Iran and the United States said they made progress in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in Rome and that their senior negotiators would meet again in Oman following technical-level discussions. The talks in Rome were the second round of negotiations mediated by Oman that began earlier in April. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow before the Rome talks, while U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israeli officials and the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Two days prior to the talks, two Airbus A330-200 aircraft sought by Iranian national airline Iran Air arrived in Tehran. Delivery of the aircraft would have required approval from the U.S. Treasury Department due to U.S. sanctions on Iran.
News Briefs
April 19, 2025
-- Associated Press
April 17, 2025
Saudi Arabia's defense minister visited Tehran to discuss defense relations and regional cooperation. Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud was the first member of the Saudi royal family to visit Iran since 1997. He met with Major General Mohammad Bagheri, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officer who is the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces. Bagheri's Saudi Arabian military counterpart visited Iran in November 2024, and Iran and Saudi Arabia held their first joint naval exercise a month earlier. The two countries signed an agreement in 2023 normalizing their diplomatic relations, which they had cut off in 2016 following the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia.
-- CNN
April 16, 2025
U.S. citizen and former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati pleaded guilty to conspiring and acting as an Iranian government agent in the United States. From 2017 to 2024, Rahmati allegedly worked with Iranian intelligence officers to provide information about the U.S. aviation and solar energy industries to Iran. He allegedly sought employment with an FAA contractor in order to further the scheme and succeeded in transferring sensitive, non-public FAA documents to Iran in 2022. Rahmati could receive a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison.
-- U.S. Department of Justice
April 11, 2025
China imported more than 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran in March, according to the ship tracking firm Vortexa. The quantity represents an all-time high. Other sources estimated volumes between 1.67 million and 1.8 million bpd, which would reflect a peak for the past several months. China purchases approximately 90% of Iran's oil exports, much of which are falsely labeled as Malaysian after being transferred at sea near Malaysia and Singapore. Iranian oil accounts for 16% of China's seaborne crude oil imports.
-- Reuters
April 1, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice charged Iranian nationals Hossein Akbari and Reza Amidi and Iranian firm Rah Roshd Company with conspiring to provide U.S.-origin parts for Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), provide material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and commit money laundering. Akbari is Rah Roshd Company's CEO and Amidi is its commercial manager. The defendants allegedly impersonated representatives of companies based in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to purchase U.S.-origin parts for Iranian drones including the Mohajer-6. They also allegedly procured servomotors and a pneumatic mast from China-based companies on behalf of the IRGC Aerospace Force and used shell companies located in the UAE to pay for the parts. Both individuals remain at large. Amidi previously served as the commercial manager of Quds Aviation Industries (QAI), an Iranian state-owned aerospace company.
-- U.S. Department of Justice
March 27, 2025
Iran sent its official response to a letter sent by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump's letter had sought to open negotiations for a new nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that Iran's policy is to engage in indirect negotiations with the United States through intermediaries. He said that Iran would enter into direct negotiations only if the United States ended its "maximum pressure" policy toward Iran. Earlier, Araqchi had said he considered Iranian negotiations with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to be indirect talks with the United States.
-- IRNA
March 26, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint for $47 million in proceeds from a sale of Iranian oil. The complaint alleges the oil in question was part of an export scheme from 2022 to 2024 that benefitted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force. The oil was allegedly shipped from Iran to a storage facility in Croatia with falsified documents claiming its country of origin to be Malaysia. The storage fees were paid in U.S. dollars, causing the transactions to be conducted through U.S. banks. The oil was sold in 2024 and the United States seized the proceeds.
-- U.S. Department of Justice
March 20, 2025
A U.S. jury convicted Iranian national Rafat Amirov (a.k.a Farkhadin Mirzoev and "Rome") and Georgian national Polad Omarov (a.k.a. Araz Aliyev, Polad Qaqa, and Haci Qaqa) of attempting to murder Masih Alinejad, a U.S.-based journalist, in New York in 2022. Amirov and Omarov, who are high-ranking members of an Azeri faction of the Russian Mob, were hired by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to kill Alinejad because of her work publicizing Iranian government’s human rights abuses. The two men directed U.S. resident Khalid Mehdiyev to surveil Alinejad at her residence and attempt to murder her. The scheme was thwarted when police discovered Mehdiyev's weapon during a traffic stop.
-- U.S. Department of Justice
March 19, 2025
The U.S. military carried out a wave of strikes on Houthi training sites, command centers, and weapons facilities in Yemen. The U.S. military says the strikes are intended to restore freedom of navigation in nearby waters. U.S. President Donald Trump also warned Iran to stop arming the Houthis, who have targeted American warships and commercial vessels with drones and other weapons since late 2023.
-- New York Times
March 19, 2025
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program announced a reward of up to $15 million for information related to Chinese nationals Liu Baoxia (Emily Liu), Li Yongxin (Emma Lee), Yung Yiu Wa (Stephen Yung), or Zhong Yanlai (Sydney Chung). Starting in 2007, Liu and her associates have used China-based front companies to procure U.S.-origin dual-use electronics for entities supplying Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Shiraz Electronics Industries and Rayan Roshd Afzar. The IRGC and Iran's defense ministry have used the electronics to develop and manufacture weapons systems, including drones sold to Russia, Sudan, and Yemen.
-- U.S. Department of State