiguities" but adds that Tehran is ready for "serious talks." Iranian officials essentially ignore the demand by the UN Security Council's permanent members plus Germany that Iran halt uranium enrichment.

16 August 2006 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says Iran is willing to discuss its uranium-enrichment program, although he says international calls for its suspension are "illogical."


4 August 2006 -- The United States slaps sanctions on seven international arms dealers, including two major Russian companies, for allegedly providing banned technology to Iran.


31 July 2006 --The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1696, calling for Iran to suspend uranium-enrichment activites by August 31 or face the possibility of economic sanctions.


18 July 2006 -- The unfolding crisis between Israel and Hizballah in Lebanon delays UN consideration of Iran's nuclear program.


16 July 2006 -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi says the international incentives package is "an acceptable basis" for further negotiations.


12 July 2006 -- A meeting of foreign ministers of the permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany in Paris decides to refer Iran's nuclear program back to the Security Council for possible sanctions.


11 July 2006 -- The EU announces that it is disappointed with progress in Brussels talks with Iran over the international incentives package.


30 June 2006 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says Iran will not respond to the international incentives package before August, despite U.S. and EU pressure for Tehran to answer by July 5.


16 June 2006 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad calls a package of international incentives aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon sensitive nuclear activities "a step forward" and says he has "asked my colleagues to carefully consider it."


15 June 2006-- Russian President Putin says after a meeting with President Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that the talks left him with a "very positive impression." Putin says Ahmadinejad says Iran is "positively" assessing the package of nuclear incentives. Putin also says any country has the right to use nuclear technology so long as it "does not arouse concerns of the international community on the [nuclear] nonproliferation issue."


12 June 2006 -- Supreme National Security Council chief and top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani says of the incentives offer that "this proposal contains some positive points, such as the nuclear reactor for Iran." Larijani's comments come as the IAEA board is launching a meeting at which it will discuss the Iranian nuclear standoff.


9 June 2006 -- Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency, says Iran has until the July summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries to respond to an offer of incentives aimed at resolving the crisis over its nuclear program.


8 June 2006 -- A new report by the UN nuclear agency says Iran is continuing to enrich uranium and indicates that nuclear inspectors have made little progress on shedding light on worrying aspects of Tehran's nuclear activities in the past.


6 June 2006 -- EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana meets in Tehran with senior Iranian government officials and presents them with fresh proposals aimed at persuading Iran to abandon its uranium-enrichment program. The proposals have been agreed on by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States -- plus Germany.


15 May 2006 -- The EU says it is ready to offer Iran sophisticated civilian nuclear technology as part of an "exceptional" new package of trade and technical incentives designed to halt Tehran's suspected military nuclear program. EU High Representative for the Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana says it is "fundamental" that Iran cease its enrichment activities.


17 May 2006 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad says in a televised speech that Tehran will reject a European offer of incentives to give up uranium enrichment, saying acceptance of the proposal would be tantamount to swapping nuts and chocolate for gold.


28 April 2006 -- The IAEA sends its report to the UN Security Council faulting Iran for failing to meet demands to suspend uranium enrichment and improve cooperation with nuclear inspectors. The report marks the end of the Security Council's 30-day deadline for demonstrating that its nuclear activities are only for civilian purposes. U.S. President Bush expresses a desire to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis.


27 April 2006 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says on the sidelines of a NATO meeting that the UN Security Council "has to act" in order to remain credible if Iran ignores the deadline for halting uranium enrichment. Iranian President Ahmadinejad says Iran will not comply.


25 April 2006 -- Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani says Iran will cut ties with the IAEA if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.


24 April 2006 -- Iranian President Ahmadinejad says Iran's nuclear activities are transparent and he does not think pursuing uranium enrichment will lead to international sanctions.


23 April 2006 -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi says Iran's uranium-enrichment and nuclear-research activities are "irreversible."


19 April 2006 -- U.S. Secretary of State Rice says Washington is prepared to use political, economic, and other measures to dissuade Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, adding that it has "diplomatic tools" at its disposal.


12 April 2006 -- IAEA head Muhammad el-Baradei visits Iran to discuss the country's nuclear program with senior Iranian officials but few details emerge. El-Baradei says he cannot confirm Iranian claims that its scientists have enriched uranium to fuel power stations.


11 April 2006 -- Iranian President Ahmadinejad announces, using Islamic rhetoric in a special ceremony seemingly designed to attract popular support, that Iran has completed the nuclear-fuel cycle. The achievement places Iran among the "nuclear countries of the world."


2 April 2006 -- Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, claims that the more the Security Council is involved, the worse the situation will become.


30 March 2006 -- The five permanent UN Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia -- and Germany warn Iran that it must heed the UN statement insisting that it stop its nuclear work or face isolation. Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki dismisses the warning; other officials will also reject the Security Council warning. IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei urges Iran to be more forthcoming but also says he thinks sanctions at this time would be unwise.


29 March 2006 -- UN Security Council unanimously adopts statement calling on Tehran to halt its nuclear work.


28 March 2006 -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov demands that Tehran say "unambiguously" whether it will accept or reject Russia's offer to enrich uranium to supply an Iranian nuclear program. Reports emerge that the Iranian Embassy in Moscow has proposed the establishment -- with the involvement of other countries -- of a nuclear-fuel production center in Iran.


25 March 2006 -- Syrian First Vice President Faruq al-Shara and Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki decry Israel's nuclear program as a threat to regional peace.


21 March 2006 -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says "there is no problem with" direct talks rumored to have been planned between Iran and the United States over the situation in Iraq, as long as those discussions lead Washington to understand Tehran's position. Iranian sources have been quoted as insisting the talks must be limited to the topic of Iraq.


20 March 2006 -- U.S. President Bush says he hopes "to solve this [nuclear] issue diplomatically" with a "united message" from the five permanent Security Council members but adds that Iranian officials' threats against "our strong ally, Israel," are "a threat to world peace." Bush adds that "we will use military might to protect our ally, Israel."


16 March 2006 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair insists the international community "cannot walk away" from the Iranian nuclear issue and says there was no point turning to the UN "unless something is going to follow as a result of that."


14 March 2006 -- U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton says informal discussions on Iran's nuclear program now include all 15 members of the Security Council and adds that the draft of a possible resolution has been distributed. The same day, U.S. President Bush announces to Congress that he has extended bilateral economic sanctions against Iran by another year. Bush says Iranian government policies and actions pose a continuing threat to the U.S. economy, foreign-policy goals, and national security.


12 March 2006 -- Tehran says a Russian proposal to move Iran's enrichment program to Russia is "off" the agenda and that Iran will not consider any proposal that does not guarantee the country's "right to nuclear research."


8 March 2006 -- IAEA head Muhammad el-Baradei says at the end of a three-day meeting that the agency will forward his report -- which accuses Iran of withholding information, possessing plans linked to nuclear weapons and refusing to freeze uranium enrichment -- to the UN Security Council. El-Baradei urges Iran to "be transparent" and "take confidence-building measures." Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad vows in a televised speech that "Iran will not give in to any political pressure, [will] make no compromise, and will go to the end of the line."


7 March 2006 -- Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns says Tehran has "crossed the international red line" with its activities to enrich uranium, adding that unless Iran suspends all nuclear activities, the Security Council must get involved.


3 March 2006 -- European talks with Iranian officialsfailto provide a nuclear compromise ahead of the IAEA's March 6-8 meeting.


2 March 2006 -- Reports say Russian-Iranian talks in Moscow fail to produce a "decisive breakthrough" on the basis of a Russian proposal to enrich uranium for Iran. Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani pledges that his country will not stop its enrichment activities.


26 February 2006 -- The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, says Iran and Russia have reached basic agreement on a Russian proposal to host Iran's uranium-enrichment program.


14 February 2006 -- Ten days after the IAEA voted to report it to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities, Iran confirms that it has resumed work on uranium enrichment.


5 February 2006 -- Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki announces the end of Iran's voluntary cooperation with the IAEA.


4 February 2006 -- IAEA governing board votes overwhelmingly to report Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities.


30 January 2006 -- Foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), plus Germany, concur that Iran should be reported to the council for its nuclear activities, but action should be delayed until after the March meeting of the IAEA governing board. Tehran counters with a threat to end all cooperation with the IAEA and adherence to international accords, as called for by an earlier parliamentary decision.


24 January 2006 -- Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani visits Moscow to discuss a December proposal that nuclear fuel enriched in Russia will be shipped to Iran for use, then returned to Russia for storage. Larijani indicated a lack of enthusiasm on 27 January, telling reporters at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport that Moscow's idea does not conform fully with Tehran's needs. He said the proposal should be revised in future discussions. The next round of Iran-Russia talks is scheduled for 16 February.


11 January 2006 -- Leaders from the United States, Russia, and EU countries roundly condemn Iran for its resumption of nuclear-fuel activities. The leaders renew calls for referring the dispute to the UN Security Council.


10 January 2006 -- Iran resumes nuclear research, triggering Western condemnation. Mohammad Saidi, a deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, says that Iran agreed with the IAEA on 9 January for IAEA inspectors in Iran to "reopen those places on which we agreed." Resumed activities, he said, are merely in "research, and nothing more. We distinguish between fuel-related research and the production of fuel." On the same day, IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei informs the IAEA governing board that Iran intends to begin "small-scale" uranium enrichment at its Natanz facility.


3 January 2006 -- Iranian Atomic Energy Organization deputy head Mohammad Saidi told state television that Tehran will resume its nuclear-fuel research. The Iranian government confirmed the report on 9 January.


25 December 2005 -- Tehran formally rejects an offer from Moscow to enrich uranium for its nuclear program in Russia. Iranian officials insist upon Iran's right to enrich uranium on its own soil.


24 November 2005 -- A meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors postpones any action on Iran's nuclear program. The move is aimed at reopening negotiations on a Russian proposal for a compromise that would allow Iran to enrich uranium, but only in Russia and under strict controls.


15 October 2005 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holds talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The two officials disagree over Iran's nuclear program, with Lavrov maintaining the Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy in accordance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.


12 October 2005 -- The EU issues a statement calling on Iran to continue negotiations with the EU-3 and to improve its human-rights record.


7 October 2005 -- IAEA head Muhammad el-Baradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in part for their work in mediating the conflict over Iran's nuclear program.


28 September 2005 -- Iran's parliament votes to expedite a bill that would end voluntary IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities.


25 September 2005 -- Tehran rejects the IAEA report and Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki says his country remains committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.


24 September 2005 -- The IAEA governing board adopts a resolution that says the nuclear watchdog, "after two and a half years of intensive inspections," remains unclear on "some important outstanding issues." "Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue," it continues, adding that the agency questions Iran's motives for not declaring certain factors and "pursuing a policy of containment." The resolution does not refer Iran to the UN Security Council, but it does hint at this possibility by noting that some of the outstanding questions are "within the competence of the Security Council. The resolution was approved by a vote of 22 in favor, 1 against (Venezuela), and 12 abstentions. (See also, "Iranian Government Reacts To IAEA Nuclear Resolution.")



17 September 2005 -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad announces the Iranian position on the nuclear issue at the UN General Assembly. "Peaceful use of nuclear energy without possession of nuclear fuel cycle is an empty proposition," he said. He expressed concern about the creation of a nuclear "apartheid," and he calls for a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East. "In accordance with our religious principles, pursuit of nuclear weapons is prohibited," Ahmadinejad said. As a confidence-building measure, Ahmadinejad said, Iran is willing to partner with public and private groups in its uranium-enrichment program. He added that Iran will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, he dismissed promises that other countries will be the source of fuel for the Iranian nuclear program.


The signing of the fuel agreement between Russia and Iran in February 2005 (epa)

2 September 2005 -- Members of the IAEA Board of Governors receive a report on Iran's nuclear activities. It notes that Tehran has been less than forthcoming about some of its activities and has been reluctant to provide access to some sites. "In view of the fact that the agency is not in a position to clarify some important outstanding issues after two and a half years of intensive inspection and investigation, Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue," the report states. "Given Iran's past concealment efforts over many years...transparency measures should extend beyond the formal requirements...and should include access to individuals, documentation on procurement, and dual-use equipment."


August 2005 -- Iran rejects the EU proposal, which includes commercial and political cooperation in exchange for Iran's forsaking efforts to develop nuclear fuel. (See also, "IAEA Draft Resolution Expresses 'Serious Concern' Over Iran's Nuclear Activities.") The European proposal included an offer to help build a light-water reactor and then provide fuel for it. (Fuel for a light-water reactor is cannot be used for weapons.)


July 2005 -- President Khatami says on 19 July that Iran will not forsake the right to produce nuclear fuel and the enrichment suspension will not be permanent. He says on 27 July that activities at the Isfahan UCF could resume in days, depending on the concessions proposed at an Iran-EU meeting. "The system has already made its decision to resume Isfahan's activities," he said.


May 2005 -- Iranian officials repeat that activities at Isfahan UCF will resume "soon," but then Tehran agrees to wait for two months after Iranian and EU officials meet in Geneva.


April 2005 -- Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hojatoleslam Hassan Rohani said on 30 April -- after the previous day's negotiations in London with British, French, and German representatives failed to yield substantive results -- Tehran is considering resumption of activities at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility (UCF).


February 2005 -- Iran and Russia sign an agreement on the return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing and storage. This measure is intended to eliminate the possibility that the materials will be used for making nuclear weapons. Fuel delivery will take place six months before the facility's completion, which should occur at the end of 2006.


January 2005 -- IAEA inspectors visit the Parchin military site, which is southwest of Tehran, to investigate allegations that the military tested conventional explosives that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons there.


December 2004 -- Talks between Iran and the EU-3 over political and economic concessions, in exchange for Iran making its enrichment suspension permanent, are scheduled to begin on 13 December (see "How Close Is Iran To The Bomb?").


November 2004 -- Iran holds talks in Paris with the EU-3. On 14 November, Iran signs an agreement to suspend uranium enrichment. The Europeans offer a series of political and economic concessions in exchange. But at an IAEA board of governors meeting from 25-29 November -- which was set to pass a resolution endorsing the deal and agreeing to monitor it -- Iran insists on an exemption for 20 centrifuges for research purposes. Iran eventually backs down, but demands -- and wins -- key changes softening the resolution in exchange. Most importantly, the resolution describes the enrichment freeze as a voluntary, rather than the legally binding commitment as both the United States and the EU sought. (See also, "The Iranian Nuclear Imbroglio.")


October 2004 -- The EU-3 again calls for Iran to suspend all uranium-enrichment activities to avoid its case being brought before the Security Council. The Europeans offer economic and political incentives in exchange. The Iranian parliament passes a bill approving the resumption of enrichment activities.


September 2004 -- An IAEA report calls Iran's claims about its nuclear program "plausible," but voices concern over Iran's decision to resume large-scale production of the feed material for enriching uranium. Claiming enrichment is a "sovereign right," Iran refuses to accept an unlimited suspension and says it will not stop manufacturing centrifuges. The IAEA gives Iran a 25 November deadline to reveal all its nuclear activities. Tehran later announces that it has resumed large-scale conversion of uranium yellowcake ore, a step toward uranium enrichment.


July 2004 -- Iran says it has resumed production of parts for centrifuges that are used for enriching uranium, but insists that it has not resumed its enrichment activities. The announcement appears to put the enrichment-freeze deal worked out between Iran, the EU-3, and the IAEA in jeopardy.


June 2004 -- IAEA says that inspectors found new traces of enriched uranium that exceeded the levels necessary for civilian energy production.


May 2004 -- Iran submits to the IAEA a 1,000-page report on its nuclear activities.


February 2004 -- Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, says that he had provided atomic secrets to Iran, Libya, and North Korea since the late 1980s. IAEA inspectors notice similarities in designs and components for the advanced P-2 centrifuge, adding to suspicions that Khan supplied both North Korea and Iran with same nuclear know-how.


November 2003 -- An IAEA report states that at the moment there is no conclusive proof that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The United States, seeking to have the matter sent to the UN Security Council, dismisses the conclusion. The IAEA's 35-member board of governors passes a resolution sternly rebuking Iran for covering up 18 years of atomic experiments, but does not send the matter to the Security Council.


October 2003 -- The foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Great Britain travel to Tehran and persuade Iran to agree to stop enriching uranium and to sign the Additional Protocol to the NPT. The EU-3 also dangle economic concessions if Tehran cooperates fully with the IAEA. Iran turns over a declaration to the IAEA admitting to 18 years of covert atomic experiments, including the unreported uranium enrichment, although it continues to deny this was for a weapons program.


Students demonstrating in support of Iran's nuclear program at Isfahan in August 2005 (AFP)

September 2003 -- The United States says Iran is in noncompliance with the NPT and calls for a referral to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions. But Washington agrees to support a proposal from Great Britain, France, and Germany (who were negotiating on behalf of the European Union and became known as the "EU-3") to give the Tehran until the end of October to fully disclose nuclear activities and allow for a stricter inspection regime.


July 2003 -- IAEA begins a fresh round of inspections in Iran.


June 2003 -- In a report, el-Baradei says inspections have demonstrated that "Iran failed to report certain nuclear materials and activities" and urges Tehran to cooperate with the agency. The report does not declare Iran in breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The IAEA requests that Iran sign the Additional Protocol to the NPT and allow unannounced inspections of its nuclear sites.


February 2003 -- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei visits Iran to verify Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is peaceful. IAEA inspectors later find traces of highly enriched uranium at Natanz and other sites.


August 2002 -- An Iranian exile opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, accuses Tehran of hiding a uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy-water plant at Arak.


(compiled by RFE/RL)

Iran's Nuclear Program

Iran's Nuclear Program


THE COMPLETE PICTURE: RFE/RL's complete coverage of controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program.


CHRONOLOGY

An annotated timeline of Iran's nuclear program.

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Targeted Activist Calls Failure Of Iranian Assassination Plot 'Pleasing'

Masih Alinejad, 48, has been the target of three alleged Iranian kidnapping and assassination plots.
Masih Alinejad, 48, has been the target of three alleged Iranian kidnapping and assassination plots.

Iranian-American human rights activist Masih Alinejad says she derives joy from the failure of alleged plots by the Islamic republic to kidnap and assassinate her.

The U.S. Justice Department on November 8 unsealed criminal charges that include details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill Alinejad and President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election. Iran has rejected the allegation.

"When the Islamic republic is defeated, disgraced, and embarrassed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], it has no choice but to deny," Alinejad, 48, said in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, or head scarf, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021. In 2022 a man was also arrested with a rifle outside her home.

“The Islamic republic has been disgraced three times…. The humiliation of [Iranian authorities] is truly pleasing,” she said.

The FBI informed Alinejad of the suspected Iranian plot to kill her shortly before the court documents were unsealed, she said, recalling that she was "shocked" to learn about the details.

Two men arrested by the FBI were planning to target Alinejad at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she was scheduled to appear.

The Justice Department alleges the two men spent months surveilling Alinejad and earlier this year traveled to the university campus and took photos of the premises.

"It is shocking how brazenly the Islamic republic can savagely plan to assassinate someone in another country," Alinejad said.

Iran has long been accused of targeting dissidents abroad, either to kidnap them or kill them.

Rights groups say exiled opposition activist Ruhollah Zam was abducted in 2019 before being executed in Iran a year later.

In 2020, Tehran said it had arrested Iranian-German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd and later sentenced him to death. Sharmahd's family insists he was kidnapped while through the United Arab Emirates. Iranian authorities claim Sharmahd died in prison last month before being executed.

Alinejad, who is visiting Germany and recently met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said her message to Germany, the United States, and all Western countries is to "protect your borders and democracy instead of protecting me so that the Islamic republic's terrorists can't enter and plot assassinations on Western soil."

She said symbolic gestures by the West in support of Iranian protesters and dissidents "is not enough" to dissuade Iranian authorities from targeting critics abroad. Instead, she argued, severing diplomatic ties and "extensive support" for protesters inside Iran would be more effective.

Written based on an interview by Nasrin Afshar of RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Saudi Armed Forces General Travels to Iran In Rare High-Level Visit

Fayyad al-Ruwaili, chief of the general staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, meets his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Baqeri, in Tehran on November 10.
Fayyad al-Ruwaili, chief of the general staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, meets his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Baqeri, in Tehran on November 10.

The general chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Baqeri, in Tehran during a rare visit on November 10.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said they discussed the development of defense diplomacy and bilateral cooperation without offering any details.

Iranian media said Baqeri had discussed regional developments and defense cooperation with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman al-Saud last year.

Ruwaili is only the second high-profile Saudi official to travel to Tehran since Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations after seven years following Chinese-brokered talks in March 2023. Previously, Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan visited Iran in June 2023.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia severed ties with Shi'a-dominated Iran in 2016 after its diplomatic compounds in Tehran and Mashhad were attacked by protesters over Riyadh's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The trip comes days after the election of Donald Trump, whose second term as U.S. president begins in January. He has pledged to bring peace to the Middle East, where U.S. ally Israel is engaged in wars against Iranian-backed groups in Gaza and Lebanon.

Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the timing of the trip was significant because it comes as various countries are preparing for a second Trump presidency.

He said the Saudis' decision to send their top military official to Tehran "is a signal that they are committed" to the detente process that started last year and that "they don't want Trump's election to jeopardize the recently improving relations with Iran."

Separately, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on the phone and discussed expanding bilateral relations, according to Pezeshkian's office.

Trump had good relations with Persian Gulf Arab states in his first tenure in office and worked on normalizing relations between Arab states and Iran's archfoe, Israel.

Saudi Arabia has not normalized relations with Israel but Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is said to have discussed the possibility of normalization with Saudi Arabia since 2021.

In another sign of warming relations, Saudi Arabia announced last month that it held military drills with Iran in the Sea of Oman.

UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief To Visit Iran On November 13

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran on November 13 and start consultations with Iranian officials the following day, state media reported on November 10. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week that he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed nuclear program and that he expected to work cooperatively with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Long-standing issues between Iran, the IAEA, and Western powers include Tehran barring several uranium-enrichment experts from IAEA inspection teams in the country and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites. Iran has also stepped up nuclear activity since 2019, after then-President Trump abandoned a 2015 deal Iran reached with world powers under which it curbed enrichment -- seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability -- and restored tough U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Denies Plot To Kill Trump

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (file photo)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (file photo)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied U.S. charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump and called on November 9 for confidence-building between the two hostile countries. "A new scenario is fabricated....As a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy," Araqchi said in a post on X. He was referring to an alleged plot Washington said was ordered by Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to assassinate Trump, who won the U.S. presidential election on November 5 and takes office in January.

Iran Urges Trump To Change 'Maximum Pressure' Policy

Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif (file photo)
Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif (file photo)

Iran signaled an openness toward Donald Trump on November 9, calling on the U.S. president-elect to adopt new policies toward it after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to kill him. Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Trump to reassess the policy of "maximum pressure" he employed against the Islamic republic during his first term. "Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past," Zarif told reporters. His remarks came after the United States accused Iran of conspiring to assassinate Trump. The Foreign Ministry on November 9 described the American accusations as "totally unfounded."

After Iranian Student Jailed For Stripping, London Activist Shows Solidarity In Her Underwear (Video)

After Iranian Student Jailed For Stripping, London Activist Shows Solidarity In Her Underwear (Video)
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A university student in Tehran was detained and sent to a psychiatric ward after stripping down to her underwear in public. In a demonstration of support, activist Rokhsareh Mohammad Khani took similar action in London, filming herself in minimal clothing in a central square. Khani said she wanted to highlight the extreme nature of Iran's dress code and the penalties it imposes on women.

Updated

Court Documents Allege Iranian-Backed Plot To Assassinate Trump, Dissidents

President-elect Donald Trump (file photo)
President-elect Donald Trump (file photo)

The U.S. Justice Department on November 8 unsealed criminal charges that include details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City alleges that an unnamed official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) instructed a contact to develop a plan to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, the Justice Department said in a news release.

Three men, including an Iranian national, were charged in the criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a separate plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin.

Two of the three men -- Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, both of New York City -- made an initial appearance in court on November 7 and were ordered detained pending trial, the department said.

The third man, identified as Farjad Shakeri, remains at large and is believed to be in Iran.

"The charges announced today expose Iran's continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders, and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the news release.

The IRGC "has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won't be tolerated," he added.

Shakeri allegedly recruited Rivera and Loadhold to follow and kill a prominent Iranian-American. The target was not named in the news release or in court documents but appears to be dissident journalist Masih Alinejad.

Alinejad said on X that she was shocked to have learned of the plot from the FBI.

"I also learned that the person assigned to assassinate @realDonaldTrump was also assigned to kill me on U.S. soil," she said on X, calling on Trump to be tough on terrorism. "The Islamic Republic understands only one language: the language of pressure," she said.

Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021, and in 2022 a man was arrested with a rifle outside her home.

The Justice Department said Shakeri was an IRGC "asset" who immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported around 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for robbery.

According to the criminal complaint, Shakeri allegedly disclosed the plot to assassinate Trump in telephone conversations with FBI agents in recent months.

Shakeri spoke with FBI agents because he was hoping to obtain a sentence reduction for a person who is imprisoned in the United States, the court document said.

Shakeri told the FBI he was approached by an IRGC official about organizing the assassination of Trump. He planned to use a network of criminal associates he met in prison, including Loadholt and Rivera, to supply the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations of IRGC targets, the Justice Department said.

Shakeri promised to pay $100,000 in the murder-for-hire plot described in the document in which Alinejad appears to be the target.

The IRGC also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other assassinations of U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United States, according to the press release.

"In particular, Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump," the Justice Department said.

Shakeri was unable to draft a plan within the time span requested by the IRGC official, and the official then told him Iran would pause its plan until after the presidential election because the official believed Trump would lose and it would be easier to assassinate him afterward, the criminal complaint said.

The United States has repeatedly accused Iran of seeking to assassinate U.S. officials in retaliation for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who died in a U.S. military drone strike in Iraq in 2020.

In his first term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from an international nuclear agreement negotiated between Iran and nuclear powers, imposed new sanctions on the country, and classified the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Shakeri, Rivera, and Loadholt have all been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and money-laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Shakeri faces additional charges related to terrorism.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

The Azadi Briefing: What Will Trump's Election Victory Mean For Afghanistan?

Customers watch a live broadcast of Donald Trump at a juice shop in Kabul. (file photo)
Customers watch a live broadcast of Donald Trump at a juice shop in Kabul. (file photo)

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm watching in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The unrecognized Taliban government in Afghanistan said it wants to open a “new chapter” with the United States following Donald Trump’s victory in the November 5 presidential election.

In a statement, the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said it hoped the “upcoming U.S. administration will take realistic steps to foster tangible progress in the relationship between the two countries.”

During his first stint in power from 2017 to 2021, the Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban that paved the way for the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

The agreement ended America’s longest-ever war. But critics said the accord led to the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power.

During the campaign, Trump defended the 2020 accord as a “very good agreement.” But he blamed President Joe Biden for the deadly and chaotic U.S. military withdrawal in 2021.

Why It's Important: Trump’s return to the White House is likely to have repercussions for Afghanistan, where the world’s largest humanitarian crisis is unfolding.

The United States is the biggest donor of humanitarian aid to the country, having provided around $3 billion since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. There has been a major drop in donor funding over the past two years.

“The sharp decline in humanitarian funding seems likely to worsen under a Trump presidency,” said Graeme Smith, senior Afghanistan analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Hameed Hakimi of Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said Trump could place conditions on U.S. aid, a move that would “increase the financial and humanitarian vulnerability of the Afghan people.”

Experts said it is unlikely that the incoming Trump administration would reverse current U.S. policy by arming anti-Taliban groups inside Afghanistan or recognizing the Taliban’s government.

“The Republicans will do everything possible to keep Afghanistan out of the headlines,” said Smith.

What's Next: Afghanistan is unlikely to be a priority for the Trump administration.

But a major attack on the United States or its allies emanating from Afghan soil could change that.

What To Keep An Eye On

An Indian diplomat traveled to Kabul for talks with senior Taliban officials on November 4-5.

The Taliban’s defense and foreign ministers held meetings with JP Singh, who oversees the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of India’s External Affairs Ministry.

“Both sides declared their common desire” to expand bilateral relations, mainly in humanitarian cooperation, said a statement by the Taliban’s Defense Ministry.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the two sides also discussed “how the Chabahar Port can be used for imports and exports.”

Over the past two decades, India has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing Iran’s southeastern Chabahar Port and built a highway linking it to western Afghanistan.

In March, the Taliban announced that it would invest around $35 million in Chabahar Port, a move aimed at decreasing landlocked Afghanistan's dependence on neighboring Pakistan.

Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan, longtime allies, have deteriorated sharply in recent years.

Why It's Important: Singh’s visit to Afghanistan signals New Delhi’s interest in developing relations with the Taliban.

India was a key backer of the Western-backed Afghan government. But since the Taliban’s return to power, it has signaled a willingness to cooperate with the extremist group.

The Taliban’s tense relations with Pakistan has offered India an opportunity to boost its influence in Kabul.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Will Trump's Election Trigger An Iran Policy Of 'Maximum Pressure 2.0'?

Iranian authorities insist there is no difference between various U.S. presidents.
Iranian authorities insist there is no difference between various U.S. presidents.

Before the U.S. presidential election, Iran dismissed the vote as irrelevant.

But former President Donald Trump’s stunning victory on November 5 could have major ramifications for Tehran, experts say.

During his first stint in power, Trump ramped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear and missile programs and imposed sweeping sanctions against Tehran.

Iran will “have to contemplate radical changes in its foreign policy and national security…in order to stave off bigger crises that could come as a consequence of a [second] Trump presidency,” said Farzan Sabet, senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

'Maximum Pressure 2.0'

From 2017-2021, the Trump administration pursued a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran.

Trump withdrew the United States from a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, reimposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran, and ordered the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Trump’s return to the White House could see a policy of “maximum pressure 2.0,” said Sabet, adding that the aim could be “containment and regime weakening.”

Sabet said Trump could try to devise “a kind of policy in perpetuity” on Iran that would be difficult to undo by future U.S. administrations.

Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Tehran in June 2019 with a message from then-President Donald Trump, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei refused to reply.
Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Tehran in June 2019 with a message from then-President Donald Trump, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei refused to reply.

In a sign of what is to come, Brian Hook, who oversaw the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, is expected to lead the president-elect’s transition team at the State Department. U.S. media reported that Hook could be considered for the role of secretary of state.

During the campaign, Trump sent mixed messages on Iran. He threatened to blow the country to “smithereens” but also said he was open to talks with Tehran. Trump also said he wants Iran to be “successful,” although he added that Tehran “can't have a nuclear weapon.”

Sabet said Iran has grown more adept at evading U.S. sanctions since Trump’s first term and its nuclear program has become more advanced following the abrogation of the nuclear deal.

But experts say Iran will still feel the bite of tougher U.S. policies. The Iranian economy is in free fall, while the clerical establishment has faced growing domestic unrest and threats from archenemy Israel.

The Israeli Factor

Iran and Israel have traded direct aerial attacks in recent months that have raised fears of an all-out regional war.

The tit-for-tat attacks have come as Israel fights a multifront war against Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Trump is likely to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a free hand” to confront Iran.

Trump has a close relationship with Netanyahu, who was one of the first world leaders to congratulate the president-elect.

During his first term, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of U.S. policy. He also moved the U.S. embassy to the contested city.

Sabet said Iran’s “security situation is rapidly deteriorating vis-à-vis Israel with possible further involvement of the U.S.”

The View From Iran

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian said on November 7 that Trump's election victory “makes no difference” to Tehran, which has “prioritized developing relations with Islamic and neighboring countries.”

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said Iran had “bitter experiences with various U.S. governments' past policies and approaches.” But he added that Trump’s return to the White House was a chance “to review previous wrong policies.”

Iran's pro-reform President Masud Pezeshkian vowed to engage the West to lift sanctions before taking office in July.
Iran's pro-reform President Masud Pezeshkian vowed to engage the West to lift sanctions before taking office in July.

Some conservative Iranian lawmakers and media outlets have done little to hide their disdain for Trump.

Hard-line lawmaker Malek Shariati wrote “death to Trump” on X on November 6 before taking down his post. The conservative Hamshahri newspaper decried “the return of the murderer,” alluding to Trump’s role in Soleimani’s assassination.

Others have urged Iranian decision-makers to consider negotiating with Trump, especially as the reformist Pezeshkian pledged to engage the West when he took office in July.

Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Asefi told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that some critics of the clerical establishment hope that Trump will help topple the Islamic republic. But he said that was “wishful thinking” because his Iran policy has never been about regime change.

“Many politicians and analysts in Iran now believe Tehran can easily strike a deal with Trump, as he is a dealmaker,” he added.

Hannah Kaviani of RFE/RL’s Radio Farda contributed to this story
Updated

Israel Sends Planes To Evacuate Soccer Fans After 'Willful Attack' In Amsterdam

Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters gather in Amsterdam ahead of the game against Ajax on November 7.
Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters gather in Amsterdam ahead of the game against Ajax on November 7.

Israel sent several chartered planes to Amsterdam to bring back Israeli soccer fans after they were attacked following a match on November 7 by what Mayor Femke Halsema described as "anti-Semitic hit-and-run squads."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incidents "anti-Semitic attacks" as his office announced that the Israeli airlines El Al and Israir have set up special flights for free on November 8 and 9 to do the job.

El Al said it was sending six planes to bring the fans home, and Israeli airport authorities said later on November 8 that the first plane had landed.

Amsterdam police said that 62 people were detained following the violence, with 10 in custody on November 8 in connection with the clashes -- which left five people hospitalized -- in the center of Amsterdam between young locals and Israeli supporters who had come to watch Maccabi Tel Aviv's game against Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League competition.

"This is a very dark moment for the city, for which I am deeply ashamed," Halsema told a news conference. "Anti-Semitic criminals attacked and assaulted visitors to our city, in hit-and-run actions," she said.

Dutch authorities said there was no concrete threat to Israeli soccer fans before the game and that it was not clear how or precisely when the violence began.

Peter Holla, the city's acting police chief, told a news conference that the Israeli fans were "willfully attacked."

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned "anti-Semitic" violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, calling the attacks "despicable" throwbacks to dark moments in history.

"The anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam are despicable and echo dark moments in history when Jews were persecuted," Biden said on X.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and other world leader joined Biden in condemning the violence.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attacks as "vile" and said she discussed them with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

"Outraged by last night's vile attacks targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam," von der Leyen said in a post on X. "I strongly condemn these unacceptable acts. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in Europe. And we are determined to fight all forms of hatred."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar flew to Amsterdam for impromptu meetings with the Dutch government and far-right leader Geert Wilders, and Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days.

Police said fans had left the stadium on November 7 without incident after the game was won 5-0 by Ajax, but various clashes in the city center were reported during the night.

Video posted online also purported to show Israeli fans chanting anti-Arab slogans in the streets ahead of the game.

Maccabi fans are known to have used similar chants in Israel at recent matches there.

Earlier, a pro-Palestinian protest against Maccabi's visit scheduled to take place near the stadium was banned by Dutch authorities for security reasons amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

Anti-Israeli protests have been held in various parts of the world, including in Western Europe amid Israel's war in the Gaza Strip against Iran-backed Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the EU, following the group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people.

The conflict has spilled outside of Gaza and into southern Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah -- designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Schoof said he was "horrified" by the incidents. which he called "completely unacceptable." He said he told Netanyahu that those who are guilty would be "identified and prosecuted."

Netanyahu told Schoof that he "views the premeditated anti-Semitic attack against Israeli citizens with the utmost seriousness and requested increased security for the Jewish community in the Netherlands," the Israeli prime minister's office said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had talked to Dutch King Willem-Alexander on the phone, who had voiced "deep horror and shock over the criminal acts committed."

The Israeli Embassy in the United States said on X that "hundreds" of Maccabi fans were "ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game against Ajax."

"The mob who targeted these innocent Israelis has proudly shared their violent acts on social media," the embassy said in its message accompanied by a video of violent clashes in the city.

Israel also said it had banned members of its military from traveling to the Netherlands.

What Can The World Expect From Trump 2.0?

Donald Trump gestures as he stands on stage at a rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 6.
Donald Trump gestures as he stands on stage at a rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 6.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump made big promises about what would be in store if he reclaimed the White House.

"With your support, we'll bring back our nation's strength, dominance, prosperity and pride," Trump said two weeks before Election Day. "This will be America's new golden age."

Now that Trump has won a second term as president, what might be expected from his incoming administration?

The answer to that question depends a lot on who you ask. Trump's supporters believe he will "make America great again," at home and abroad. His detractors have warned that Trump will undermine democracy in the United States.

War And Peace

The way the United States exerts its influence around the world is likely to change.

Trump has said he could end Russia's war in Ukraine "in 24 hours." With Israel involved in a two-front war in the Middle East against Iranian-backed armed groups, Trump has called on Israel to "finish the job."

Peter Skerry, professor of political science at Boston College, said he expects Trump to "push for some sort of settlement" between Moscow and Kyiv that he predicted will "mean big concessions on the part of Ukraine."

What Trump will do regarding Israel is much less clear, Skerry says, but he said that "he'll be extremely supportive of Israel" while at the same time trying to revive the Abraham Accords that aim for Arab-Israeli normalization.

China, with which Trump launched a trade war during his first term in office, is a wild card. Trump has pledged to introduce more steep tariffs on products made in China if Beijing were to "go into Taiwan."

He has previously said he would not have to use U.S. military force to prevent a possible Chinese blockade of Taiwan due to his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Global Footprint

In his four years as president, Trump pushed for NATO members to meet their required levels of defense spending, goals that most have since met.

Trump also oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from the UN cultural body UNESCO, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, the Iran nuclear deal worked out with world powers, the Paris Agreement on mitigating the effects of climate change, and withheld funding for the World Health Organization due to its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Moscow Residents Don't Expect Change From Trump Election Win
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The outgoing Biden administration made a point to restore U.S. influence in such agreements and institutions, but now many predict another reversal under Trump.

Skerry said Trump is a "single-minded, self-interested actor" who is focused on domestic issues. It would not be surprising to see Trump "get back on the track" of limiting Washington's role in some global institutions, he said.

Keith Naughton, co-founder of the U.S.-based public-affairs firm Silent Majority Strategies, said that "Trump will want to go it alone more." But he added that the U.S. Congress was unlikely "to go along" and will put up resistance.

Payback Time

Trump has frequently lashed out against his political adversaries, referring to them as the "enemy from within" and suggesting they could "very easily handled" by the military in the event of postelection chaos.

The comments led outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran and lost against Trump, to say just before the vote that Trump was "obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power."

At home, the U.S. judicial system is one area where Trump is expected to clean house, in large part owing to multiple criminal cases related to his first term, including regarding alleged election interference and attempts to derail the transfer of power following his 2020 election loss.

Trump has also said that he would "absolutely" pardon his supporters imprisoned for their role in the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

More broadly, many predict Trump will use "Project 2025" -- an initiative conceived by the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington to "take down the deep state" -- as a template for his policies.

Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, claiming he did not know who was behind it, but investigations have found that at least 140 people who worked in the previous Trump administration are involved.

"Trump likes to talk tough, but rarely follows through," Naughton said. "Any retribution will be haphazard and from staff members. I think there will be a lot of changes at the Department of Justice."

Trump Wins U.S. Presidency: Reactions From Our Region

Afghan men watch a television broadcast of Donald Trump's victory speech at a restaurant in Kabul on November 6.
Afghan men watch a television broadcast of Donald Trump's victory speech at a restaurant in Kabul on November 6.

Our teams bring you the latest updates, reactions, and insights into what the U.S. elections mean for our audiences. With Russia's war on Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, and a decline in democratic values, the outcome of these elections will reverberate far beyond U.S. borders.

Iranian Scholar Calls Psych Ward Admission Of Woman Who Disrobed In Protest 'Illegal'

Videos emerged on social media on November 2 showing a young woman stripped to her underwear and walking around outside a university in Tehran.
Videos emerged on social media on November 2 showing a young woman stripped to her underwear and walking around outside a university in Tehran.

Iranian religious scholar and civil activist Sedigheh Vasmaghi said there is no legal basis for admitting a young woman into psychiatric care because she took her clothes off in apparent protest against harassment outside her Tehran university.

"Even if someone suffers from mental health disorders, diagnosing that is not up to judicial authorities or the police, not to mention that admitting someone into a psychiatric facility should not be a punishment," Vasmaghi told RFE/RL's Radio Farda on November 5.

"Punishments need to be legal…. Whoever [admitted her] has committed an illegal act," said Vasmaghi, who lives in Iran.

Videos emerged on social media on November 2 showing a young woman stripped to her underwear and walking around outside a university in Tehran.

Stripping In Protest? Amnesty Calls for Immediate Release Of Iranian Woman (Video)
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The circumstances that led to her taking off her clothes remain unclear, but witnesses say she was harassed by the university's security officers over what she had been wearing. One video showed officers violently forcing the unidentified woman into a car.

Reports in Iranian media later alleged she was suffering from mental illness and that she was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

Rights groups have condemned her treatment and demanded her immediate release.

Amnesty International on November 3 said, "Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture & other ill-treatment & ensure access to family & lawyer."

Sedigheh Vasmaghi
Sedigheh Vasmaghi

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights on November 4 decried what it described as the Islamic republic's use of "psychiatric hospitals as tools of repression to delegitimize acts of protest and silence dissenting voices."

Echoing the same sentiment, Vasmaghi said Iranian authorities had a track record of sending protesters to psychiatric wards to "belittle and punish" them.

"Women have made their decision and they will not retreat" from demanding the freedom to choose how to dress, the activist said.

"The authorities must accept that and stop doing things that increase tensions in society," she added.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on an interview by Hooman Askary of RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Iran Sentences 3 To Death Over Assassination Of Nuclear Scientist

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program and had been under U.S. sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear research.
Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program and had been under U.S. sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear research.

Iran's judiciary says three people have been sentenced to death by a lower court over the killing in 2020 of Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in what Tehran says was an Israeli-orchestrated operation.

"The sentencing of these three people was carried out in the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, and they were sentenced to death in the initial stage, and the case is currently in the appeal stage," Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary, said at a news conference in Tehran.

Urmia is a town In Iran's northwestern province of West Azerbaijan close to the border with Turkey.

The sentencing of the three, who have not been named, comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and Israel amid the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel has been blamed for the assassination of at least four other Iranian nuclear scientists suspected of working on Tehran's military nuclear program.

Fakhrizadeh, known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program, had been under U.S. sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear research and Israel accused him in 2018 of being the architect of Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

"After some investigations, three out of eight people arrested in West Azerbaijan province were accused of spying for the occupying regime of Israel," Jahangir said, adding that the case is now in the "appeal stage."

The three were also accused of bringing unspecified equipment from abroad into Iran for the attack "under the guise of smuggling alcoholic drinks."

Jahangir said the case against the other defendants is still ongoing.

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in a brazen ambush of his vehicle in the town of Absard, near Tehran on November 27, 2020, which Iran at the time blamed on Israel while suggesting the United States also had an indirect or direct role.

The circumstances of the attack remain unclear. Initial reports immediately after the killing suggested Fakhrizadeh was targeted by a truckful of explosives, several gunmen, and a suicide attacker.

Just days later, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) offered a different account, saying a machine gun equipped with a "satellite-controlled smart system" that employed "artificial intelligence" was used in the pinpointed killing of the scientist that left his wife, who was traveling with him, unharmed.

Israel has not commented on Fakhrizadeh's killing.

Tehran Says German-Iranian Died Before Execution Could Be Carried Out

German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group that Tehran believes was behind a deadly 2008 bombing and of planning other attacks in the country.
German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd, 69, was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group that Tehran believes was behind a deadly 2008 bombing and of planning other attacks in the country.

Iran's judiciary says a dual German-Iranian national sentenced to death on terror charges died while in prison and was not executed, as previously reported by local media.

Reports from state media that Jamshid Sharmahd was executed surfaced on October 28, sparking a diplomatic row with Berlin that saw Germany shut all three of Iran's consulates in the European nation.

However, Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for the judiciary, contradicted the reports on November 5, saying a judicial statement on the issue was misquoted as it did not specifically say the death sentence had been carried out. No details on Sharmahd's death were given.

"There was no deadline for the execution of Sharmahd's sentence, he died before the execution of the death sentence," Asghar Jahangir said.

Sharmahd, 69, was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group that Tehran believes was behind a deadly 2008 bombing and of planning other attacks in the country.

He was in Dubai and heading to India for a business trip when he went missing for several days before Tehran announced it had taken Sharmahd into custody and brought back to Iran.

Fourteen Iranians were killed and 210 others wounded in the attack at the Sayyid al-Shuhada Husseiniya mosque in Shiraz during a ceremony to mourn the death of Imam Hussein, the third imam of Shi'a Muslims.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry accused Sharmahd, who lived in Glendora, California, of planning the bombing, a charge his family dismissed as "ridiculous."

In reaction to the reports of Sharmahd's execution, the European Union put out a statement "strongly" condemning the punishment and accusing Iran of having "illegally" abducting the software engineer, holding him for years "under inhumane conditions without a fair trial."

Western governments and rights groups have long accused Iran of detaining dual citizens to use them as bargaining chips against the West.

Iranian Foreign Minister In Pakistan To Discuss Ties, Middle East

 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Islamabad at the start of a two-day official visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and other officials, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced on November 5. Araghchi and the Pakistani officials will discuss improving bilateral ties and the current crisis in the Middle East, the Ministry said in a statement. The visit also "provides an important opportunity to advance cooperation and dialogue between Pakistan and Iran on a wide range of areas including trade, energy and security," the statement said. Iran and Israel are currently engaged in a standoff, with Tehran threatening to launch another retaliatory strike in response to an Israeli attack on October 26 that targeted Iranian military facilities. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

Stripping In Protest? Amnesty Calls for Immediate Release Of Iranian Woman (Video)

Stripping In Protest? Amnesty Calls for Immediate Release Of Iranian Woman (Video)
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Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of a young woman who was arrested after stripping to her underwear outside her Tehran university on November 2. In a statement, Amnesty said "allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during arrest need independent and impartial investigations." Footage of the incident has been widely shared on social media.

Jewish Man Executed In Iran For Murder He Said Was In Self-Defense

Arvin Ghahremani
Arvin Ghahremani

Iran, at a time of rising tensions with Israel, has executed a Jewish man who was convicted of murder, a charge his family rejected saying he acted in self- defense after being attacked.

The Mizan news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary, quoted Hamidreza Karimi, the prosecutor of the western Iranian city of Kermanshah, as saying Arvin Ghahremani, 23, was executed on November 4.

Ghahremani, 18 at the time, was found guilty of stabbing another man to death in 2022 outside a gym in Kermanshah. The victim had owed money to Ghahremani and, according to his family, an altercation broke out over the dispute.

The victim was armed and Ghahremani acted in self-defense, they said, saying he even tried to help keep the victim alive after the altercation.

After being sentenced to death, Ghahrmani's lawyers failed to get the family of the Muslim victim, whose identity was not revealed, to pardon him and spare his life.

Islamic legislation provides for qisas, or equivalent punishment, in murder cases.

However, rights groups have long said that the law discriminates against non-Muslims, who often receive harsher punishments than Muslims convicted of similar offenses.

Ghahremani's lawyers had requested a retrial three different times, but each motion was rejected by Iranian courts.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group condemned the execution of Ghahremani, who the group said was 20 years old, not 23.

The group also disputed Ghahremani's guilt, saying he had been attacked with a knife by the victim. It also said that the victim's family initially agreed to spare Ghahremani but changed their mind after finding out he was Jewish.

"Arvin was a Jew, and the institutionalized anti-Semitism in the Islamic republic undoubtedly played a crucial role in the implementation of his sentence," IHR Director Mahmood Amiri-Moghadam said in a statement, adding that the case had "significant flaws."

Jews are a small minority estimated at some 20,000 in Iran, a mainly Shi'ite Muslim nation of nearly 92 million people. Many Jews fled Iran in the aftermath of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 as the new regime adopted a sharp anti-Israel stance, including not recognizing Israel's right to exist.

Israel and Iran's proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip have been fighting a war over the past year since one of the groups, Hamas, invaded Israel and killed some 1,200 people in an unprovoked attack.

The group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, also took around 240 hostages back to the Gaza Strip.

How Will The U.S. Election Impact Washington's Iran Policy?

Supporters of the Islamic republic burn a U.S. flag during a protest against President Donald Trump's decision to walk out of a 2015 nuclear deal, in Tehran in May 2018.
Supporters of the Islamic republic burn a U.S. flag during a protest against President Donald Trump's decision to walk out of a 2015 nuclear deal, in Tehran in May 2018.

The U.S. presidential election on November 5 will probably have a major bearing on Washington’s policy toward Iran.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, is likely to continue President Joe Biden’s diplomacy-focused policies, experts say.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, adopted a policy of “maximum pressure” during his first stint in office and is more likely to embrace a hawkish position, analysts say.

How Iran Is Trying To Interfere In The U.S. Election (Video)
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Harris's Calculated Toughness?

In early October, Harris raised eyebrows when she described Iran as Washington’s “greatest adversary” ahead of Russia and China.

Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said her comments should not be taken at face value. Harris said “what she had to say” for the sake of domestic U.S. policies and to appease the pro-Israel lobby.

Observers say Kamala Harris's hawkish comments about Iran on the campaign trail should not be taken at face value.
Observers say Kamala Harris's hawkish comments about Iran on the campaign trail should not be taken at face value.

Harris’s campaign wants to “position her somewhat to Trump’s right on issues like Iran,” said Gregory Brew, senior analyst at the U.S.-based Eurasia Group.

“Harris is likely to continue Biden's approach, pursuing diplomacy without offering large concessions and remaining wary of doing too much and triggering domestic political backlash,” Brew said.

Experts say the conflict in the Middle East, where Israel is engaged in a war with Iran-backed armed groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, could lead to Harris devising a more aggressive policy toward Tehran.

Diplomacy with Tehran will remain an option under a Harris presidency, experts say, but any negotiations would likely be centered on regional affairs rather than Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump To Opt For Dialogue Or Detachment?

During his stint in office from 2017 to 2021, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran, and ordered the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

But it is unclear if Trump would adopt a hawkish policy toward Iran if reelected, experts say, noting the former president’s unpredictability.

Donald Trump pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran during his time as U.S. president.
Donald Trump pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran during his time as U.S. president.

During the campaign, Trump suggested without evidence that Iran was involved in recent attempted assassinations against him and threatened to blow the country “to smithereens.”

But Trump has also said on the campaign trail that he is open to talks with Iran, including over the nuclear deal.

Under a Trump presidency, there would likely be less scope for or interest in diplomacy with Tehran, said Brew.

Brew said there is “a greater willingness to tolerate military action against Iran” among Republicans, particularly in the wake of Israel’s first overt attack on Iran on October 26. But the odds of the United States getting involved in a war with Iran remain low.

“It's difficult for me to see a large war being planned at this moment in American history by any American president,” Vatanka said.

Vatanka said Iran could be more willing to talk to Trump because it may “find it easier to deal” with the former president and entice him “by appealing to his ego.”

Overall, American policy toward Iran would be more reflective of “mainstream American thinking and institutional decision-making consensus” under Harris, Vatanka said, whereas under Trump it would be “more of the inkling and the gut feeling of one man.”

Amnesty Calls For Release Of Iranian Woman Who Removed Clothes In Protest

Iranian authorities arrested the female student after she stripped to her underwear on the street outside the university.
Iranian authorities arrested the female student after she stripped to her underwear on the street outside the university.

Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of a young woman who took most of her clothes off during an apparent protest against harassment outside her Tehran university on November 2.

Iranian authorities arrested the female student -- who has not been identified -- after she stripped to her underwear on the street outside the university.

Video footage was first posted by an Iranian student channel, the Amir Kabir newsletter, and then later by the Hengaw rights group, Amnesty International, and others.

Stripping In Protest? Amnesty Calls for Immediate Release Of Iranian Woman (Video)
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“Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture & other ill-treatment & ensure access to family & lawyer." Amnesty said.

"Allegations of beatings & sexual violence against her during arrest need independent & impartial investigations," it added. "Those responsible must held to account.”

To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

U.S. Says It's Gathering Information On Imprisoned Ex-RFE/RL Journalist In Iran

Reza Valizadeh, a former journalist with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, has been imprisoned in Iran. (file photo)
Reza Valizadeh, a former journalist with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, has been imprisoned in Iran. (file photo)

The United States says it is gathering information about the case of former Radio Farda journalist Reza Valizadeh, a dual citizen, who has been in prison in Iran for the past weeks.

Valizadeh was arrested in late September in Tehran, a source close to the family told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda last month. Valizadeh left his job as a staff member at Radio Farda in November 2022.

In his last post on X on August 13, Valizadeh said he had traveled to Tehran on March 16. He also said he had “unfinished negotiations” with the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). It is not clear under what circumstances he wrote this post.

“We are working with our Swiss partners who serve as the protecting power for the United States in Iran to gather more information about this case,” the State Department told AP. “Iran routinely imprisons U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens unjustly for political purposes. This practice is cruel and contrary to international law.”

RFE/RL said in a statement that it was aware of Valizadeh’s detention in Iran. “We have had no official confirmation of the charges against him, “the statement said, adding: “We are profoundly concerned about the continued arrest, harassment and threats against media professionals by the Iranian regime.”

Iranian officials have not publicly commented on Valizadeh’s arrest.

Iran is routinely accused of arresting dual nationals and Western citizens on false charges to use them to pressure Western countries. In September 2023, Iran released five Americans jailed in Iran in a prisoner swap.

Valizadeh is the first U.S. citizen known to have been arrested since that deal.

Iran is also among the most repressive countries in terms of freedom of press. Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran 176 out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom index. The Paris-based media watchdog says Iran is now also one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists.

Iranian President Says Cease-Fire Could Affect Tehran's Response To Israeli Strike

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian says a cease-fire could "affect the intensity" of any retaliatory strike.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian says a cease-fire could "affect the intensity" of any retaliatory strike.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian said that if a cease-fire were reached by Israel and Tehran-allied groups in the region, the action "could affect the intensity" of any retaliatory strike by Iran’s military, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained his tough stance during a visit to the Lebanese border on November 3, saying the Hezbollah extremist group must be pushed back beyond the Litani River and be prevented from rearming.

Israel for the past several months has been striking suspected sites of Hezbollah -- which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party.

Much of Hezbollah’s leadership has been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon and around the capital, Beirut.

The attacks on Hezbollah have intensified since the Israeli Army invaded the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by its Hamas rulers that killed around than 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones into Israel, saying it will continue its attacks until a cease-fire is reached in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks inside Lebanon have killed nearly 3,000 people, according to officials there, and have destroyed much of Gaza, with a reported death toll of 43,341.

Many leaders in the West and elsewhere have feared a wider war erupting in the Middle East, especially with Israel and Iran trading tit-for-tat air strikes against each other. Many are awaiting Tehran’s next move following Israel’s October 26 strike against military sites inside Iran.

"If they [the Israelis] reconsider their behavior, accept a cease-fire, and stop massacring the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could affect the intensity and type of our response," Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the IRNA state news agency.

But he added that Tehran "will not leave unanswered any aggression against its sovereignty and security."

Pezeshkian, who took office in late July, has been labeled a moderate by some Western observers of the Iranian political situation.

A day earlier, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened Israel and the United States with “a teeth-shattering response” to recent Israeli attacks on Iran and its proxy groups – which it referred to as its “resistance front” -- in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said that "I want to be clear: With or without [a cease-fire] agreement, the key to restoring peace and security in the north, the key to bringing our northern residents back home safely, is first and foremost to push Hezbollah back beyond the Litani River, secondly to target any attempt to rearm, and thirdly to respond firmly to any action taken against us."

Israel "will definitely do everything that should be done…whether in terms of military, weapons, or political work," he said.

The Litani River is some 30 kilometers inside Lebanon from the border and would create a buffer zone between Hezbollah forces and Israeli territory, which Netanyahu has insisted upon.

In a report by Axios on November 2, a U.S. official and a former Israeli official said the U.S. administration had warned Tehran in recent days that it won’t be able to restrain Israel should Iran launch another attack against the U.S. ally.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

How Iran Is Trying To Interfere In The U.S. Election (Video)

How Iran Is Trying To Interfere In The U.S. Election (Video)
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U.S. experts say Iran is running a preelection disinformation campaign, using websites partially written by ChatGPT to sow discord in society. So what do these websites look like?

U.S. Warns Iran It Can't 'Hold Israel Back' If New Attack Launched, Axios Reports

Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, people in Tehran walk past a billboard reading in Persian and Hebrew that "another storm is coming."
Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, people in Tehran walk past a billboard reading in Persian and Hebrew that "another storm is coming."

The U.S. administration has warned Tehran in recent days that it won’t be able to restrain Israel should Iran launch another attack against the U.S. ally, Axios reported on November 2, citing a U.S. official and a former Israeli official briefed on the matter. After Iran attacked Israel on October 1, in response to a string of Israeli assassinations of Iran-linked figures in the Middle East, the Israelis responded by striking military targets in Iran, although they did not hit nuclear or oil production sites as some people had feared. “We told the Iranians: We won't be able to hold Israel back, and we won't be able to make sure that the next attack will be calibrated and targeted as the previous one," the unidentified U.S. official said, according to Axios.

Iran's Khamenei Threatens Israel, U.S. With 'Teeth-Shattering' Response

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (file photo)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (file photo)

Iran's supreme leader has threatened Israel and the United States with “a teeth-shattering response” to recent Israeli attacks on Iran and its proxy groups – which it referred to as its “resistance front” -- in the Middle East. In a speech on November 2 to mark the 45th anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "We will definitely do everything that should be done…whether in terms of military, weapons, or political work," adding that "the authorities are already doing it." An Israeli air attack on October 26, which targeted military bases and other sites, killed at least five people, according to Iranian officials. Israel said the attacks were in response to a massive Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel on October 1. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

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