Iran appears to still be intent on killing U.S. officials allegedly responsible for the 2020 assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Qods Force, according to an annual Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threat assessment. The report warned that Iran would also…
Reports
Iran has ramped up enforcement of the Islamic dress code in the two years since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained for allegedly improper hijab (head covering). Iran has been “encouraging, sanctioning and endorsing human rights violations against women and girls…
Groups linked to Iran’s government have stepped up efforts to interfere in the 2024 U.S. election, according to a Microsoft report released on Aug. 9, 2024. They have spread disinformation and polarizing messages using covert news sites and social media. The goal appeared to be to sow chaos and…
Iran has conducted research that “better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned in a July 2024 report. The assessment also noted an increase in statements by Iranian officials about the possibility of Tehran…
Iran’s government “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” according to the State Department’s annual report on human trafficking. “Officials continued to perpetrate and condone trafficking crimes with impunity…
Iran executed at least 853 people in 2023, a 48 percent rise compared to 2022, according to Amnesty International’s annual report on the death penalty. Iran executed more people than any other country except China. “The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up…
In 2023, Iran restricted freedom of belief and persecuted religious minorities, according to an annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released on May 1, 2024. The Islamic Republic, a Shiite theocracy, conducted mass arrests of Baha’is, a minority that the…
Iranian security forces and authorities mistreated refugees, largely from Afghanistan, though physical abuse, detention, forced labor, separating families, restricting movement within Iran and restricting access to jobs, education and other services, the State Department reported. Iran has absorbed…
Iran’s poor record on women’s rights further deteriorated in 2023, the State Department reported. They faced “increased discrimination through expanded application of punishments against people who violated the mandatory dress code,” Ambassador Robert Gilchrist, the Senior Official in the Bureau of…
Iran’s laws, based on a conservative interpretation of Shiite Islam, did not provide any protections to or recognize LGBTQI+ individuals, couples, or their families in 2023, the State Department reported. Same-sex sexual activity, consensual and nonconsensual, was criminalized. And “security forces…