Iran

Islamic Republic has sent weapons to the Houthis in Yemen and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The E.U.’s faith in Iran is foolish, dangerous—and a mystery.

The Trump administration is directing transaction network to cut off Iranian banks.

There are opportunities in both Syria and Iraq.

The imprisoned human rights lawyer embodies a fight shared by many.

Similar measures worked in 2012.

Left unchecked, document says, the Islamic Republic will use whatever means it can to continue terror financing.

Pompeo says Iran has been using the ICJ for ‘propaganda purposes.’

On September 20, 2001, speaking to a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush famously articulated the key component of what would later be called the Bush Doctrine: “From this day forward,” the president said, “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by…

They are many and varied.

The return of the Bush Doctrine?

Iran’s Revolutionary Court functions primarily to prosecute Tehran’s ideological opponents.

Twenty years ago today al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies and killed 224 people. Iran helped them do it.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

“What’s happening today is part of a coordinated campaign of pressuring Tehran.”

For President Trump and his foreign policy team, cracking the Islamic Republic is job one.

Hosted by Jim Swift

“Good for the country, good for them, good for us.”

The president’s blustery tweet was part of a defensible policy on Iran.

A new round of demonstrations against the regime launched over the weekend.

State Department official warns that countries that refuse risk sanctions.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

It's time for the U.S. to sanction the leaders of the LEF.

Under secretary Sigal Mandelker warns companies about the risks of dealing with the Islamic Republic.

Sanctions target Iran's infamous Evin Prison and the director of a key state-run media corporation.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Pompeo is right: You can’t separate a rogue regime from its roguery.

Secretary of state lays out new Iran strategy in first major foreign policy address.

In first major foreign policy address, the secretary of state does an about-face on Obama-era efforts to downplay ties between the two.

Allies, committed to deal and looking to preserve economic benefits to Tehran, risk U.S. sanctions

President Trump cancels the Iran deal. Now comes the hard part.

With the delusion of U.S.-Iran harmony now over, what’s possible?

Ehud Barak was Israel’s 10th prime minister. Before and after that, he was Israel’s minister of defense. He also served as minister of foreign affairs, and chief of the General Staff of Israel’s defense forces. Today Barak and I had a wide-ranging conversation in which we spoke about Iran, Lebanon…

President says U.S. will work with allies, who are staying in the deal, on a ‘lasting solution.’

Netanyahu’s address triggers heated rhetoric from opponents and detractors of the deal.

Heads, Iran wins. Tails, the U.S. Loses.

The Israeli prime minister said his country has obtained thousands of the Islamic Republic’s secret documents.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday reiterated support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in his address to the U.S. Congress. His remarks drew cheers from Democrats but a chilly reception from Iran hawks who want to withdraw from the deal.

UK and France join U.S.-led effort.

The U.N. ambassador slams Putin’s regime and Iran for abetting Bashar al-Assad.

Horrific images from the aftermath of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria are once again circulating online. The scene of this gassing is the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Both the location and the timing of this apparent war crime are symbolically important. And while the immediate…

Russia, Iran, and North Korea all play a role in the Syrian regime's chemical attacks on its own people.

Long before John Bolton was named Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, the president often trusted the Fox News contributor over his own national security team. On July 17, when President Trump reversed himself at the last minute on his plan to recertify the Iran deal, it was thanks to an…

The Senate’s top Iran hawks heaped praise on the president’s nomination of CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Tuesday, and critics of the deal on and off Capitol Hill expressed confidence that Pompeo’s presence would place renewed pressure on negotiations to fix…

Top lawmakers are pushing to expand sanctions targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), amid a declaration from a senior IRGC official that Iran’s missile production has tripled.

“Pyongyang is a crucial node in the international network of proliferation that already includes China and Russia as primary providers, Pakistan and North Korea as active disseminators, and Iran and perhaps Saudi Arabia among the final consumers. No less unsettling is the prospect that North Korea…

Iran has boosted its investments in militant and terrorist groups across the Middle East since the enactment of the 2015 nuclear deal, the nation’s top general who oversees U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

Will President Trump’s interest in new legislation to toughen federal background checks on gun purchasers last? As White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday morning, Trump is “supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system” and has spoken…

The recent clash between Iran and Israel is the latest indication that there’s some unfinished business to attend to in Syria even with the decline of the civil war and the territorial defeat of ISIS. In the skirmish over the weekend Iranian troops launched an Iranian-made attack drone against…

Wawa Shabbawa? Yep, that's what it sounds like: Shabbat at a Wawa. A local performance artist, Brian Feldman, came up with the concept. Turns out nobody really went because they're obsessed with Wawa, like Feldman is. Now, a Shabbat at a Sheetz? That's another matter entirely. They'd probably have…

In the wake of the U.S. military’s crushing defeat of ISIS in the heart of the Middle East, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the Trump administration’s pathway forward in Syria in prepared remarks he delivered at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute. He included a vision of America’s…

President Trump’s administration made a significant policy move on Friday—extending the Iran deal by waiving nuclear sanctions, while simultaneously issuing new, non-nuclear sanctions against Iran in light of the recent protests there. But you’d be forgiven for forgetting all about that, because a…

As the deadline draws closer for the Trump administration to decide whether or not to certify Iranian compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal and another decision on sanctions, U.S. aerospace giant Boeing will be watching with extreme interest. The outcome has the potential to scuttle a pair of…

You've probably read recently about the wave of unrest in Iran that has led to at least 24 deaths and 8,000 arrests. Many of the protesters have chanted for the “death” of Iran’s leaders, President Hassan Rouhani and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Legislation that attempts to make good on President Donald Trump’s October demand to fix the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is still facing obstacles, days before Trump is due to decide whether to issue sanctions waivers that would keep the agreement alive—or kill it.

About 28 million people live in Texas. Imagine a population the size of Austin has cholera, and one the size of Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Arlington, and Corpus Christi faces the imminent threat of famine. Add Plano, Laredo, and each of the 167 cities down the line…

On Wednesday, January 3, Donald Trump tweeted:

The world has not seen the last of the anti-regime protests that have swept Iran in recent weeks, the Trump administration’s intelligence chief said Sunday.

The American left has always been more comfortable with domestic policy than foreign. Progressives are happy to talk about injustice at home. But what about injustice abroad? Are there circumstances in which the United States can use its power and influence to advance justice or to check repression…

It is odd to hear Westerners, hopelessly permeated with Marxism, dissect the nationwide Iranian protests as primarily an economic eruption, the suggestion being that the demonstrators are not that dyspeptic about the nature of the Islamic Republic. The New York Times’s Thomas Erdbrink, the Dutch…

The past week has seen widespread anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and the regime of the ayatollahs has responded with violent repression—including deadly force. Meanwhile there have been no demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, which is just as far from democracy. Why not?

The protests in Iran challenging the repressive Islamist regime present both an opportunity for the Trump administration, as one White House official puts it, and a challenge. The administration is quietly urging European and regional allies to join President Trump in offering support for the…

Donald Trump begins 2018 with a rare condition for his presidency: the biggest news story isn’t directly about him. That doesn’t mean the president hasn’t had a lot to say about the wave of anti-regime protests in Iran that have taken place since last Thursday. As Jeryl Bier reported, the Trump…

At this point, the evidence is irrefutable: The Obama administration got Iran wrong. So did the international foreign-policy establishment. So did the New York Times and nearly every major center-left media outlet in the United States and Europe.

The Trump administration stumbled a bit out of the gate with its response to the ongoing anti-government protests in Iran, but quickly recovered with strong expressions of support for peaceful protesters and condemnation of the Iranian regime. After a day of silence on Friday, a State Department…

For those willing to take it seriously, the question of Trump-ian national security and foreign policy has always been the extent to which the disruptive if not incendiary rhetoric of Donald Trump, the man, would be matched by a Trump administration effort to remake U.S. policy in accordance with…

Congressional Republicans are calling for answers on the Obama administration's reported efforts to derail an initiative that tracked Hezbollah’s international web of criminal activities, efforts that former officials said were fueled in large part out of a desire to secure the 2015 nuclear deal…

In France, all right-thinking people know instinctively what the pensée unique is—the socially acceptable view on any subject that ensures a Parisian won’t get axed from the better dinner parties and weekends in Normandy. The Democratic party, which remains a more coherent concatenation than the…

When it comes to Syria, Israel has a message and the government hopes a wider audience is listening. It was delivered in the form of two strikes inside Syria over the last week. By itself, an Israeli strike inside Syria is nothing extraordinary. The Israelis have long broadcasted their red lines in…

“Iran has never had a better friend than Obama,” Donald Trump tweeted in December 2013, as U.S. negotiators were finalizing a deal with Iran over the country’s nuclear program. So began Trump’s long campaign of ridiculing Barack Obama for the latter’s hopelessly gullible view of the Iranian regime.…

The resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister over the weekend is heightening congressional scrutiny of Hezbollah's wide-ranging influence in the country, with a top lawmaker calling on the Trump administration to reassess military assistance.

Over at the Long War Journal, Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio have the first analysis of the massive trove of documents, files, and images which were recovered at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during the raid in which bin Laden was killed.

GOP lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to make good on President Barack Obama’s promise that, because of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, inspectors “will have access where necessary, when necessary.”

"Do we want Iran to have a nuclear weapon or not?" asks Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a video making its way around the Internet. “The answer? No. So why is President Trump trying to make it easier for Iran to get a nuclear weapon?”

Lawmakers will vote this week on strengthening sanctions against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah and punishing Iran for its ballistic missile development, amid pressure from the Trump administration to come to a legislative solution related to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

A top Trump White House official ripped Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist enabler” on Thursday and warned businesses against engaging with the freshly designated organization.

Iraqi prime minister Haider Al-Abadi took to Twitter on October 13 to dispute rumors that his forces were mobilizing to take over areas under the control of Iraqi Kurds, particularly the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. “The fake news being spread has a deplorable agenda behind it,” he wrote. As with most…

"Do we want Iran to have a nuclear weapon or not?" asks Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a video making its way around the Internet. “The answer? No. So why is President Trump trying to make it easier for Iran to get a nuclear weapon?”

CIA director Mike Pompeo described the connection between Iran and al-Qaeda as an “open secret” Thursday, a relationship that he and others criticized the Obama White House for downplaying.

Lawyers want Boeing to reveal the secret details of its multibillion dollar deal with Iran Air to an Illinois federal court, a disclosure that hinges on the approval of the Trump administration.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump disparaged the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in characteristically superlative terms: “My number-one priority,” he said to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March 2016, “is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in…

A key Democrat said Tuesday that he would support supplemental agreements to the Iran nuclear deal, but urged the administration in the interim to certify Iranian implementation of the deal ahead of an upcoming deadline.

By October 15, Donald Trump must decide what to do with his predecessor’s nuclear agreement with Iran. He has felt obliged, against his instincts, to recertify the deal every 90 days, per the requirements of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Congress’s attempt to supervise Barack Obama’s…

This week on the Kristol Clear Podcast, editor at large Bill Kristol talks with Eric Felten about the prospects President Trump chooses not to certify Iran in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Donald Trump was frustrated. Five days earlier, on July 12, 2017, the president had decided for the second time in his young administration that he would certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal he’d promised as a candidate to dismantle. He wasn’t happy with the decision he’d…

Donald Trump was frustrated. Five days earlier, on July 12, 2017, the president had decided for the second time in his young administration that he would certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal he’d promised as a candidate to dismantle. He wasn’t happy with the decision he’d…

Presidential candidate Donald Trump disparaged the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran in characteristically superlative terms: “My number-one priority,” he said to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March 2016, “is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. I have been in…

By October 15, Donald Trump must decide what to do with his predecessor’s nuclear agreement with Iran. He has felt obliged, against his instincts, to recertify the deal every 90 days, per the requirements of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Congress’s attempt to supervise Barack Obama’s…

Election officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government announced Wednesay that last weekend’s referendum on independence passed, overwhelmingly. With a turnout of 72 percent of more than 4.5 million eligible voters, nearly 93 percent voted in favor of realizing the Iraqi Kurds’ longstanding…

Iran has ramped up its illicit activities in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. military's top general told lawmakers Tuesday, and the Islamic Republic has been boosted in such pursuits by the funds it received under the 2015 nuclear deal.

European officials are signaling openness to cracking down on Iran’s support for terrorism and improving on the 2015 nuclear deal, which one diplomatic official attributed on Monday to the Trump administration’s tough talk.

Announcing the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, then-Secretary of State John Kerry said that the agreement marked a “measurable step away from the prospect of nuclear proliferation, towards transparency and cooperation.” The administration, though, was far from transparent or…

United Nations Watch—President Trump’s first address to the United Nations General Assembly was a bit of a hodge-podge. At times, it sounded as if it were a message to Americans that Trump would be defending them and their interests even if (and especially when) those interests contradicted the…

The Trump White House has yet to roll out its much-anticipated, comprehensive, government-wide Iran policy review, but administration principals have met over the last few weeks to iron out details regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On…

Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee are hinting at still-secret details related to Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal that the president could use to back up a potential October decertification.

Beirut

The Trump White House has yet to roll out its much-anticipated, comprehensive, government-wide Iran policy review, but administration principals have met over the last few weeks to iron out details regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On…

The Trump administration has completed its comprehensive review of America’s Iran policy, according to an administration source, setting the stage for a possible recalibration of the nuclear deal with that country, which Donald Trump campaigned against in last year’s election.

The cache of al-Qaeda documents captured in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin-Laden will soon be released to the public, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Monday.

The crisis between the United States and North Korea shows no signs of abating. Indeed, Pyongyang escalated its provocations last week, firing a missile over Japan on August 29. Critics of the president cite his brash approach to Pyongyang as a factor behind North Korea’s belligerency. Some also…

This article has been updated with information that Haley provided in her speech.

The crisis between the United States and North Korea shows no signs of abating. Indeed, Pyongyang escalated its provocations last week, firing a missile over Japan on August 29. Critics of the president cite his brash approach to Pyongyang as a factor behind North Korea’s belligerency. Some also…

Today on the Daily Standard podcast, deputy managing editor Kelly Jane Torrance discusses how Iran is also helping the Taliban to destabilize Afghanistan.

Seven months after taking office, President Donald Trump finally announced how his administration plans to fight the longest-running war in American history. “My original instinct was to pull out—and, historically, I like following my instincts,” Trump told the nation in a prime-time address…

Seven months after taking office, President Donald Trump finally announced how his administration plans to fight the longest-running war in American history. “My original instinct was to pull out—and, historically, I like following my instincts,” Trump told the nation in a prime-time address…

The U.S. is deploying special forces on the ground in Lebanon to provide training for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) for missions that partner with Hezbollah—Iran’s most valuable terrorist ally—against ISIS. Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told the U.S.-based Al-Hurra Arabic TV network that American…

The Trump administration warned U.S. citizens Tuesday about the risks of traveling to Iran, including the potential for arrest and detention.

Hassan Rouhani was sworn in for his second term as president of Iran on August 5, surrounded by fresh flowers, fervent followers, and around 500 foreign officials. Representatives of the United Kingdom, France, the United Nations, and the Vatican rubbed shoulders with the Syrian prime minister,…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Tuesday that Iran would drop the nuclear deal “within hours” if the United States attempts to impose new sanctions on his country.

The Trump administration is conducting a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward Iran. There is no doubt top national security officials view the Islamic Republic as a major threat, both in terms of regional instability and proliferation. This recognition represents the principal difference from…

Hassan Rouhani was sworn in for his second term as president of Iran on August 5, surrounded by fresh flowers, fervent followers, and around 500 foreign officials. Representatives of the United Kingdom, France, the United Nations, and the Vatican rubbed shoulders with the Syrian prime minister,…

The war on White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster continues, with allies of Steve Bannon using sympathetic media outlets to push a narrative that McMaster is thwarting the will of President Donald Trump. Senior White House aides now wonder among each other whether Bannon himself and/or…

During a week in which all signs point to Republicans enshrining President Obama's top domestic achievement into law, it's now looking like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tricked President Trump into keeping the main pillar of Obama's foreign policy legacy in place indefinitely: the…

Lawmakers reached an agreement Wednesday for the Senate to vote on a sweeping sanctions bill that was overwhelmingly approved by the House this week, in a push to promptly get the legislation to the president’s desk.

Six months into its existence, the Trump administration seems unsure what its stance toward Iran ought to be. That’s less because the current president and his advisers don’t know what they think about Iran’s leaders than because the previous president committed the United States to a reckless and…

On November 30, 2016, Syria watcher Tobias Schneider tweeted out pictures of an Iraqi Shia militiaman boarding an Iranian commercial airliner en route to Damascus. One selfie taken on the plane showed young men in military fatigues in the background. Another photo, likely taken when the militiaman…

Congress is ratcheting up pressure on the Trump administration to keep a watchful eye on Tehran, after the House approved an amendment last week requiring the president to inform lawmakers regularly of any efforts by Iran to ferry weapons and fighters using its commercial planes. The provision,…

“My number one priority,” Donald Trump said to the America Israel Public Affairs Committee on March 21, 2016, “is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.” Six months into Trump’s presidency, it’s looking more like number 10 or 20.

This week on the Confab, senior writer Michael Warren tells why the Trump administration is sticking with the Iran nuclear deal—for now. Reporter Alice Lloyd reports on an Education Department summit about how colleges should treat accusations of student sexual assault. And senior editor Andrew…

William Faulkner once mused that the past is never dead, in fact it’s not even past. The story of the coup that toppled Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq in 1953 may not be dead, but it is unhinged from history. Tall tales by a scion of the American establishment—former CIA agent and…

President Donald Trump plans to recertify Iranian compliance with the Iran nuclear deal before the congressionally mandated deadline to do so on Monday, according to four sources with knowledge of his thinking on the issue. The decision, which continues to provide Iran sanctions relief for their…

The U.S. counter-ISIS campaign may be racking up tactical victories in Iraq and Syria but the narrow focus on it also risks America’s interests over the long run. American military personnel and local partners have been taking the fight to ISIS, helping liberate territory from the Islamic extremist…

The Senate voted Thursday to impose new sanctions against Russia for its efforts to disrupt last year's presidential election through cyberattacks against the Democratic party and state election rolls.

Complaints of media bias seem to be reaching a fever pitch—from conservatives and liberals alike. Right-wingers accuse a broad swath of the press of trying to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. Left-wingers lament the airtime and credence outlets give to Trump supporters. Both groups object…

Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee easily passed a bipartisan bill that slaps sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile tests and other non-nuclear behavior Thursday, amid attempts by former Obama administration officials to stymie the legislation over concerns that it could hurt the…

Iran continues to boost the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and act as the leading state sponsor of terrorism even as the nuclear deal temporarily limits the country's ability to build a nuclear weapon, according to a top intelligence chief.

Lawmakers will likely consider an Iran sanctions bill in coming weeks but will not do the same for a Russia sanctions bill, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told reporters Monday.

This week, the State Department released an annual report on compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The most notable findings in the report, which covers Russia, Iran, and Syria, not surprisingly relate to Syria. The report states unequivocally that the "United States assesses that…

Last week the Trump administration sent a letter to House speaker Paul Ryan to certify that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump had called it the "worst deal…

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, reporter Jenna Lifhits weighs in on the reports that former President Obama's Iranian appeasement went even further than had been previously reported. The Obama administration released bad actors, pushed the DOJ out of the loop, and did Iran far more favors than…

The Obama administration's controversial January 2016 prisoner swap stymied its own counterproliferation efforts against Iran that took years to carefully construct and orchestrate, Politico reports. The move fits into a broader slowdown within the administration, before and during negotiations for…

The Trump administration is facing pressure to definitively rule out a longstanding request by Iran to import 950 tons of natural uranium, according to government sources and proliferation experts who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Tehran has signaled it will petition again for the yellowcake next…

Last week the Trump administration sent a letter to House speaker Paul Ryan to certify that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump had called it the "worst deal…

Congress should as soon as possible consider a bill that slaps sanctions on Iran over its illicit non-nuclear activities, Democratic lawmakers who supported the 2015 Iran nuclear deal told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Two weeks ago, Israel Defense Force Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot took the unusual step of confirming claims in the media about the May 13, 2016, killing of Hezbollah military commander, Mustafa Badreddine. A video report last month on the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya network had claimed that Badreddine’s…

In the wake of national security adviser Michael Flynn's resignation Monday night, lawmakers from both parties are calling for an investigation into his and other Trump aides' possible ties to Russia. Flynn famously, and foolishly, accepted a paid trip to Moscow in 2015 to speak at a banquet for…

Donald Trump has promised a foreign policy of muscular retrenchment, in which a better-resourced U.S. military intimidates our enemies without serving as a global cop. More than any president since Richard Nixon, our new commander in chief sees virtue in brutal authoritarians, especially if they…

Since President Trump's election, American allies and other foreign policy observers have been curious to know how the new White House intends to resolve an apparent contradiction. How is it possible that Trump seems keen to make some sort of deal with Vladimir Putin while expressing belligerent…

Since President Trump’s election, American allies and other foreign policy observers have been curious to know how the new White House intends to resolve an apparent contradiction. How is it possible that Trump seems keen to make some sort of deal with Vladimir Putin while expressing belligerent…

The Trump administration's early responses to illicit Iranian activities signal to Tehran that the nuclear deal is on life support, a former top diplomat said Thursday.

Sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran after the country conducted another ballistic missile launch are more symbolic than punitive, a former Obama administration Treasury Department official said Monday.

Top Republican lawmakers are praising the Trump administration for levying a crop of sanctions on Iran after the country conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday, hailing the move as the beginning of a tougher posture toward the Islamic Republic.

During a White House briefing Wednesday afternoon, spokesman Sean Spicer brought National Security Adviser Mike Flynn to the podium to deliver a prepared statement offering more detail on Iran's recent "destabilizing behavior" in the region.

Top Democratic lawmakers are calling for strong action in response to Iranian ballistic missile activity after Tehran conducted another test-fire over the weekend, its first since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to statements provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with senior editor Lee Smith, on Obama's abysmal foreign policy record on Israel, Russia, and Iran.

Michael Flynn, the designated national security advisor for incoming president Donald Trump, communicated by phone frequently late last month with Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. And according to the Washington Post, in one of those phone conversations, Kislyak invited the…

The Obama administration left top lawmakers, including leaders on the congressional committees charged with overseeing American foreign policy, in the dark about a secret deal to send Iran more than one hundred metric tons of natural uranium, according to statements provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The incoming Trump administration should perform a comprehensive review of last summer's Iran nuclear deal and more effectively block Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state Rex Tillerson said Wednesday.

Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the principal architect of the Islamic Republic, died of a heart attack at 82. The former parliamentary speaker, two-term president, and chairman of various powerful bodies leaves behind a mixed political legacy.

The Obama administration misled top lawmakers about the transfer of billions of dollars in assets to Iran, according to sources in and out of Congress who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD, and a range of questions remain about the mechanics of the payments.

The Obama chapter in American foreign policy ends like the climax of an action movie—with a fireball growing in the distance and filling the screen as a man in silhouette approaches in slow motion and then veers off camera. Barack Obama has set the Middle East on fire, and now it's spreading.

Iran was given secret exemptions allowing the country to exceed restrictions set out by the landmark nuclear deal inked last year, some of which were made public this week by the United Nations nuclear watchdog and others that are likely still being withheld, according to diplomatic sources and a…

American military assistance to Lebanon should be reevaluated in the coming year, top congressional sources and experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD, following reports that equipment provided to the Lebanese army had been transferred to the Hezbollah terrorist organization and used to boost the Assad…

The Obama administration is facing renewed criticism that it is avoiding confronting Iran over a widening list of the Islamic Republic's sanctions violations and military activities, after State Department officials would not commit to taking punitive action against a top Iranian military official…

Iranian officials are threatening to take action in the event that a controversial jet deal between Boeing and Iran Air collapses. Their heated rhetoric comes amid congressional opposition to the sale and mounting speculation that the deal will become unworkable under the Trump administration,…

An Israeli advocacy group is seeking to collect billions in terror-related damages from Iran and in the meantime put a hold on the delivery of dozens of Boeing airliners to Tehran, the Associated Press reports.

A 10-year extension of long-standing Iran sanctions will become law without President Obama's signature, in an apparent symbolic move after both chambers of Congress passed the package by a near-unanimous margin.

The Obama administration is facing mounting criticism that it is deliberately downplaying Iran's role in ongoing atrocities in Syria in order to avoid endangering the nuclear deal, a characterization the administration has rejected but that experts and journalists continue to wage.

A veteran intelligence official slammed the Obama administration for ignoring a range of Iran's destructive activities in order to preserve the nuclear deal, and advised the incoming Trump administration to harshly retaliate against Tehran's illicit pursuits.

The Syrian regime has established control over eastern Aleppo, a previously rebel-held section of the city, according to a top Russian official.

The Obama administration is downplaying Iran's role in atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in order to avoid endangering last summer's landmark nuclear deal, a top lawmaker and experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Lawmakers will crack down on business with Iran under the Trump administration, warning interested companies that they could wind up funding illicit Iranian activities and slapping sanctions on entities linked to Iran's military, according to a leading House Republican.

Top Democratic lawmakers are challenging the Obama administration's decision to keep a range of unclassified documents related to the Iran nuclear deal away from the public eye, amid mounting calls from Trump insiders and Republican lawmakers urging the incoming Trump administration to release the…

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ripped last summer's landmark nuclear deal with Iran and said he would work with president-elect Donald Trump to remedy its shortcomings.

Senate Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly to renew sanctions on Iran for 10 years Thursday, despite attempts by the Obama administration to stymie Congress.

The Obama administration has determined that enabling the sale of aircraft and other materials to an Iranian airline sanctioned for ferrying weapons on behalf of Iran's military does not undermine its foreign policy goals, according to communications with Congress obtained exclusively by THE WEEKLY…

Senate Democrats are ripping Iran over threats issued by top Iranian officials to retaliate if Congress extends sanctions that the Obama administration has said are permitted under last summer's nuclear deal, according to conversations with lawmakers conducted by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The international agency responsible for monitoring last summer's nuclear deal with Iran is deliberately not reporting on Iranian activities that may indicate Iran is violating the deal, setting up a potential confrontation with the incoming Trump administration, according to nuclear and…

Will President-elect Donald Trump crash the Iran deal on day one, as he said on the campaign trail? If so, Barack Obama's signature foreign policy initiative, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will melt into air. Obama allies and Iran deal supporters at home and abroad are already…

Iran will likely use the Obama administration's final weeks to try to procure nuclear-related materials in violation of last summer's landmark nuclear deal, a top lawmaker told the THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Three-term U.S. House member Mike Pompeo of Kansas has been selected by Donald Trump to head the Central Intelligence Agency. A cursory glance at his biography shows he's eminently qualified. Pompeo was first in his class at West Point, served as an Army officer during the cold war in Europe, and…

Will President-elect Donald Trump crash the Iran deal on day one, as he said on the campaign trail? If so, Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will melt into air. Obama allies and Iran deal supporters at home and abroad are already…

Over the weekend, pictures of a Hezbollah parade in the Syrian city of Qusayr showed Hezbollah fighters using American-made M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs). If the vehicles were transferred by the Lebanese Armed Forces, a recipient of U.S. aid and equipment, to Hezbollah, as some analysts…

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog may have delayed releasing a report which revealed that Iran has again violated last summer's landmark nuclear deal amid efforts by the Obama administration to protect the deal, a top nuclear expert told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The Obama administration will not penalize Iran for exceeding limits set forth in last summer's nuclear deal that pertain to the country's ability to stockpile nuclear-related material.

A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed that Iran is in violation of last summer's nuclear deal. According to the report, the regime in Tehran has again exceeded the deal's threshold for heavy water, marking the second such violation since the implementation of the agreement…

Companies doing business with Iran risk U.S. sanctions unless they take heightened measures to avoid benefiting sanctioned entities like the Iranian military, according to a State Department statement provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The warning contradicts remarks made by Secretary of State John…

Guidelines published last month by the Obama administration protect banks doing business with Iran from U.S. sanctions even if their transactions end up benefiting sanctioned entities, according to Secretary of State John Kerry. That stance, experts and congressional sources tell THE WEEKLY…

Over the weekend the Washington Post published a review of Jay Solomon's book, The Iran Wars, written by New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino. That one of America's top three remaining newspapers assigned a review of a book written by a reporter from another of the big three (Solomon is a…

The United States will harshly retaliate against any bank or company caught doing business that involves sanctioned Iranian entities, despite a recent announcement from the Treasury Department that had been broadly interpreted as loosening American sanctions against previously prohibited…

The Obama administration won't provide Congress with a range of details about a recent announcement that cleared the way for doing business with Iran, including Iranian firms controlled by sanctioned military and terrorist groups, according to congressional sources and experts who spoke to THE…

So the November 24 deadline for reaching a comprehensive agreement with Iran over its nuclear program—itself an extension of an earlier deadline—has come and gone with a whimper, and with another extension. The frenetic, feverish, and foolish pursuit of a deal by the Obama administration, marked by…

The Obama administration has cemented secret exemptions to last summer's nuclear deal that allow Iran to keep a still-unknown amount of uranium above what the deal's caps allow. That's according to top nuclear experts and sources who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD after lawmakers called for greater…

A former top Treasury Department official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday that major international firms still do not want to do business with Iran, despite efforts by the Obama administration to persuade foreign banks and businesses to reengage there.

The Clinton campaign said Hillary Clinton agrees with vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine's controversial statement Tuesday that the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement eliminated Iran's nuclear program.

The Obama administration gutted an international ballistic missile embargo on Iran as one of several concessions made when the Islamic Republic released four American prisoners in January, Iran experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD. This has triggered criticism that the administration misled Congress…

The Obama administration wired almost one million dollars to an Iranian bank account in Europe last July, months before making a separate $1.7 billion payment to Iran that officials say had to be made in cash. The administration also withheld some details of the wire payment from Congress and…

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew played down controversy over a $1.7 billion cash payment the Obama administration made to Iran earlier this year, calling the method of payment a "technicality" after it was revealed this month that the entire sum was paid in cash, despite precedent for wire transfers…

Legislation that prohibits future cash payments to Iran passed the House on Thursday. The White House has pledged to veto the legislation, however, saying it would "undermine U.S. obligations and ultimately benefit Iran at the expense of the United States."

A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday criticized a $1.7-billion payment the Obama administration made to Iran earlier this year, suggesting that the administration ignored a law that prohibits such payments to Iran until claims against the country from American victims of terror had been "dealt with…

The Obama administration did not inform key lawmakers that it had wired millions of dollars to Iran through the formal financial system, even as President Obama and other administration officials publicly defended using cash for a controversial $1.7 billion payment to Iran by saying that wiring…

Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday that the Obama administration had been "completely transparent" about a purchase of nuclear-related material from Iran in April, after the government confirmed this weekend that the purchase had been made by wire.

The Obama administration used a bank to pay for a multi-million dollar purchase of nuclear-related material from Iran, undermining the government's claim that an unrelated $1.7 billion payment to the Islamic Republic had to be made in cash, according to a top lawmaker and congressional sources who…

Lawmakers intend to grant Israel aid on top of a multi-billion dollar package struck between the nation and the Obama administration, ignoring an agreement Israel made with the United States to refuse any additional funds from Congress for two years.

On Wednesday, Thomas Joscelyn tweeted about the Iranian foreign minister counting "on ignorance of the Iranian regime's own dealings with al Qaeda." See his tweets below.

As we go to press, the White House has reportedly offered Iran a deal regarding its nuclear program, a framework agreement with details to be worked out in the coming months. However, even as the interim agreement is set to expire November 24, it seems the Iranians have not responded to the Obama…

As we go to press, the White House has reportedly offered Iran a deal regarding its nuclear program, a framework agreement with details to be worked out in the coming months. However, even as the interim agreement is set to expire November 24, it seems the Iranians have not responded to the Obama…

The Obama administration failed to inform a number of Democratic lawmakers that a $1.7 billion payment the U.S. sent to Iran earlier this year would be made wholly in cash, according to senators who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD Wednesday.

The United States paid Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, most of which was taxpayer money, around the same time that the Islamic Republic released several American prisoners, as first reported by the Associated Press.

Jay Solomon, one of America's top national security journalists, has covered Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Over the last few years, he has focused especially on Iran, its larger regional project, and U.S.-Iran relations, including the deal over the regime's nuclear program, also known as the…