Iranians will vote for lawmakers today. A vetting committee loyal to Iran’s Supreme Leader barred thousands of candidates from running, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and top religious clerics are hoping for high voter turnout that would signal support for the regime (BBC)
Today’s are the first parliamentary elections since Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran, triggering an economic crisis (Financial Times)
Iran Imposes Prison Sentence on U.S. Citizen
Iran sentenced U.S. citizen Morad Tahbaz and seven other environmentalists to varying prison sentences ranging from four to ten years on charges of espionage (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Senate Votes to Restrain Presidential War Powers on Iran
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 55–45 to pass a resolution that would require President Donald J. Trump to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Iran, but fell short of a two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto (New York Times)
The White House threatened to veto the resolution, which would not prevent the United States from responding to an imminent attack (CNN)
Pentagon: 109 Suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries in Iranian Attack in Iraq
The Pentagon announced that 109 U.S. service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following a strike last month on a military base in Iraq and said 76 of them had returned to duty. U.S. President Donald J. Trump initially said there were no injuries in the strike, which Iran launched after the U.S. killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani (Reuters)
Iranian Satellite Launch Fails
Iran tried and failed to launch a communications satellite into orbit, state television reported. Attempted launches of the other satellites failed twice last year (Associated Press)
Iran Sentences Alleged CIA Asset to Death
Iran’s judiciary imposed the death penalty on an Iranian national accused of divulging information about Tehran’s nuclear program to the CIA (Associated Press)
Swiss Humanitarian Channel to Iran Begins Operations
A new Swiss-facilitated payment mechanism for humanitarian work in Iran began operations with an inaugural payment to fund cancer drugs and medications required for organ transplants, Swiss authorities said. The channel was designed to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran (BBC)
United States Announces New Iran Sanctions, Waiver Renewals
The Trump administration announced that it would renew sanctions waivers to permit various international firms to continue nonproliferation work at Iranian nuclear sites for an extension of sixty days. However, the administration planned to retain sanctions against the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and its leader, Ali Akbar Salehi (Reuters)
Count of U.S. Troops Hurt in Iranian Strike in Iraq Reaches Fifty
The Pentagon said it increased its count of U.S. troops who suffered concussions or traumatic brain injuries during an Iranian missile strike to fifty. It said thirty-one have been treated and have returned to duty in Iraq (Wall Street Journal)
More U.S. Troops Medically Evacuated From Iraq Following Iranian Attack
Additional U.S. troops stationed at an Iraqi base when it was attacked by Iranian missiles on January 8 were medically evacuated to Germany, U.S. Central Command said. Eleven U.S. troops had already been treated in Germany for brain injuries that U.S. President Donald J. Trump described as “not very serious” (Reuters)
U.S. Troops Injured in Iran’s Strikes on Iraq Bases
Eleven U.S. troops stationed at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base were medically evacuated to Germany and Kuwait due to concussion symptoms after a January 8 missile attack on the base, U.S. military officials said (Defense One)
U.S. Threatened Europe With Tariffs Over Iran Deal
The White House threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on European automobiles if France, Germany, and the United Kingdom did not trigger a dispute resolution mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, according to a report. The three European countries triggered the provision on Tuesday (Washington Post)
European Countries Trigger Iran Deal Dispute Mechanism
The “E3” countries—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—triggered a mechanism in the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that could allow further sanctions on the country for noncompliance with the deal, the European Union’s foreign policy chief announced (Associated Press)
Iranians Protest Plane Downing for Third Day
Demonstrators denounced Iran’s accidental shooting of a Ukrainian passenger plane for the third consecutive day of protests (Reuters)
Iranian security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition at protesters yesterday in Tehran (New York Times)
Iran Accused of Downing Passenger Plane With Missile
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. officials said there is evidence that an Iranian missile shot down a Ukrainian airliner that crashed outside of Tehran on Wednesday, likely by accident. Tehran has denied the accusations (New York Times)
The plane crashed immediately after Iran launched missile attacks on Iraqi bases used by U.S. troops, a time when Iranian air defense systems would have been on high alert (Foreign Policy)
Separately, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution in a 224 to 194 vote that instructs the president to terminate military hostilities against Iran unless Congress declares war or if an armed attack on the United States is imminent (Washington Post)
Iran Retaliates for Soleimani Killing With Missile Attacks
A series of ballistic missile attacks targeted military bases used by U.S. forces in Iraq as retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced The twenty-two missiles hit Iraq’s Erbil and Ain al-Asad military bases, Iraqi officials said, and no U.S. or Iraqi casualties were immediately reported by those countries (New York Times)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that Iran “took & concluded” self-defense measures and does not seek escalation or war, while the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, vowed further retaliation (Wall Street Journal)
Congress to Be Briefed on Iran After Soleimani Killing
Senior officials in President Donald J. Trump’s administration will brief eight Senate leaders on Iran today and conduct closed-door briefings for all members of Congress tomorrow. Democrats have criticized the United States’ killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani as provocative and disproportionate, and the House of Representatives plans to vote this week to limit Trump’s war powers (NPR)
Separately, at least forty people were killed in a stampede at Soleimani’s funeral procession in his hometown of Kerman, Iranian state television reported. His burial has been postponed (Al Jazeera)
Iran Announces End to Compliance With Nuclear Deal
Iran plans to stop abiding by limits on its nuclear fuel production set in a 2015 deal, Tehran announced (New York Times)
At a funeral procession for Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Tehran that was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners, his successor vowed to rid the region of the United States. U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened dramatic retaliation for any Iranian attacks, and said U.S. attacks could target Iranian cultural sites (Reuters)
U.S. Strike Kills Iran’s Top Military Commander
Qassim Suleimani, a top Iranian security force commander and the architect of Tehran’s regional military operations, was killed in Baghdad by a drone strike ordered by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, the Pentagon announced. The Pentagon said Suleimani was planning to attack Americans in the region and that he had approved a recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad (New York Times)
Iran’s foreign minister called the killing an “act of state terrorism” and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised “harsh revenge” (Al Jazeera)
U.S. Targets Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq, Syria
U.S. forces carried out air strikes against the Kata’ib Hezbollah Shiite militant group in Iraq and Syria in response to a Friday attack that killed a U.S. civilian contractor and wounded four U.S. troops (Wall Street Journal)
The Iran-backed militia said the strikes killed at least twenty-five fighters, and one of its former commanders promised a “very tough” response against U.S. forces in Iraq (Reuters)
Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called the strikes a dangerous escalation, while Iran’s foreign ministry condemned them as terrorist acts (Guardian)
Iranian Government Counts 1,500 Killed in Protests
About 1,500 people have died in nationwide protests in Iran that began last month, according to unnamed Iranian interior ministry officials cited in a new report. The toll includes about four hundred women, at least seventeen teenagers, and some security forces (Reuters)
U.S. Levies New Sanctions on Iranian Airline
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Iran’s largest airline company, claiming the company helped transport weapons to Yemen to assist the Quds Force and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Reuters)
Countries Meet in Vienna to Try and Save Iran Nuclear Deal
The remaining signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom—meet in Vienna today to discuss options to save the agreement after the United States withdrew (Voice of America)
EU Nations Condemn Iranian Missle Program
In a letter to the United Nations, ambassadors from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom denounced Iranian efforts to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, saying the move violates UN Security Council resolutions (Al Jazeera)
Iran Acknowledges Use of Deadly Force Against Protesters
Tehran acknowledged for the first time that government forces killed protesters during mass demonstrations that began last month. Amnesty International estimates that more than two hundred people have been killed in the unrest (Associated Press)