Iran

Spotlight on Iran (March 17, 2022 – March 31, 2022)

In late March, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein-Amir Abdollahian, conducted a visit to Syria and Lebanon and met with senior officials in Damascus and Beirut, including President Assad, the Syrian minister of foreign affairs, the Lebanese president, the prime minister of Lebanon, and the secretary general of Hezbollah. Following the visit of Syrian President Assad to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Iranian website Nour News, which is affiliated with the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, argued that this visit in a manifestation of the change in the Emirates’ position with regards to the Assad regime. A pro-opposition Syrian news website reported that pro-Iranian militias completed the first phase in the establishment of a “camp of tunnels” in the desert east of Homs.
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Spotlight on Iran (March 3, 2022 – March 17, 2022)

On March 7, two officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed in a strike attributed to Israel near Damascus. In a statement issued by the IRGC, the organization threatened to avenge the death of the two officers. On the night between March 12 and March 13, Iran launched at least ten rockets toward the city of Erbil in northern Iraq. Iranian economic activity in the region: the Syrian ambassador to Iran met with senior officials from the Joint Iranian-Syrian Chamber of Commerce and discuss with them expanding the role of private Iranian firms in the reconstruction process of his country.
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Iran in Light of the Invasion of Ukraine: Responses, Lessons and Analysis. Dr. Raz Zimmt

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Iranian leadership and its backers expressed their support to Russia and blamed the war on NATO and the West. The reactions of senior regime officials, high-ranking clerics and conservative Iranian media reflect a position that asserts that the acts of NATO, led by the United States, posed a clear threat to Russia’s national security, and compelled it to make a move to preserve its vital interests. Alongside this, Iranian officials have voiced concern about the continuation of war and call for ending it as soon as possible.
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Spotlight on Iran (February 17, 2022 – March 3, 2022)

In late February, the Syrian National Security Adviser, Ali Mamlouk, visited Tehran and met with the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Council, Ali Shamkhani. The Iranian minister of foreign affairs met with his Iraqi colleague on the sidelines of the Munich International Security Conference and discussed political developments in Iraq, as well as the possibility of restarting the dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia, mediated by Iraq. Representatives of Iraq, Iran, Russia and Syria took part in a meeting of the joint center for counter-terrorism intelligence exchange in Baghdad and discussed security developments along the Iraqi-Syrian border. The former Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad al-Allawi, opined in an interview to a Turkish news agency that since the outbreak of popular protests in Iraq in October 2019, during which protesters chanted against Iranian meddling in Iraq, Iranian influence in the country has diminished.
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Spotlight on Iran (February 3, 2022 – February 17, 2022)

Ceremonies marking the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution were held in Syria and Iraq, at the initiative of the Iranian embassies and consulates in Damascus, Baghdad and Erbil. The head of the Joint Iranian-Syrian Chamber of Commerce reported that the volume of trade between the two countries in the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 2021 – January 2022) has risen by 90 percent, compared to the same period in the year prior. The Commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Esmail Qa’ani, made a third visit to Iraq in the span of one month, against the backdrop of the ongoing government formation negotiations in Iraq. Iranian pilgrims to Syrian and Iraq: The Syrian ambassador to Tehran met with the representative of the supreme leader of Iran on Hajj and pilgrimage affairs, and congratulated him for increasing the number of Iranian pilgrims visiting Syria.
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Spotlight on Iran (January 20, 2022 – February 3, 2022)

A senior member of the Iranian Majlis stated Iran’s willingness to construct over 500,000 housing units in Syria per year. The Commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Esmail Qa’ani, paid yet another visit to Iraq in late January. Tehran’s decision to again restrict the flow of gas to Iraq due to the debts Iraq accrued to Iran has raised widespread anger in Iraq. Iran granted a permission for transferring diesel to Afghanistan through its territory for a period of three months.
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