Iran Digest Week of March 15th- March 21st
/AIC’s Iran digest project covers the latest developments and news stories published in Iranian and international media outlets. This weekly digest is compiled by associate Samuel Howell. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
Trump warns Iran will face 'dire' consequences unless Houthi attacks stop
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran that it will face "dire" consequences if Yemen's Houthis continue to attack international shipping lanes.
He said the Iranian leadership would be held responsible for "every shot fired by the Houthis", which have long been backed by Tehran. The group later said it had targeted a US aircraft carrier three times in the past two days.
The Houthis first tried to attack the USS Harry S Truman in the Red Sea on Sunday following deadly US strikes on Yemen.
(BBC News)
Iran's supreme leader says Trump administration threats over nuclear program "will get them nowhere"
Iran's supreme leader said Friday that U.S. threats against his country "will get them nowhere," after President Trump warned of possible military action against the Islamic republic if it refuses to negotiate a new nuclear deal.
"The Americans should know threats will get them nowhere when confronting Iran," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his live annual televised speech marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
He said Americans "and others should know that if they do anything malign to the Iranian nation, they will get a hard slap."
(CBS News)
Women of Iran
Iran: Authorities target women’s rights activists with arbitrary arrest, flogging and death penalty
Iranian authorities have escalated their crackdown on women’s rights defenders, journalists, singers and other activists demanding equality or who defy compulsory veiling using arbitrary detention, unjust prosecution, flogging, and even the death penalty in a bid to quash Iran’s women’s rights movement, Amnesty International said today.
Since International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March, the Iranian authorities have arbitrarily arrested at least five women’s rights activists. These arrests come amid an intensified crackdown that has included summoning women’s rights activists and journalists for interrogation, and arresting women singers for performing without the mandatory hijab while shutting down their social media accounts. In the lead up to IWD, the authorities flogged a male singer 74 times for performing a protest song against Iran’s discriminatory compulsory veiling laws and, in February 2025, sentenced a women’s rights activist to death.
Iran using drones, advanced tech in crackdown on women's rights, UN report says
Iran has begun integrating advanced technology, including drones, in its attempts to repress women and girls, a United Nations report published on Friday found.
The independent report was released following two years of independent investigation, which included interviewing some 285 victims and witnesses and analyzing over 38,000 articles of evidence. The research was commissioned following that outcry and protests, which ignited after the Islamic Republic murdered Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini for failing to wear a head covering in a way which met the country’s mandatory hijab law.
Tehran, the investigation found, began using aerial drone surveillance and a new facial recognition software in April 2024 to monitor hijab compliance in public spaces.
Economy
Iran's currency falls to one million per dollar after Trump threat
A day after US President Donald Trump warned Iran of retaliation if its Houthi allies in Yemen launched an attack, the rial sank to a historic low against major currencies.
The currency was trading at one million per US dollar in Tehran on Tuesday as gold prices also rose. This represents a 14,000-fold devaluation of the rial, which had remained stable at 70 per dollar for over a decade before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Food inflation, which has averaged 100% in recent months, is expected to reach critical levels in the coming months unless Tehran initiates negotiations with the Trump administration.
Inside Iran
Picasso masterpieces go on display for the first time in Iran after decades hidden away in a vault
They’ve been hidden away in a vault for over three decades, but last week, more than two dozen masterpieces by Pablo Picasso were unveiled to the public for the first time in Iran.
Spanning different periods of the Spanish painter and sculptor’s life, the new exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) comprises 26 iconic works including “Portrait of a Man,” “Cry of War” and “Echo of Sorrow.”
“The Painter and His Model,” Picasso’s 1927 work and the largest canvas from his post-cubism period, is also on display, along with 53 other paintings. Twelve of the 26 aquatint prints from “La Tauromaquia,” a rare portfolio he produced in 1957, showcase his deep fascination with bullfighting culture in Spain.
(NBC News)
Huge Nowruz celebrations sweep Iran despite mass security presence
Iranians across the country defied government warnings and took to the streets en masse on Tuesday night in celebration of the ancient festival of Charshanbe Suri in spite of a huge security presence.
Celebrations of the ancient festival were marred by clashes with security forces who came to blows with revellers and reports that 19 had died and 5,000 were left injured.
There are no details on whether any of the injuries were caused by security forces who used tear gas and force to disperse crowds in some areas and most incidents occurring in the provinces of Tehran, West Azarbaijan, and East Azarbaijan.
Global Relations
Iran releases French tourist held since 2022
A French tourist detained by Iranian authorities for more than two years has been released and returned to France, President Emmanuel Macron has said.
Olivier Grondeau, 34, is "free" and with his family, Macron wrote on X on Thursday, adding: "We share his family's immense happiness and relief."
Mr Grondeau was arrested in southern Iran in October 2022 and sentenced to five years in prison for "conspiracy against the Islamic republic". His family have always denied the charges.
(BBC News)
Analysis
Can Iran Save Itself?
By: Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar
Over the past year, Iran has grappled with a series of setbacks. Hamas and Hezbollah, Tehran’s long-standing non state regional allies, have been weakened by Israel. President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria collapsed suddenly and spectacularly. The return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, meanwhile, signals a revival of the “maximum pressure” policies that hobbled the Iranian economy starting in 2018. These looming challenges have led many U.S. officials and analysts to argue that the Islamic Republic is facing a strategic defeat. Richard Haass, writing in Foreign Affairs in January, suggested that “Iran is weaker and more vulnerable than it has been in decades, likely since its decade long war with Iraq or even since the 1979 revolution.” According to this view, Iran has presented its opponents with an opportune moment to target its nuclear facilities or extract major concessions for a new nuclear deal.
War of words as Turkey-Iran tensions escalate over Syria, Iraq
By: Gönül Tol, Alex Vatanka
After decades of managing tensions through careful balancing, Turkey and Iran now find themselves increasingly at odds following recent shifts in the regional balance of power. With Ankara emboldened and Tehran on its back foot after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the struggle for influence between the two neighbors and long-time rivals is escalating in both Syria and Iraq and could spread well beyond their borders.
The most recent flare-up was sparked by Iranian criticism of Turkey’s Syria policy following the call by jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan for his fighters to disarm. In response, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned Iran against meddling in others’ internal affairs, suggesting such actions could backfire. “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones,” said Fidan, in a rare, veiled threat directed against a country that has long feared Turkey could fan separatist tendencies among its large Turkic minority, which makes up more than 20% of the population.
