A year of dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a spring-summer ceasefire in Yemen, raised hopes in the international community that a repeat of past cycles of Iran-related violence in the Persian Gulf region could be avoided| The Soufan Center
In late April, Iran revealed that it held a fifth round of talks with Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, Iraq, the site of most of the previous rounds of meetings in 2021. Iranian media reported that the latest talks were attended by "senior officials from the secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council| The Soufan Center
After a more than six-month hiatus in diplomatic talks to revive the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) that the Trump administration exited in 2018, U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly been conducting indirect talks to de-escalate burgeoning tensions.| The Soufan Center
Last year began with broad optimism for the course of U.S. relations with Iran as multilateral talks to restore full U.S. and Iranian adherence to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), appeared to make progress| The Soufan Center
The protests that broke out on September 16 and expanded nationwide after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was held in custody are still showing significant strength. At times, the uprising has waned briefly in response to regime repression, only to flare up| The Soufan Center
Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Iran’s advancing nuclear program has been somewhat eclipsed as a strategic challenge by Tehran’s backing of a broad “Axis of Resistance” attacking Israel, U.S. forces in the region, and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.| The Soufan Center