Why Iran Is Struggling with Coronavirus

Iran is struggling with a devastating coronavirus outbreak, a broken economy, and a severe shortage of medical equipment. Iran’s lack of transparency about its coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a catastrophic public health risk not only to the Iranian people but also to its neighbors. Tehran has confirmed more than 47,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths, though public health experts estimate the real toll to be significantly higher.

Turkey’s Syria Intervention Serves Israeli Strategic Interests

Turkey’s invasion of Syria to protect Idlib will bog it down in a war it cannot win. At the same time, it severely weakens the Assad regime and could help oust Iran from Syria.

Coronavirus Delivers Another Devastating Blow to the Iranian Regime

Yaakov Lappin
March 27, 2020
Paper No. 1507

The coronavirus pandemic has hit Iran hard, and not only on the health front. The virus is the latest in a succession of blows to the Iranian regime’s domestic status, fractured economy, and already low credibility level at home. The virus also appears to be slowing down the regime’s malign activities across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and Iran Both Persecute Religious and Ethnic Minorities

A series of recent measures in Saudi Arabia and Iran that gravely violate the rights of religious and ethnic minorities call into question their moral claims of adhering to core faith-based values of mercy and compassion.

Iran Looms Large in Central Asia Despite Sanctions and Saudi Financial Muscle

After years of tension, relations are warming between Tajikistan and Iran—a development that bodes ill for Saudi Arabia and its relations with that country as well as others in Central Asia.

Iran’s Coronavirus Economic Meltdown

As the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, Iran is in economic meltdown. Its international isolation is ever more severe, as can be seen in the sharp decline in flights landing in Iran’s two busiest airports.

Post-Soleimani, Russia’s Role Will Grow in Iran’s Geopolitical Thinking

US-Iran relations reached a nadir following the killing by US drone strike of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. As Iran’s isolation grows, its link to Russia is likely to strengthen. Moscow can use Iran’s geopolitical weakness to its own economic advantage by making large sales of Russian military hardware to the Islamic Republic and encouraging deeper cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and Tehran. At the same time, Russia will use the death of Soleimani to constrain Iranian troop activities on the Syrian battlefield and will generally limit Damascus’s dependence on Iran.

Iran Works to Overcome the Loss of Soleimani

Yaakov Lappin
March 10, 2020
Paper No. 1477

The killing by US drone strike of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani on January 3 has the potential to seriously dent Iran’s malign activity in the Middle East and beyond. But how long this effect will last is still very much an open question. The answer depends on how the US responds to future tests.

Zeinab Soleimani: Islam’s Female Avenger

Dr. Edy Cohen
March 10, 2020
Paper No. 1476

The jihad against America and the West has a new, more feminine face after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani: his daughter Zeinab, who has vowed revenge.

Iran’s Shiite Crescent and the Coronavirus

Shiite communities are regarded by the Islamic Republic as key tools with which to penetrate and ultimately conquer the Arab world, and pilgrimages back and forth to Shiite holy centers in Iran and Iraq are central to the regime’s ideological identity. But the holiest city in Iran, Qom, is now an epicenter for the spread of the coronavirus. The Shiite crescent is thus functioning as a boomerang to spread the epidemic both out of and back into Iran.