Rouhani Accountability Tracker

UANI has been monitoring the day-to-day actions of the Iranian regime to determine if the Iranian regime is changing its dangerous and threatening behavior, particularly in relation to Iran’s nuclear program, human rights abuses, regional destabilization, and relations with the United States. Optimism in some circles has been encouraged by a change in rhetoric and tone from Rouhani and other senior regime figures, but are words being matched by actions?

The Rouhani Accountability Tracker shows that the Iranian President's words diverge sharply from the actions his government has taken. The nuclear program continues to advance, military intervention in Syria and elsewhere goes on unabated, anti-American incitement remains a pillar of the Islamic Republic, and the human rights situation in Iran has deteriorated with a new wave of repression.

UANI has tracked these developments day-to-day in the table below. Since the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015, UANI now tracks these developments at its “JCPOA Accountability Tracker.”

Date	Theme	Event
07/11/2015		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says "The US is the true embodiment of the global arrogance” and that “Fighting global arrogance is the core of our revolution.” He tells Iranians to “Get ready to continue your fight against the global arrogance.” (Reuters)
07/10/2015		Tens of thousands of Iranians chant “Down with America” and “Death to Israel” in annual anti-Israel Quds Day rallies. (AP)
07/08/2015		Iran's Coordination Council of Islamic Propaganda releases official slogans for the annual Quds Day anti-Israel rally: "Death to America, Death to Israel, Death to global arrogance, and Death to International Zionism". (NYT)
07/07/2015		Iran provides Syria a new line of credit worth $1 billion – the third credit line Tehran has extended to Damascus since anti-government protests began against the Assad regime in March 2011. (AFP)
07/06/2015		Jordanian security forces foil terror plot by Iranian-backed Bayt al-Maqdis group. Considered “most serious case in a decade in terms of the quantity of explosives discovered and their quality.” (YnetNews)
07/05/2015		Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan states a nuclear deal will not change the regime’s hostile attitudes toward the US: "we should never hold a positive view over the enemy… they seek exploiting nations and putting them in chains." (Fars News)
06/30/2015		Iran “executed at least 570 prisoners in the first half of 2015,” a 40% increase year-on-year. This represents the highest execution rate in Iran in more than two decades. (IHR)
06/30/2015		President Hassan Rouhani states that "If the other side breaches the deal, we will go back to the old path, stronger than what they can imagine." (NYT)
06/25/2015		The State Department issues “a dismal assessment of Iran's record on human rights,” showing that “there ha[s] been no discernible progress on Iran's record on human rights since Mr. Rouhani became president. (NYT)
06/23/2015		Supreme Leader Khamenei delivers speech on nuclear negotiations, ruling out inspections of Iran’s military sites, demanding all sanctions be lifted immediately when a deal is signed, and rejecting any long-term freeze on nuclear research and development. (NYT)
06/21/2015		Iran’s parliament overwhelmingly approves a draft bill which would require a final nuclear deal to fulfill certain hardline conditions previously articulated as red lines by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. (Reuters)
06/19/2015		New State Department report shows that Iran continued its “terrorist-related” activity in 2014, suggesting “that neither the election of President Hassan Rouhani nor the prospect of a nuclear accord … has had a moderating effect on Iran's foreign policy." (NYT)
06/17/2015		At least 206 people have been executed in Iran thus far in the month of June, a rate of one execution every two hours. (IHR)
06/17/2015		Senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi says the allegations of nuclear weapons developments against Iran were forged and that the PMD (possible military dimensions) file must be removed in order to make a final deal with the P5+1. (Trend)
06/13/2015		Mohammad Moghimi, the defense lawyer for the imprisoned artist and civil activist Atena Faraghdani, is jailed for “‘non-adultery illegitimate relations’ for shaking hands with his female client.” (ICHRI)
06/11/2015		Iran has “increased its supply of weapons, ammunition and funding to the Taliban, and is now recruiting and training their fighters, posing a new threat to Afghanistan's fragile security.” (WSJ)
06/10/2015		Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami says the U.S. "remains our worst, most vicious enemy " and accuses the U.S. of striving to "destroy the world's moral fabric." (Jerusalem Post)
06/09/2015		Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan accused the U.S. of being behind “divisive plots” to divide Sunnis and Shiites, including being “behind bloody attacks of the terrorist groups of ISIL, al-Nusra and Boko Haram against Muslims in the region." (Fars)
06/05/2015		Iranian Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri reinforces Iran’s hard line stance on inspections, stating,: "Any kind of inspection of Iran's military sites, including managed and restricted access, is unacceptable." (Reuters)
06/05/2015		The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran condemns the “arbitrary and unlawful arrest, detention and prosecution of journalists and rights activists in the country.” (UN News Centre)
06/03/2015		In recent weeks, around 7,000 Iranian and Iraqi fighters have been deployed to shore up the weakening Assad regime, with the goal of reaching a total of 10,000 fighters. (AFP)
06/03/2015		Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says Iran remains the “foremost state sponsor of terrorism.” (WSJ)
06/02/2015		In a meeting with Syria's parliament speaker in Tehran, President Rouhani says, "The Iranian nation and government will remain at the side of the Syrian nation and government until the end of the road."(Reuters)
06/01/2015		A Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentences "artist and civil rights activist Atena Faraghdani to a total of 12.5 years in prison for drawings and content critical of the government that the young activist posted on her Facebook page." (ICHRI)
06/01/2015		In the month of May, Iran executed an average of four people a day, including 56 prisoners from Ghezelhesar prison. (Newsweek)
05/29/2015		The latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program shows that the probe into Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons development remains stalled given Iran’s continued lack of cooperation. (AP)
05/28/2015		An Iranian opposition group reports that “a delegation of North Korean experts in nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles visited a military site near Tehran in April.” (Reuters)
05/26/2015		Following more than 10 months of imprisonment, the trial of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian begins behind closed doors. (NYT)
05/23/2015		Iran dispatches additional IRGC units and Hezbollah fighters to Yemen to support the Houthi rebels. Quds Force Deputy Commander, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghani, also makes the first official admission that Iran has been training the Houthis. (Free Beacon)
05/21/2015		President Rouhani states that research and development is a “red line” for the Iranian regime and that the government will not give foreigners “access to the country's scientific and military secrets.” (Press TV)
05/21/2015		Iranian authorities prosecute writer Reza Khandan Mahabadi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian Writers' Association, for criticizing state censorship in a Facebook post. (Iran Human Rights)
05/20/2015		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Tehran will not allow inspections of its military sites or let inspectors interview its nuclear scientists. (Reuters)
05/19/2015		Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign affairs adviser to the Supreme Leader, meets with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and pledges continued Iranian support. Velayati is the third Iranian official to visit Damascus in less than a week. (AFP)
05/17/2015		An Iranian aid ship approaches Yemen's coastline, risking a confrontation with Saudi forces blockading Yemeni ports. (Bloomberg)
05/16/2015		At least 45 people have been executed since May 1st, including an Afghan citizen. (Iran HR)
05/14/2015		Five IRGC patrol boats fire shots across the bow of a Singapore flagged cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf, forcing the ship to retreat. (CNN)
05/13/2015		The annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom states that "Iranian authorities have escalated their persecution of religious minorities since the election of President Hassan Rouhani despite his promises." (Free Beacon)
05/13/2015		The annual report of an expert panel for the UN's Iran sanctions committee states that the Czech Republic "blocked an attempted purchase by Iran this year of a large shipment of sensitive technology useable for nuclear enrichment." (Reuters)
05/12/2015		Atena Daemi, a civil activist who has been held at Evin Prison since October 2014, is sentenced to seven years in prison at her interrogator's urging. (Iran Human Rights)
05/08/2015		Two United Nations human rights experts condemn “the sharp increase in executions across Iran in recent weeks, urging the Government in Tehran to heed the Organization's appeal for an immediate halt on the use of the death penalty.” (UN)
05/07/2015		Ethnic Kurds riot in Mahabad, Iran in response to the mysterious death of a Kurdish chambermaid, Farinaz Khosravani. Khosravani allegedly died while fleeing from an Iranian official attempting to rape her. (NYT)
05/07/2015		Since April 2015, more than 140 prisoners have been executed in Iran. Most of those executed were convicted of drug related charges. (Iran HR)
05/06/2015		Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Salami says, “We welcome war with the US as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power.” (Fars)
05/05/2015		“Syria and Iran are discussing a second $1 billion credit line to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad… Syrian Central Bank Governor Adib Mayaleh said that Iran has given preliminary approval for the credit line.” (Bloomberg)
05/05/2015		One of Iran's most prominent human rights activists, Narges Mohammadi, is forcibly arrested at her home by security forces and sent to Evin Prison. (ABC News)
05/05/2015		Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, a high-level advisor to Iran's Prosecutor General, says that Facebook will remain completely blocked in Iran. (Iran Human Rights)
05/04/2015		Amir Hekmati, the Marine veteran imprisoned in Iran since 2011, resumes his hunger strike “out of despair over the apparent paralysis in his case." (NYT)
05/04/2015		An Iranian naval fleet reportedly chases a U.S. warship and military planes through the Gulf of Aden and forces them to withdraw. (Free Beacon)
05/04/2015		The Iranian government bans “homosexual” and “devil worshiping” hairstyles, and also prohibits “tattoos, sunbed treatments and plucked eyebrows for men, which are all deemed un-Islamic.” (The Guardian)
04/30/2015		Britain informs the United Nations’ Iran sanctions panel "of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms," in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions sanctioning Iran’s illicit nuclear program. (Reuters)
04/30/2015		Maersk says Iran violated international law by seizing its vessel, the Maersk Tigris, while it was engaged in innocent passage through Iran’s territorial waters in the internationally recognized shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz. (IHS Maritime)
04/30/2015		The U.S. Navy deploys warships to protect American commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a cargo ship in the Strait on April 28. (NYT)
04/30/2015		According to a confidential UN report, “Iran has been shipping weapons to Yemen's Houthi rebels since at least 2009, indicating that the Iranian regime has been supporting the rebels since the early years of the Shiite militia's insurgency.” (AFP)
04/29/2015		Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif suggests that Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian is incarcerated in Iran because he “was taken advantage of” by a “low-level [intelligence] operative” possibly linked to the U.S. government. (Reuters)
04/29/2015		Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is facing criticism from his supporters after “claiming in a recent US interview that Iran does not imprison citizens solely because of their opinions.” “We do not jail people for their opinions,” he said. (The Guardian)
04/28/2015		Iranian IRGC patrol boats intercepted, fired upon, and then boarded the Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged container ship sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, after it refused an Iranian order to steam further into Iran's territorial waters. (WashPost)
04/27/2015		Iran's judiciary bans the monthly magazine Zanan-e Emrouz for publishing an article "encouraging and justifying" cohabitation out of wedlock. (Reuters)
04/27/2015		Amid Saudi Arabia’s military operations in Yemen, IRGC Commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari says the "Saudi dynasty is on the verge of decline and fall" and "enemies and America have submitted" to the strengthening Islamic Revolution. (AFP)
04/27/2015		Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the commander of Iranian ground forces, says that "American officials planned and executed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001" to "justify their presence in Western Asia, with the goal of ruling it." (Politico)
04/27/2015		Iran "channels as much as $35 billion a year into Syria," spending "between $1 to $2 billion a month in cash handouts and military support" in addition to "dispatching thousands of soldiers and paramilitary fighters to bolster Syria's flagging army." (CSM)
04/27/2015		Ali Younesi, a senior advisor to Iranian President Rouhani, accuses the U.S. and Israel of "waging a sectarian war in the Middle East region" and "seek[ing] to create conflicts and divisions among various ethnic groups and denominations" to undermine Iran. (PressTV)
04/24/2015		Acting with "mounting aggressiveness," Iranian IRGC naval forces "encircle and threaten a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel," the Maersk Kensingon, while it sails down an internationally recognized trade route in the southern Persian Gulf. (USA Today)
04/21/2015		Amir Hekmati, a Marine veteran incarcerated in Iran for over three and a half years, denounces "Iran's 'serial hostage-taking and mistreatment' and demands tougher pressure on Iranian authorities" to release American prisoners as part of negotiations. (NYT)
04/20/2015		Iran arrests the secretary-general of the Iranian Teachers' Organization and sends him to Evin Prison to serve a 5 year sentence for “pursuing union demands” and “meeting with relatives of jailed teachers.” (RFE/FL)
04/20/2015		After nine months of incarceration, Iran charges jailed Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian with espionage, "collaborating with hostile governments," and "propaganda against the establishment." (WashPost)
04/19/2015		Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei slams the U.S. for creating the "myth" of Iranian nuclear weapons to "portray Iran as a threat" although "the source of the threat is America itself, with its unrestrained, destabilizing interventions." (Reuters)
04/19/2015		IRGC deputy leader Gen. Hossein Salami says that "allowing the foreign inspection of military sites is tantamount to 'selling out'" and "inspectors will be barred from military sites under any nuclear agreement with world powers." (AP)
04/17/2015		Iranian Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan says the "ISIL, Boko Haram and al-Nusrah have been created in line with the US strategy of religion against religion" in order to "impair the divine face of Islam" and "reduce security threats to Israel." (Fars)
04/17/2015		Iran sends "an armada of seven to nine ships - some with weapons - toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels" in direct opposition to the Saudi-led coalition's naval blockade of Yemen. (The Hill)
04/15/2015		Iran executes 43 prisoners in the last three days, one of whom is "a juvenile offender with serious mental illness." (IHR)
04/14/2015		U.S. State Department acting spokeswomen Marie Harf calls on Iran to "respect [the] newly imposed U.N. arms embargo" on Shiite militias in Yemen due to the fact that Iranian support for the Houthis has been "obvious" and "incredibly destabilizing." (AFP)
04/14/2015		Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi agrees with U.S. President Obama that "Iran shouldn't be indepdently aiding or advising its Shiite allies on Iraq's front-lines" and says "'we do not accept any intervention in Iraq, or any transgression on Iraqi sovereignty.'" (WSJ)
04/09/2015		Demanding that all sanctions be immediately removed upon the signing of a nuclear deal, Ayatollah Khamenei says that the "deceptive" U.S. has "devilish intentions" and "wants to restrict [Iran] in the details." (Reuters)
04/09/2015		President Hassan Rouhani states that "Iran will only sign a final nuclear accord with six world powers if all sanctions imposed... are lifted the same day." (Reuters)
04/08/2015		Iranian defense minister Brigadier Gen. Hossein Dehqan dismisses reports that IAEA inspectors will be allowed to inspect Iranian military bases as part of a nuclear deal, calling it one of Iran's "red lines." (PressTV)
04/08/2015		The UAE's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nayahan, states that Iran's interference in Yemen is part of Iran's "'revolution export' strategy" which is also being conducted in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (Reuters)
04/06/2015		Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah praises the emerging nuclear agreement, stating it will make Iran "richer and wealthier” and “more influential," which will thereby "reinforce the position of its allies." (Daily Star)
04/06/2015		Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. states "that members of the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guard are on the ground in Yemen helping to direct Houthi military operations" and are "providing substantial military support, financing and intelligence" to them. (WSJ)
04/04/2015		To help Hamas recover from its military conflict with Israel last summer, Iran is sending it tens of millions of dollars “to help it rebuild [its] network of [assault] tunnels” and replenish its stockpile of rockets. (Daily Telegraph)
04/02/2015		Iranian FM Mohammad Zarif accuses the Obama Administration of "misleading the American people and Congress in a fact sheet" about the tentative framework nuclear deal and rejects the gradual removal of sanctions, insisting they will be removed all at once. (Free Beacon)
04/02/2015		Iranian FM Mohammad Zarif declares victory in the P5+1 negotiations by stating that "all international sanctions" will be lifted and "none of those measures include closing our facilities" and "[Iran] will continue enriching, research, and development." (The Hill)
04/01/2015		In the days following the liberation of the Iraqi city of Tikrit from ISIS, Iraqi officials struggle to maintain order as Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitaries engaged in looting, lynching, and violence in addition to the arson of "hundreds of houses." (Reuters)
03/31/2015		A U.S. federal judge "finds the governments of Iran and Sudan liable in the al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen" in the first ruling to find Iran partially responsible for the attack. (WashPost)
03/27/2015		U.S. officials say the IRGC is training and arming the Houthi rebels in Yemen and are concerned they could "train the Houthis to use advanced weaponry." (Reuters)
03/24/2015		The director of the IAEA states that Iran has “failed to allay the agency’s concerns” over the “possible military dimensions” of its nuclear program by providing “very limited” information and not answering outstanding inquiries. (WashPost)
03/24/2015		Iran’s nuclear spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi rejects the IAEA’s request for “snap inspections,” after having previously stated Iran may accept such inspections as part of a final agreement. (AP)
03/21/2015		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei expresses support for the regime slogan “Death to America” and denounces the U.S.’s “arrogant” and “bullying” negotiating style as the source of international pressure on Iran. (Reuters)
03/20/2015		Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus says the Iraqi Shiite militias, supported by Iran, pose "the foremost threat to Iraq's long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium" and that Iran "is ultimately part of the problem, not the solution." (Politico)
03/19/2015		Yemeni security sources report the unloading of "more than 180 tons of weapons and military equipment" from an Iranian ship at the Houthi-controlled al-Saleef port in western Yemen. (Al Arabiya)
03/16/2015		A letter by Amir Hekmati, a US Marine veteran imprisoned in Iran since 2011, details “a litany of previously undisclosed torture and other abuses - including feet whippings, Taser hits to the kidneys, sleep deprivation and extended solitary confinement.” (NYT)
03/16/2015		Ahmed Shaheed, a human rights monitor for the UN, states that despite promises by President Rouhani to create a less restrictive Iranian society, “Iran’s use of the death penalty is rising and its repression of political critics is worsening.” (NYT)
03/14/2015		Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi reiterated that Iran’s redlines in negotiations remain unchanged, including keeping the Fordo Enrichment Plant as well as the “function and nature” of the Arak heavy water reactor. (Fars)
03/13/2015		As part of its 'Ankaboot' (Spider) surveillance operation, the IRGC’s cybercrime unit has targeted more than 30 people this month, including the arrest of a dozen people for “immoral” activities on Facebook. (ICHRI)
03/12/2015		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the U.S. “is known for opacity, deceit and backstabbing.” Whenever “the end of the negotiations is in sight… the Americans becomes harsher, coarser and tougher. This is the nature of their tricks and deceptions.’” (Reuters)
03/12/2015		Iranian authorities have reportedly executed over 1193 people since the election of President Rouhani in June 2013, an average of more than 2 executions per day. (IHR)
03/11/2015		Iran executed at least 753 people in Iran in 2014, the highest annual figure in more than 15 years. (IHR)
03/10/2015		The IAEA says that Iran is at least six months behind in providing technical information on the nature of its explosive testing and neutron calculations. (Reuters)
03/10/2015		Iranian Foreign Minister and chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif declares his country “the winner” of the negotiations regardless of whether a nuclear deal is successfully reached. (Free Beacon)
03/10/2015		The reported purpose of Iran and Hezbollah’s offensive in southern Syria is to make the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights “a new front line” in Iran’s hostilities against Israel. (Daily Star)
03/10/2015		A top IRGC officer says the “establishment of the Basij in Syria was one of Iran's most important achievements in recent years” as Iran engages in “ideological education” to recruit “teenagers in Syria” to fight in IRGC-led militias. (NOW Lebanon)
03/09/2015		Pres. Rouhani lauds Iran’s nuclear negotiators for their diplomatic “Jihad” to resist pressure from the global oppressors. He says Iran is “10 times” stronger “than at the time of the [Iran-Iraq War]” and its “power is growing each day.” (AEI)
03/08/2015		In a sign that Iranian government control over the Internet is tightening, graduate student Mohammad Yousefi is reported to be the first arrest under the IRGC’s “Spider” Internet surveillance program of social media chat rooms on platforms like Facebook. (Toronto Star)
03/07/2015		Iran continues its large wave of executions with more than 60 executions reported and 43 confirmed within the last 6 days. (IHR)
03/04/2015		Iran executes six Iranian Sunni Muslim Kurds for the crime of “enmity against God.” The men maintained that they were persecuted and imprisoned for solely practicing and promoting their Sunni faith. (RFE/RL)
03/04/2015		Iranian authorities execute 32 people over the last three days. (IHR)
03/03/2015		In its annual report on Tehran’s human rights record, the office of the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-moon states that Iran has had a “deeply troubling” number of executions and has failed to protect its ethnic and religious minorities. (Reuters)
03/03/2015		Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif rejects President Obama’s demand that Iran freeze its nuclear activities for at least 10 years in the latest disagreement in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. (Reuters)
03/03/2015		Amnesty International condemns Iranian authorities for gouging out a prisoner’s eye in the “an eye for an eye” sentencing as punishment for an acid attack. (AFP)
03/02/2015		According to the IAEA, Iran refuses to hand over information concerning explosives tests and other measures allegedly used for bomb research, complicating the agency’s ability to conclude that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. (Reuters)
02/27/2015		Ali Shirazi, a senior Iranian cleric and an aide to Ayatollah Khamenei, vows that the “flag of Islam” will be raised “over the White House” in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah soldiers in Syria. (Daily Mail)
02/27/2015		The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announces it has test-fired a “new strategic weapon” the last day of its “Great Prophet 9” military drills which will be “very decisive” in confronting “the Great Satan,” a name used by Iran to refer to the United States. (AP)
02/26/2015		According to the annual worldwide threat assessment, Director of Intelligence James Clapper states that that Iran poses a threat to the Middle East and “does not face any insurmountable technical barriers to producing a nuclear weapon.” (The Hill)
02/26/2015		The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, officially identifies Iran as the perpetrator behind a devastating cyber-attack on Las Vegas Sands Corp on February 10, 2014. (Bloomberg)
02/25/2015		In the first excercise of its kind, Iran's Revolutionary Guard launches a large-scale naval exercise against a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz. (Washington Post)
02/23/2015		Asharq Al-Awsat reports that since 2007, Iran has been coordinating with Al-Qaeda affiliate and Saudi national, Saleh Al-Qarawi, in order to carry out attacks against U.S. targets in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. (Al-Awsat)
02/19/2015		Against global outcry from human rights organizations, Iran executes Saman Naseem, a juvenile offender and ethnic Kurd. (France24)
02/17/2015		President Rouhani declares that Iran’s nuclear activities have accelerated and accuses Iran’s enemies of attempting to block the country’s scientific development. (Fars)
02/12/2015		Iran and Hezbollah are assisting the Assad regime in southern Syria to retake the Golan Heights from rebels and open another front of "resistance" against Israel along the Syrian border. (Haaretz)
02/11/2015		Satellite imagery obtained and analyzed by the think tank ISIS "shows continued signs of external activity at the Parchin military site where Iran is alleged to have conducted work related to nuclear weapons development." (ISIS)
02/11/2015		At rallies makring the 36th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, demonstrators chant "Death to America" and other anti-American slogans. (Bloomberg)
02/11/2015		According to a Fox News report, Unit 190, a covert cell of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, is instrumental in fueling violence across the Middle East by supplying weapons to conflict zones and terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. (Fox News)
02/11/2015		Iranians march in front of a display depicting President Obama hanging from gallows and pictures portraying Secretary of State Kerry as a devious fox during a rally commemorating the 36th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. (Fox News)
02/10/2015		Iran's nuclear chief says that within next six months "Iran will put into operation small centrifuge with over 80,000 cycles per minute" as part of its tubular centrifuge program for medical purposes. (IRNA)
02/08/2015		Western officials say "Tehran [is] refusing to move on a central demand to significantly curtail uranium enrichment," which is reducing the chances to reach a final deal. (WSJ)
02/08/2015		IAEA head Yukiya Amano says "talks between Iran and the United Nations' atomic agency have yielded no significant progress in recent months" and that "much more needs to be done" to clarify outstanding issues. (WSJ)
02/06/2015		"Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokth Molaverdi, criticize[s] the administration's lack of attention to opportunities for women to play an active role in society and her own lack of executive authority to implement changes." (Al-Monitor)
02/06/2015		Israeli news media reports that "Uruguay has expelled a senior Iranian diplomat over last month's planting of a dummy bomb near Israel's embassy in Montevideo." (AFP)
02/04/2015		A senior Iranian official warns that Iran "will increase the number of its uranium enrichment centrifuges" if the U.S. introduces new sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program. (Press TV)
02/04/2015		Foreign Policy magazine reports that despite the Iranian regime's identity as a victim of chemical warfare, "Tehran is doing all it can to protect Bashar al-Assad from Western attempts to punish him for using the deadly weapons against his own people." (Foreign Policy)
02/02/2015		Iran launches its fourth satellite into space in a move subsequently condemned by the U.S. for its connection to Tehran's long-range missile program. (Al-Monitor)
02/01/2015		IRGC cyberspace specialist announces "that 12 Iranian Facebook users have been arrested on charges of 'spreading corruption, and [carrying out a] mission to change family lifestyles.'" (ICHRI)
02/01/2015		It is revealed that Abolghassem Salavati, a judge known for imposing harsh sentences and sanctioned by the EU for human rights violations, will be trying imprisoned Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. (Washington Post)
01/29/2015		A wave of labor protests is sweeping through Iran, with at least eight labor protests taking place in different cities between January 20 and January 29. (ICHRI)
01/29/2015		In its World Report 2015, Human Rights Watch states that throughout 2014, "Repressive elements within Iran's security and intelligence forces and judiciary retained wide powers and carried out serious rights abuses." (HRW)
01/28/2015		An Iranian court shuts down the weekly newspaper Setareh Sobh after it published a letter from an Iranian MP to the head of the Head of the Judiciary demanding an end to the unconstitutional house arrest of opposition leaders. (Radio Zamaneh)
01/21/2015		Iranian officials criticize Iranian FM Mohammad Zarif for taking a "stroll" during nuclear negotiations in Geneva with an "enemy of humanity," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. (RFE/RL)
01/19/2015		Iran's conservative press watchdog revokes the press permit of reformist newspaper Mardom-e Emrooz after it publishes a picture of Hollywood star George Clooney wearing a "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") button. (Reuters)
01/13/2015		President Hassan Rouhani announces that Iran has begun constructing two new nuclear power plants at Bushehr to further increase the country's nuclear power output. (Fars)
01/11/2015		Iran's nuclear chief says that within 8 years, the country will need 12 times more enriched uranium than it currently possesses and an enrichment capacity of 190,000 SWU. (AFP)
01/09/2015		In reaction to a new wave of arrests and prosecutions of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists declares that entering 2015, Iran is further cementing its position as one of the world's leading jailers of journalists. (CPJ)
01/07/2015		Iran's judiciary orders that access to the personal communication apps LINE, WhatsApp and Tango be shut down. (AP)
01/05/2015		Basij Commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi says the goal of the Islamic Revolution is "the destruction of the White House and the annihilation of Zionism [Israel]." (Daily Caller)
01/04/2015		In the first 4 days of 2015, the Iranian government has executed at least 17 people, including 3 public hangings. (IHR)
12/18/2014		The UN General Assembly approved a resolution cricizing the human rights situation in Iran, specifically the high rate of executions, torture, gender discrimination and the targeting of activists and journalists. (AP)
12/17/2014		Out of 65 countries assessed in Freedom House's annual "Freedom on the Net" report, "Iran remained the country with the lowest degree of Internet freedom." (Mashable)
12/17/2014		Senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami says that Iran has attained the knowledge to build a nuclear bomb. (Guardian)
12/17/2014		Iran's top security official says "Tehran will not seek a resumption of diplomatic ties with Washington even if a comprehensive nuclear deal helps to defuse tensions between the two." (FT)
12/16/2014		The NYT reports that Amir Hekmati, a former Marine imprisoned in Iran for more than 3 years, has begun a hunger strike and released an open letter to President Obama urging him "not to forget me." (NYT)
12/14/2014		At a Hamas military parade celebrating the organization's 27th anniversary, spokesman Abu Obeida praised Iran for its support, applauding the regime for "not skimp[ing] on money, weapons and other things and provid[ing] the resistance with rockets." (AFP)
12/10/2014		The Washington Post reports that the continued incarceration of Jason Rezaian, its Tehran-based reporter, is "taking a devastating toll on him, physically and mentally." (WashPost)
12/09/2014		Foreign Policy magazine reveals that the U.S. privately accused Iran of increasing efforts to illicitly procure components for its Arak heavy water reactor in violation of UN sanctions, as detailed in a UN Security Council sanctions committee report. (Foreign Policy)
11/23/2014		Hezbollah's Deputy Seceretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem says Iran has not only has shipped missiles to the group, but has also trained Hezbollah forces to prepare and launch them. (Trend)
11/11/2014		Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force says Iran built Syria's missile production plants and that the missiles being produced there are of Iranian design. (Fars)
11/11/2014		Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi says "human rights situation has not improved despite President Hassan Rouhani's promises of change...and in some cases, it is worse." (AP)
11/11/2014		Intensifying proliferation concerns, Iran signs a deal to have Russia construct two nuclear power reactors at Bushehr, with the intention to ultimately construct eight reactors in Iran. (Los Angeles Times)
11/08/2014		Iran may have violated the interim nuclear deal by introducing uranium feedstock into an advanced IR-5 centrifuge. (Reuters)
11/07/2014		The latest IAEA quarterly report shows that Iran has made virtually no progress in addressing the outstanding issues related to the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program. (Reuters)
11/04/2014		Chanting "Death to America," protesters in Iran rally against the 'Great Satan' on the 35th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embasy in Tehran. (RFE/RL)
11/01/2014		British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami, " detained in Iran for trying to watch a volleyball game," is reportedly sentenced to one year in prison for spreading "propaganda against the regime." (Guardian)
11/01/2014		Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi declares that the removal of all sanctions are a precondition for a comprehensive deal and that "no machine or equipment [of Iran's nuclear program] will be dismantled." (Fars)
11/01/2014		Despite international condemnation, Iranian authorities execute 26-year-old Iranian woman Reyhaneh Jabbari, who killed a man who was reportedly attempting to rape her. (NYT)
10/31/2014		Head of the IAEA Yukiya Amano says "there has been almost no progress in resolving [Iran's] outstanding allegations of weapons development," complicating efforts to reach a broader nuclear agreement. (WSJ)
10/27/2014		Referring to his latest report on the human rights situation in Iran, UN special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed says that conditions have worsened, highlighting a surge in executions and greater oppression of women. (NYT)
10/13/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei blames the U.S. and U.K. for creating Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda in addition to supporting sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis. “If anyone fuels the fire in this regard, he or she will definitely be helping sinister America and Britain which are the creators of the ISIL and al-Qaeda.” (Press TV)
09/23/2014		The U.S. launches airstrikes in Syria against the Khorasan Group, a new Al Qaeda cell that poses a "direct threat" to the U.S. homeland and is run by Muhsin al-Fadhli, who until recently was operating the Al Qaeda network in Iran with government approval. (Washington Post)
09/23/2014		IranWire reports that the IRGC's Intelligence Unit extracted a forced a confession from Jason Rezaian, the American journalist imprisoned in Iran since July 2014. (Iran Wire)
09/22/2014		Iran rejects international demands that it repurpose its underground, fortified enrichment facility at Fordow. (AP)
09/22/2014		"Eleven Iranians accused of sending insulting SMS text messages about Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini have been arrested in the southern province of Shiraz." (AFP)
09/21/2014		Senior Iranian officials say "Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program in exchange." (Reuters)
09/21/2014		In Tehran, security forces violent attack Sufi dervishes protesting the treatment of their coreligionists. 800 dervishes are held overnight. (Radio Zamaneh)
09/20/2014		Iran's judiciary has given the government one month to block popular instant messaging services WhatsApp, Viber, and Tango. (Reuters)
09/18/2014		Five people are hanged publicly in the cities of Shiraz and Sardasht as part of an ongoing "execution wave" in Iran. In the last 30 days at least 95 people have been executed in various Iranian cities. (IHR)
09/17/2014		The six Iranian youth who were arrested for appearing in a viral video dancing to Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" received suspended sentences of six months in prison and 91 lashes. (Daily Telegraph)
09/17/2014		Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran's judiciary has "no obligation to explain" the charges against Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been detained and held incommunicado in Iran for nearly two months. (Washington Post)
09/17/2014		A Western diplomat says, "On the question of enrichment we have practically made no progress." Iran "appears unwilling to reduce the number of its centrifuges to below 10,000", which is unacceptable to the P5+1. (Reuters)
09/16/2014		"A blogger found guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammad in his postings on Facebook has been sentenced to death." (ICHRI)
09/16/2014		Lead U.S. nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman says Iran and the P5+1 "remain far apart" on certain "core issues, including the size and scope of Iran's uranium enrichment capacity," with the status quo being unacceptable. (AFP)
09/15/2014		"Iran plans to start construction of two new nuclear power plants by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21)," with Russia building them. (Trend)
09/12/2014		UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's annual report to the General Assembly on human rights in Iran shows that Rouhani's "promises of greater freedoms for [Iran] have not resulted in any major improvements regarding human rights and freedom of expression." (Reuters)
09/11/2014		A 25 year-old British-Iranian women's rights activist has been held in solitary confinement for more than two months in Iran's notorious Evin Prison for protesting the exclusion of women from attending national sporting events. (ICHRI)
09/05/2014		According to the IAEA's quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program, Iran "failed to address concerns about suspected atomic bomb research by an agreed deadline." (Reuters)
08/27/2014		Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi announces that Tehran is preparing to launch new generation IR-8 centrfiuges, which have already undergone mechanical tests. (Fars)
08/27/2014		Iran appeared to have failed to to meet the agreed to August 25 deadline for addressing the IAEA's concerns about suspected nuclear bomb research. (Reuters)
08/23/2014		Defense Minister Hossein Dehgan says Iran will not give UN nuclear inspectors access to the Parchin military site, where nuclear weaponization activities are suspected to have occurred. (AFP)
08/21/2014		57 prisoners have been executed since August 3, with 13 of the executions carried out in public. (IHR)
08/19/2014		Iran's envoy to the IAEA says all allegations about the military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program are "baseless", centered on a "bunch of information provided by Western intelligence agencies which has no basis." (Tasnim)
08/18/2014		Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior nuclear negotiator says Iran seeks to establish an "industrial-level" enrichment program. (Fars)
08/17/2014		Contrary to multiple UN Security Council resolutions, President Rouhani said, "Iran's missile capability is by no means and at no level negotiable." (Press TV)
08/15/2014		Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran and the P5+1 are unlikely to reach a final accord by the November interim agreement deadline. (AP)
08/13/2014		Addressing Iranian diplomats, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Relations with the US and negotiating with that country, except in specific cases, will have no benefit to the Islamic Republic, but rather will be harmful." (Tasnim)
08/13/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that nuclear negotiations have been "another valuable experience for everyone to know that being in touch with Americans and talking to them is useless and has absolutely no effect on decreasing their enmity." (LAT)
08/12/2014		3 weeks after the arrest of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and his journalist wife Yeganeh Salehi, "Iranian judicial authorities continue to refuse to provide any information about the reasons for [their] arrest or any news about their condition." (ICHRI)
08/10/2014		"Iran will not accept a weak uranium enrichment program which world powers might be willing to grant the Islamic republic like a 'toy' in nuclear negotiations" said Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for American and European Affairs. (AFP)
08/08/2014		"United Nations human rights experts...expressed grave concern over the recent escalating trend of arrest and sentencing of individuals exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion, peaceful assembly and association." (UN)
08/07/2014		"Two men were publicly hanged in the city of Kermanshah... With these executions, the number of executions since the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (last week) has reached to 11. 10 of the executions have been carried out in public." (IHR)
08/06/2014		"Four prisoners were hanged publicly in the city of Shiraz...two of the prisoners were...charged with sodomy… Since there was no mention of rape...there is possibility that these men were sentenced to death for sexual relationship with the same sex." (IHR)
08/04/2014		"Two senior Iranian officials told an Arabic-language television channel Monday that Tehran has supplied missile technology to Hamas for its fight against Israel." (LAT)
08/03/2014		“A well-known Iranian academic who had a death sentence overturned a decade ago has been convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for spreading propaganda against the regime." (AFP)
08/03/2014		“General Samiullah Qatrah said on Aug. 3 that Taliban fighters recently captured by security forces admitted that Iran is backing the network, which has killed 11 policemen, soldiers, civilians, and two Finnish aid workers in Herat over the past 11 days." (Long War Journal)
08/01/2014		“Journalist, political activist,... Serajeddin Mirdamadi has been sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Salavati of Section 15 of the Revolutionary Court ... found guilty of ‘propaganda against the state’ and ‘conspiracy against national security.’" (ICHRI)
08/01/2014		"A sharp rise in arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment of independent journalists in Iran signals the authorities’ utter determination to crush hopes for increased freedom heralded by the election of President Hassan Rouhani." (Amnesty)
07/31/2014		“Iran's crackdown on journalists and political activists is being spearheaded by a small group of judges under the influence of the country's intelligence and security apparatus, according to human rights organizations." (Guardian)
07/27/2014		"The human rights situation in the country has deteriorated for many human rights defenders and especially for Baha’is and Christian converts." (Al-Monitor)
07/25/2014		“Tehran's chief justice Gholamhossein Esmaili on Friday confirmed the arrest of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and his wife, also a journalist, the official IRNA news agency reported." (AFP)
07/24/2014		“Iran provided Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel from Gaza, its parliament speaker said on Thursday." (AFP)
07/22/2014		"The U.N. nuclear watchdog is concerned about Iran's current lack of engagement with an investigation into its suspected atomic bomb research, ahead of a deadline next month for Tehran to step up cooperation, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday." (Reuters)
07/20/2014		"A former member of President Obama's inner circle on the Iran issue says Iran is actually moving further from the six world powers on the most important issue of all: how much uranium enrichment capacity the Islamic Republic will be entitled to retain." (LAT)
07/14/2014		“A major speech by Iran's Supreme Leader has limited the ability of the Iranian delegation at high-level nuclear talks to make concessions with six world powers and this could scuttle chances for Tehran to reach an accord to end sanctions, diplomats said. (Reuters)
07/13/2014		A U.S. official says "Iran has stuck to 'unworkable and inadequat' positions in nuclear talks with six world powers despite." (Reuters)
07/13/2014		“An Iranian court handed jail sentences of [8] to 21 years to eight Facebook page administrators...The report said the defendants were convicted of plotting against national security, spreading propaganda against the ruling system and insulting officials." (AP)
07/12/2014		“Iran's chief negotiator in nuclear talks in Vienna warned Saturday that Tehran is ready to walk away if ‘excessive’ Western demands cause a failure, eight days before a deadline for a deal." (GlobalPost)
07/09/2014		"At least 411 prisoners have been executed in Iran from the beginning of January 2014 to the end of June of the same year. This indicates that the execution wave, which recommenced after the most recent Iranian presidential election, is continuing." (IHR)
07/09/2014		"'Iran needs 190,000 [SWU] of uranium enrichment capacity to produce the required annual fuel for the Bushehr [nuclear] plant,' head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi has said, echoing remarks by Iran's Supreme Leader." (nuclearenergy.ir)
07/09/2014		“Evidence that Hamas is firing more sophisticated weapons at Israel – including longer-range rockets – than in past conflicts is focusing a new light on Iran’s role in arming the militant organization." (CSM)
07/08/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would need to significantly increase its uranium enrichment capacity from its current capacity of 10,000 separative work units (SWUs) to 190,000. (Reuters)
07/07/2014		“Iranian journalist Marzieh Rasouli said Monday that she has been sentenced to two years in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and 50 lashes for publishing anti-regime propaganda." (AFP)
07/07/2014		"A juvenile offender was executed in the prison of Tabriz (Northwestern Iran) in the month of June, according to unofficial sources...According to reports published by Iran Human Rights at least 8 juvenile offenders have been executed in 2014 in Iran." (IHR)
07/04/2014		"'All the figures which are reported on the number of centrifuges are the figment of the imagination of some foreign media.' Araqchi said in a news conference on Thursday," contrary to previous signals at reduction. (Fars)
07/03/2014		"Talks between Iran and six world powers aimed at clinching a deal on Iran's contested nuclear program should include human rights concerns, the U.N. human rights chief said." (Reuters)
07/02/2014		"According to Foreign Minister Zarif, Iran is willing to “take concrete steps to ensure its nuclear program remains peaceful but will not ‘kneel in submission’ to do a deal.” (Reuters)
06/27/2014		"A U.N. expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran." (Reuters)
06/23/2014		"Iran is moving to finalise plans with Russia to build at least two more nuclear power plants on its southern Gulf shores...Oil-rich Iran says it wants to operate at least 20 nuclear power plants capable of producing 20,000 megawatts of electricity." (AFP)
06/23/2014		“Iranian police have arrested three people who appeared in an online video of young men and women singing and dancing in support of the country’s World Cup football team, the official IRNA news agency reported Monday." (WashPost)
06/22/2014		"Iran has banned female fans and even women journalists from attending World League volleyball matches in Tehran." (Al Jazeera)
06/20/2014		"Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif highlighted the wide gulf between the sides, urging the six nations to "abandon excessive demands which will not be accepted by Iran". (Reuters)
06/20/2014		"Iran has sentenced a group of tech bloggers to a combined 36 years in prison for espionage and working with foreign media." (Mashable)
06/19/2014		"Tehran University professor and prominent Iranian analyst Sadegh Zibakalam has been given an 18-month prison sentence for questioning the usefulness of the country's nuclear program." (Al Monitor)
06/18/2014		In the fifth round of nuclear talks, “Iran is refusing to significantly cut the number of centrifuges it intends to keep to produce nuclear fuel, making it hard to imagine a compromise at this week's talks with six powers." (Reuters)
06/18/2014		"Iran is refusing to significantly cut the...centrifuges it intends to keep to produce nuclear fuel, making it hard to imagine a compromise at this week's talks... 'What the West offers Iran on the number of centrifuges is like a joke and unacceptable.'" (Reuters)
06/12/2014		"Ali Chabishat and Khaled Mousavi, two Iranian-Arabs from the southern city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, [are] secretly executed and buried in a remote area." (ICHRI)
06/08/2014		President Rouhani called the Syrian presidential election a “hope-inspiring event” and congratulated Assad, on his victory, stating, “I hereby congratulate this victory to the Syrian nation and your good self wholeheartedly.” (Trend)
06/04/2014		Western countries called on Iran “to speed up its promised cooperation with a long-stalled U.N. nuclear watchdog investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Tehran.” (Reuters)
06/03/2014		In the latest round of nuclear negotiations, Iran further harmed the prospects for their success by making a new and unrealistic demand that it should be able to produce fuel for its Bushehr nuclear power plant. (Reuters)
06/03/2014		Iranian state television targets the women’s rights activist behind the “My Stealthy Freedom” movement through a smear campaign, accusing her of espionage, drug use, and immorality that led to her rape. (RFE/RL)
06/01/2014		The death of a prominent IRGC commander in Syria brings the number of Iranian officers killed in Syria to 60, further underscoring Iran's direct role in the conflict. (LAT)
06/01/2014		"Iran on Sunday hanged a man said to be affiliated with an exiled opposition group, state media reported, despite international pressure on the Islamic republic to halt the execution." (AFP)
05/30/2014		The senior foreign policy adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader says next week's Syrian presidential election "will strengthen the legitimacy of the [Assad] government…as his people have realised he has prevented Syria from…falling to occupation." (AFP)
05/29/2014		Iran and Russia agree to continue nuclear cooperation by building two more nuclear reactors in the city of Bushehr. (ITAR-TASS)
05/27/2014		In addition to opening a case against instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram, an Iranian court issued a summons for the "Zionist director" of Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, over complaints of privacy violations. (Reuters)
05/27/2014		The Iranian Revolutionary Court sentences “eight Facebook users to a total of 123 years in prison on charges of ‘propaganda against the state’ and ‘insulting the Supreme Leader.’” (ICHRI)
05/26/2014		A confidential IAEA report suggests the Agency “is no closer to finding out what happened at a military site at the center of its investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Iran.” The report notes that sanitization activities at Parchin continue. (Reuters)
05/26/2014		Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the P5+1 powers are “demanding too much” of Iran in nuclear negotiations and added, "We have our red line." (Retures)
05/25/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the period for nuclear negotiations has closed, and “Those [Iranians] who want to promote negotiations and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason.” (Washington Times)
05/25/2014		An Iranian court convicts the editor of the banned reformist Bahar daily “over a series of charges, including lying about Islam and spreading anti-regime propaganda.” (AFP)
05/23/2014		An Iranian court orders “that the photo-sharing app Instagram be blocked over privacy concerns.” (AP)
05/22/2014		Following the release of the 6 Iranians arrested for “posting a music video for Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ on YouTube…they spoke of their appalling treatment in prison…the young women were forced to strip naked and perform squats in front of female officers." (Iran Wire)
05/22/2014		“A red carpet peck on the cheek by Leila Hatami, the Iranian actress at the Cannes Film Festival has been reported to the country’s courts by activists who are seeking a public flogging as punishment for violating Islamic laws.” (Daily Telegraph)
05/20/2014		“Six young men and women, who were arrested and detained in Tehran for making a video in which they danced to Pharrell Williams’ hit song ‘Happy’…[are] paraded on state TV…[and] forced to express remorse for their ‘guilty’ act.” (ICHRI)
05/19/2014		“Family and supporters of Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who is being held in an Iranian prison for ‘practical collaboration with the U.S. government,’ gathered for a vigil in front of the White House…to mark the 1,000th day of his detainment.” (NYT)
05/19/2014		“Five prisoners, charged with murder, were hanged in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj…At least 73 prisoners have been executed in different Iranian prisons in May 2014.” (IHR)
05/18/2014		Iran takes a harder line on the Arak heavy water reactor, with nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi saying, "It is ridiculous that the power of the reactor would be cut from 40 megawatts to 10 megawatts.” (Reuters)
05/18/2014		In a “mass-execution,” 10 prisoners are hanged in the prison of Kerman and four more in the prison of Qazvin. (IHR)
05/17/2014		The forth round of nuclear talks in Vienna yields no "tangible progress." A Western diplomat criticized Iran's lack of "realism" and "flexibility." (AFP)
05/16/2014		According to a confidential U.N. report, “Iran is pursuing development of ballistic missiles,” which is “posing an acute challenge” to the ongoing nuclear negotiations. (Reuters)
05/16/2014		Iranian naval commander Admiral Ali Fadavi says “that he is prepared to order suicide attacks, drone strikes, and missile technology to ‘destroy the U.S. Navy.’” (Washington Free Beacon)
05/16/2014		According to deputy chief negotiator Abbas Aragchi, “There is no push to obtain an agreement by July 20 at any price…We (only) concede to an agreement which will be in line with our interests, meet our demands and establish the Iranian nation's rights.” (Fars)
05/16/2014		IRGC Malayer Unit Commander Col. Mohammad Eskandari boasts “IRGC commanders have prepared and equipped 42 divisions and 138 battalions in [Syria], and are fully prepared to fight the enemy…Today’s war in Syria is really our war with America." (Hamedan Basij)
05/15/2014		According to Afghans and Western officials, “Iran has been recruiting thousands of Afghan refugees to fight in Syria, offering $500 a month and Iranian residency to help the Assad regime beat back rebel forces.” (WSJ)
05/12/2014		“A confidential new report by a U.N. panel highlights Iran's methods of evading sanctions - from concealing titanium tubes inside steel pipes to using its petrochemical industry as a cover to obtain items for a heavy-water nuclear reactor.” (Reuters)
05/12/2014		The IAEA “is no nearer to closing the books on…allegations that Iran worked on nuclear arms in the past,” as Iran has still yet “to go into deeper explanations of its work on detonators that have a variety of uses, including sparking a nuclear explosion." (AP)
05/12/2014		A spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) recently admitted, “Al Qaeda has ordered its fighters and branches to refrain from attacking the Iranian state in order to preserve the terror group's network in the country.” (The Long War Journal)
05/11/2014		President Rouhani states Iran “will not accept nuclear apartheid…Our nuclear technology is not up for negotiation.” (AFP)
05/11/2014		Speaking about Iran’s ballistic missile program, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “The [IRGC] should definitely carry out their program and not be satisfied with the present level. They should mass produce.” (Reuters)
05/11/2014		Leading Iranian officials boast, “We have won in Syria…The regime will stay. The Americans have lost it." (The Guardian)
05/07/2014		Major Iranian daily Ghanoon is shut down over claims that “the newspaper published a ‘false’ report about a former Revolutionary Guard.” The closure “reflects Judiciary’s continuing ability to arbitrarily restrict speech and freedom of the press.” (ICHRI)
05/07/2014		“Two leading workers’ rights activists, arrested by security forces in Tehran at an International Labor Day gathering on May 1, 2014, remain in prison.” (ICHRI)
05/06/2014		As Iran “completes work on a large-scale mock-up of a U.S. carrier,” the country’s IRGC naval chief says "Iran will target American aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf should a war between the two countries ever break out." (AP)
05/06/2014		“Western security officials are investigating allegations that Iran supplied Chinese-made bombs filled with chlorine gas to the Syrian regime after satellite images emerged of a Syrian supply flight at Tehran’s main airport.” (Daily Telegraph)
05/06/2014		“A 15 year old Afghan juvenile offender [is] executed in the prison of Isfahan … This is the seventh juvenile offender being executed in Iran in 2014.” (IHR)
05/06/2014		“Iran's hard-line Fars news agency has removed comments by a commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who was quoted as saying that the Islamic republic is militarily involved in Syria.” (RFE/RL)
05/04/2014		The Iranian regime bans the messenger application WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, on the grounds that the Jewish “American Zionist” Mark Zuckerberg owns the site. (FoxNews)
05/01/2014		23 labor activists are “detained in the Iranian capital as they gathered to observe International Workers' Day on May 1…demonstrat[ing] the lack of tolerance of the Iranian government for even a small form of dissent.” (RFE/RL)
05/01/2014		The Baha'i International Community “accuse[s] Iran of excavating a cemetery where hundreds of its followers are buried. ” The cemetery “has been used by Baha'is for decades.” (AFP)
04/30/2014		Iran bans access to smartphone messenger application WhatsApp. The Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content says it has has not yet made a decision on whether to block Viber, Tango and Instagram. (Trend)
04/30/2014		According to the U.S. State Department's Annual Country Reports on Terrorism, “Iran continues to arm and finance a terrorist network that extends from South Asia to the Horn of Africa, from Iraq to Yemen, and across the Palestinian territories.” (Jerusalem Post)
04/29/2014		The life of former presidential candidate and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi “is now being endangered by his continued detention,” as he is “taken to hospital…for urgent heart complications.” (ICHRI)
04/29/2014		Following President Bashar al-Assad’s re-election bid announcement, Iran defended Syria's June presidential election and called on the international community to "respect the inalienable rights of the Syrian people." (AFP)
04/29/2014		Dissidents and oppositionists returning to Iran in hopes of finding broader freedoms under the new Rouhani administration have found that they face continued harassment, "or worse," from the Revolutionary Guards and the judiciary. (RFE/RL)
04/27/2014		An Iranian newspaper reports that “the country’s military plans to target a mock-up American aircraft carrier during upcoming war games.” Speaking on the matter, an IRGC Navy Chief stated, “We should learn about weaknesses and strengths of our enemy.” (AP)
04/26/2014		Four prisoners are publicly hanged in Iran. According to IHR, "At least 48 people have been executed in the month of April.” (IHR)
04/26/2014		“Iran's judiciary [bans] reformist newspaper Ebtekar…for ‘spreading lies,’ ISNA news agency reported, making it the third such publication to be shut down by authorities in recent months.” (AFP)
04/26/2014		Contrary to Hassan Rouhani's pledges of equality for all Iranian citizens during his election campaign, "Iranian Baha’i communities continue to face systematic abuse and violations." (IranWire)
04/25/2014		Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, “A former leader of the group responsible for storming the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and taking American hostages has been criticized for offering an apology to the families of the hostages.” (Al-Monitor)
04/22/2014		Iran announces “it has signed a final protocol with Russia on building two new nuclear power plants.” (Trend)
04/22/2014		Iran Human Rights reports that “The execution wave has resumed in Iran. In the last two weeks at least 30 prisoners have been executed, among them four juvenile offenders.” (IHR)
04/19/2014		Speaking at Women’s Day in Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “we have to empty our minds of this talk that Westerners say about women, [such as] about employment, about management, about gender equality” (Al-Monitor)
04/18/2014		Senior Iranian cleric Kazem Seddiqi says “we will not give up any of achievements made by our scientists in peaceful nuclear energy at any price.” (Press TV)
04/18/2014		Three juvenile offenders are hanged in the prison of Bandar Abbas. (IHR)
04/17/2014		“Dozens of Iranian security forces have stormed a section of Tehran's Evin prison where political prisoners are held, injuring a number of the detainees." (RFE/RL)
04/17/2014		In what activists have dubbed "black Thursday," Political prisoners in Tehran's Evin prison were reportedly "forced to run a gauntlet of guards armed with batons," resulting in serious injuries such as skull fractures and broken ribs. (The Guardian)
04/16/2014		Iran’s defense minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan says that in ongoing nuclear negotiations, “Iran’s missiles are not up for discussion under any circumstances.” (AP)
04/15/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei publishes “an information graphic with the six red lines of the nuclear negotiations” including that “Nuclear scientific movement must not cease or slow down whatsoever.” (AEI)
04/14/2014		Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says that “To meet the annual fuel needs of the Bushehr plant, we must have 50,000 first generation centrifuges.” This is 30,000 more centrifuges than Iran currently possesses. (AP)
04/14/2014		"Amir Hekmati, a former Marine incarcerated [in Tehran] in August 2011…was secretly retried by a revolutionary court in December, convicted of ‘practical collaboration with the American government’ and given a 10-year prison term.” (NYT)
04/14/2014		A UN human rights monitor “[urges] Tehran to halt the planned execution of an Iranian woman for the alleged murder of a former intelligence official, saying her trial had been deeply flawed." (AFP)
04/13/2014		Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi states, “we believe that we are entitled to any right that any NPT and (International Atomic Energy) Agency member has, which means that enrichment (of uranium) from 1% to 90% is our right.” (Fars)
04/10/2014		The Daily Telegraph reports that Hamid Abutalebi, the “Iranian diplomat that America is refusing to accept as Tehran’s next ambassador to the [UN] was implicated in the death of an Iranian dissident in Rome in the 1990s.” (The Daily Telegraph)
04/10/2014		UN human rights experts “[call] on Iran to provide urgent medical care to two political prisoners [blogger Mohammad Reza Pourshajari and religious cleric Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi], warning the seriously ill men risked dying in detention.” (AFP)
04/10/2014		According to his daughter, “Imprisoned human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani is in critical condition because prison authorities have been denying him needed medical care for the past several months.” (ICHRI)
04/09/2014		Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declares that nuclear negotiations “will not stop or slow down any of Iran's activities in nuclear research and development."   As negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 continue, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei  states that while “These negotiations should continue…all should know that negotiations will not stop or slow down any of Iran's activities in nuclear research and development." (Reuters)
04/09/2014		Speaking to Iranian nuclear scientists on Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei states, “The country’s nuclear achievements can’t be stopped and no one has the right to bargain over it.” Speaking to Iranian nuclear scientists on Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “Our negotiators should not accept any coercive words from the other party…The country’s nuclear achievements can’t be stopped, and no one has the right to bargain over it." (AP)
04/09/2014		Chief of Iran’s judiciary Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani “[accuses] the EU of spreading homosexuality and promiscuity in the country after the European parliament warned human rights abuses have continued under Hassan Rouhani's new administration.” (Guardian)
04/09/2014		Iranian FM Javad Zarif says "nuclear technology possessed by the Islamic Republic will be maintained."   Speaking after the third round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1, Iranian FM Javad Zarif said "nuclear technology possessed by the Islamic Republic will be maintained." Claiming the two sides were in "50 to 60 percent agreement" on the issues, Zarif also stated that "If necessary, I think it won't be disastrous to extend it.” (WSJ)
04/09/2014		Iranian FM Javad Zarif declares that “topics that have to do with Iran’s defense program have no place in these negotiations.” (Press TV)
04/08/2014		Speaking after a round of nuclear talks, Iran’s Deputy FM Abbas Araqchi states, “The (heavy-water nuclear) reactor of Arak will remain as the heavy-water reactor…Also Iran will not stop or suspend its uranium enrichment work under any circumstances.” (Reuters)
04/08/2014		Former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoon Abbasi reveals for at least 7 years, “Iran concealed information from the [IAEA] because it believed intelligence agencies were using the reports to sabotage its nuclear program.” (Washington Free Beacon)
04/08/2014		“After a break in the executions on the occasion of the Iranian new year, the executions have resumed in Iran.” (IHR)
04/06/2014		Iranian FM Mohammad Zarif “strongly criticized a recent European Parliament resolution [that condemned Iran’s human rights violations], saying no parliamentary delegation from the body would be allowed to visit Iran on terms mentioned in the resolution.” (Press TV)
04/04/2014		Condemning a European Parliament resolution that “criticizes human rights abuses in Iran” and calls for the opening of an EU office in Tehran, Iranian hard-liners insist “Iran will not allow another house of spies to be created in the country.” (RFE/RL)
04/03/2014		British-Iranian citizen Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht “has been locked up in Iran for five months after posting derogatory comments about the country's government on Facebook and fears she will be executed.” (The Independent)
04/03/2014		The European Parliament passes a resolution condemning the “continued, systemic violation of fundamental rights” in Iran, calling on EU members to “mainstream human rights in all of its relations with Iran.” (ICHRI)
04/01/2014		"A high-ranking Iranian lieutenant colonel, identified as Mahmoud A., arrived recently in Lebanon to provide counsel as Hezbollah radically reforms its security apparatus.” (Daily Star)
03/29/2014		For its next UN ambassador, Iran chooses Hamid Aboutalebi, “a member of the group of radical students that seized the U.S. embassy on Nov. 4, 1979” and held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days. (Bloomberg)
03/24/2014		“The Iranian Judiciary prohibited New Year furloughs for political prisoners this year.” Officials say “the furlough ban has political reasons, including Catherine Ashton’s trip to Iran” and Ban Ki-Moon and Ahmed Shaheed’s UN human rights reports on Iran. (ICHRI)
03/24/2014		“Iranian financial support has resumed to Hamas…the return of Hamas’ relations with Tehran can be seen as part of the ‘card reshuffling’ in the region in the last few months as a result of the changes in Egypt and Syria.” (Al-Monitor)
03/20/2014		“Iran is building a nonworking mock-up of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that United States officials say may be intended to be blown up for propaganda value.” (NYT)
03/16/2014		A U.S. official says Iran has been “very actively” engaging in efforts to “buy banned components for its nuclear and missile programs in recent months…a period when it struck an interim deal with major powers to limit its disputed atomic activity.” (Reuters)
03/16/2014		Ahead of the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1, the Iranian Parliament issues a statement warning against "any restrictions on research-related activities," including on the Arak heavy water reactor and uranium enrichment. (AFP)
03/13/2014		“Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, released his third report to the UN Human Rights Council…emphasizing alarm over the surge in the number of executions, as well as lack of independence of the Iranian Judiciary.” (ICHRI)
03/13/2014		Saeed Abedini, the 33-year-old American-Iranian pastor “being held in one of Iran's most brutal prisons" is shackled to a hospital bed and refused medical treatment for internal bleeding "following a beating at the hands of his jailers.” (Fox)
03/12/2014		Russia signs “a preliminary agreement to build at least two more nuclear power plants in the Iranian port city of Bushehr.” (AFP)
03/12/2014		Four UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights express alarm "at the ongoing spike in executions in the country; which recently included the hanging of a former child bride amid questionable circumstances.” (UN)
03/12/2014		Since the US left Iraq in 2011, Iran-backed militant group Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq “has quietly emerged as one of the most powerful players in the country's political and public life.” The group is “increasingly calling the shots” in Syria as well. (Guardian)
03/12/2014		Iran’s parliament spokesman Ali Larijani announces that “Iran’s relations with Hamas have returned to normal” after a “steep downturn in ties over the past two years.” According to Larijani, “Iran…supports Hamas as a ‘resistance organization.’” (Times of Israel)
03/11/2014		UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states that despite its pledges, the new administration of President Rouhani has failed to improve human rights conditions in Iran in terms of both freedom of expression and capital punishment. (Reuters)
03/11/2014		Influential Iranian lawmaker Hossein Naghavi Hosseini blames the U.S. for the disapperance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, saying it was an attempt to "sabotage the relationship between Iran and China and South East Asia." (NYT)
03/11/2014		Iranian media outlets doctor the photographs of a meeting between EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and women activists by removing "Gohar Esghi, the mother of blogger Sattar Beheshti, who was killed while in police custody in 2012.” (Bloomberg)
03/10/2014		“Iran [insists] it won't be rushed into addressing Western suspicions about past military work on its nuclear program.” According to Deputy FM Ravanchi, although Iran has “nothing to hide,” past military work “should be dealt with at a later stage.” (WSJ)
03/10/2014		Iran calls the decision by EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton to meet with women’s rights activists at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran “‘undiplomatic’ and unhelpful for relations with the West.” (Bloomberg)
03/09/2014		US Secretary of State John Kerry marks the seven year anniversary of the disappearance of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson in Iran, making him “one of the longest held American citizens in history.” (AFP)
03/09/2014		General Jazayeri says U.S.-Israeli allegations that Iran sent a ship carrying rockets to Gaza represent a “filthy media campaign…[that] shows the unremitting falsehood, which is rampant in the culture of liberal democracy and Western-Hebrew propaganda.” (Press TV)
03/09/2014		Security agents and police assault and arrest Gonabadi dervishes protesting outside Tehran’s Judiciary over “the lack of medical attention to three of their sick imprisoned members…and the illegal transfer of two others…from Evin to Rajaee Shahr Prison.” (ICHRI)
03/09/2014		Offloading containers aboard the the captured Klos-C vessel carrying Iranian arms to Gaza militants, the Israeli military finds "40 [long-range] rockets…up to the range of 160 [km], 181 122mm mortar shells, approximately 400,000 7.62-calibre rounds." (AFP)
03/08/2014		“Four prisoners [are] hanged in one of the streets of Bandar Abbas… More than 160 people have been executed since the beginning of 2014.” (IHR)
03/07/2014		“International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) [raises] the alarm over what it termed the deliberate denial of medical care to sick political prisoners in Iran.” FIDH stated, "Iranian authorities deny prisoners access to medical care on purpose.” (AFP)
03/07/2014		A 21 year old was hanged in Northern Iran “for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 17. Despite ratifying the UN Convention for the Child’s Rights, Iranian authorities continue execution of juvenile offenders." (IHR)
03/06/2014		Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi states, “The Geneva Accord has not made the Islamic system friends with America…Our relations with America will not improve and we do not intend to negotiate with America.” (Mehr News)
03/06/2014		FM Mohammad Javad Zarif rejects as "lies" Israel's assertion that the ship it intercepted and seized was carrying advanced rockets sent by Tehran to the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
03/06/2014		At a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting, the Bahraini FM accused Iran of “fomenting deadly violence in the kingdom,” stating, "This is terrorism. Premeditated. Pure and simple…The violence we see in Bahrain is directly supported by elements of [Iran].” (Reuters)
03/05/2014		Referring to Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, FM Mohammad Zarif says, “We’re not going to close it. We’re not going to dismantle it. We’re not going to close or dismantle anything, that is our red line.” (AP)
03/05/2014		Speaking about the Arak heavy water reactor, FM Mohammad Zarif insists, "we are not going to close it.” The reactor could provide Iran a second route to building a nuclear bomb by extracting weapons-grade plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel. (AFP)
03/05/2014		In "close coordination" with the U.S., Israeli naval forces “[seize] a ship laden with [long-range] rockets allegedly bound for militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel said Iran was responsible for "orchestrating the delivery.” (AP)
03/04/2014		Maryam Shafipour is sentenced to seven years in prison "on strange and irrational charges such as ‘membership in Facebook,’ ‘applying for a student visa,’…and ‘contact with the Heads of Sedition [Mousavi and Karroubi] during their house arrest.’” (ICHRI)
03/03/2014		Head of Iran’s Judiciary Human Rights Council Mohammad Larijani says Iran’s increased execution rate is a positive achievement, stating, “Our expectation of international organizations and the world is to be grateful for this great service to humanity.” (ICHRI)
03/03/2014		“Three Bahraini policemen [are] killed in an explosion while dispersing ‘rioters’…[raising] concerns of Iranian meddling in the Gulf state.” Government officials suspect "Iran is training Bahrainis via third-party proxies" with connections to the IRGC. (Financial Times)
03/02/2014		Following the execution of seven people in the preceding days, Iran Human Rights reports, “The execution wave continues in Iran- 153 executions have been reported since the beginning of 2014." (IHR)
03/02/2014		Iran executes two gay men "for the crime of 'perversion'" and has sentenced a third man to death for “insulting the prophet.” (Free Beacon)
02/27/2014		Reuters discloses that the IAEA “planned a major report on Iran that might have revealed more of its suspected atomic bomb research, but held off as Tehran's relations with the outside world thawed.” (Reuters)
02/27/2014		Vice-Speaker of Iran's Parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard says the Arak heavy water reactor is 85 percent complete. (Trend)
02/27/2014		Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, FM Mohammad Javad Zarif stated, “I can tell you that Iran's nuclear program will remain intact. We will not close any program." (Reuters)
02/27/2014		The State Department's annual report shows an increase in human rights violations since President Hassan Rouhani took office last year." Iran's leaders remain “among the world’s worst human rights offenders.” (McClatchy)
02/25/2014		Commercial satellite imagery “shows new movements at Iran's Parchin base following an apparent lull in large-scale operations at the site… The facility remains off-limits to [IAEA] inspectors.” (Global Security Newswire)
02/24/2014		Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi says, “It is the Islamic Republic of Iran that determines the level and the extent of enrichment in accordance with its needs and Tehran considers this principle as its redline.” (IRNA)
02/24/2014		Supreme Leader Advisor Ali Akbar Velayati reportedly says “Iran will not reduce the number of its centrifuge machines and will not shut down the Fordo uranium enrichment plant and the Arak heavy-water reactor as part a comprehensive nuclear deal.” (Tehran Times)
02/21/2014		“As Syria's war nears the start of its fourth year, Iran has stepped up support on the ground for President Bashar al-Assad, providing elite teams to gather intelligence and train troops.” (Reuters)
02/21/2014		The UN condemns Iran for a surge in executions in 2014. There have been "at least 80 people and perhaps as many as 95 have been executed in Iran already this year." (Reuters)
02/21/2014		Speaking against those wishing to establish U.S. relations, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati tells thousands at Friday prayers, “Our people are anti-American—you should be anti-American as well. Why did you go a different way from the people?" (AFP)
02/20/2014		Iranian authorities ban "a newly launched reformist daily and arrested its managing director over an article seen as insulting to Islamic law." Bozorgmehr was sent to Evin prison and his bail was set at three billion rials ($100,000). (AFP)
02/19/2014		On the second day of talks in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 over a final deal, IRGC commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari warns, "The red lines of the establishment must be preserved in the negotiations so that the national pride is not damaged.” (AFP)
02/19/2014		Twelve prisoners are executed in Iran, six of which were reported by official Iranian sources and two of which were carried out in public. According to IHR, “In the last seven days there have been 25 official and 14 unofficial executions in Iran.” (IHR)
02/18/2014		Speaking to reporters on the first day of final status nuclear negotiations in Vienna, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would not dismantle any of its nuclear facilities. (AP)
02/18/2014		On the first day of final status nuclear negotiations in Vienna, a member of the Iranian delegation says "Iran will not accept any limitation on its right to replace centrifuges with more advanced machines.” (Reuters)
02/18/2014		Spokesperson for the Supreme National Security Council reminds Iranian media of the gag order on Iran's nuclear program. (ICHRI)
02/17/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says he believes that nuclear talks will "lead nowhere.” In his stated view, "The nuclear issue is an excuse for America (to continue) its animosity." (AFP)
02/17/2014		“Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow said." (Reuters)
02/17/2014		In a speech broadcast on state television, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “The Americans are enemies of the Islamic Revolution, they are enemies of the Islamic Republic, they are enemies of this flag that you have raised.” (Al-Monitor)
02/16/2014		Iranian nuclear negotiator Hamid Baeedinejad states that Iran “will definitely not accept to be deprived from having the right to replace the existing centrifuges with the new and advanced ones,” and that “we certainly want to keep [the Arak] reactor." (AFP)
02/16/2014		“Commander of the Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan warned Washington against a military move against Iran, and said the US is moving towards a final collapse.” (Fars)
02/14/2014		Reporters Without Borders condemns Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani for the continued arbitrary detention of the leaders of the 2009 election protests, who have now been imprisoned for 1,100 days. (RWB)
02/14/2014		“A senior al-Qaeda figure with close ties to the terrorist group’s current leader has left Iran, where he had lived for years after fleeing American forces in Afghanistan in 2001.” (Washington Post)
02/13/2014		Two men are hanged publicly in Shiraz “in front of tens of ordinary citizens. Many children were among those who watched the execution.” (Iran Human Rights)
02/12/2014		Spokesman for Iran's delegation to the UN Hamid Babaei says "it is now too late to change [the Arak reactor] into a light-water prototype.” Without such modifications, Arak could be used to "produce weapon-usable plutonium once activated." (Global Security Newswire)
02/11/2014		Crowds shout "Death to America" and "Death to [Wendy] Sherman" at government-backed rallies marking the 35th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. (NYT)
02/11/2014		“The 32nd Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran has been riddled with controversy, including numerous incidences of censorship during the live broadcasts and backlash against two films dealing with...Ashura and the 2009 elections.” (Al-Monitor)
02/11/2014		Iran's prosecutor general says that opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have committed “a great crime and treason,” and will remain under house arrest until they “repent.” (AFP)
02/10/2014		Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran will never give up 20% uranium enrichment and announces the development of a new centrifuge that is "15 times more powerful" than its centrifuges currently operating. (AFP)
02/10/2014		Defense minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan announces that Iran’s military has successfully test-fired two new domestically made missiles, one of which is a "new generation" "long-range ballistic missile with radar-evading capabilities." (Reuters)
02/10/2014		Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari equates the message of the Islamic revolution with hostility toward the U.S. (Fars)
02/09/2014		Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi underscored that despite a potential nuclear deal, “We have problems with the U.S.A. over dozens of issues…Nothing has changed. The U.S.A. is still the Great Satan in our view.” (NYT)
02/09/2014		In reference to Iran's ballistic missile program, Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi says that in nuclear negotiations, "defense matters" “are non-negotiable and are one of our red lines.” (Mehr News)
02/09/2014		A day after Iran's navy announced its vessles would approach U.S. waters, a top Iranian naval commander boasts “The Americans can sense by all means how their warships will be sunk with 5,000 crews and forces in combat against Iran.” (Free Beacon)
02/09/2014		Iranian-backed militant groups are helping to fuel a resurgence in Iraqi sectarian violence. (Washington Post)
02/08/2014		Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei denounces the U.S. as hypocritical, and urged “The Iranian nation [to] pay attention to the recent negotiations and the rude remarks of the Americans so that everyone gets to know the enemy well.” (Bloomberg)
02/07/2014		US diplomats “[walk] out of the ceremony to celebrate Tunisia's new constitution after Iran's representative made ‘false accusations’ about Washington undermining the Arab Spring uprisings.” (AFP)
02/07/2014		Iranian state TV runs a documentary showing Iran’s drones and missiles bombing multiple targets in Israel as well as the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln “in a hypothetical retaliation for an Israeli or American strike" on Iran." (Times of Israel)
02/06/2014		The U.S. Treasury Department charges that “Tehran has allowed senior al Qaeda members operating from Iranian soil to facilitate the movement of Sunni fighters into Syria.” (WSJ)
02/06/2014		The US Treasury Department adds three members of the IRGC and one “associate” to its list of global terrorists for their "use of terrorism and intelligence operations as tools of influence against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan." (Long War Journal)
02/05/2014		Responding to U.S. officials that said Iran has no need for certain nuclear facilities, FM Mohammad Javad Zarif stated, “Iran's nuclear technology is non-negotiable…and there is no need to negotiate or hold talks about them.” (AFP)
02/05/2014		Sadegh Zibakalam, a “politics professor at Tehran University who had expressed doubts about the nuclear programme,” is summoned and interrogated for five hours by Iran’s judiciary for “weakening” and “propagating against” Iran. He is to be put on trial. (Financial Times)
02/05/2014		Iranian officials receive “a high-level Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegation headed by Ramadan Shallah, the movement’s secretary general.” This meeting confirms “Iran's solidarity [with Islamic Jihad] and its rejection of US policy.” (Al-Monitor)
02/03/2014		Three Baha’is are stabbed in their home in Iran in what what Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said was undoubtedly a “religiously motivated” crime. (Bahai World News Service)
02/02/2014		ICHRI reports, “New concerns about the safety of Internet communications have emerged following statements by Iranian authorities about the government’s utilization of new, more complex, and undetectable filtering methods.” (ICHRI)
02/01/2014		Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator says, “Dismantling will never occur on Iranian enrichment program." (ISNA)
01/31/2014		Long War Journal reports, “A senior al Qaeda operative based in Iran and known as Yasin al Suri (a.k.a. Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil) is ‘more active than ever’ and facilitating al Qaeda's global operations.” (Long War Journal)
01/30/2014		Head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, rejects an impending UN human rights report on Iran after receiving a draft, and says that Iran will not cave to external pressure. (Al-Monitor)
01/30/2014		An Iranian news agency "publishes the names of 15 Iranians killed who had volunteered to go to Syria." (Al-Monitor)
01/29/2014		IHR reports that “two Ahwazi Arab activists Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Shabani have been executed…for Moharebeh ('enmity against Go'), Mufsid-fil-Arz ('corruption on earth') and spreading propaganda against the system.” (IHR)
01/29/2014		According to an annual intelligence asessment presented by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Iran has largely overcome the technical constraints to build nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. (Politico)
01/28/2014		Public hanging in the city of Qazvin (west of Tehran). In the first 4 weeks of 2014, at least 61 people have been executed in Iran. (IHR)
01/27/2014		A new ISIS report indicates that “The interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers will allow Tehran to continue far more research and development on centrifuges to enrich uranium than has been publicly recognized.” (LA Times)
01/25/2014		Reza Najafi, Tehran's envoy to the IAEA, says it is unnecessary for the UN nuclear watchdog to set up an office in Tehran. (AFP)
01/24/2014		Despite the large body of evidence indicating otherwise, FM Mohammad Javad Zarif denies Iran directed Hezbollah militants to fight in Syria. (AFP)
01/23/2014		In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Rouhani defends Iran’s right to an indigenous nuclear program and affirmed that “not under any circumstances” would Iran dismantle its centrifuges. (CNN)
01/22/2014		Reformists in Iran argue that “by securing Khamenei's consent to the nuclear deal, Rouhani has depleted his political capital with the man who has the final say on all state matters, leaving nothing for domestic reforms,” including in human rights. (Reuters)
01/22/2014		In an interview with CNN, FM Mohammad Javad Zarif says that under the interim agreement, "we did not agree to dismantle anything." (CNN)
01/22/2014		Reuters reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader will be “One of the chief beneficiaries” of easing sanctions as he “controls a massive business empire known as Setad that has invested in Iran's petrochemical industry, which is now permitted to resume exports.” (Reuters)
01/22/2014		Reuters reports, “An apparent delay in Iran's building of a nuclear conversion plant suggests its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) gas will grow for a while longer, despite Tehran's deal with world powers to curb its disputed atomic activity.” (Reuters)
01/22/2014		Several UN Special Rapporteurs issue a statement “[calling] on Iran to urgently halt the surge in executions that has been ongoing in Iran since the beginning of 2014.” (ICHRI)
01/21/2014		"A Syrian military police photographer has supplied 'clear evidence' showing the systematic torture and killing [by the Assad government] of about 11,000 detainees in circumstances that evoked Nazi death camps." (Reuters)
01/21/2014		Iran and China have “reportedly reached an agreement to begin cooperating on Internet operations, [to] implement Iran’s ‘National Information Network,’” which may be used to “more comprehensively monitor the Internet activities of Iranian users.” (ICHRI)
01/21/2014		Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2014 says “Iranians are facing serious rights abuses, despite President Hassan Rouhani’s numerous promises to respect people’s rights following his…electoral victory.” (HRW)
01/17/2014		A U.S. official says that despite the interim deal, Iran is “undoubtedly still looking for ways to acquire material for their nuclear programme.” (AFP)
01/17/2014		Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham says the statement released by the U.S. government summarizing the implementation of the interim deal "is a unilateral and one-sided interpretation of the unofficial agreements between Iran and P5+1.” (AFP)
01/16/2014		Amnesty International Reports that "Iran has carried out a total of 40 executions since the beginning of 2014, with at least 33 carried out in the past week alone." (Amnesty International)
01/16/2014		In yet another indication of the lack of promised progress on political and social freedoms by the Rouhani administration, the Financial Times reports the cancellation of the the annual celebration of the weekly reformist magazine, Chelcheragh. (Financial Times)
01/14/2014		The U.S. condemns FM Mohammed Zarif for laying a wreath at the grave of Hezbollah leader Imad Mugniyah, who masterminded terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans. (AP)
01/13/2014		Boasting his country’s advantage in the Geneva Accord, Rouhani stated, "Do you know what the Geneva agreement means? It means the surrender of the big powers before the great Iranian nation…The Geneva agreement means the wall of sanctions has broken.” (AP)
01/13/2014		Abbas Araghchi stresses to the ISNA that under the Geneva Accord, "No [Iranian] facility will be closed; enrichment will continue, and qualitative and nuclear research will be expanded…All research into a new generation of centrifuges will continue.” (LA Times)
01/12/2014		Following the announcement on the January 20th implementation of the Geneva Accord, Abbas Aragahchi emphasizes the deal’s reversibility, claiming interconnections between centrifuges enriching to 20% “can be removed in a day and connected again in a day." (NYT)
01/12/2014		Following the announcement that the Geneva interim agreement will be implemented on January 20, Deputy FM Abbas Aragahchi states, “we will in no way, never, dismantle our [nuclear] centrifuges.” (Washington Free Beacon)
01/12/2014		The NYT reports that “Since the interim accord on Iran’s nuclear program was signed on Nov. 24, Iran has sent about 330 truckloads of arms and equipment to Syria through Iraq.” (NYT)
01/11/2014		Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says even though there is no current need for such highly-enriched uranium, Iran will have to enrich uranium to 60% if parliament passes a bill mandating it do so. (Reuters)
01/11/2014		Senior IRGC commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh says “Hezbollah’s [missile] capability has improved so tremendously in recent years that it can hit and destroy any target in the occupied lands with very little inaccuracy and pinpoint ability.” (AP)
01/11/2014		Senior IRGC commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh says “Hezbollah’s [missile] capability has improved so tremendously in recent years that it can hit and destroy any target in the occupied lands with very little inaccuracy and pinpoint ability.” (AP)
01/10/2014		A city council Spokeswoman is “removed from her position because of her participation in the social network Facebook.” (ICHRI)
01/09/2014		Ayatollah Khamenei said, "We had announced previously that on certain issues, if we feel it is expedient, we would negotiate with the Satan [US] to deter its evil…The nuclear talks showed the enmity of America against Iran, Iranians, Islam and Muslims." (The Guardian)
01/09/2014		ICHRI reports that restrictions on Internet access and mobile Apps are growing during the Rouhani administration, which is in direct contradiction of Rouhani's promises to provide access of information to all. (ICHRI)
01/09/2014		The Guardian reports that “A rapprochement between Hamas and Tehran is under way.” (The Guardian)
01/05/2014		A juvenile offender was executed in the prison of Tabriz ... in the month of June, according to unofficial sources... According to reports published by Iran Human Rights (IHR) at least 8 juvenile offenders have been executed in 2014 in Iran." (IHR)"
01/04/2014		Bahrain names “a Bahraini citizen who lives in Iran as a main suspect in ...planned ‘terrorist acts’ and said he and his collaborators had received training and other help from Tehran. (Reuters)
01/03/2014		Iranian lawmaker and cleric Muhammad Nabavian says Iran could build a nuclear weapon “in two weeks” and that "a nuclear bomb is necessary to put down Israel." (Washington Free Beacon)
01/03/2014		Lawyer and member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center Mahnaz Parakand calls Rouhani’s draft Citizenship Rights Charter “a propaganda tool, mostly to show off internationally.” (ICHRI)
01/03/2014		Bahrain accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards of “providing opposition militants with explosives training in order to carry out attacks in the Gulf kingdom, announcing that it had arrested five suspects.” (The Daily Star)
01/03/2014		Washington Free Beacon reports that Ali Akbar Velayati, “known for his role in planning and approving the deadly 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina” is “selected to head…a powerful governing body that reports directly to Khamenei.” (Washington Free Beacon)
01/03/2014		According to Western Diplomats, "Iran has reduced the number of centrifuges it wants but the number is still unacceptably high.... [and] Tehran has refused to back down from its demand to maintain 50,000 operational centrifuges." (Reuters)
01/02/2014		U.S. officials report that members of Hezbollah, backed by Iran, “are smuggling advanced guided-missile systems into Lebanon from Syria … Iran's elite Quds Force has been directly overseeing the shipments to Hezbollah warehouses in Syria." (WSJ)
01/01/2014		“Two members of Iran’s hard-line-dominated Parliament [are] added to a supervisory council responsible for monitoring the country’s nuclear negotiating team.” (NYT)
12/30/2013		Iranian politicians and the media celebrate the December 2009 anniversary of the defeat of the Green Movement protesters. There are calls for the hanging the leaders of the "sedition", Mousavi and Karroubi. (Al-Monitor)
12/30/2013		Bahraini authorities "[foil] an attempt to smuggle explosives and arms, some made in Iran and Syria, into the country by boat." (Reuters)
12/30/2013		Al-Monitor reports that "High level sources within Hamas [confirm] that warm relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been restored." (Al-Monitor)
12/29/2013		Iranian parliamentary support for a "bill [that] would direct Iran’s nuclear agency to enrich uranium to 60%, close to the 90% needed for the material to be used as nuclear bomb fuel…has risen from 100 lawmakers last week to more than 200." (LA Times)
12/29/2013		Instagram is blocked for nearly 12 hours by Iran's Internet censorship system commonly known as the "Filternet." (Mashable)
12/28/2013		The Syrian National Council (SNC) accuses the Assad government and "its allies Iran and Hezbollah of being behind a bomb attack that killed a Lebanese politician in Beirut." (AFP)
12/27/2013		The home of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh is "ransacked and looted" two weeks after Sotoudeh received the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from a European Parliament delegation. (ICHRI)
12/26/2013		Head of Iran's atomic energy agency Ali Akbar Salehi announces that Iran "is building a new generation of centrifuges for uranium enrichment but that they need more tests before being mass-produced." (AP)
12/26/2013		Iranian technical experts tell the P5+1 that some "cutting-edge [centrifuges] have been installed at a research tract of one of Iran's enriching sites." The U.S. and other P5+1 members consider this a violation of the Nov. 24 Geneva nuclear agreement. (AP)
12/26/2013		A group of MEK dissidents in the Iraqi capital is targeted in a rocket attack by the Iranian-funded al-Mukhtar Army militia. (Reuters)
12/25/2013		Iranian lawmakers "[draft] a bill that would force the government to enrich uranium up to 60% if new sanctions are imposed." (CNN)
12/24/2013		Reuters reports that for the past nine months, the repressive Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has been receiving "substantial imports of Iraqi crude oil…on Iranian ships." (Reuters)
12/24/2013		Reuters reports that "A Syrian state purchasing agency has issued a tender to buy 50,000 tonnes of flour with payment through an Iranian credit line." It was the second time Syria had asked to buy food through Iran this month. (Reuters)
12/22/2013		The Iranian daily “Jam-e-Jam” today reports that "a death row prisoner who had confessed to a murder was proved innocent 48 hours before his scheduled execution." (Iran Human Rights)
12/21/2013		Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi announces IAEA "inspectors have no right and (no) responsibility" to inspect Iran's military and missile sites, including the Parchin military complex. (WSJ)
12/20/2013		The U.S. Senate "[calls] on Iran to free seven Bahai leaders among other detained members of the religion, including 12 educators." (AFP)
12/19/2013		Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi says Rouhani's draft Citizenship Rights Charter is "not an indication of a serious political will for protecting citizens’ rights" but a "tool to distract those who are waiting for justice to be carried out.” (ICHRI)
12/18/2013		Reporters Without Borders reports that "Despite the moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani’s election...and despite his promises of reform, 12 Iranian journalists fled the country in 2013 to escape government persecution." (Reporters Without Borders)
12/18/2013		FM Mohammad Javad Zarif boasts, “The structure of our nuclear program has been maintained and the 20% enrichment can be resumed in less than 24 hours.” (Fars)
12/18/2013		The U.N. General Assembly approves a resolution "criticizing Iran for serious rights violations including torture and its 'alarming' and frequent use of the death penalty." (AP)
12/17/2013		Foreign Policy reports that members of Tehran's Iraqi-based proxies are suspected to have carried out a September 1st attack on the MEK headquarters in Iraq which "killed at least 50 members of the [MEK]." (Foreign Policy)
12/16/2013		Despite claims by Iran that it is unaware of the whereabouts of missing retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, Iran-based American fugitive Dawud Salahuddin said he witnessed Levinson's arrest by government authorities in 2007. (AFP)
12/15/2013		On Iran's enrichment program FM Zarif commented, “We do not see any reason now that we have put so much time and effort in it, and brought [the West] to the point of abandoning the illusion of zero enrichment in Iran, why should we accept anything less." (Washington Post)
12/15/2013		Commenting on Iran's heavy-water reactor at Arak, Iranian FM Zarif says, "We cannot roll back the clock 20 years and ask Iran to simply get rid of a project that has been the subject of a great deal of human and materiel investment." (Washington Post)
12/15/2013		Following the U.S. blacklisting of Iranian companies for violating Iran sanctions and resulting Iranian threats to quit nuclear talks, Iranian FM Zarif says, "The process has been derailed, the process has not died." (AFP)
12/14/2013		Iran sends a "second live monkey into space and brought it back safely, the latest demonstration of the country's missile capabilities." (Reuters)
12/13/2013		Iran "[quits] nuclear talks with the major powers, accusing Washington…of going against the spirit of a landmark agreement reached last month by expanding its sanctions blacklist." (AFP)
12/13/2013		In order to sustain the Assad regime, which is low on foreign currency reserves, Iran has allowed Syria to use a credit line from Iran's export bank to import food staples. (Reuters)
12/12/2013		Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi denied rumors that "part of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear activities have slowed down," calling them "false and unfounded." (Press TV)
12/11/2013		The International Campaign for Human Rights In Iran reports that three men arrested in October for their involvement in "promotion of Iranian underground music" were tortured and are now being pressured by IRGC forces "to confess on television." (International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran)
12/10/2013		Deputy Foreign Minister General Mehdi Farahi announces Iran's plan to launch a "research" rocket into space. Iran's space program "is believed by many to be a cover for a military ballistic weapons program." (Washington Free Beacon)
12/10/2013		Pressure mounts on Rouhani to fulfill his pledge to release reformist politicians Mousavi and Karroubi from house arrest as students protest and prominent figures write him an open letter to take action. (NYT)
12/09/2013		In a meeting with Bushehr MPs, President Rouhani stated that "world powers… have now recognized that they do not have the ability to prevent the advance of this industry and enrichment in Iran." (Tasnim News Agency)
12/09/2013		Senior member of the Islamist Movement Mahmud al-Zahar announces that "Relations between Hamas and Iran have resumed." (AFP)
12/07/2013		Despite the interim nuclear deal, spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency Behrouz Kamalvandi announces Iran is testing a "new generation of centrifuges… with a higher capacity compared with the first generation machines." (Reuters)
12/05/2013		Four Ahwazi Arab political prisoners are executed after being convicted of "enmity with God," a "common charge made against critics of the government." (IHR)
12/03/2013		The American Center for Law and Justice reports that Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old Iranian-American pastor imprisoned in Tehran for over a year, "is in declining health for lack of proper nutrition and necessary medication." (Reuters)
12/03/2013		Iran's morality police arrest popular underground singer Amir Tatalloo, as part of an effort to "[confront] Iranian underground musicians who produce their work inside Iran and distribute it on television satellite channels abroad." (ICHRI)
12/02/2013		IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali warned that if the West infringes on Iran's "incontrovertible nuclear rights," the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 would be "treated with full authority as null and void.” (Tasnim News Agency)
12/02/2013		During a press conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that "[Iran's] goal is to have the nuclear program and for nothing to be reduced from this program and enrichment program to continue as well." (MEHR News)
12/01/2013		Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi warned world powers that dismantling Iran's heavy water reactor is "a red line which we will never cross, likewise [uranium] enrichment." He added, "We want to have more heavy water reactors in future." (AFP)
12/01/2013		Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi insists Iran needs more nuclear power plants, stating “We should take required action for building power plants for 20,000 megawatts of electricity” in the long term. (AP)
12/01/2013		Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi announces that the Islamic Republic is in talks with Russia to build a second nuclear power plant at Bushehr. (AFP)
11/30/2013		In contradiction to the provisions of the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that "Iran will decide the level of enrichment according to its needs for different purposes." (AFP)
11/27/2013		Iran Human Rights reports the storming of the Bahai Institute of Higher Education by Iranian security agents. The agents forced students to "sign a disclaimer on not participating in any activities related to Bahai’ Institute of Higher Education." (IHR)
11/26/2013		In apparent violation of the provisions of the interim nuclear deal reached by Iran and the P5+1, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif announced that "construction will continue" at the Arak site. (Reuters)
11/25/2013		Commenting on the nuclear deal reached by Iran and the P5+1, leading Iranian parliamentary member Alaeddin Boroujerdi warned, “In no way must the temporary conditions of six months that have been created become permanent conditions." (FARS)
11/25/2013		Speaking at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Foreign Minister Zarif said: "During [this weekend's] negotiations, Iran's nuclear right was officially recognized." (Mehr News)
11/23/2013		Seven men and a woman are arrested for "insulting society’s sacred beliefs and Islamic values online." (Reporters Without Borders)
11/22/2013		Referring to detained opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, prominent cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said the “leaders of sedition” should be hanged. (AP)
11/21/2013		Discussing the prospects for a nuclear deal between Iran and P5+1, a senior Iranian negotiator said that if Iran's right to enrich uranium "is not in the text, it is unacceptable to us. Without that, there will be no agreement." (The Guardian)
11/21/2013		On the second day of nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi warned, "No deal that does not include the right to uranium enrichment from start to finish will be accepted." (Daily Telegraph)
11/20/2013		A Human Rights Watch report details increasing government persecution against the more than one million Afghan refugees in Iran. According to Afghan officials, Iran is "using deportations as a form of political blackmail against the Afghan state." (Reuters)
11/20/2013		Commenting on nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 powers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei assured audience members "We will not step back one iota from our rights" on the nuclear program. (NYT)
11/20/2013		In an address to thousands of Basij members, Ayatollah Khamenei asserted, "Our existence is rooted in confronting arrogance… We must continue to disappoint our enemies." (NYT)
11/20/2013		Iran's foreign ministry rejects the recent UN Resolution which criticizes Iran's "serious rights violations" as "politically motivated." (AFP)
11/19/2013		Members of the Iranian Parliament collect signatures "to demand that the government… maintain enrichment of uranium to 20 percent, complete the nuclear fuel cycle and finish construction of the Arak heavy water reactor." (Reuters)
11/19/2013		Reporters Without Borders (RWB) states it has seen no progress on freedom of information during Rouhani's first 100 days and "urges him to keep his promises to end abuse of authority, impunity and censorship." (Reporters Without Borders)
11/19/2013		Criticizing Iran's "serious rights violations," the UN General Assembly human rights committee passes Resolution 19, "urging Iran's new government… to address the ongoing human rights violations." (RFE/RL)
11/19/2013		Amnesty International launches a campaign "calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Omid Kokabee, a 31-year-old Iranian physicist pursuing a PhD in the USA, serving a 10-year prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison." (Amnesty International)
11/18/2013		Behrouz Kamalvandi, Spokesman of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, dismisses reports that there has been any "decline or shutdown" in Iran's nuclear activities. (Trend)
11/18/2013		The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition group, reports that it has "information about an underground nuclear site being built in Iran… inside a 600-metre tunnel complex beneath mountains 10 km from the town of Mobarekeh." (Reuters)
11/17/2013		Commenting on upcoming nuclear talks, FM Zarif said, "Not only do we see Iran's right to uranium enrichment as non-negotiable, but we do not see any need for it to be recognised by others, since it is an integral part of Iran's rights under the NPT." (AFP)
11/17/2013		IRGC Commander Jafari tells reporters, "The Americans' statement about having the military option on the table is a lie. Americans don't know that we know they are afraid of attacking Iran more than any other country." (Fars)
11/14/2013		Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah announces that "as long as the reasons (to fight in Syria) remain, our presence there will remain." (Reuters)
11/13/2013		Director General of the IAEA Yukiya Amano announces he has seen "no radical change" in Iran's nuclear program since Rouhani came to office three months ago. (Reuters)
11/13/2013		In a rare public appearance, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warns that if international powers fail to reach an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, it could mean "war in the region." (AFP)
11/13/2013		Following his October 31st arrest in Azerbaijan, 31-year-old Iranian Hassan Faradic denies allegations that he was "planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan." (Reuters)
11/12/2013		Human Rights Watch reports, "Three major opposition figures in Iran have been under house arrest or detention for 1,000 days with no charges against them, notwithstanding President Hassan Rouhani’s promise to release political prisoners." (HRW)
11/12/2013		Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi announces plans for the constuction of a Russian-built nuclear power plant, which would be the second in Iran, to begin in March 2014. (Bloomberg)
11/12/2013		To mark 1,000 days of Mehdi Karrubi's house arrest, the reformist cleric's wife Fatemeh Karrubi releases a YouTube video to inform the public of the injustice of her husband's arrest. (RFE/RL)
11/12/2013		In response to U.S. deliberations over increasing sanctions on Iran, MP Mohammad Dehghan warns, "If Congress seeks to take negotiations to defeat, the Iranian Parliament can also bind the administration to the expansion of nuclear technology." (Mehr)
11/11/2013		U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holds Iran accountable for the failure to produce a deal in nuclear talks in Geneva between Iran and P5+1 powers, asserting that "the P5+1 was unified… But Iran couldn't take [the proposal]." (AFP)
11/11/2013		Ali Asghar Gharavi, writer for the recently banned reformist newspaper Bahar and author of the "controversial article seen by critics as questioning the beliefs of Shiite Islam" is arrested in Iran. (AFP)
11/10/2013		Speaking to the Iranian parliament, President Rouhani discusses Iran's "red lines" in regards to Iran's nuclear program. These include a "right" to enrich uranium on "Iranian soil." (AFP)
11/10/2013		According to Western diplomats, the Iranian government's insistence on a formal recognition of its 'right' to enrich uranium is the primary reason nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 in Geneva end in failure. (NYT)
11/07/2013		FIFA chief appeals to the Iranian government "to end the ban on women attending men's football matches in force since the 1979 Islamic revolution." (AFP)
11/07/2013		Western Analysts report that "Hezbollah is expanding networks and deployment of fighters from Lebanon to the entire Middle East as part of its deepening alliance with Iran." (USA Today)
11/06/2013		The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) reports that over 200 people have now been executed since Rouhani came into office. (ICHRI)
11/05/2013		In an effort to "lower expectations" over upcoming nuclear negotiations, Iran's nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi predicts a longer (3 month) time table than initially anticipated for achieving the "first step" in a nuclear deal. (LA Times)
11/05/2013		"Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi strongly [criticizes] the human rights record of President Hassan Rouhani...So far 'we get bad signals' from the new government when it comes to human rights...In the last 10 days, 40 people have been executed." (AP)
11/04/2013		Amid chants of "Death to America," largest anti-American rally in years takes place to commemorate 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. (AP)
11/04/2013		Backing Khamenei's pessimist outlook on negotiations, Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi says that he and his team are not optimistic given America's "record of behavior and its policies." (ISNA)
11/04/2013		Backing Khamenei's pessimistic outlook on negotiations, Rouhani states, "The government is not optimistic about the Westerners and the current negotiations." (AFP)
11/04/2013		International human rights groups report that some 80 Iranian political prisoners are engaged in a hunger strike to protest inadequate medical care. (AFP)
11/04/2013		Iranian-American pastor imprisoned in Iran is transferred to more dangerous prison. (Fox News)
11/04/2013		Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi criticizes Rouhani's failure to improve the human rights situation in Iran and calls on the U.S. and EU to ban Iran from using their satellites to broadcast regime propaganda. (Reuters)
11/04/2013		The death of IRGC Commander in Syria further exposes Iranian role in preserving the Assad regime. (Reuters)
11/03/2013		Iranian Parliament members engage in "Death to America" chants following a speech by Vice Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Hossein Aboutorabifard defending the slogan. (Times of Israel)
11/03/2013		Before a crowd of students chanting "Death to America," Khamenei says, "I do think negotiations will produce the results expected by Iran" and that Iran "should not trust a smiling enemy," the U.S. (AFP)
11/02/2013		The IRGC announces that "Death to America" will remain their slogan, "regardless of signs of détente" between Iran and the U.S. (AFP)
11/02/2013		Saeed Pourazizi, head of recently banned reformist daily Bahar, is arrested. (AFP)
10/30/2013		Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), announces Iran's near 20% uranium enrichment was never halted. (NYT)
10/30/2013		Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi announces that the Rouhani administration will not engage in efforts to end house arrests of opposition leaders Mousavi and Karroubi. (Al-Monitor)
10/29/2013		In a blow to press freedom, the judiciary announces that the Association of Iranian Journalists (AIJ) will stay closed. (Rooz)
10/28/2013		Former Deputy Director General of the IAEA Olli Heinonen says Iran could "radically reduce" its breakout time to as low as "two weeks." (Free Beacon)
10/28/2013		An Iranian actress is sentenced to 18 months in prison for her political activities and interviews with foreign media. (AFP)
10/28/2013		The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran condemns the Rouhani government for a renewed wave repression targeting Iran's media and civil society by the Rouhani regime, including numerous rushed executions. (ICHRI)
10/28/2013		The reformist newspaper Bahar becomes the first publication to banned under Rouhani's rule. (RFE/RL)
10/27/2013		Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's foreign policy committee, announces Iran will never shut down Fordow. (AFP)
10/27/2013		Syrian official speaks about Iran's supply of military support via clandestine flights. (The National)
10/26/2013		Leading parliamentary figure Alaeddin Boroujerdi vows "death to America" chants will continue and be used more than before. (Times of Israel)
10/26/2013		Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, announces Iran's continued enrichment of uranium to 20% purity. (Reuters)
10/26/2013		In retaliation for the death of 14 border guards, Iran hangs 16 Baluchi convicts who were uninvolved in the insurgents' attack. A human rights group says this shows "the situation of human rights has not changed in Iran" since Rouhani's inauguration. (AFP)
10/24/2013		Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), announces Iran's intentions to build numerous new nuclear power plants. (Free Beacon)
10/24/2013		New report from nonproliferation institute ISIS states that Iran could produce enough weapon-grade uranium for one nuclear weapon in as little as 1.0-1.6 months. (ISIS)
10/24/2013		Iran rejects the findings of special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed's human rights report on Iran as politically-motivated. (AFP)
10/24/2013		The daughters of imprisoned reformist opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi are assaulted after a visit to their father. (Reuters)
10/23/2013		Government-sponsored anti-American billboards showing the U.S. as untrustworthy are put up throughout Tehran. (Guardian)
10/23/2013		Iranian activists announce plan for "Down with U.S.A." conference. (NYT)
10/23/2013		Ahmed Shaheed, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, says at least 82 executions took place in the weeks after Rouhani's was elected. (Bloomberg)
10/22/2013		Iran announces it may start producing its own power-plant fuel, which would require Iran to construct at least three times the number of centrifuges it currently possesses. (NTI)
10/20/2013		Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warns that Iran could increase its nuclear activities if the West presses too hard for concessions. (AP)
10/14/2013		In a speech to annual Hajj pilgrims, Khamenei says that Iranians should know the "main enemy," which is "global arrogance [headed by the USA] and the criminal Zionist network." (Khamenei's Official Website)
10/14/2013		Iranian judiciary’s spokesperson says the government will not be releasing more political prisoners. (Al-Monitor)
10/13/2013		Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi says "the shipping of materials out of the country is our red line." (Reuters)
10/11/2013		Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami attacks U.S. as "Great Satan," upholds "Death to America" slogan. (Reuters)
10/11/2013		Azerbaijan sentences Iranian spy for plotting attack on the Israeli embassy. (AFP)
10/10/2013		NCRI releases information on an alleged Iranian nuclear weaponization research center in Tehran. (Reuters)
10/10/2013		After a prisoner survives his execution, officials say he will be re-executed once his "health condition is good enough." (IHR)
10/09/2013		Public execution of 23-year-old on charges of "armed robbery, spreading fear and Moharebeh." Iranian news agency ISNA reports a 23-year-old man was publicly hanged for "armed robbery, spreading fear and Moharebeh." (Iran Human Rights)
10/08/2013		Human rights groups call for a moratorium on executions in Iran in light of the more than 125 executions that have taken place in Iran since Rouhani's inauguration. (ICHRI)
10/08/2013		IRGC arrest gays and "devil worshippers" attending a party. (Trend)
10/08/2013		Dissident Mehdi Khazali is sentenced to six years in prison. (AFP)
10/07/2013		FM Zarif says, "The mastery of civil nuclear technology, including the enrichment of uranium, on Iranian soil is the absolute right of Iran." (AP)
10/07/2013		Iran rejects the "Geneva Communiqué," which would work to establish a transitional government for Syria without Assad. (Reuters)
10/07/2013		Minister of telecommunications and information technology says that the general public will not be given access to Facebook and Twitter, despite its use by government officials. (AP)
10/06/2013		German intelligence report reveals that Tehran and Damascus have a deal allowing Syria to station its fighter jets in Iran. (UPI)
10/06/2013		Iranian Christians sentenced to 80 lashes for consuming wine for communion. (Fox News)
10/05/2013		In his first public response to Rouhani's UN General Assembly appearance, Khamenei attacks the U.S. government as "untrustworthy" and says it is controlled by "the international network of Zionism." (AFP)
10/04/2013		Death to America chants are featured in Iran's weekly Friday prayers. (AP)
10/02/2013		Rouhani promises to continue Iran's nuclear program with "full power." (Times of Israel)
09/29/2013		Downplaying the Rouhani-Obama phone call, Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi says, "We never trust America 100 percent… We will never trust them 100 percent." (Politico)
09/29/2013		In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, FM Zarif says Iran's "right to enrich is non-negotiable." (ABC)
09/27/2013		Iran's Parliament passes a children's rights bill that is criticized by human rights activists as "legalising paedophilia." (The Guardian)
09/26/2013		Iran sends a complaint to the IAEA rejecting the findings of the agency's August 28, 2013 Safeguards Report, continuing Iran's resistance to fully cooperate with the IAEA. (Reuters)
09/25/2013		In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Rouhani highlights Iran's close relations with Syria and its support for Assad during the ongoing conflict. (CNN)
09/24/2013		In his UNGA speech, Rouhani attacks the U.S. for "following the short-sighted interest of warmongering pressure groups." (Transcript of Speech)
09/23/2013		Iran reportedly resumes backing Hamas. (Times of Israel)
09/17/2013		Internet censorship in Iran continues. (Reuters)
09/17/2013		Al-Monitor reports that Iran is “giving financial and logistical support for the PFLP’s [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] political and military wings.” (Al-Monitor)
09/16/2013		Rouhani speech lambastes the Western and U.S. presence in the Middle East, and their purported schemes for the region. Referring to the West, Rouhani stated, "You, the uninvited guest in our region, leave the region and then you will see that it becomes heaven.” Later he said, "it is obvious that the West has plans for the whole region.”
09/15/2013		In an unprecedented escalation, an Iranian cyberattack targets U.S. Navy computers. (WSJ)
09/14/2013		Iran publicly executes an 18-year-old man, who may have been a minor at the time of committing his alleged crime. (IHR)
09/12/2013		Video footage emerges of an IRGC unit in military combat in Syria, which offers tangible evidence of Iran's direct military involvement in the conflict which it has long denied participating in. (Al-Arabiya)
09/12/2013		Three prisoners are publicly executed. href="http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2878">IHR)
09/11/2013		Amir Hekmati, a captive U.S. citizen in Iran, says he was coerced into his televised confession and that he is being held hostage. (The Guardian)
09/10/2013		Rouhani states that his government "will not give up one iota of its absolute rights" on the Iranian nuclear program. (AP)
09/06/2013		The U.S. intercepts a message from Qasem Soleimani, head of the IRGC's expeditionary Qods Force, directing militants in Iraq to attack American interests in Baghdad in the event of a U.S. strike on Syria. (WSJ)
08/29/2013		U.S. Marine veteran Amir Hekmati reaches the two year anniversary of his captivity in Iran. ()
08/28/2013		Release of the IAEA's quarterly board report shows that in violation of its international obligations, Iran is continuing to expand its nuclear program and reduce its potential breakout time to build a nuclear weapon. ISIS)
08/28/2013		The head of the IRGC warns that any U.S. military attack on Syria would result in the "imminent destruction" of Israel. (Reuters)
08/27/2013		An Iranian Parliament member warns that if the U.S. strikes Syria, "the flames of outrage of the region’s revolutionaries will point toward the Zionist regime." (NYT)
08/27/2013		Iran rejects UN human rights monitoring. (AFP)
08/25/2013		An IRGC General warns that if the U.S. attacks Syria for chemical weapons use, there will be "severe consequences." (AP)
08/25/2013		The conviction and eight-year sentence of Iranian-American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini is upheld in appeals court. (Washington Times)
08/22/2013		Asphalting continues at the Parchin facility, where Iran is attempting to cover up evidence of its nuclear weaponization activities. (AP)
08/22/2013		Iran FM Zarif blames terrorists for a deadly chemical weapons attacks in Syria that killed hundreds of civilians, when evidence points to the Syrian government Iran supports being responsible. (Reuters)
08/21/2013		An Iranian Christian convert is sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing bibles. (Huffington Post)
08/19/2013		In attempt to justify why no women were appointed to his cabinet, Rouhani implies that women are not qualified to lead during Iran's current crisis. (RFE/RL)
08/18/2013		Former Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi boasts that Iran is ranked sixth in the world in missile production. (AP)
08/18/2013		Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, vows to continue Iranian support for the government of Syria. (AP)
08/14/2013		An Iranian female politician is barred from office for being "too sexy." (Al Arabiya)
08/13/2013		In his confirmation hearing, Javad Zarif says that as Foreign Minister he "will not withdraw one iota" of support for Iran's nuclear rights. (AP)
08/09/2013		For the position of Defense Minister, Rouhani appoints General Hussein Dehghan, one of the alleged masterminds of the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing, which killed 241 American servicemen. (Free Beacon)
08/08/2013		A second rocket-launching facility is discovered East of Tehran. (AFP)
08/08/2013		For the position of Justice Minister, Rouhani appoints Mostafa Purmohammadi, who played a leading role in the summary executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, and other human rights abuses. (RFE/RL)
08/06/2013		In his first news conference following his inauguration, Rouhani accuses U.S. Congress of taking orders from Israel. (Trend)
08/06/2013		In his first news conference following his inauguration, Rouhani vows that his administration will not "give up the [nuclear] rights of the Iranian people." (Bloomberg
08/04/2013		Rouhani vows to Syrian PM that relations between Iran and Syria "will not be shaken by any force in the world." (AP)
08/03/2013		In a meeting with a North Korean official before his inauguration ceremony, Rouhani condemns the U.S. and West for their purported belligerency. (AP)